Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Ficts or Faction? What do you prefer?
So, bestselling novelist and Holywood doyen Michael Crichton has won (another) award. So what you cry. As reported elsewhere (here and here), his novels State of Fear and Jurassic Park have received an annual Journalism award from The American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
The award is suposedly made 'in recognition of notable journalistic achievement in any medium which contributes to public understanding of geology, energy resources, or the technology of oil and gas exploration'.
Ergo - we can easily resurect dinosaurs from bits of Amber and fossil (that could make your next trip to the Suffolk coast a bit more interesting), global warming is just a scientific conspiracy (the reason that sea levels are rising is that people are pushing their rulers deeper into the water). Oh, and George Bush has an I.Q. to rival Einstein. Okay, so one of these 'facts' was not investigated by Crichton's 'journalism', but the other two were.
Now is a very confusing time for writers, as the following examples prove:
1. If I write a memoir, in which I've made bits up and sell it as fact, my career will be over and I'll get invited on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
2. If I write the same book and sell it as fiction, no one will publish it.
3. If I insult some religeous beliefs I will have to go into hiding and their will be riots around the world.
4. If I insult other religeons, no one will notice.
5. If I stand in the high street and make generally derogatory claims about a section of the population I will end up in court. I may be equitted, or convicted. I possibly depends on how neat my beard looks.
6. If I stick odd bits of pseudo-science in best-selling novels I will win awards.
7. If I write good science-based books I may get a cult Sci-Fi readership.
8. If I write books about a period of history that (rightly or wrongly) challenge the accepted version of history, I could go to prison for three years and be banned from entering a number of countries around the world.
So, what am I going to do?
A: Try to write another non-controversial article about potatoes!
The award is suposedly made 'in recognition of notable journalistic achievement in any medium which contributes to public understanding of geology, energy resources, or the technology of oil and gas exploration'.
Ergo - we can easily resurect dinosaurs from bits of Amber and fossil (that could make your next trip to the Suffolk coast a bit more interesting), global warming is just a scientific conspiracy (the reason that sea levels are rising is that people are pushing their rulers deeper into the water). Oh, and George Bush has an I.Q. to rival Einstein. Okay, so one of these 'facts' was not investigated by Crichton's 'journalism', but the other two were.
Now is a very confusing time for writers, as the following examples prove:
1. If I write a memoir, in which I've made bits up and sell it as fact, my career will be over and I'll get invited on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
2. If I write the same book and sell it as fiction, no one will publish it.
3. If I insult some religeous beliefs I will have to go into hiding and their will be riots around the world.
4. If I insult other religeons, no one will notice.
5. If I stand in the high street and make generally derogatory claims about a section of the population I will end up in court. I may be equitted, or convicted. I possibly depends on how neat my beard looks.
6. If I stick odd bits of pseudo-science in best-selling novels I will win awards.
7. If I write good science-based books I may get a cult Sci-Fi readership.
8. If I write books about a period of history that (rightly or wrongly) challenge the accepted version of history, I could go to prison for three years and be banned from entering a number of countries around the world.
So, what am I going to do?
A: Try to write another non-controversial article about potatoes!
# posted by Unknown @ 7:08 PM 
