Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 11:57:37 -0500
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at mail.press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: reading likes and dislikes
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

Mr Smith in Washington declared:
> sgs at aginc.net 03/26/02 11:54AM
>> At 06:37 AM 03/26/2002 -0800, you wrote:
>> >I'm afraid I fall into Candy's camp where Bester is
>> >concerned.  I've enjoyed some of his short fiction,
>> >but The Stars My Destination really didn't do anything
>> >for me.  I think perhaps my expectations were too
>> >high, since everyone kept telling me what a
>> >masterpiece it was. don't think I hated it quite as
>> >much as Candy though.
>>
>> And actually, my dislike of TSMD grew gradually.  I actively disliked =
the
>> book the first time I read it, but it didn't stand out in my memory =
enough
>> for me to remember it the next time I read it, or the next time, or the
>> next time...  I finally memorized the author and title so as *not* to =
read
>> it again.  So I class it in the "never read" category and suspect that =
my
>> hatred for it would be less if I hadn't accidentally read it over and =
over
>> and over.
>
>Warning -- TSMD is easily the best thing that Bester did.  In
>particular, don't read "Golem<sup>100</sup>".  (Doncha just love authors
>who insist on funny typography?)
>
>> My tastes are rather plebian.  I also am easily upset by what I read, =
so
>> when I read something I want a happy ending.  And the middle better =
hadn't
>> be too scary or upsetting.
>
>I can deal with High Tragedy.  What I can't deal with are disposable
>characters.  Jack Chalker is especially bad with this.  Author
>introduces Neat Character, character interacts with Protagonist,
>character gets killed off.  Repeat as necessary.

Hmm. I thought it was change gender of character . . . .

>
>Any kind of deliberate cruelty is also a real turnoff.
>
>I suspect that the people who write this stuff (and possibly also the
>people who like it) have such a cheerful, bunnies- and- rainbows
>background that the dark stuff simply isn't real for them.

When I asked Lucius why he wrote such depressing stuff, his response =
"Well, just the kinda guy I am."

>  Same way
>Lovecraft doesn't bother me -- it's just not real enough to me.
>
>> I loved all of Lawrence Watt-Evans' Ethshar books, so I picked up Out =
of
>> This World and In the Empire of Shadow.  Awful.  When he killed off =
the
>> hero's wife and kid (he sent a six year old girl off to die as a slave =
for
>> ghod's sake), I flipped to the back to see if he was going to pull =
some
>> sort of happy ending out of his hat, and when he didn't, I put the =
book
>> aside and had nightmares for weeks.  I'll probably have nightmares =
tonight
>> just from remembering it.  So now, when I see a LWE book the first =
thing I
>> do is check to see if it's an Ethshar book.  If it is, I'll buy it,
>> otherwise...
>
>Once Upon A Time, I read George Alec Effinger's "Zork Chronicles".  It's
>a charming book; easily the best thing I've seen that started out as a
>computer game.  Then I tried to read "When Gravity Fails".  After 200
>pages (of a 250 page book), I said "Okay.  For 200 pages, you've been
>trying to gross me out.  If I admit you've succeeded, can I please stop
>reading?"  Reviews I've seen of this book call it "suspenseful"; I call
>it gross.  No more Effinger for me.
>
>> And we won't even get into the psychoanalyzing of the author that =
this
>invites.

Let us remember that authors are professional liars.

mjw

>
>That Way Lies Madness.
>
>--
>Steve Smith                                           sgs at aginc.net
>Agincourt Computing                            http://www.aginc.net
>"Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense."