A few personal notes and the genre/ignorance thing

It is one thing, I find, to have confidence that your friends are sensible people with some resources at their disposal (i.e. a car and gas money) for getting themselves and their dogs out of the New Orleans area. It is quite another to actually hear from them that they are safe in northern Alabama. I had been cheerfully explaining to the world at large that they were most likely fine, but I still let out a long, shaky breath.

I'm feeling better than I was Sunday or Monday, but this is still not up to the admittedly low standards of last week yet. One of my best aunties is firmly convinced that the solution is for me to drink more. "I said that, too!" said my mom. "She didn't mean 'stay hydrated,' Ma," I said. In fact, what my aunt said was, "You're lucky they have good red wine now. In my day all they had was that David Morgan stuff, and that was not at all nice." (Yes, she does mean Mogen David.) Failing red wine or port, she seems to think a nice dark beer would help me immensely. I'm already dizzy enough without any help right now, so we have not implemented this treatment. I hesitate to call another auntie, lest she up the recommended dosage to vodka tonics.

Ahhhh, relatives.

In Sunday's comments, dd_b hit on part of what I've been meaning to say about Michael Crichton for weeks now: "Don't assume your audience is ignorant of the source material you're working from." In fact, I would just say, "Don't rely on your audience's ignorance." And here's where the comparison to scalzi comes into play. ( Read more... )