SF Site Interview with LKH

[delphinapterus.livejournal.com]

I found the following interview with Ms. Hamilton done September 2004 by the SF Site. The Complete Interview


There were a few choice bits that just had to be brought up. Ms. Hamilton is in italics. My comments are plain.

I have two degrees: English and biology. . . . I also was about two or three classes from having a history or Political Science major (it would have depended on what classes I finished up with, which the degree would have been in).

This is the first time I have seen her mention an English degree. The verve and originality for punctuation that she displays in her published works make one wonder how she got an English degree. I was under the impression that to acquire an English degree one had to grasp at least the basics of punctuation; full stop, comma and apostrophe.


Between the age of thirteen and fourteen I discovered fantasy and horror. From that moment on, I was hooked.

WTF! All those times she fondly talked about wanting to watch horror movies a 2, and Granny telling her fables didn't happen? Or don't they count as horror and fantasy?

And then farther on in the interview she says this:
I've been fascinated with horror movies since I was a very little girl, like under six. When I discovered the old Hammer vampire films around seven or so, I was enthralled. . . . my Scottish-Irish grandmother used to tell me that Rawhead and Bloody Bones would get me if I wasn't good.

And just something unabashedly interesting and potentially good.
We will be going back to New Mexico and doing a follow up book with Edward and his would-be family. We will see how the children have coped with what happened. . . . [it will happen during one of] the next five books probably.

Comments

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

I was under the impression that to acquire an English degree one had to grasp at least the basics of punctuation; full stop, comma and apostrophe.

English degrees are about literary criticism, not grammar. If she is documentably dyslexic, they would have made provisions for that, too. I've met a lot of English majors who couldn't punctuate to save their lives, and not all of them were dyslexic (like being a doctor -- what do you call someone who had a C average in med school?).

But I'm kind of peeved about the endless snarking of her grammar -- if she's dyslexic, that just means she needs a good editor and proofreader, not that she should be forbidden to write. If she's not dyslexic, okay, she's just lazy. But none of us have seen her learning disability evaluations.

There are plenty of OTHER reasons she shouldn't be allowed to write.

[demoncougar.livejournal.com]

My issue with her claiming dyslexia is that she uses it as an excuse whenever her glaring and CONSISTENT spelling errors get pointed out. I mean...come on. Diety? WTF! The woman needs editors...she needs them even moreso if she has a learning disability.

I hate how she uses it as an excuse. HATE IT.

[delphinapterus.livejournal.com]

You've summed up my thought on this, thanks.