If we are in denial nothing will change. It is a question of quality. Yes,
publisher want to make money and that rules out affirmative action. Your work
has to be very good. Period. That is the ticket. I like affirmative action,
but here this is different. To publish, we can not expect people to buy lesser
stuff.
j
Chris Hayden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
(
--- In SciFiNoir_Lit@yahoogroups.com, "Jesse Miller"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> The idea that putting black characters in a story blocks
publication
> is distressing to me becasue this is NOT true.
(It is true. It has been stated time and again by published black
writers and authors. The reason why we can get no where on this is
because we keep denying this.
It is true. Talk to some white editors or publishers or agents who
will speak truthfully off the record to you on this subject.
Anybody got that url to the late John Faucette's Black Science
Fiction where he is flat out told by the editor he can't sell a book
with black characters.
Look at what happened to Milestone comics. Look at what happens to
most black tv shows and movies that are not comedies.
Will Smith? Look at the boxoffice of the movies he did where he was
alone and the ones where he was buddied up with white actors.
I think the problem is that when we say this people assume that we
think white sci fi fans are racist and they can't be because they are
all a bunch of jolly good folks, aren't they?
It ain't about that at all.
It's all about dollars and cents. Most fans of SF are white. They
are uninterested in stories with black characters. Doesn't make them
racist. They just aren't turned on.
I never watched an episode of Seinfeld or Friends. Do I hate white
people? No. There was nothing on those shows that would make me
watch them.
The editors, agents and publishers know what a book or a movie or a
program with black characters is only going to make so much dough.
They are trying to hit home runs, not bunt to first base.
If we cannot tell the truth about this situation nothing will ever
change.
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