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[Masonwire]

Here come a couple of interesting observations from a different medium but some of this can be applied to literature as well:
http://crackmagazine.net/opinion/opi...lding-the-axe/

Quote

The best criticism takes the weaknesses within a piece of art and turns them against it, rather than personally attacking the artist themselves. The critic has a duty to the artist to treat them fairly, to not go in studs up with preconceptions. Yet beyond that the journalist owes them nothing – their responsibility is to the reader and to themselves, to be honest and fearless, to tell the truth, and to do it with flair.

http://thequietus.com/articles/23534...iticism-sexism

[Hidden X]

From Keene's response to Joshi:

Quote

My friend and peer Laird Barron was recently a target of his invective, under the guise of a “review”. What the public doesn’t know is that said review wasn’t inspired or created under the auspices or intention of literary criticism. No, it was pure spite. You see, Joshi was a self-avowed fan of Laird’s work. Joshi bought a story by Laird for the A Mountain Walked anthology (published by the wonderful Centipede Press). When Joshi later reached a deal with Dark Regions to reprint the anthology, he asked Laird for permission to reprint the story again, even though a second printing wasn’t in the original contract, for a sum that was less than what Laird found agreeable. Laird politely declined and sold the story elsewhere for a greater sum, as any professional writer would. And suddenly, Joshi decided to “critique” his work in a transparent take-down that caused a minor stir among horror authors but wasn’t even a blip on the radar of most horror readers.

This indeed coincides with Joshi's drastic change of opinion about Barron around that same time.
It would speak poorly (to say the least) of Joshi and of his credibility as a critic if this claim was to be proven true. Interestingly enough, in his response to this write-up of Keene's, Joshi failed to address this in any way... You'd think that he would at least quickly dismiss it in his usual manner.

[Masonwire]

Somebody else enters the arena. I wasn't aware of the existence of military sci fi.

Quote

I hate bullies of all types. I was bullied when I was a kid. For a brief time, I was a bully, unable to deal with some severe emotional distress I was having at the time. Then I was bullied so bad I was put in the hospital. So when I see bully-like behavior, I stand up. S.T. Joshi is a bully. Period. He pretends to be an academic critic, but his delivery is pure bully. He wears his Lovecraftian credentials on his sleeve, much like a Worshipful Master of a Masonic Lodge. But that's all he has.

[Malachi_Constant]

Quote Originally Posted by Hidden X

From Keene's response to Joshi: Quote My friend and peer Laird Barron was recently a target of his invective, under the guise of a “review”. What the public doesn’t know is that said review wasn’t inspired or created under the auspices or intention of literary criticism. No, it was pure spite. You see, Joshi was a self-avowed fan of Laird’s work. Joshi bought a story by Laird for the A Mountain Walked anthology (published by the wonderful Centipede Press). When Joshi later reached a deal with Dark Regions to reprint the anthology, he asked Laird for permission to reprint the story again, even though a second printing wasn’t in the original contract, for a sum that was less than what Laird found agreeable. Laird politely declined and sold the story elsewhere for a greater sum, as any professional writer would. And suddenly, Joshi decided to “critique” his work in a transparent take-down that caused a minor stir among horror authors but wasn’t even a blip on the radar of most horror readers. This indeed coincides with Joshi's drastic change of opinion about Barron around that same time. It would speak poorly (to say the least) of Joshi and of his credibility as a critic if this claim was to be proven true. Interestingly enough, in his response to this write-up of Keene's, Joshi failed to address this in any way... You'd think that he would at least quickly dismiss it in his usual manner.

I think Laird's story from A Mountain Walked not being reprinted in the paperback by Dark Regions, but instead published elsewhere as a standalone is pretty common knowledge. It was "The Man With No Name" and Journalstone put out the standalone.

[Hidden X]

Quote Originally Posted by Malachi_Constant

Quote Originally Posted by Hidden X From Keene's response to Joshi: Quote My friend and peer Laird Barron was recently a target of his invective, under the guise of a “review”. What the public doesn’t know is that said review wasn’t inspired or created under the auspices or intention of literary criticism. No, it was pure spite. You see, Joshi was a self-avowed fan of Laird’s work. Joshi bought a story by Laird for the A Mountain Walked anthology (published by the wonderful Centipede Press). When Joshi later reached a deal with Dark Regions to reprint the anthology, he asked Laird for permission to reprint the story again, even though a second printing wasn’t in the original contract, for a sum that was less than what Laird found agreeable. Laird politely declined and sold the story elsewhere for a greater sum, as any professional writer would. And suddenly, Joshi decided to “critique” his work in a transparent take-down that caused a minor stir among horror authors but wasn’t even a blip on the radar of most horror readers. This indeed coincides with Joshi's drastic change of opinion about Barron around that same time. It would speak poorly (to say the least) of Joshi and of his credibility as a critic if this claim was to be proven true. Interestingly enough, in his response to this write-up of Keene's, Joshi failed to address this in any way... You'd think that he would at least quickly dismiss it in his usual manner. I think Laird's story from A Mountain Walked not being reprinted in the paperback by Dark Regions, but instead published elsewhere as a standalone is pretty common knowledge. It was "The Man With No Name" and Journalstone put out the standalone.

