SA, ita, absolutely.

Shrift, I too found that very very odd.

Which, odd that people sent him fan fiction, or that he makes such an odd leading statement about the majority of slash writers being women?

Either one baffles me.

Certainly, Mr. Pollack isn't wrong statistically when he says that the majority of slash writers are women. Most articles about fan fiction, no matter how startling their other inaccuracies, manage to get this right.

From a purely technical standpoint, if he's not going to investigate something, he shouldn't make such a point of not investigating it unless he intends to draw a lot of attention to the fact that he's not investigating it. And if he intends to draw attention to this, what's his aim in doing so?

I'm tempted to write him and bloody well ask.

The problem i've had with so much of the slash that i've read is that the characters' sexuality is like a mary-Sue. It stomps over any plot points, characterizations, and depth that might have been there lurking behind the goga or the boba.

It's an all-inclusive anti-mush bone. Girls, boys, puppies.

t blink, blink, blink You don't get/like mushy feelings over puppies? t blink blink

Kitties? How about kitties?

t watching Plei very, very carefully

Oh, I found the whole thing odd.

Ficwriters are insane, he says. But he actively encourages people to fic about him, and then posts the stories on his website.

And his comment about not investigating the phenomenon read to me as a rather backhanded way of saying "I recognize that women are into this and I'm not even going to BEGIN to speculate on why because I know that if I try I'll get my head handed to me on a platter by enraged femi-nazis and slasheristas. So I leave it up to you to figure out why women are into this. Aren't they CUTE?"

Well, yeah, but the interesting moments.

See, I don't find moments of mush at all interesting, but we could be defining mush differently. Moments where people connect, yes, but that's not the same thing in my book.

I don't find moments of mush at all interesting

I wasn't equating it. Just pointing out that "reality of life" and "interesting fiction" don't tend to intersect anyway.

Mush can be interesting to me. Anything can. It's not the stuff I groove on, but neither are sex scenes, and much of slash spends more time there than I care to. I think Mulder and Krycek should have hot animal sex. I just don't need it to be at the forefront of any story that accepts that as truth.

I'm not all about the pain, either. Just more about the whole reality-of-life thing. Mushy moments are more the exception than the rule.

Same here.

On another topic, has anyone read "Future Imperfect", which is a Spuffy story set in 2336 that was recced on BBF a few days back? Is it just me, or is it pretty much a straight ripoff of Yahtzee's "Phoenix Burning" with Spike in the Angel role, except less interesting?

Plei is me. I have a very low tolerance for mush.

I get mushy about my kitties.

But that's life, not reading.

I wasn't equating it. Just pointing out that "reality of life" and "interesting fiction" don't tend to intersect anyway.

See, I find that I'm endlessly entertained by characters attempting to deal with the mundane reality of life despite extraordinary circumstances.