Kenneth Gorelick writes:
>"Monty wins the bannana" is NOT an unequivocal assertion of congruency
>between the Dragon and Devera. Frankly, I like Kieron as the Dragon
>MUCH better than I like Devera as the Dragon. And, knowing Steve's
>prediliction for misdirection, I would not be surprised to learn the
>"Monty wins the bannana" was not intended to confirm Monty's theory.
Who are we to destroy your fragile illusions?
============================
Largely un-relatedly, I'll note that as someone who's participated or
observed a number of subject groups with the author, it seems as if
they fall into a number of very different styles.
The first, not even all that worthy of mention, is the "flack" style.
In this, the author is only present as a publicity move, and generally
doesn't "interact" with the fans on any real level. Not sure I've
seen this, but it feels as if it's around enough to be mentioned.
Somewhat more interactive is the "star" mentality. In this, the
author (or whatever; the content producer) views his or her
interaction with the fans as unreal; basically, another performance.
Near as I can tell, the primary signifier of this is that the "star"
will feel free to lie when it suits them and they think it improves
the performance -- after all, it's all part of the show; nothing is
real, right? Joss Whedon's online presence seems to smack of this
idea, from what I've seen of it.
The next (not that these can really be ranked, exactly, though I'm
doing it anyway; it's certainly not a straight progression) is the
"performer" mentality. In this, the creator is still a performer as
per the "star" above...but while they are generally on stage, and will
often attempt to misdirect and play to the audience, they also view
the forum as a true reality of its own; as such, will usually avoid
outright lies, instead responding with hints and misinterpretable
statements. In comparison with Whedon, JMS ( J. Michael Straczynski,
creator of Babylon 5) had(has?) an online presence falling into this
category.
The last (though it can probably be subdivided on its own) is
"participant". On this level, the creator feels part of, rather than
"above" the community; participating in discussion on a genuine level,
and often actually giving straight dope or refusing to answer
questions rather than making every answer a "performance". To my
mind, Brust clearly falls into this category (as, of course, do Jo
Walton, PDDB, Joel Rosenberg[jerk that he sometimes is], Daniel Keys
Moran, and numerous others).
Thoughts?
--
Joshua Kronengold (mneme at io.com) "I've been teaching |\ _,,,--,,_ ,)
--^--him...to live, to breathe, to walk, to sample the /,`.-'`' -, ;-;;'
/\\joy on each road, and the sorrow at each turning. |,4- ) )-,_ ) /\
/-\\\I'm sorry if I kept him out too late"--Vlad Taltos '---''(_/--' (_/-'