Joshi's supposed negative reaction to it, as well as this being the possible cause of sudden and drastic change in his evaluation of Barron's work, is what is new for me (as well as for many others, by the looks of it).

[Evans]

Quote Originally Posted by Hidden X

From Keene's response to Joshi: Quote My friend and peer Laird Barron was recently a target of his invective, under the guise of a “review”. What the public doesn’t know is that said review wasn’t inspired or created under the auspices or intention of literary criticism. No, it was pure spite. You see, Joshi was a self-avowed fan of Laird’s work. Joshi bought a story by Laird for the A Mountain Walked anthology (published by the wonderful Centipede Press). When Joshi later reached a deal with Dark Regions to reprint the anthology, he asked Laird for permission to reprint the story again, even though a second printing wasn’t in the original contract, for a sum that was less than what Laird found agreeable. Laird politely declined and sold the story elsewhere for a greater sum, as any professional writer would. And suddenly, Joshi decided to “critique” his work in a transparent take-down that caused a minor stir among horror authors but wasn’t even a blip on the radar of most horror readers. This indeed coincides with Joshi's drastic change of opinion about Barron around that same time. It would speak poorly (to say the least) of Joshi and of his credibility as a critic if this claim was to be proven true. Interestingly enough, in his response to this write-up of Keene's, Joshi failed to address this in any way... You'd think that he would at least quickly dismiss it in his usual manner.

When did specifically did Joshi's opinion of Barron change? Thought he said some favorable things about The Imago Sequence and later became very defensive due to Nicolay connections?

I have a suspicion that some of the developing elements of Barron's work i.e. ongoing protagonists, 'action' characters et cetera et cetera rub Joshi up the wrong way. Somewhere in his mind is suspicion that active resistance, even if doomed to utter failure, detracts from Cosmic Horror (shadows of the Dunwitch Horror and Derlethism).

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

I definitely remember him souring on Barron's newer work several months ago at the very least.

Joshi's explanation for his Keene piece is insubstantial. Warning readers about weak writing is honourable but actively trying to anger people and seeing it as part of a greater tradition because some great writers did it too is not convincing.

Military science fiction has always been huge. Robert Heinlein, Joe Haldeman and any number of Baen writers. Films like Aliens, Predator. Warhammer 40,000. Videogames like Contra, Doom, Halo, Gears Of War etc... I've never cared for the genre much but I haven't read the classics.

[Masonwire]

Quote Originally Posted by Robert Adam Gilmour

Military science fiction has always been huge. Robert Heinlein, Joe Haldeman and any number of Baen writers. Films like Aliens, Predator. Warhammer 40,000. Videogames like Contra, Doom, Halo, Gears Of War etc... I've never cared for the genre much but I haven't read the classics.

My comment was a bit imprecise. Of course, I'm aware of the existence of the above-mentioned films/games/authors. It's just that the biographical information that Weston Ochse provides under the heading "living dangerously" made me chuckle a bit (and maybe sound too dismissive):

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Weston Ochse is a former intelligence officer and special operations soldier who has engaged enemy combatants, terrorists, narco smugglers, and human traffickers. His personal war stories include performing humanitarian operations over Bangladesh, being deployed to Afghanistan, and a near miss being cannibalized in Papua New Guinea

[Frater_Tsalal]

Actually, despite their general adherence to realism one could classify some aspects of Tom Clancy's work as military science fiction (I'm thinking in particular of his second novel, Red Storm Rising, which dealt with a fictionalized depiction of a hypothetical World War III in what was then the near future). Aside from that, I really have little interest in reading any sort of military fiction involving Lovecraft's Great Old Ones or what have you, despite having written one such tale myself (though I must stress I was parodying the genre in question). Best stick to some of the aforementioned video games instead.

[Evans]

For all his defensiveness, bellicosity and dogmatic foot-stomping re the Weird, I don't Joshi is the kind of person who would change his opinion on an author's merits based on that individual's personal misdemeanors. He strikes me as honest at least.

Quote Originally Posted by Robert Adam Gilmour

Joshi's explanation for his Keene piece is insubstantial. Warning readers about weak writing is honourable but actively trying to anger people and seeing it as part of a greater tradition because some great writers did it too is not convincing.

A simple 'Keene's oeuvre consists of disposable Pulp horror adventure paperbacks' would have sufficed. I'd never heard of the man before. I can understand why Joshi would feel the need to give King (back in the day) the kind of treatment he gave Keene if only because the former was so popular that Horror/Weird Fiction risked being identified with his work. Keene, as far as I know, never had any literary pretensions.