F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

Oprah

Award Winning…What?!

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Seriously?

Award Winning-Expertly-Milled-in-the-USA-Gold Medal-Premium Quality-Over-125-Years-of-Baking-Success-Enriched-Bleached-Presifted-All-Purpose Author, F. P. Dorchak (© 2015, F. P. Dorchak composition of some really, pretty damned good flour).
Award Winning-Expertly-Milled-in-the-USA-Gold Medal-Premium Quality-Over-125-Years-of-Baking-Success-Enriched-Bleached-Presifted-All-Purpose Author, F. P. Dorchak (© 2015, F. P. Dorchak composition of some really, pretty damned good flour).

When I see this associated with any author and not a bag of flour I cringe and immediately get all pissy.

It seems, methinks, that every author I come across has won some kind of award.

Even me.

My blog won a Liebster Award in 2013. Does that make me “award-winning?”

Oh, and I did take second place in a PPWC writing contest way back in ’92.

Award winning?

Now, I’m not trying to diminish everyone’s hard-won and legitimate successes, I’m really not, but it just really bugs me that I see so many “award winning” authors out there that, well, have awards from places I’ve never heard of or are awards that are, what I consider, kinda “incestuous” to only the organization “awarding” it.

Or such books are so labeled and I’ve never heard of them.

Or, you know, that they’re labeled at all.

It doesn’t even matter the reasoning behind it…it just annoys me on principle.

Yeah. It does.

I mean, “Hugo winner” used to mean something until I read Bob Mayer’s post. Same with NYT’s and WSJ’s Best seller lists, when I read somewhere how these are “fixed” (wish I could find that article but this one will serve the point).  I just don’t believe much in any award-winning labels anymore.

Except for flour. The stuff that works really, really well. And tastes good, too.

I’ve read some “award winners” and wasn’t all that impressed with most of what I’ve read (not counting Hugo winners when I was a kid; it seemed that might have meant something back in the day…but I’ve also found when I tried to reread some of the fiction I read as a kid that I thought had been great…that the writing actually wasn’t all that well-written, so am still kinda up-in-the-air about the whole thing…)

I’ve removed the Liebster award image from my blog. I felt weird putting it there in the first place and have wanted to remove it for a while and just never got to it. It was fun answering the questions and nominating others I thought really deserved it—and I truly thank and appreciate the guy who nominated me for it, I really do, that was très cool of you, Samir—but I really don’t want to get into all that “award labeling.” I’ve never been one for “pomp and circumstance” (not a fan of it while in the military…still not). Let the “thing” (whatever it is) stand and speak for itself.

I mean, do you ever really see or hear anything about “Stephen King, award-winning author…”? No. All you hear is:

Stephen King.

Then you pee your pants, clean up, know exactly what is meant by “Stephen King” (his name is always italicized). You don’t need any adjectives or adverbs or whatever those modifier-thingees are supposed to be called before or after his name.

That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

Okay, okay, I know…there’s also the whole “best selling” debate, and King and others have been so labeled, but that kinda dilutes my whole argument so I’m just gonna ignore it. My blog, my topics.

The upshot of either discussion is that I don’t want to be coached into what you’re bringing to the table…I just want to see what your words do to me.

I want to read the jacket copy…take in the cover…check out what’s between the covers (kinda like checking out what’s between a person’s ears…). Now, I don’t have to like what’s between the covers…but I can certainly appreciate the wielded skill. I feel that way about a couple of authors I’ve read—damn good authors but don’t like what they write. I really can appreciate kick-ass writing even if I don’t like the content.

Yet (<sigh>)…I know it’s all about promotion and marketing annnd whatnot.

I know being on a best-seller list means more money to authors. I’ve read that readers like to see that kinda stuff on covers…but I gotta say, I just don’t know that I believe it. That readers really care whether or not “award-winning” (or “best selling”) graces the cover of any book. What I’ve got from my informal survey of the 3.5 people I’ve asked such questions of was that, no, they really don’t care. They just want a good story—in some manner—that grabs them. makes em cry, angry, or emote and associate in some way with the story. In some manner. I think it’s the media and the publishing industry that cares about what’s on covers. When I was a young kid buying books the only thing I cared about on the covers were how frigging cool the images and graphics were! As an “aware” adult author/reader the only thing I care about on the cover is how fricking cool the images and graphics are! Sorry, but I have to side with Franzen, here, I really don’t want an Oprah sticker taking up space on any cool cover graphics!

