Ho, Hum, Yawn: Is It That Time Again?

Genre versus literature: Why will the fact that Tom Rob Smith's CHILD 44 made the longlist for the Man Booker Prize only serve to widen the gulf between genre and "literature"? There's more than enough talk out there already to make most want to skip the blogs, but the link to Jeff Vandermeer's THE LANGUAGE OF DEFEAT makes up for the topic.

Cops and Reporters

It could be that my slight amusement over the controversy brewing in Canada over cops impersonating reporters is the sign of a twisted mind... But in the midst of weighing the issues I do find myself wondering if journalists have far more serious things to worry about in the future.

I wonder how well the book titles will translate?

Some news about foreign rights sales, as well as a small update on where I'm at with the current book and what's making me pull my hair out when I should be celebrating.

Do Batman and Harrogate Prove Monoculture is (unfortunately) Still Thriving?

While some lament the death of monoculture, it seems clear to me that the rise of the internet and how it has influenced consumers means we should be embracing the opportunity to both provide and gain access to different material instead of trying to limit readers to blockbuster-type offerings that recycle well-trodden themes and don't have anything fresh to contribute to the literary world. Follow the link for the full post.

The Dark Knight

The new Batman movie will undoubtedly be the blockbuster of the summer. I've had a chance to see it, and offered up my initial thoughts. Best movie I've seen in quite some time.

Votes For Sale?

One man puts his vote for the president for sale on Ebay and is arrested, while elsewhere on the internet, the debate about the reputation of awards and groups raises important questions for us all to consider about how we ensure awards are determined fairly and impartially.

As always, there are no easy answers, although the importance of the topic shouldn't be overlooked.

A Writer's Fear

When I was a child I had recurring nightmares about Hamburgler. Not all fears are rational, and although as an adult I can look back at that one and know it was silly, there are still things that weigh on my mind and twist my stomach in knots.

The Rules of Engagement

Is the internet capable of facilitating respectful discourse? Or is the 'medium the message' - with the message being poster beware?

Ah, opinions...

There's a bit of discussion about whether or not this is a weak year for crime fiction, which has led to a discussion about the place of taste in assessing books. Is it possible to evaluate a book without considering the emotional response it prompts from the reader?

There's no doubt about it...

...Baltimore is simply the best setting for crime novels.

Heads and Tails and Book Sales

Barbara Fister's excellent blog post, THE TAIL THAT WAGS THE TAIL, raises interesting questions about how we decide what to read and whether or not more people are influenced by popular opinion now than ever before. I haven't rehashed what Barbara had to say, because she said it so well already, but I am curious about what influences people, and what people think of the articles Barbara references in her post. Her post is one that deserves some discussion.

The Freedom To Believe...

... is at the center of a controversial custody case unfolding in Winnipeg, Manitoba after a seven-year-old girl went to school with a swastika on her arm and white pride slogans.

Does the right to your beliefs ever justify hatred of another group? I've chimed in with my opinion.

Friday's Forgotten Children's Books: TWENTY AND TEN

Patti Abbott's ongoing series, Friday's Forgotten Books, continues with an installment focusing on children's books. This was an easy choice for me, and an opportunity to talk about a book that had a profound impact on me as a child, and probably contributed to my lifelong interest in WWII history. You can read about the book at the new blog, here.

More Bad Book News?

I must admit, sometimes I get tired of hearing predictions of doom and gloom for the book industry, but we have heard of multiple store closings and declining newspaper review coverage. In light of other business news reported today I'm wondering if things are as bad for the book business as people sometimes suggest, over at the new blog.

Primitive Instincts: the familiar question of violence

We have a responsibility to the story first. Once we stop making that our primary motivation for the choices about what we incorporate or do not include in our writing, how are we different from other authors we accuse of being commercial sell-outs?

Visit the new blog for the full post.

Sex, Violence, THE FRAILTY OF FLESH and WANTED

Last night, I went to an advance screening of WANTED and I've posted some thoughts about it on the relocated blog. If you're in need of a good, post-Matrix action flick, this might work for you.

