Saturday, September 10, 2011

The "Luridly Controversial" K. A. Jordan

Found on Goodreads Robust thread: The Nastiness of the Boards and Genre Dominated by Women.
"Have you seen Kat Jordan's luridly controversial analysis of the nastiness of the boards and genre dominated by women?"

OMG - here we go!

I have been outed - once and for all time - by the 'Man of All Trades' Andre Jute. (In case you are asking "Andre who?" here is the link to his 'Cool Main Press.') and a short bio.

Andre Jute was trained as an economist and a psychologist at various universities of erstwhile sound reputation. He’s been in and out of publishing all his life as a writer, typographer, editor, publisher and management advisor. Copyright © Andre Jute 2011

It is hardly lurid! I'm not stupid enough to insult the entire female gender for the sins of a few Queen Bees. The problem is that I understand them in a left-brained fashion that sounds godawful.
It started innocently enough.

Andre wrote this little number: 'Have the "Luvvies*" Taken Over Books?' Where he (unfairly to my mind) skewered a post by Stacia Kane Being Published Changes Everything.
(I'm sorry, the train of thought leads us to a large number of links.)

Stacia Kane said this:

“The fact is, when you decide to become a writer you give up some of your personal freedoms. When you sell your first book you give up even more. There’s no getting around that, and there’s no changing it. You can no longer say exactly what you think exactly the way you think it at all times. You can no longer assume that only the people you’re familiar with are reading your blog or your tweets. You no longer have the luxury of an opinion, honestly, on a lot of things.”

To boil this down into the nutshell of Internet ManSpeak: "Drink the damn Kool-ade and shut the frak up."

I agree with her, 100% percent. There is just one problem with this - I can't do it. Never have been able to.

So when Jute replied: "That’s a state of affairs that should embarrass anyone who calls himself a writer.

A writer is an intellectual.

The best intellectuals are measured by the number and stature of their enemies.

A writer, and particularly a novelist, is simply not worth the name if she creeps around fearing she’ll offend an agent — and agent! a sales representative! — or some other thin-skinned writer incapable of debating points robustly." 

I thought then (and think now) he was working from a Male Dominated industrial model that is as obsolete as the Literary Fiction culture of the 1960's. (Which did produce genius like Harlan Ellison, a man who still measures himself by the number and stature of his enemies.)
Today's Trade Publishing culture is different. 
"In a Female dominated business – ‘Fitting In Without Making Waves’ is a requirement. Otherwise the rest of the ‘tribe’ turns on the interloper and refuses to let her in. 

Alpha Males will work together with common goals, they growl and snarl at each other and are okay with that.

Queen Bees kill their rivals."

Look at Mary W. Walter's "Talent Killers" post that got her permanently blacklisted by ALL agents. Of course she's Indie now - but at the time it was one of those "You Will Never Work In The Publishing Industry Again" events. (My link to her blog goes RIGHT to that post.)

I'll bet that men like Jute and Ellison inslutted  (my slip is showing) insulted people right and left, only to work with them a year or so later. (Well, maybe not in Jute's case - rumor has it there were Hit Squads after him.)

The point is two men can fight and be friends ever after. Two women fight and it is poison in the Kool-ade. To quote Kane again: "I hate to sound like a bitch here, but why should I help you, in that case?"

If the story had been "The Empress's New Clothes" it would have ended with the entire village put to death to save face.

That's a fact, Jack! - I mean Jute.

Ms Kitty

Here's a link started by some poor soul who should have just drank the fraking kool-ade.

OH MY - Look who popped up just before the thread got shut down. (Gales of Giggles.)

3 comments:

Andre Jute said...

Stacia Kane was quoted exactly. She said all that. I commented only on what she said. Nothing unfair about it. She wants to drink the koolaid; I think it tastes like unprincipled piss.

What it comes down to is that Stacia wants to run in popularity contests and I deal in eternal verities.

You gave the wrong URL for the CoolMain Press, where I'm the honorary editorial advisor. Try: http://coolmainpress.com/

K. A. Jordan said...

The current state of the Trade Publishing Industry reflects a hive-mind. 'Have a platform (so we don't have to promote you) or be famous already or young, sexy and exploitable (so we don't have to promote you) and don't make any frakin' waves - (so we don't have to pay you.)'

There is nothing 'intellectual' in that.

There are more examples of this behavior all the time.

K. A. Jordan said...

PS - Andre - I DO have a whip. It's a 10 foot long lunge whip that I use to work the horses.

Lazy beasts won't work for me unless I hold it.

I should get a short one to use on my husband. lol

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