Gollancz list (was: Re: Book of the New Sun won thecontest!)

Lane Haygood · 07 Aug 2011, 03:54 · from 2011-August.txt.gz

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From: lhaygood at gmail.com (Lane Haygood)
Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2011 22:54:37 -0500
Subject: (urth) Gollancz list (was: Re: Book of the New Sun won
	thecontest!)
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I have found a few Wolfe works "preachy," but it doesn't bother me any
more than Mieville's preachiness, even though I agree more with
Mieville than Wolfe.  I suppose because Wolfe and Mieville are
intelligent I can recognize in them a like mind that can discuss
differences rationally.

I don't actually have a problem with righties, I have a problem with
uncritical acceptance of any position and people that have an aversion
to anything that challenges their own viewpoints.  So, for instance, I
have no problem reading Wolfe or even C.S. Lewis, but I find reading
someone like Ayn Rand tiring, and I had to put down Dan Simmons'
(always a favorite of mine) latest because I just got tired of the
constant "Muslims are gonna kill us all!" hysteria.

That said, I think LeGuin can be heavy-handed at times (like the
Dispossessed) but her brand of left-anarchism is more or less
palatable to both lefties and libertarian-types, in the same way that
Orwell (a democratic socialist) and Huxley (general malcontent) are
generally palatable for their anti-authoritarian views which more or
less fit nicely with any pro-democratic political bent, whatever that
bent's views on economics and social stratification.

LH

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