Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

While we are not an RWA site solely, we had a lot of response to the discussion regarding the awards ceremony, and the direction RWA should move in from this point forward.

I thought, since permission to forward was granted, y’all who had a great deal to say on the topic would like to see the response of Gayle Wilson, President-Elect and one classy lady in my opinion for reasons separate to this issue, and what appears to be much of the board.

It had to happen, of course.

There are apparently rumblings and murmurings about how the RITA awards ceremony fiasco shouldn’t have been publicized. That it shouldn’t have been discussed outside RWA loops, and that there’s no point in determining who wrote the script, and who gave it the greenlight so proper blame can be assigned.

My first thought was: y’know, this was a big ceremony with hundreds and hundreds of attendees, not all of whom were RWA members. Get a grip.

My second thought was: it’s almost always best to have things out in the open and publicly discussed. A lot of shit gets flung this way, but when it’s in the open, you can at least see the shit coming and duck. Or toss the shit back. Or whatever. Hot damn, this metaphor is HORRIBLE, but I hope y’all get what I’m trying to say.

Ah well. For Selah, who broke the story on Tuesday, massive props to you, lady.

For those of you who are curious, here’s the original discussion of the topic--the comments are where all the real juicy bits are.

Congratulations to June for being the first to guess correctly today’s Guess that Lonely Heart

The Smart Bitches hereby dub thee:

And remember, if it’s nae Scottish, it’s CRAAAAAP! 

You know the drill:

1. Name
+
2. Title
+
3. Author
+
Correct guess
=
Smart Bitch Title™!

Feisty but loyal young Lady does not seek Scottish lad but I don’t have much choice in the matter. If I must find out if the rumor about what hides under your kilts is true, I wish for a strong leader who will learn to appreciate, protect, and honor me as I diligently and effortlessly charm the living daylights out of everyone in the keep while simultaneously driving you mad. Lairds with freakishly insane extended family need not apply.  Ya ken?

A lot of people have been very, very indignant at Terry Pratchett for his comments on J.K. Rowling, flinging accusations of jealousy, pettiness, etc. Me, I’m just shaking my head.

A little caveat: I enjoy Terry Pratchett’s novels, whereas I think Harry Potter is mediocre at best. At any rate, I’m quoting, in full, what Terry Pratchett wrote:

WHY IS it felt that the continued elevation of J K Rowling can only be achieved at the expense of other writers (Mistress of magic, News Review, last week)? Now we learn that prior to Harry Potter the world of fantasy was plagued with “knights and ladies morris-dancing to Greensleeves.”

In fact the best of it has always been edgy and inventive, with “the dark heart of the real world” being exactly what, underneath the top dressing, it is all about. Ever since The Lord of the Rings revitalised the genre, writers have played with it, reinvented it, subverted it and bent it to the times. It has also contained some of the very best, most accessible writing for children, by writers who seldom get the acknowledgement they deserve. 

Rowling says that she didn’t realise that the first Potter book was fantasy until after it was published. I’m not the world’s greatest expert, but I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds, jumping chocolate frogs, owl mail, magic food, ghosts, broomsticks and spells would have given her a clue?

Terry Pratchett
Salisbury, Wiltshire

OK, maybe it’s my prejudice shining through, but this really sounds more like a rant about popular (and inaccurate) misconceptions of fantasy than an attack on Rowling. What clued me? This sentence: “Now we learn that prior to Harry Potter the world of fantasy was plagued with ‘knights and ladies morris-dancing to Greensleeves.’” That seems to shift the focus from Rowling to what the journalist wrote about fantasy.

Anyway, Neil Gaiman addressed this miles better than I ever could, so if you haven’t yet, go read what he says.

And by the way? If Rowling DID actually say she didn’t know she was writing a fantasy novel (and given the way people are misquoted in the papers, I’m doubtful she said exactly that), I agree with Pratchett’s snarkery.