Frustrating acceptance

[Mythsaje]

Though I happen to think he's a political idiot, and injects commentary into some of his works that shows a remarkable ignorance regarding violence and brutality as a historical reality rather than the invention of some few modern bastards, I cannot but be a fan of the skill of his talent for putting down the written word.

I'm not bad. Getting better all the time. But other than perhaps being more politically aware, I'm in awe of this man's skill as a wordsmith.

But I'm currently listening to an audio version of Dean Koontz's "By the Light of the Moon," which, I have to say, is simply astounding.

In true activist fashion, I should refuse to purchase this man's works so he might help propogate the Republican propaganda, but, I suppose, I myself am an artist first and it behooves me to appreciate an artist for his or her talents before I consider his or her political stances. Foolish as they may be.

So, despite my misgivings, I continue to spend money to listen to Koontz's books. His talent is such that I think it would be an insult to my own talent to discount his contribution to my influences because of his political views.

Having just finished listening to Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein, a book that takes me back to my childhood, I suppose that in the overall scheme of things, I take more from these things that even the author might have intended. Stranger, with its odd mysticism and eminently libertarian under-pinning, has, in many ways, influenced my whole approach to such things as metaphysics, religion, and philosophy. Valentine Michael Smith's insistance that "Thou Art God," still, to do this day, resonates more strongly within me than a thousand non-heretical sermons might have done.

It's funny what can influence you. Particularly if you yourself are an artist. Maybe that gives you a better opportunity to pick and choose what portions of someone else's work to take to heart. I don't know. But though I am myself primarily liberal, there is a solid streak of left libertarian in me as well, and it is through the works of Heinlein and Herbert that I was introduced to the concepts of little-L libertarianism.

An individual should not put him or herself above society, but, then again, should not allow society and its needs to consume him either. We have the abilities of discernment and discrimination (the latter in its most positive meaning) for a reason.

In the end, we make the choices that make us feel good--be they ultimately selfish or altruistic. The fact remains that if it pleases us to care about others, and to act with goodwill toward our neighbors, it is, in the end, an act as selfish as any. The benefit is in the result, not the innermost intent.

So here I am, a liberal author who counts among his influences the works of such notable "conservatives" as Heinlein and Herbert, and is struck in amazement at the word-crafting of a man who's both a fool and a genius, depending on the subject at hand, and insists on listening to Koontz's books despite his political blindness.

And I'll be damned if I'll apologize for it.

[deadmessengers]

1. Orson Scott Card

I've had a similar struggle. I've heard so many people talk about how amazing the Ender's Game series is, but I refuse to read it because of Orson Scott Card's outspoken homophobia. Even though I know that borrowing the book from the library doesn't put one nickel in his pockets that could be used to further his cause of bigotry, I just don't even want any part of his work.

[pitohui]

3. you haven't missed anything

ender's game is poorly written derivative crap, it must only seem "amazing" to those who have never read any real science fiction -- it's heinlein for stupid people who think they were misunderstood child genuises

and, yeah, he is an outspoken out of the closet homophobe

borrowing a book from the library DOES put nickels in the author's pocket, as popular books are inventoried, kept around, and even replaced if they are actively being read, libraries don't get books for free

[pitohui]

2. koontz is not a good or skilled writer

are you kidding me? we're talking airplane books

i don't want to be rude, but honestly, you need to get out more if you think this guy has any writing skill

if you are an artist first, seems your intelligence would be insulted by the poor, rushed quality of his dribble

i'm sure he's a nice guy, i understand he took care of his drunken stepdad financially despite the man's terrible abuse of him as a child, but crap, let's not kid ourselves, his books are not well written or deep, they are on the level of the lightest crap when we don't have the spirit or the will or the sobriety to read something "real"

by the way, "thou art god" wasn't invented by heinlein, he gets this from theosophy and other metaphysical movements that were huge in the 20s and 30s, my understanding is that "thou art god" goes back to the victorian era, altho to my thinking it really goes all the back to the divine marquis

[Mythsaje]

4. I don't write "real" either...

Fuck "real." There's enough "real" in the world. So what?

I'm not talking philosophical depth here. I'm talking about descriptive and narrative ability, of which he has scads. If you can't see that, you've got a plank in your eye.

[pitohui]

5. his characters are of the finest cardboard

and that's all i care about

anyone can describe and most people do too much of it, description/narrative is something movies do better, i expect more from a book -- get inside the character, don't give me cardboard

[Mythsaje]

6. Ah, yes...

It's funny how differences in personal taste highlight how pretentious some people get about the subject.

A writer's first job is to entertain. Period. If you're lucky, they'll do so in a fashion that is both original and thought-provoking. If you're really lucky, you get both of these things with a good sense of drama and comedy and even romance, much like real life.

