[surgical_fire]

Speaking as someone who rolled his eyes at the synopsis of each entry in GP's list... I mean, you can just ignore the awards.

Like, think of it like the Oscars. It has been a very long time that "winning an Oscar" was predictive of how much I would enjoy a movie. What would some book awards be any different?

Just look for authors that write the sort of things you want to read, awards be damned.

[noch]

> I mean, you can just ignore the awards. > Just look for authors that write the sort of things you want to read, awards be damned.

Indeed. We can simply ignore many things in life. I'm not complaining that I have no agency. I was making a different point.

[surgical_fire]

Your point is that you wanted some sort of awards that matched your interests more closely. And that is fair, I think?

I can empathize with the sentiment. A lot of the themes covered there just don't appeal to my tastes either.

[noch]

> A lot of the themes covered there just don't appeal to my tastes either.

Yes. That's how I feel. Sorry I didn't elucidate.

The broader point I was making is about what I see as a pipeline problem. I don't want to generalize too much but if you've also attempted to get a novel or short story published, or apply for a writing workshop/grant/fellowship/retreat so that you can work on a novel you've drafted, you tend to encounter strange dynamics that I'm not sure I can competently describe without sounding like a "reply guy".

Nevertheless, I'm … concerned that literary culture is being (already has been) shaped into something that makes the books I'm interested in increasingly rare. Either they never get published, or take longer to get published than they otherwise would, or they are self-published and don't receive the editorial attention they deserve, or are never promoted, making them harder to find and subsequent work from that author unlikely.

I don't have comprehensive data to demonstrate this and it's impossible to prove counterfactuals. But to the extent that prizes are how an industry or community presents its culture to the rest of the world, I worry about ideological capture and try to pitch different directions.

[surgical_fire]

I have no idea how the book industry works, but I think I sort of understand the problem you are gesturing at.

Instead of being worried, I just feel an unsurmountable sense of apathy to new publications. Maybe due to my disconnect and disinterest in themes being addressed, and what I perceive as excessive contamination of current sociopolitical agitation. Stories are often highjacked to in favor of those things. Perhaps it was always like this, and I just didn't know better? It changes little.

This extends to other forms of art, such as movies, comics, videogames. My solution was embracing the past, sticking to things created more than a decade and a half ago. For more modern things, I try to look at more independent produced works.

Maybe I am just too old and boring at this point.

"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"

[noch]

> I just feel an unsurmountable sense of apathy to new publications[…] disinterest in themes being addressed […]

You've nailed it: there's a massive disconnect because this alienation of the interested reader as well as the average person, is not even recognised as a problem.

> My solution was embracing the past, sticking to things created more than a decade and a half ago.

It's wild that I was told something similar by a mentor. And it's an excellent strategy.

[surgical_fire]

> It's wild that I was told something similar by a mentor. And it's an excellent strategy.

Depending on the media you chose to focus, you have from decades to centuries of works to go through.

Hell, if I was to go through my whole queue list I would probably need two lifetimes, maybe more, at the rate I consume those things.

Likely I will be disconnected from contemporary mainstream culture. I am not convinced I am missing anything worthwhile.

[CRConrad]

> My solution was embracing the past, sticking to things created more than a decade and a half ago. For more modern things...

Those are modern things; a decade and a half ago was the day before yesterday. Sheesh, kids...

(Now where's my walking stick?!? I need it, to shake at the clouds I'm going to yell at.)

[noch]

> a decade and a half ago was the day before yesterday.

Ha! True. Which was why he said "more than a decade and a half ago", and in the comment below he said to go even further back in time. :-) I was told simply not to bother reading stuff from my generation.