Let me start by saying that Wolfe's story is excellent, but its excellence is easy to miss--in spite of the very direct telling of the tale, and in spite of the clear violence described, what *actually* happens is only whispered. That whisper is--I believe--what makes the story so good. This is not to excuse slopping reading. Nor to excuse the leap the reviewer apparently makes (I haven't read the review). Perhaps this is a reviewer--as Ellen you suggest--not familiar enough with the genre to review the story properly, but I'd suggest that the real problem is not reading the story well, because the story is one of those stories I would proudly give to someone who doesn't read genre, but who is a serious reader.
And now a question: I once attended a panel with several big name genre editors, and one of the editors explained that for their original anthology to be published by the big house they worked for they had to use publisher-generated checklists when choosing authors. The lists were described like this: your antho must include one author from these two huge names, three authors from these ten big names, and five authors from these fifteen mid-list names. After that, the editor said, they had maybe six slots they could fill with whomever they pleased. Are those sorts of requirements common, or did I just attend a panel starring the unluckiest editor in the world?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-05-17 04:14 am (UTC)And now a question: I once attended a panel with several big name genre editors, and one of the editors explained that for their original anthology to be published by the big house they worked for they had to use publisher-generated checklists when choosing authors. The lists were described like this: your antho must include one author from these two huge names, three authors from these ten big names, and five authors from these fifteen mid-list names. After that, the editor said, they had maybe six slots they could fill with whomever they pleased. Are those sorts of requirements common, or did I just attend a panel starring the unluckiest editor in the world?