Arthur C Clarke award shortlist 'dreadful', says Christopher Priest

[Ninjalawyer]

He does come off as a bit of an ass, even though I agree with him; Embassytown was an interesting book, just not a very good one. I haven't enjoyed a Miéville book since The Scar - The City and the City in particular was a somewhat unique setting married to blocks of wood for characters, a dull plot and prose that flowed like broken glass through a sieve.

Hull Zero Three read like a particularly dull and predictable screenplay.

I actually feel a little better now, I assumed I was alone in not really liking any of this year's Clark Award shortlisters.

[plib]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

When I was a kid, I loved SF, but it seems to have gotten so pretentious these days.

Probably a direct result of being mentioned on the Grauniad.

[flipreads]

The criticisms (everyone's entitled to criticize) were fine (although Tepper gets an unfair assessment), but the personal attacks weren't called for. Or the solution.

Cat Valente on the subject: http://yuki-onna.livejournal.com/674762.html

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

It's never a good idea for one genre author to publicly criticize other genre authors. There's just no way to avoid coming across as an ass... even when you're right.

I could not disagree more strongly. There are much worse things than coming across as an ass. One of which is sitting quietly and tolerating mediocrity instead of speaking up. What we need are far more authors and critics who aren't afraid to say what they think.

[VaporPunk]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

I could not disagree more strongly. There are much worse things than coming across as an ass. One of which is sitting quietly and tolerating mediocrity instead of speaking up. What we need are far more authors and critics who aren't afraid to say what they think.

Criticism is fine, send a private message to the author that ya think he screwed up...

Publically, not so much, imo.

Its not just about being an ass, its basic courtesy.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Joykins

Charlie Stross has started selling Internet Puppy T-shirts

Where can one buy a T-shirt? I don't see any sort of purchasing link there.

[flipreads]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Where can one buy a T-shirt? I don't see any sort of purchasing link there.

It's a link in the body text: http://www.zazzle.co.uk/internet_pup...30813931635704

Mugs too http://www.zazzle.co.uk/official_lau...64857408384876

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

I could not disagree more strongly. There are much worse things than coming across as an ass. One of which is sitting quietly and tolerating mediocrity instead of speaking up. What we need are far more authors and critics who aren't afraid to say what they think.

So what we need are more asses (to use the Americanese...... ) ?

Mmmm......

Originally Posted by JeremyR

When I was a kid, I loved SF, but it seems to have gotten so pretentious these days.

I'm the same with brocolli ........

[Crusader]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

I had not previously heard of the The End Specialist By Drew Magary, and it sounded good enough that I bought it last night. It is only available in the UK (not in the US).

I've only read Embassytown and The End Specialist (links to my reviews) and I enjoyed both of those. Embassytown is definitely something else when it comes to science fiction. It makes you work hard to understand the book/world, not an easy read but worth it.

The End Specialist is printed as The Postmortal in the US.

I'd say Embassytown deserves the win (that being said not having raid the others yet).

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by flipreads

It's a link in the body text: http://www.zazzle.co.uk/internet_pup...30813931635704

Mugs too http://www.zazzle.co.uk/official_lau...64857408384876

Thanks

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

There you go. Different strokes for different folks. Love both China Miéville and Neal Stephenson.

Two of my favourites.

[latepaul]

I think it's inevitable that writers have strong opinions about writing. I've read Priest's post and there's a lot of blunt no-nonsense criticism but it's all directed towards the writing and therefore IMO fair game.

[Connallmac]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

We are talking "shortlist" here.

Is that like the "short bus"?

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by VaporPunk

Criticism is fine, send a private message to the author that ya think he screwed up...

Publically, not so much, imo.

Its not just about being an ass, its basic courtesy.

Strong public criticism of scifi books can only help the genre in the long run, even if does result in some hurt feelings.

A private message from Priest to Mieville saying "Hey, I don't think Embassytown was very good and you should probably decline your Clarke award," wasn't going to spur any debate.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

I could not disagree more strongly. There are much worse things than coming across as an ass. One of which is sitting quietly and tolerating mediocrity instead of speaking up. What we need are far more authors and critics who aren't afraid to say what they think.

Then I'm confused... because as far as we can tell, we don't disagree at all. I have no problem with his majesty expressing disappointment in the shortlist. I have no problem with him saying; "this is what I would have done." I don't really even take issue with his personal opinions of some of the mentioned works (in fact I agree with many of them). What I take issue with, is the presumptuous manner with which he intimates that his "opinions" should be accepted as the "correct" ones.

I'm in complete agreement with John Scalzi who said:

As I’ve noted before, there’s a difference between saying “This is not what I would have done” and “Why did you do this? You suck.” The first is a perfectly valid thing to say; the second assumes the primacy of one’s personal opinion over everyone else’s. Mr. Priest may feel well qualified to assert such a thing, but no one else is obliged to agree with him. “Incompetent” does not actually mean “valuing the works I do not.”

And besides... "There are much worse things than coming across as an ass" has no bearing on my assertion that there's no way for an author to do what Priest did without "coming across like an ass."

Agree/disagree/don't care about the actual content of his diatribe... there's just no such thing as a "constructive rant" by one author about his contemporaries.