Thursday, December 31, 2015

A Little Charity

Everyone knows that I am not a fan of self-publishing. My reasons for this are many and varied and I have spoken about them often.

Some people have asked me, (since one of my reasons for disliking the trend is the almost universal lack of quality of the work I have encountered), why don't I single out any of the examples of lousy books?

And I always think back on what David Niall Wilson once suggested: that writers should refrain from criticizing or savaging the work of other writers. And he was right. While I may not appreciate some work, it's wrong to publicly tear into the labor of another writer. There are many reasons for this, not least of which is the fact that it's cruel to stomp on another person's dreams. That's what you'd be doing if you were to single out a specific work by someone for the sake of making light of it, or to turn their hopes into pain.

So. While I may not like something in general there is no way I'm going to single out a particular book or author to make them a point of ridicule. As I've said before...that's cruelty.


Almost what Philip K Dick predicted. Not quite...but I'm sure that's coming soon.

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