One of the things I dislike most is dragging out my credits and credentials in the industry to hit someone with. I put some of my creds at the bottom in hopes that the silliness would end.

I found Macey Wuestoff's "you are warned" to be irritating, like the bite of a tiny mosquito. Like so many who have tried to come at me, her creds don't measure up. She has won a contest that had 200 entries, I have been in anthologies that received thousands of entries and were published by major houses.

She has a romance novel out, and I confess a kind of contempt for that genre, from a small press. I have been an editor at three houses. And none of them were small press. I have worked in the publicity department of one major house and I have worked for minor houses as outside editorial. I handled PR for a soap opera actor.

I have had two pieces of literary criticism in the Washington Post Bookworld and those are invitation only. Joe Dante gave my son birthday presents when he was little and I was covering Hollywood for a number of publications.

I am not intimidated by someone who skims a story and writes an ignorant review. I know how reviews are written. I made my livelihood from writing them among many of the odd jobs I have held in the industry.

I am not intimidated by people who flaunt their friends in the business. I am not intimidated by Mike Ault. Why should I be? There is nothing he can do to me in the industry. This isn't 1930s Hollywood where a producer or studio head says "You'll never work in this business again."

I have been around for far too many years to be dealing with bullshit from a small press authorsden whore.

I am definitely not intimidated by Piggy who is the laughing stock of the net.

Too many people get caught up in the illusions of publishing and reach beyond themselves. I could have dozens of small press titles out right now. Instead I have my novels making the rounds of the majors with my agent. I am patient. I work hard. I recognize the illusions and remain in the aisles of reality instead. People who buy into the illusions of grandeur, like Macey, are eventually left with the taste of ashes in their mouths. There is no grandeur to publishing, only the rewards of a job well done.



Vote for my journal


Other spots to find me:
http://janraefrank.blogspot.com/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/cussedness

Some brief creds, a partial list

articles published in:
Movieline *** Cinefantastique *** Washington Post Book World *** Los Angeles Times *** Los Angeles Drive Guide *** Black Belt *** Martial Arts Weapons *** Monsterland *** Thrust: Science Fiction in Review *** Science Fiction Review

Former MPAA Accredited Journalist.
Currently Active member, SFWA, HWA