You can’t trust his screenshot because that person is intentionally misleading, sadly, given they intentionally skipped the case Avellone lost due to SLAPP laws. Whoever wrote that certainly has an agenda.

That’s an extremely misleading summary, because it skips the bit where Avellone’s lawsuit against one of the people was knocked out entirely as a SLAPP.

If you’re talking about the US, the US legal system absolutely does not value the presumption of innocence, especially not compared to other developed nations. The US has an extremely slow justice system, and routinely jails people whilst they await trial often for many months (sometimes years) for totally trivial…

Do any contemporary fiction books reach “more than 1-2% of the public”? I honestly don’t know. I know 30-40 years ago books absolutely did, but now? Literary fiction seems to have effectively become another kind of genre fiction in terms of popularity, in that, it has its devotees, but the public in general no longer…

I can agree to disagree on the amount (I could see 200, I couldn’t see as low as just 100 - the pointless and irrelevant cosmere wank alone is 200), but yeah that 4 could have dropped even more definitely fits with what I’ve heard and why I haven’t read 4.

Sure, but that makes the whole book grotesque in a bad way, because the author is clearly rooting for Monza, solely on the basis she isn’t working for a wizard (and indeed is frustrating their plans), but that’s like rooting some murderous thug in a brushfire war somewhere because they’re not working for either the…

This is a “you” problem. You should recognise that from your post.

I mean, it’s partly that, but also see this, from the article:

That’s fine. Sanderson does, IMHO have some strong and interesting characters - he just doesn’t handle them well for various reasons. It’s particularly sad when he creates a very interesting character, gives them an interesting emotional arc, then just slams on the breaks on that long before the arc is finished…

Yes, it’s the classic know-nothing thing to think. If you’re really profoundly ignorant, you tend to live in a dream world where anyone who disagrees with you about an author or writer or game developer IS secretly that game developer or author or whatever in disguise. It’s a bizarre child-like fantasy.

Yeah I’m not keen on Rothfuss myself, but what he demonstrates well is that readability and good prose are in no way opposed concepts, where people were trying to argue they were.

Jemisin is absolutely a cut above, yes. I think she kind of gets a little “out of hand” with it even in The City We Became, where it does dazzle, but kind of becomes the focus and detracts from the story (which is itself a lot less universal and less compelling than her previous works).

Interesting. That might well be a big part of it. It sort of fits the SU toxicity too (albeit with different issues than mental illness).

I agree with most of what you’re saying and yeah you’re not fanboying. However I disagree with the conclusion - that being that the “boring” skills are a “huge anomaly”. The only anomalistic skill Sanderson has is his apparent ability to pump out writing about 3x faster than almost any other author. That is highly…

Oh this is precious in its profound ignorance and attempt to whinge about privilege (whilst carefully avoiding using the actual word so you don’t trigger the people who might agree with you but don’t like that word).

Yes I read the blurb for Flint and Mirror and it was fascinating - but I’ll take a look at Little, Big. I’m always up for a fantasy author who can actually write. Thank you for mentioning/recommending him!

Right? It blows my mind.

Is that all you got? Really? Jeez.

Yup. There are authors who can pull it off better than others, by making the lore not actually matter than much and avoiding going into Basil Exposition/”As you know Bob...” mode, like Leigh Bardugo, so the world-building isn’t a problem. But Sanderson isn’t one of those, and decreasingly few successful fantasy…

Being lore-heavy isn’t necessarily a problem.