Blargh Ugh Wugh

If I can have but one thing said about me after I am finally in the earth (preferably after a dramatic battle in which all authors unite to destroy me), I would like it to be this: "He was the founder of the International Bikini Jousting League."

If I can have two, I would like the other one to be: "He was never a dick without intentionally wanting to be one."

Today, I might compromise that latter part, since today I am going to call out someone.

Before I continue, I want to preface this post with a few points:

1. I am not trying to quash anyone's theories, pleas or discussions.  I absolutely welcome the idea put forth below, even if I disagree with it.

2. I take absolutely no issue with the poster.  Only his post.

3. It's worth noting that I've been accused of the same thing that is present in this post and, at least in part, I am venting some of my personal frustration with it.

4. It's also worth noting that I have, on public account, been guilty of the same dismissive attitude before (steampunk fans probably have a good reason to be irritated at me).  I don't quite agree with myself back then, but I don't blame anyone who still holds it against me.

If any of these reasons don't sit well with you, or if you don't believe me, then I must advise you that this post will not sit well with you.  Aside from that, though…

On one of the latest editions of SF Signal: Mind Meld, a thriving discussion on underutilized cultures in fantasy (with some very excellent posts by noted authors that you should definitely check out) is born.  It might be said that I'm being an anus and a troll by picking at the comments, but one of these, by B.C. Smith, stuck out to me:

What bothers me is that no one (Gaslight dogs, I'm looking right at you) can write a SFF novel set in another culture WITHOUT making a big political statement. So much so that it destroys whatever interest I had in the story or charactors. That and some just can't simply write good stories (hint: just because a SFF novel is set in X culture other than europe and has a POC protagonist DOES NOT MEAN IT'S GOING TO BE A GREAT BOOK). Shall I point people to the awful short story 'pimp my airship' (damn, does it pain me to have to bring that up) and the urban fantasy series by maurice broaddus. Not exactly quality literature and not even good SFF period. That and the fact that some authors take the lousy route of just doing a LOTR\D&D clone set in an arabian fantasyland (hey! just like a certain saladin ahmed novel coming out). I personally can't wait to see somebody do an asian fantasy that reads more like Joe abercrombie, scott lynch, GRRM, brent weeks, glen cook or steven erikson rather than said D&D clone masquerading as something creative or original. And I like my share of fantasy in other cultures (the desert of souls and the winds of khalakovo), but when somebody writes in those settings just to use their charactors just to carry out their political themes (resulting in me being bored to TEARS) or get praise for being different but who really CAN'T be orignal with anything else, that just reeks of sheer fail. Heh, I could get shot down for all that, but please consider it.

There's a lot of this post we could comment on, some that probably should be commented on by people with more of a strength for it than me, but, at the risk of being a picker of nits, I wanted to address something in this post that I find alarmingly more commonplace online and in genre readerships.

We frequently bemoan the lack of originality in fantasy, dismissing things as D&D clones/LotR clones/GRRM-hacks, whatever.  This is not always an unfair assessment, but when it's followed by such a dismissive gesture without even having read the book in question, it can come off as extraordinarily thick.  Beyond that, there is a certain brain-twisting ire that arises from a declaration that nothing is original followed by a laundry list of authors that other books are faulted for not being more similar to.

I definitely don't want to seem like there's something I'm not getting, and I most certainly don't want to appear as though I'm picking on B.C. Smith here, but something about this just doesn't add up to me.

You can't mutter irately about a lack of originality and then complain that more people aren't like Brent Weeks or Joe Abercrombie.  It doesn't work that way.

You certainly can not like a book.  You can even look at a book without reading it and decide it has no interest for you and simply pass it by.  I don't and never will claim to be the supreme arbiter of taste.  But to not read a book, not like it, then go on to claim not only what it is but what it should have been cheapens the book itself, cheapens the book it was being compared to and cheapens the readership as a whole, giving the impression and reinforcing the impression that we only like the same thing told over and over.

Again, I'm not implying that every book deserves your unending support simply by virtue of having been written.  I'm not suggesting that you need to agree with every book, accept every book or even restrain yourself from criticizing a book.  Criticism breeds discussion and the more discussion there is, the stronger the book is.  I'm not even saying you need to read outside your comfort zone.  If you enjoy Brent Weeks and only Brent Weeks, go right ahead.  He's an awesome author and his books are great.

But don't read Brent Weeks, only Brent Weeks, then proclaim other books to be unoriginal D&D clones because they aren't Brent Weeks.

That's all I'm saying, directly.

What I'm suggesting goes a little further.

I'm suggesting that diversity does more to help readers and writers than is apparent.  The more readers appreciate diversity and originality, even if it's not always successful, the more encouragement publishers have to pick up the new and offbeat.  The more writers write new and offbeat, the more diversity readers have to read.  I am suggesting that you never have anything to lose by exploring beyond what you're comfortable reading.  I am suggesting that you won't always like what you read, but you'll have new perspective that enhances your other readings.  I am suggesting that you owe it to yourself, not the author, to go out of your way to appreciate diversity, resist the urge to dismiss and to sometimes be surprised by what you've read.

You may like Brent Weeks.  I like him, too.  I like his books a lot.  But I wouldn't like a store in which every book is a copy of The Night Angel Trilogy.

The only time I want to see more than one Brent Weeks on the shelf is when he finally realizes his dream of opening the super-store franchise, Weeks' World, your go-to shop-stop for all things Brent Weeks and Brent Weeks-related including home fitness DVDs, haircare products, action figures, effigies of Joe Abercrombie and officially-licensed BrentGrillz, the only portable, indoor, electric grill endorsed by Brent Weeks.

It will happen one day, my friends.

And it will be glorious.