A book doesn't have to be world-shaking to be good. It just has to entertain and not stumble all over itself in contextual or grammatical errors.

[pitohui]

8. backtracking pretty fast, aren't we now?

there are thousands of entertaining books, if all you want is light entertainment you don't have to put your money in the pocket of someone you confess to disliking -- entertainment is the easiest thing going, esp. formulaic entertainment like koontz's

i don't dislike the man altho his politics are cheap and have changed over the years to fit the times, which i do dislike, but i recognize that his books are not of high merit, if all you are seeking is entertainment and distraction, it is pretty easy to find writers whose views and lifestyles you can wholeheartedly support, there is a HELL of a lot of talent out there, too many good books too little time in my view

if it's pretentious to prefer quality then i'm proud to be pretentious

or as cynthia ozick once said, "i'm not entertained by entertainment"

[Mythsaje]

9. And people wonder why this is such a hostile environment

these days.

I find the books entertaining, his skill with words considerable, and the subject matter of his books, while not original, both entertaining and beguiling.

Of course, I read a normal size book in between two and three hours and have read that fast for over thirty years, so I suppose I can sacrifice a bit of time to read something that isn't "great" in a literary sense.

Tastes differ. That's for damn sure.

[EST]

11. I have read but one of Koontz's books and found it to be a booming

fine tale, a bit too heavy on "sezism" and overly descriptive (advises the analytical part of me,) but a rollicking good science fiction adventure, nonetheless.

Incidentally, I have read and re-read Heinlein's Glory Road and Door Into Summer, about every two years, more than a dozen times, now. Both tales were an essential part of my science fiction literary introduction, many years ago, when I was a teener, and I still thoroughly enjoy them.
I'm due again and really looking forward to it.

[Mythsaje]

17. As I tend to be short on description myself

I know what you mean there, but I like the style of his descriptions. He makes excellent use of similes and some of them are downright poetic.

Not sure what you mean by "sezism" but glad to know I'm not alone.

[Horse with no Name]

12. I like Dean Koontz

:shrug:

[LBJDemocrat]

7. Hahahahhahahahahahhahahahahah!

Good one. I agree. Airplane novels.

[Mythsaje]

10. To me 90% of all novels are "airplane novels."

In that I can easily read them in the space of a single flight.

So what?

[LBJDemocrat]

13. That's not what I meant

An airplane novel is a novel of little artistic merit whose main purpose is to entertain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airport_novel

[qdemn7]

14. "Little Artistic Merit"??

Shit, I'd much rather read those author's books whom that wiki link claims are "Airplane novelists", than some piece of artistically pretentious crap that screams out "OOOH look at me I'm an ARTISTE".

In fact I HAVE read almost every author on that list. Plus Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, Card, Rick Shelley, S.M. Stirling, Pournelle, Niven, and Stephen King. Never got into Koontz, though.

[Mythsaje]

16. I like Koontz better than King, in general...

Particularly his Midnight Cove books ("Fear Nothing" and "Seize the Night." This newest one, the one I'm listening to now, could well end up on that list, depending on how the second half of the book unfolds.

And I know what you mean about "Artiste." Bleh. Pretention makes my stomach sour.

Say, have you tried any of my books? ;)

[qdemn7]

19. No I haven't, BUT

I think I will. They look pretty interesting. Outside of Tolkien, I have never been muc of a reader of Fantasy. Yes, all kinds of SF, but never Fantasy. The last Fantasy novel I read was Gaiman's Anmerican Gods, and I simply loved that book. WOW!

I'm not an e-book kind of guy, got to have a physical book in my hand.

[Mythsaje]

20. My books are both sci-fi and fantasy...

The way I co-mingle the two is, in my experience, fairly unique.

A lot of people prefer paper over electronic formats... It's too bad, really, since e-books are far more environmentally friendly. It takes mere seconds to distribute them to anywhere in the world, and no trees are consumed in the process of creating the book.

[LBJDemocrat]

18. Then we disagree.

I think art should be about something more than immediate gratification, although that can be OK from time to time.

[Mythsaje]

15. I think that's an author's foremost task...

Everything else is gravy.

I enjoy heavy books upon occasion. I'd certainly put both the Dune Chronicles and Stranger in a Strange Land in that category, as well as such things as The Diamond Age and, hell, who knows what else...

I'm not sure what you mean by "artistic," since everyone's perceptions are so different in this respect. Looking back at my college literature courses, the only one of the reading assignments that I didn't find either woefully depressing or boring beyond human measure was "The Handmaid's Tale" and it was depressing enough by itself.

I have no literary pretentions myself. My task is to write an entertaining story that draws a person in and keeps them there until the end of the novel. If they gain something else out of it, all the better.