Tag: J.K. Rowling

Of ‘Problematic’ Authors

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As someone who has rarely done anything “normal,” I find myself dwelling upon my fate should I actually overcome the odds and sell a pop novel in the vein of Stieg Larsson. I’ve done a lot over the years that if you rooted around in it not knowing me or the context that could definitely get my ass “canceled” by the “woke cancel culture mob.”

It’s with this in mind that I think of J.K. Rowling. I don’t have a vested interest in either her or the controversy that now surrounds her, but I do have Traditionalist relatives and I find myself torn. It’s Rowling’s “cancelation” for being a TERF that, well, is very difficult for me to defend to my Traditionalist relatives.

I’m aware that there is more going on with Rowling than just her being a TERF, but it’s her status as someone who has a more traditional belief on what a “woman” is that is the thing that MAGA Republicans latch on to because it’s simple to understand.

Out of spite to the “woke cancel culture mob” I bought Rowling’s latest self-indulgent tome out of curiosity as to how she managed to write a 1,000 page novel about herself.

So I continue to ponder my own risk of being “canceled” should I ever become a public figure because, oh boy. I was a drunk idiot for a number of years and there is plenty of bad behavior to rummage through if the occasion arose. And, of course, there is the cold hard fact that I may never even get that far, never be given an opportunity — apparently, in general, literary types think I’m too bonkers to associate with.

But all of this points to a broader issue, which is how illiberal some elements of the Left are in the United States. I continue to be dubious about the idea that the “woke cancel culture mob” even exists. I think it’s more a matter of changing social expectations between generations combined with something of a “soft Singularity” taking place.

I say all that, of course, before I get canceled because of some dumb thing I did 20 years while I was drunk in Seoul.

I’m Curious How J.K. Rowling Pulls Off Her Latest Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As someone who is struggling to write a mystery-thriller, the description of J.K. Rowling’s latest novel sounds fascinating. The idea that she could write a 1,000 page novel about a person that fits her description who is murdered for their views on transgender people seems pretty tough to do.

I guess it’s an example of how any publicity is good publicity. I still find why she’s in so much trouble kind of crazy. It’s a testament not to the “woke cancel culture mob” but just that the younger generations come up have dramatically different expectation about certain things than Olds. But that is to be expected. The only difference is how fast it’s all happening — there is a definite Singularity-like quickness to how things are changing in culture these days and a lot of Olds are having trouble adapting.

Also, buying a novel from such a problematic author fits into my personality of being generally ornery. I hate the idea that I am forbitten from reading something just because the Youngs have “canceled” her. I haven’t read ANYTHING else she’s written — I’m not a fan of fantasy, to say the least — and I think maybe reading such a book would be a good introduction to her writing.

Maybe. I don’t know. I just feel like being weird and buying the book to see how she manages to write that many words, essentially, about herself. It seems extremely self-indulgent.