evile

So, Esquire published this article recently. It interested me because one of my college mentors used to write for Esquire so I read it from time to time, and because I really have let my reading habits lapse during this pandemic and stress and I need to find some new things to read and get back into the habit of reading rather than spacing out in front of a screen. Vary the dissociation methods up a bit, use parts of my brain I'm not using at the moment, etc.

Lots of comments about the 'woke mob' and why isn't Tolkein, Heinlen, Asimov, [fill in the blank hundred year old author] on here....

And then FB experts and their followers using the list to launch political rants against the rabid left, feminists, and people of color. The usual bullshit commentary from the usual neckbeard trolls.
ugh. People like this are why I've generally avoided fandom, conventions, cosplay, etc. There's just so much ugly gatekeeping and it's so fucking tiresome and unpleasant.

So, were to I engage in conversation with said cat-piss men/ neckbeard trolls, on the off chance that they'd be able to listen and comprehend (I know they don't and won't, so that's why I'm writing here, just to get it off my chest and out of my head) here are the points I'd try to make:

listicles like this can't include every single favorite author ever in the history of ever, the writer was probably trying for more contemporary works rather than the 'classics' known by all fans, and the 'of all time' is hyperbolic clic-bait. Congrats, if you commented with 'whatabout' or got your underthings in a bunch over it, you fell for it. Esquire got eyes on the page, which is all they wanted, anyway

'best' is subjective. Your favorites aren't my favorites and that's OK. We will have writers & books we agree on and writers & books we don't.

Authors like JK Rowling and MZ Bradley and David Eddings and Orson Scott Card and Piers Anthony are problematic, messy, terrible human beings. Even my beloved Harlan Ellison was a giant creep--stories of him being sexist and gross at cons abound, as much as it pains me to say. Authors who are alive or were alive during the readers' lifetimes have this sort of thing come to light and then we have to go through the minefield of trying to figure out how to (whether to) enjoy their art for its own sake, or if we need to shun both the art and the artist. For myself, in the case of knowing that MZB was abusive and either allowed, encouraged, or aided her partner in acts of child abuse and pedophilia make it very very difficult to re-read any of her stuff, let alone enjoy it. I, personally, just can't separate the art and the artist in that case. (Harlan Ellison hitting on women at cons and being sexist, for whatever reason, I find forgive-able. 'a product of his time' Maybe that makes me a bad person too, I dunno.)

OTOH, why not JUST LET PEOPLE ENJOY THINGS.? The world is a dumpster fire, we are all suffering and lonely and anxious and sad, so if there's a book or a writer that takes us away from the shit for a harmless mental trip to lands of swords and sorcery and dragons and magic, just please let people enjoy that. FFS.