What the heck’s behind the sticker? Like author intrusion into a story, such embellishments intrude into the weltanshauung of the cover!

Is Oprah adrift and in the boat with that tiger and that guy?

Did Oprah just give the dirty and barefoot and smiling 1930’s kid money?

So, nothing against Oprah or all the authors who received hard-won accolades for their efforts—we all like to think we’re making a difference in this world—but, in the end…whenever I hear that someone is “award-winning”… I just automatically think of them as being nothing more than

A sack-a-flour.

Crossing The Line—Lance Armstrong

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The Short Step That Takes You So Far....
The Short Step That Takes You So Far….

I get it.

I get why he did what he did.

That doesn’t mean I agree with it…I just…understand it.

It is the win-at-all-costs competitive attitude. The razor-sharp focused goal.

Being in the game.

The “level playing field.”

The fact that he didn’t realize how “big” it had all gotten.

When you have a dream, when you’re competitive and have a laser-like focus on something…everything else in life can easily be eclipsed. Ignored. Life can be effortlessly…warped. And when you’re a top athlete…it’s easy to get even more immersed in not only the game…but the concept of the game. The Zen of your single-minded desire. And all your coaches telling you you’re superhuman, unbeatable, the best in the world. Add steroids to the all the trouble, and you create even more of a Bull-in-the-China-shop. Make you more aggressive. Forceful personalities with a goal? Just get out of the goddamned way. You’re either an obstacle to be not just overcome—but decimated—or you’re part of the team. Those are the only two options.

Then throw in some character flaws. Everything above is immediately magnified.

Any analysis of Lance Armstrong and people like him would take far more than a mere blog post (or, is easy, depending on your point of view and whether or not you believe in “black and white” or “shades of gray”), but the Oprah interview of Mr. Armstrong had me riveted. It always fascinates me when criminals get caught and talk about their motivation calmly and oh, so matter-of-factly. Openly. I don’t agree one bit with his actions, but I see them all the time in über-driven people. I’m a driven guy, goal oriented, used to compete in sports. I know the mindset—though I never practiced it to the extreme Lance and others have. I was never willing to screw someone else over to get ahead, and never took any “performance enhancing” drugs, though I had been asked, once, if I wanted to take steroids as I trained for my one and only powerlifting competition during college. They weren’t illegal when I was asked, but I didn’t take them because I wanted to see what I could do on my own. I never blood doped, but I see the allure. Living at over a mile in altitude, every time I go to sea level I was like Superman! I could run forever, squat 415 pounds like it was nothing. Same difference, though the effect wears off once your body acclimatizes to your surrounds. But having the “extra” read blood cells in my body at altitude, then coming down to breath thicker air—oh, yeah, intoxicating how powerful and unstoppable you are.

It’s easy to lose yourself in the game if you don’t keep your head on straight. If you tell yourself you will do anything to win. To win at all costs.

I believe Mr. Armstrong should be penalized, but I also don’t think it should be for life. Yes, he was a bully, was brutal and aggressively attacked all who attacked him—but that’s the Alpha-Male/Female syndrome. Drive forward, decimate opponents, win medals. All else means nothing. Armstrong is no different than many others out there. And I’d argue that any sport instills a similar “culture” of winning on all who participate. Doesn’t make it right, and it needs to be stopped. Sports seem to have evolved into all about winning. Everything else is secondary. Think of one area in particular that arguably seems to have more than its share of honest-to-God criminals in its ranks.

And, maybe, since he was also a philanthropist, it makes everything worse. People question his motives. Here, he was giving so much to organizations that help people, yet behaving as he was “behind the curtain.” Lied, cheated, bullied, and trafficked in drugs. Messed with other people’s lives.

Very few people are perfect. Some crimes more heinous than others. But what seems most important, here, is the growth of the individual, the Lance Armstrong, whether or not any of the rest of us believe him. His atonement for his wrongs. He as to come to terms with himself, he has to fix himself. He says he takes total responsibility and he appeared open and genuine in the interview, even expressed some opinions I’m sure didn’t help him any, but he appears to have finally realized what he’d done, who he’d wronged, and that he has along road ahead of him (pardon the unintended pun). Actions speak louder than words, so we will see if the therapied, humbled, and heavily reworked Lance Armstrong does as his words portrayed. But I don’t think he should be banned for life. Out of his life, came much good with the bad, and if he truly reforms himself, then he should be allowed a second chance. Most people should be allowed a second chance in life.

That…is my humble opinion.