In 2003, epic flame wars errupted after science fiction godfather Gene Wolfe resigned from a writing workshop. The conflict between workshop-regulars and workshop-haters still simmers like a smoking volcano in the writing world.At the height of the debate, Nick Mamatas chimed in with a bit of controversial, irreverent satire:
"Like every other outsider who posted about this tempest in a teapot on various bboards, newsgroups, and journals, I am a charter member of The Society Of People Who Only Need A Tiny Amount Of Information With Which To Draw A Definitive Conclusion, or TSOPWHONATAOIWWTDADC (tm hugh) for short...My hare-brained theory is this: Freemasonry is to blame."
Before blogging became a New York Times trend piece, Mamatas mastered the art of digital interaction, bantering with his readers about science fiction critics and bad writers. Just scroll through his LiveJournal comments to see how many people respond when Mamatas rants. As the trade paperback edition of his horror novel comes out, that same community will support him.
This week, I picked Mamatas for my deceptively simple feature: Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing.
Jason Boog:
What are some of the most evocative subjects in science fiction and fantasy communities? What was the most controversial thing you ever wrote for these communities, and how did people respond? On the web, where are the best forums to discuss these issues?
Nick Mamatas:
Hmm, the most controversial thing was probably my comments about Clarion and Odyssey being similar to Freemasonry...
— this, after Gene Wolfe has quit the Odyssey Science Fiction Workshop mid-lesson, which led to lots of people blaming the bratty kid students for a sense of entitlement most of them didn't have.
I even ended up meeting someone I dated for two years through that discussion, which is odd.
The communities are pretty moribund: old hat subjects like whether women can write SF, or the dividing line between fantasy and SF, or social anxiety over what the mysterious and largely non-existent cool people (who wear berets and quote Nietzsche) think of people who Just Want To Read Good Stories.
These are still the rhetorical equivalent of a cherry bomb tossed into a Christian Science Reading Room. I'm pretty bored with it these days, actually.
Overwhelmed by all this controversy? Want a sneak peak into Nick Mamatas new book?
Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion to Five Easy Questions for Nick Mamatas...
I even ended up meeting someone I dated for two years through that discussion, which is odd.
The communities are pretty moribund: old hat subjects like whether women can write SF, or the dividing line between fantasy and SF, or social anxiety over what the mysterious and largely non-existent cool people (who wear berets and quote Nietzsche) think of people who Just Want To Read Good Stories.
These are still the rhetorical equivalent of a cherry bomb tossed into a Christian Science Reading Room. I'm pretty bored with it these days, actually.
Overwhelmed by all this controversy? Want a sneak peak into Nick Mamatas new book?
Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion to Five Easy Questions for Nick Mamatas...
» Blog Wrestling from ThePublishingSpot
As part of our Nick Mamatas Extravaganza, I have more favorite links from our literary friend... Lenin's Tomb is a world politics blog that covers political events and debates the political blogs. The founder lists Slavoj Zizek as his... [Read More]
Tracked on: May 11, 2006 9:40 AM | Permalink to Trackback