Karin Slaughter's remarks in an interview about gender and violence prompt a few thoughts of my own, and you can read them here, as well as find the link to the whole interview with Karin.

Selling Snake Oil To Readers?

Is it possible that market manipulation is contributing to the decline in reading? After mulling over some remarks made recently on the internet by different authors, that's the question I'm wrestling with today at my relocated blog.

Because One Move Wasn't Enough...

This blog is moving to http://www.mysterybookspot.com/sandra/ effective immediately.

It's going to take me a bit of time to get the links in the sidebar set up. I imagine it will take a bit of time for others to update their links, so I'll still do teasers here for the new blog, but I have disabled commenting here.

Clarifying a Point: critiquing the book vs attacking the author

In the comment trail on Bill Crider's blog, I say in my comment that the problem with Lee Goldberg's critique on SEVERANCE PACKAGE is that it comes off as personal. I want to explain why I said that.

The fine line I've learned to tread as a reviewer is separating the author from the book. That means when you write a review, you discuss the book and whether or not it holds together on its own merits. The minute you start saying things like:

a. I expect more from this author,
b. This author can do better,
c. This author is wasting their talent,

etc., you run the risk of making the review be about the author instead of the book.

Now, some of you may wonder, if you're reviewing the author's book, aren't you automatically leveling any criticisms made at the author?

Yes... but in a professional capacity. Think about it from a parenting perspective. Child tosses dirty clothes on floor and under bed instead of in the laundry hamper. Parent says, "Dirty clothes need to go in the laundry hamper. If the dirty clothes aren't in the laundry hamper, there's no gold star on the chore sheet."

Other parent says, "You know better than to throw your clothes on the floor and I'm disappointed in you."

Both are criticisms but one has incorporated personal criticism about the child into it. The first one says these are the rules and in order to get a gold star the rules must be followed. Since the rules weren't followed there's no gold star.

The other one tells a child they've let their parent down.

It is a risk to ever step across the line and make comments about the author. They may be correct. They may be fair. They may be meant with the best of intentions, but the moment it stops being about just the book it provokes a defensive response from people who feel differently and care about the person involved.

This is why forum fights over American Idol contestants get heated, it's why people end up in fights on forums.

As I said, I don't think Lee was intending to attack Duane. It came off badly, because whenever you make comments that go beyond the book there's a high probability that no matter how careful you are, some will take offense.

Is There Any Such Thing As A Bad Book?

Bill Crider recently posted about Duane Swierczynski's latest book, SEVERANCE PACKAGE.

I'm going to preface this by saying that this book is on the shelves here, Brian's already read it and is working on a review (he's never met Duane), and I like Duane. Anything else you might feel the need to know on a personal level has probably already been said, in the comment trail of the post Bill made about Duane's book.

It's actually the comment trail that I'm wanting to talk about here. I was alerted to the post because someone made comments that are actually about me, although I'm not mentioned by name. I'm not bothered by it at all. I didn't want to get into the thick of it when the discussion was hot and heavy, but have chimed in now.

What weighs on my mind is the argument over a person's right to trash a book, and who gives anyone the right to decide what's important or substantive. It ties into something I said recently to someone else, and that's that I'm not convinced there's any such thing as a bad book.

Okay, okay, I've certainly tossed a few books against walls and formed opinions about some books I've called bad. But I'm talking about universal bad. THE DaVINCI CODE is a favourite by many to pick on, but can I really say it's a bad book? Well, no, because I haven't read it so I wouldn't know one way or the other anyway, but TDC got a lot of people who normally don't read much to pick up a book. It reached the fringe occasional readers. Can I really complain about any book that gets people to read?

I'm not sure I can. I mean, there are books I don't like... This is true of everyone, I'm sure. And it can be argued that some books aren't well written, so there might be a reason they'd be bad to use in an English class, but ultimately the process of reading is valuable. I don't want to get into religion or any kind of propaganda or anything - let's not skew this into something else, but keep it to general comments on fiction.

However, Lee Goldberg's comments on SEVERANCE PACKAGE hit on a nerve with a lot of readers:

It's obvious that that Duane is a wonderfully imaginative, highly skilled writer...but, in my opinion, he's skating on flash alone...he's taking the easy way and not using his considerable talent to its full potential. He could be writing great books...noir classics...but instead he's going for gimmicks, in-jokes, and fights. It's as if in every scene he's trying to impress his friends, as if he's saying "hey, look at this guys, isn't this cool?" instead of trying to create characters and tell a compelling story. It made reading the book frustrating...I kept asking myself why is he wasting himself on this when he could be writing something with substance and staying power? This would have worked much better as a comic book...which it, essentially, is (the cover and the artwork interspersed throughout the book make that comparison inevitable).

You can read all the fall-out yourself. I've also weighed in, and not done so lightly.

Truth is, I very well could have just posted Charlie Stella's comments on my blog yesterday and let them serve for what I really wanted to say:

If bad writing is being published/well reviewed and/or honored because bloggers/reviewers have influence, don’t kid yourself, the buying/reading public will be able discern the good from the bad over the long haul. All fame (in whatever form it comes and however it comes) is truly fleeting (or some of the published/well reviewed and/or honored wouldn’t have taken such hard falls). More importantly, who cares what (or who) “they” promote (whether in the form of authors, reviews and/or awards)? In the end, it’s always the same number of people paying attention (count them). You (the anonymous) just might find some valuable relief in avoiding offending all the cliques out there. Life is way too short to go through with that (apparently constant) level of apprehension. What the fuck good is “your career” unless it’s yours?

Amen. At the end of the day, readers decide what's worth being published. If a book doesn't sell, all the positive endorsements on blogs in the world don't mean squat.

The thing is, not everyone is trying to use popularity and kissing ass to gain themselves blurbs and plugs. Some people are just genuinely nice guys who get along with everyone, and who write good books.

To me, Duane's one of those guys. I can only speak for myself, so don't hold him guilty for sharing any sentiments here. If you can't stand me don't dump Duane as a friend over what I think of him. I think he's a great guy. I think he's extremely talented. I think he's easy-going and generally, gets along with most people (I'm not aware of him having issues with anyone). If the fact that Duane is likable makes him cliquey to some, that's unfortunate, because I'm nowhere near the cliques and definitely not Miss Popularity and have enjoyed an afternoon laughing my ass off with Duane in the bar at B'con, and if he was really that cliquey, I doubt he would have hung out with me.

I like Duane, and I don't really get along with Lee Goldberg (who I've never met, and doubt I ever will) but I do stand behind my comments over there. It's only the volume of experience I have, seeing Lee say something again and again and again that's offended people, and ultimately what he once said to Sandra Scoppettone months back that make me think Lee often comes of critical when he actually means to be encouraging.

But it just goes to show that opinions are wide and varied and ultimately subjective. Sometimes, you have to learn to let the criticism slide, and that's a simple reality for those of us who write. I'm not saying it's easy to do, but between amazon comments and mainstream reviews, you never know what people will say and they're under no obligation to molly-coddle you.

One other side note: to me, the fact that authors who don't normally participate on the blogging community felt the need to not only read the discussion, but to comment and to stand behind their endorsement of the book speaks volumes. It's the proof of the awareness that the backscratching exists, and that many endorsements are meaningless. The most meaningful bit of praise you'll ever get for your work will come from readers, not authors, as nice as it is to be liked by writers you admire. I'm in the process of making the list for who will get a copy of THE FRAILTY OF FLESH, as I'm getting arcs soon, and I must confess there aren't many authors on the list at this point. I can't think of many who'd be willing and have time. So many have non-blurbing policies, or only blurb upon request of their agent/publisher, I can't keep it straight, and I've become so skeptical about the whole process. This whole year has been a lesson for me about some who pander to cliques and take sides.

And I'd rather be on a whole different playing field than deal with all of that.