--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Kevin Burton Smith
<kvnsmith@...> wrote:
>
> Mildly Peeved wrote:
>
> > Kevin, I'm sorry, I can't resist commenting on
your note about schtick
> > and fake personas, and I know it's been a few
years since we met, and
> > while you're maybe not the best looking guy in
the world, you're
> > certainly not the stonecold mean muthafucka
you're trying to look like
> > in your photo on your blog...
>
> I look mean to you? You need to get out more. I
think I look befuddled
> and lost and like I need glasses. Or at least to
learn how to take
> sharper pictures.
>
I didn't say you looked mean... I said you were TRYING to
look mean... A bit of difference there...
Kevin, I agree with you. All the posturing to create tough
guy images mean nothing to me, nor do I care what the
authors's background was. But unfortunately these days
marketing hype like "platform" and "back story" are more
important to some publishers than the actual books they're
publishing. There's this unfortunate movement towards
branding authors and putting out a package than caring about
the merits of what's being published. BUT... the books that a
RARA AVIS-like group 70 years from now will be discussing and
reading will be based on the writing and not the image the
author or his publisher tried to create. Hell, I couldn't
care less about Hammett's background, I keep rereading his
books and Continental Op stories because I love the
writing.
Btw. I care so much about creating a tough guy image for
myself that I included in my last few book bios that I used
to do software development. Like there's such thing as a
"tough guy" software developer...
--Dave Z.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 15 May 2008 EDT