Tod Goldberg notes that the Los Angeles Times has picked up on the Koontz racist remarks story. Apparently, Bantam Dell has been receiving feedback on what Koontz said and Lee Goldberg and Koontz talked on the phone, without apparent success. Meanwhile, Koontz is claiming that the remarks involved “some political incorrectness, but nothing mean.” Tod Goldberg concludes, “Whatever the case may be, I suspect saying, ‘Sorry if I offended anyone, it certainly wasn’t my intention’ would have been a far better response than, ‘You’re all out to get me!'”
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The McMillan episod of Oprah was yesterday. It was both painful and hilarious to watch*. McMillan was stalking the poor guy after he came out, yet he had the nerve/courage to appear along with her on the show. And you could tell that Oprah was firmly in the TM camp.
Anyway, I bet you $5 that the McMillan memoir will be out by next Christmas.
*My wife DVRs the show everyday. I swear!
What is with Koontz’s popularity? I can’t understand it. I think there are better populist writers. At least (tends-to-be overrated, IMO) Stephen King knows how to put a good story together.
I remember reading a sentence/phrase like “They did it in every position” or maybe “They did it in all the positions” in one of Koontz’s books (whose title I cannot remember). Can’t remember the exact wording (does anyone else know it?), but if this kind of statement isn’t telling instead of showing I don’t know what is. My mouth shot open when I read that bogus sex “scene” and I shouted, “Oh please!” I HATE poorly written sex scenes. With the bit of build-up Koontz wrote in beforehand, to me it seemed like this was supposed to be a big sex scene in the book, and that bogus-type statement was the crux of the description. What the fuck is “every position”? What the fuck are “all positions”? According to whose definition? Maybe Koontz (or his fictional character) thought there were only three or something? I think the number’s debatable. I’ve heard some people say over 120 positions, others say over 300, and still others say there are only 15-20 basic major ones with many minor variations on the basic ones. But assuming there are over a hundred, how likely is it that a couple having sex for the first time can do every sex position in the space of only a few hours like in that Koontz story? Give me a fucking break–I mean, a break from that kind of stupid bogus fucking on the page. As I read that part of his book, I felt like Koontz was stating “this couple’s hot together” without showing any heat, telling without showing, declaring without proving. Don’t tell me about their supposed “heat”; make me feel their heat.
In my opinion, for what that’s worth, many writers cannot write either sex or comedy well. And forget about when they try to combine the two. I wish they’d focus their efforts elsewhere.
(Note: It’s been years since I read that Koontz book. Because I can’t remember the exact wording of the Koontz sentence but can remember my reaction to it very well, disregard my specific comments about that sentence as applied to Koontz if I’ve actually remembered the sentence incorrectly [or else some of my comments about his writing that supposed sentence would probably be strawmen]. But I think my comments still apply to sentences and writing like that in general. Other writers often pen the same bogus sex stuff, IMO.)
The McMillan episod of Oprah was yesterday. It was both painful and hilarious to watch*. McMillan was stalking the poor guy after he came out, yet he had the nerve/courage to appear along with her on the show. And you could tell that Oprah was firmly in the TM camp.
Anyway, I bet you $5 that the McMillan memoir will be out by next Christmas.
*My wife DVRs the show everyday. I swear!
What is with Koontz’s popularity? I can’t understand it. I think there are better populist writers. At least (tends-to-be overrated, IMO) Stephen King knows how to put a good story together.
I remember reading a sentence/phrase like “They did it in every position” or maybe “They did it in all the positions” in one of Koontz’s books (whose title I cannot remember). Can’t remember the exact wording (does anyone else know it?), but if this kind of statement isn’t telling instead of showing I don’t know what is. My mouth shot open when I read that bogus sex “scene” and I shouted, “Oh please!” I HATE poorly written sex scenes. With the bit of build-up Koontz wrote in beforehand, to me it seemed like this was supposed to be a big sex scene in the book, and that bogus-type statement was the crux of the description. What the fuck is “every position”? What the fuck are “all positions”? According to whose definition? Maybe Koontz (or his fictional character) thought there were only three or something? I think the number’s debatable. I’ve heard some people say over 120 positions, others say over 300, and still others say there are only 15-20 basic major ones with many minor variations on the basic ones. But assuming there are over a hundred, how likely is it that a couple having sex for the first time can do every sex position in the space of only a few hours like in that Koontz story? Give me a fucking break–I mean, a break from that kind of stupid bogus fucking on the page. As I read that part of his book, I felt like Koontz was stating “this couple’s hot together” without showing any heat, telling without showing, declaring without proving. Don’t tell me about their supposed “heat”; make me feel their heat.
In my opinion, for what that’s worth, many writers cannot write either sex or comedy well. And forget about when they try to combine the two. I wish they’d focus their efforts elsewhere.
(Note: It’s been years since I read that Koontz book. Because I can’t remember the exact wording of the Koontz sentence but can remember my reaction to it very well, disregard my specific comments about that sentence as applied to Koontz if I’ve actually remembered the sentence incorrectly [or else some of my comments about his writing that supposed sentence would probably be strawmen]. But I think my comments still apply to sentences and writing like that in general. Other writers often pen the same bogus sex stuff, IMO.)