A Brief Open Letter to George RR Martin
Normally I would not ask impertinent questions of my betters in days like these, but in this case, there is cause. http://grrm.livejournal.com/420090.html
I left the following comment there.
* * *
Sir,
You commented “John C. Wright SIX TIMES!!! John C. Wright, a writer famed far and wide for having no opinions on politics, race, religion, or sexual orientation, and would never dream of injecting such messages into his Damned Good Stories.”
I assume here you are being ironic, and stating that I do indeed put messages into my fiction.
However, we have worked together in the past. You edited the anthology SONGS OF A DYING EARTH in which my short story, ‘Guyal the Curator’ appeared.
Were there or were there not pro-conservative messages in that story? You may not recall it, but I know you read it.
If, since you are an honest man, you will say that story had no overt political message in it, on what grounds do you assume I put overt political messages in my other stories?
In other words, you are accusing me of hypocrisy, I, who have never said a bad word about you in public or private to anyone, and who have always hitherto held you in the highest esteem. What is the factual basis for the accusation, please?
If there is no factual basis, why make the accusation?
John C Wright
* * *
ADDENDUM: Much to my pleasure and surprise, Mr Martin does me the honor of an immediate and concise reply. I repeat the whole here without comment. The reader is invited to draw his own conclusions as to the logical sufficiency of the reply.
Actually, I don’t recall “accusing” you of anything. I was pointing out that the Sad Puppy stance against “message fiction” rang kind of false when they nominate someone (six times) who has lots of “message” in his fiction. It would have been more honest for the Pups to say they don’t want liberal/ feminist/ “SJW” / socialist/ atheist/ etc messages in their stories, but they think conservative, libertarian, and Christian messages are just dandy.
Truth be told, I think there are messages in every story, whether the author intended to put them in there or not. The things we write are invariably colored by the ways we see the world.
At this date, I don’t recall the details of your story in SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH. I would need to review it. Yes, of course I read it. I bought it. I liked it. You knew your Vance, and captured the Dying Earth quite well.
Jack Vance himself was quite conservative, as you may or may not know, and grew even more so in the last years of his life. You can see it in some of his stories, though it requires careful reading; he never stopped a story for a lecture. Vance is only one of many conservative SF authors that I hold in high esteem. Actually, Vance is probably my favorite SF writer, and as a fantasist I rank him up there with Howard, Leiber, and Tolkien.
I also like Heinlein, Kipling, Niven & Pournelle, Lovecraft, Blish… I love Poul Anderson. That does not mean I believe there were no messages in their fiction. That also does not mean I agree with those messages. They wrote great stories.
What annoys me is the Sad Puppy stance that liberal writers are producing “message fiction” while guys on their ticket are just writing Ripping Good Yarns untroubled by politics or opinions.
I said I would not comment, but I must make one: Mr Martin is to be saluted for being a voice of temperate reason in the midst of a flurry of shrieking passion. There are those in our field who should learn from his example.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
