Weekly Roundup #3: The Skiffy and Fanty Show / Duke and Zink Do America
Yet another roundup of all the things I’ve got going on elsewhere. Enjoy! Over at The Skiffy and Fanty Show, we cover the hype surrounding J. K. Rowling’s new adult novel, the abuse of Seanan McGuire by readers (and the stupid things publishers do that hurt authors), the power of science fiction, plus a few silly related topics (including an embarrassing moment for Duke, who lives in an alternate universe of plurals). You can check out that episode here. You should also check out the latest Torture Cinema episode, in which Jen and I review Twilight: New Moon while drinking alcohol. In short: it should be amusing! We’ve also got a random ? of the Week, in which we ask you about SF/F books that made you cry. Go leave your answer on the blog. And: Over at Duke and Zink Do America I have a few articles up about various topics. There won’t be a third episode of the podcast until I return, but you should be able to enjoy the following: “The Right to Women: Your Body Are Belong to Us“ “Dear GOP: Keep Your Hands Off My Penis (or, What Do You Think About All This Crap?)“ “Feminist Corner: Rush Limbaugh’s Non-Apology“ “Episode Delay: #3 to Come Next Week Due to Vacation“ Enjoy!
So They Started Young — So What? (A Rant About Authors)
L. B. Gale has an interesting blog post entitled “Fantasy Writers: What We’re Up Against,” in which s/he profiles George R. R. Martin to give fantasy writers an impression of the writing life of one of the greats. We learn, for example, that he won his first award when he was 17 and was nominated for a Hugo at 25, with his first novel published when he was 29, and so on. Martin isn’t the only SF/F writer who started getting recognized when he was young, I’m sure, but there is something about looking at age as some kind of impressive element that bothers me. What exactly is impressive about getting published at a young age, let alone winning awards at said age? Writing isn’t like business, where making millions at a young age might be quite impressive indeed. I’m sure a lot of people are envious of Mark Zuckerberg, who became a billionaire before 30. Why? Because most people don’t make it in the business world when they are young. To be fair, most people don’t become billionaires either, but the point still stands. But writing can’t be held to the same standard. Authors make it big when they are young, middle-aged, or damned old. Kenneth Grahame didn’t publish The Wind in the Willows until his 50s. Frank McCourt (Angela’s Ashes) at 66. Anthony Burgess’s first novel at 39. Mary Midgley at 56. Joseph Conrad at 37. Raymond Chandler at 43. Richard Adams at about 52. And on and on and on. (There are bound to be plenty of SF/F examples too, but I didn’t want to spend an hour searching to find out.) But their ages don’t matter. We’re not talking about an 8-year-old writing a great science fiction novel, or a 115-year-old doing the same. We’re talking about writers who came into prominence at various points in the typical span of a human life. What matters isn’t that they wrote a great book at 17 or 52. It’s that they wrote a great book. What matters isn’t that they won an award at 17 or 52. It’s that they won an award. The age is irrelevant (or it should be). We needn’t revere authors for being brilliant at a young age; let’s revere them for being brilliant. What say you all?