Comments on: BREAKING: F&SF’s Gordon Van Gelder Does Not Want to Drink The Blood of Your Children

By: Matt L.

Matt L. — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:42:55 +0000

I think this sums it all up rather nicely.

Accurate observations across the board.

By: Patrick M.

Patrick M. — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:22:46 +0000

You present no proof that Gordon isn’t a vampire.

I’ll have to reserve judgement on that, but the whole ‘controversy’ was a tad bit overblown.

I’m going to say Gordon SHOULDN’T drink the blood of my child, even if Gordon is a vampire. I mean, it’s OK if he is a vampire, I think.

By: Rob Darnell

Rob Darnell — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:53:42 +0000

I agree with what you say here. I participated in this discussion on John Scalzi's blog, and while I "think" I was fair to both sides of the argument, I had a few lines of criticism toward Gordon, just about the same stuff you said under "What Should F&SF should have done different". I was pretty much trying to keep a balance between what "the annoucement could be seen as" and what "it probably wasn't". One question I kept forgetting to ask on Scalzi's blog is why would anyone think Gordon and Gardner would do something to damage their reputations. But you know, there is a group of respective writers who do think Gordon and Gardner are the enemy. Well, you probably know as much about them as I do. That said, I like Gordon. I don't know him personally, but from comments I've seen of his, he seems to be a likeable guy, and I like his attitude, he doesn't seem at all bothered by criticism. Which brings me to the one thing I disagree with you on. Where you say Gordon might think, "Great, yet another new job I don’t need and didn’t sign up for." I think his response would be more along the lines of, "I'm not going to worry about it."

By: Matthew Sanborn Smith

Matthew Sanborn Smith — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:22:52 +0000

Whether intentional or not, Gordon got more attention for F&SF than has been generated for a long time.