At least you’re honest about the pains of talking about contemporary crime fiction in ways that the author and their friends might notice. Most people online embrace a bizarre alternate reality in which a book by a good person has to be as good as the person who wrote it. If only that were true.
Yeah, it's a different mindset--no one's feelings (or career) are at stake when I praise a Charles Willeford book, or say the early Kinsey Milhones are better than the later ones. I'm not competing against anyone, either, but I do think "I might've done that differently" or "I wish they'd added another twist so it wasn't as predictable."
I try to give a push to current writers, mostly indies or small press folks, in my substack. I don't do it each time, but when I encounter one I really like, I put a mini review and a link in there. It's small, grain of sand stuff...
At least you’re honest about the pains of talking about contemporary crime fiction in ways that the author and their friends might notice. Most people online embrace a bizarre alternate reality in which a book by a good person has to be as good as the person who wrote it. If only that were true.
Yeah, it's a different mindset--no one's feelings (or career) are at stake when I praise a Charles Willeford book, or say the early Kinsey Milhones are better than the later ones. I'm not competing against anyone, either, but I do think "I might've done that differently" or "I wish they'd added another twist so it wasn't as predictable."
I try to give a push to current writers, mostly indies or small press folks, in my substack. I don't do it each time, but when I encounter one I really like, I put a mini review and a link in there. It's small, grain of sand stuff...
It's small but it matters, Martine!
Thank you Sam Wiebe.
Thank you for reading, Dale!