"Yeah?"
"Hey."
"Hey, Trent."
"Ben. I'm just ringing to tell you that I've become the shining white knight of the Aurealis Awards."
"No shit?"
"No shit." In the background, I can hear a motor start up. "Yeah, I signed a form. Ah, basically, it means that I can't start my own award. I had a catchy title, did you hear? The Trenties I was going to call them--
"Dude, what's that noise in the background?"
"The plane."
A loud cough of an engine hitting full, a mechanical monster roaring, preparing.
I say, "Plane?"
"Yeah, we're coming to bomb you. You being the enemy and all, y'know?"
Yes, I am talking about the Aurealis Awards again, because, once again, people are calling me an asshole because I said some things about an award. Not Trent, incidentally. Trent's a friend, and he has a blog post about what the award means to him, which is quite reasonable and nice, and where he also notes that while he liked getting the award, it doesn't mean much about his work, and it didn't change his life. Trent's worked as a bookseller, as well, so he offers up some thoughts on it from that side. No, no, it's not Trent saying anything about me, no. No, instead I am directing you to the logic of Lee Battersby, who, having read Trent's post, wrote that he was going to be publicly positive about the awards, that he was only going to talk about the good things, like his winning, and how it was a focal point, how he became a Clarion Tutor, how he got invited to a bunch of anthologies, and how he's almost got an agent. All that positive shit, you know? All that good stuff. And then he gets a comment and--
"I'm just sick of listening to the likes of Ben Peek piss and whine year after year without having the balls to do anything about or be a part of anything."
--Wait a second, that's not fucking positive at all!
That's taking a shot at me!
That's negative!
It's over here, too, on Ben Payne's (
benpayne) blog, where he says, "People who take potshots without committing anything of themselves to the process anywhere along the line are simply snipers." Well.
I'm horrified. How hypocritical. To say that it's all about the positive, and then just riff on that to take some shots at me, while also screening all the comments on your blog, and only allowing a certain kind through. What kind of judgment could be made about such a person? I suppose it's not nearly as bad as that time I was called a cancer, but still, it does make one wonder, doesn't it?
Anyhow, I thought I'd just link it, since it doesn't really require a lot of comment from me, and I know people get a laugh out of this shit. Even if it doesn't, it makes me laugh. To think, all of this is over an award, and a few critical pieces I've written. It's a golden shower indeed.
