Alright, I have my gloves on, my mouth guard in, and my protective eye-wear. I'm all set for the rumble that's sure to happen.

Paul Raven, who currently runs Futurismic, posted a response to Gary Gibson's response to Richard Morgan's essay about the bickering within the genre community.

I must say that I am thoroughly impressed with Morgan's essay. Granted, I'm not denying that I've railed against particular genre aspects or facets. I have - a few times. But typically it's more out of distate for the way people talk, rather than the genre (or sub-genre) itself. Almost whole-heartedly, I agree with Morgan. Although I do think that Paul and Mr. Gibson do have a point about the passion of the genre and both its writers and readers.

HOWEVER, there is a line that can, and should, be drawn between civil discourse and school-yard name-calling. Having discussions about one's preference for fiction is acceptable; resorting to belittling someone for their preference is immature and unproductive.

We are a young community when compared to something like mainstream fiction. So many paths have been carved by new sub-genres, that there is a whole host of people all vying for the same attention. And what we don't seem to understand is that we can share the readers we're trying to steal from some other sub-genre. And while Sheer Speculation Press may espouse a desire to get back to the traditional, there's always room for new traditions.

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As a bit of additional material, I wanted to say something in response to this article about Richard Morgan's essay posted on Nick Mamatas' blog.

While the initial comment is sound - and Morgan, in fact, edited his essay to reflect the response - the comments following are inane. What began as a seemingly-intelligent response to Richard Morgan's essay, turned into a collection of the previously mentioned name-calling and chest-beating, which amounts to nothing more than a "see, the mystery writers do it, too" without any sort of logical counter.

I find it sadly (and yet still humorously) ironic that the people commenting exhibit the very thing that Morgan is writing about: bickering and bitching when there doesn't need to be any.