Larry Niven on the Implied Contract Writers have with Readers
Via Stephen Herreid, I saw this post from the Writers of the Future, a long-standing program that seeks to identify and promote new science fiction and fantasy authors. WofF has lots of judges, and I’m sure that not all of them would agree with Larry here, but this is an interesting extension of my post yesterday on Penny Dreadfuls.
Low art has no other purpose other than to entertain the audience, and its practitioners act accordingly. High art, especially in its mid-twentieth century art-for-arts-sake incarnation, feels itself above such petty concerns.
Neil Gaiman famously wrote to a fan to tell him that George R. R. Martin is not your bitch, but I think time has not really been kind to Gaiman’s assertion that Martin just needed time to recharge. Martin really does seem content to take his fans’ money without continuing his most popular series. I think the proper response to that is to reject George R. R. Martin, and all his empty promises.
Stop giving him money, and support artists who do feel like they work for you.
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