Re: Hugo Shortlist 2008 (Sawyer)

On Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:00:10 -0700 (PDT), Howard
<rayc_hrc@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>On Mar 21, 7:43 pm, Artemis <artem...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> On Mar 21, 10:53 am, David T. Bilek <davidbi...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>> > David T. Bilek <davidbi...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>> > Who keeps nominating this Sawyer bull****?  Is it a joke?  Yeah,
>> > Rollback is less vomit inducing that most Sawyer but that doesn't
make
>> > it Hugo worthy.  "Less undeserving than HOMINIDS" does not an
>> > endorsement make.
>>
>> > Shame on you people.
>>
>>   I apologize for changing the subject, but what exactly is wrong
>>   with Sawyer? I have never read any of his novels and I would
>>   like to know why several people here think that they should be
>>   avoided.
>>

>I don't necessarily think they should be avoided.  At the craft level,
>he seems quite a decent writer; I've found his stuff to be fairly
>clean reads when I've tried them (though I've not read him in a long
>time...I think Flashforward was the last novel of his that I tried).
>I just don't think he's writing anything that really makes me _want_
>to read him, which is the best description I have for writers that
>really push my buttons.  To me, he's "midlist" in terms of talent (not
>sales).


I'd probably agree that there are far worse writers than Sawyer.  He's
mediocre.  But I reserve the right to criticize him far more than
other authors of similar talents because they don't get nominated for
the Hugo award every year, and don't get the damn award for worst
novel to win the Hugo in 50 years.  They also don't self aggrandize to
the extent that Sawyer does, nor market themselves for the awards they
way he seemed to before he finally got paid off by the hometown crowd
in Toronto.

-David