A grumpy response to the aforementioned melding of minds

Andrew Wheeler reacts grumpily to the Mind Meld at SF Signal that I’m part of this week (his title: King Canute Has a Posse), and has this to say about my small contribution:

Edward Willet [sic–I really wish I had a dime for every time someone leaves the second “T” off my name] opines that the grass is much, much greener over there, and those darn literary kids keep stealing our ideas. He also thinks that the average mainstream novel sells better than the average SFF novel, which is not true.

Well, I do think the grass is much, much greener over there when it comes to being taken seriously. I don’t think, however–nor do I say in my entry–that the average mainstream novel sells better than the average SFF novel, because I know perfectly well that’s not true. What I thought I was saying, though perhaps not very well (hey, I was writing near midnight while on vacation after a day of driving and sightseeing) is that if we could find a bridge between the two solitudes of SF and literary fiction, SF might find additional readers. Maybe literary fiction would, too. Then we could all sell more books, and live happily ever after.

Well, yes, it does sound like a fairy tale. But we weren’t asked to come up with a change we thought was likely, just what we would change if we could magically change one thing. And I think the change I suggested would be an all-around good. As would most of the other magical and probably equally unlikely changes suggested in the Mind Meld.

I’m sorry it made Andrew Grumpy, but since we are in fairy tale land, perhaps that was entirely appropriate.

I’ve always seen myself more as Sleepy, or maybe Doc.

Permanent link to this article: https://edwardwillett.com/2008/08/a-grumpy-response-to-the-aforementioned-melding-of-minds/

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