Blowin’ in the Wind

Ahh, what’s that bracing citrus scent, astringent, acidic and clean? Why, it’s the smell of a rant. Yes, folks, MotherReader has finally gone all-out, creating a bumper sticker and a fabulous logo for BACA – Bloggers Against Celebrity Authors.

Some may feel uneasy with the level of vitriol this subject can elicit, but here’s the thing: Can celebrities bank on their celebrity to get into Serious Lit’triture? No. You can have a “my life on the backlot” tell-all book or a celebrity+’pimping for serious topic’ book like Katie Couric’s about her husband’s cancer, but those are a dime a dozen, and are generally stripped, pulped and recycled within a month unless they’re just awesome. (This from people in the know at B&N.) Could, say, Matt Damon Angelina Jolie, walk into a New York publishing firm and be taken seriously as a novelist? No. But let him her write a children’s book — The Bourne Babies My Many Colored Babies — and heck, hshe’d be in. {EDIT: Thanks to blogger e.luper for reminding me that Matt Damon did, in fact, write the script for Good Will Hunting, and may, in fact, be able to …write a novel. Maybe.}

It’s as if publishing is a marble-walled edifice, gates kept by stern agents and editorial assistants in ocher and bronze livery, and children’s publishing is a back door flapping open in the wind with no gate, and no guards, through which any fool off the street can wander.

…unless they’re an actual person, and not a Name, and then, miraculously, the gates and guards are back, with an extra layer of frowning critics who expect that kidlit writers are people with too many cats and a Garanimals-for-Grownups wardrobe, in some kind of extended adolescence and not in possession of a real job writing for ‘real’ people.

What is UP WITH THAT!?

Today’s other rant is about my current Work In Progress. Via GalleyCat, I hear that not only in the U.S. is there a wave of WWII novels in the making, it’s happening in the UK as well. I am obscurely annoyed by this, as my current WIP, going to the editor this week? Is set during… the Second World War.

Am I merely a follower, here, banking on the Ultimate Good v. Evil story, where the Good Guys Won? Good grief, I hope not… I think what I have is an unique angle, but is there really anything new in plots these days, especially plots with a foregone conclusion? Not… really. I guess it’s because current situations aren’t as clean-cut that people want to return to old victories… which is another rant in itself, I’m sure.

What’s that? A breath of fresh air? Why, yes, it’s A.F.’s interview with the 7-Imps! Don’t miss it!