Aftermath of the "Summon Author" Spell

(See My Elves Are Different for something like an explanation of "Summon Author.")

Actually, I should be more specific: I didn't manage to summon John Scalzi here, as "Summon Author" is supposed to do, I just induced him to post about me back in his own place. Perhaps what I actually cast was a "Poke Author With a Pointy Stick" spell, which is also very common on the 'net.

Anyway, Scalzi wrote a long it's-not-a-manifesto for the New Comprehensible, though he did specifically refuse to drum anyone out or call for all future SF to be written in New Comprehensibilist mode. (You can't win them all.) I still have hope, though -- you can't have a real literary movement without feuds, fights, and blood on the floor.

Minor Point 1: it was Patrick who said that John had already left the con, and so we could take his name in vain (and plan out his future career for him). Matter of fact, he said it gleefully. Of course, we're clearly not the Towering Editorial Overlords we aspire to be if we're not even sure where our putative puppets are, but perhaps practice will make perfect. (Now I need to find another author to make plans for...)

Minor Point 2: This is unrelated, but I wanted to share another thought I had during the "New Millennium" panel -- Steve Erikson's "Malazan" novels are to epic fantasy what Charles Stross's Accelerando is to Hard SF.