It just seems to me that if you have a problem with the system, the best way to fix it is to be active in the change, rather than excluding oneself from it entirely. Mr. Banker likely has very personal, very good reasons for his personal exclusion, but such a practice isn’t doing anything to change the way things are being done, at all.

That’s my concern on that front.

I also think that big publishers had better wake up to the issue of implicit racism in publishing. It seems to me one of the last bastions of Fifties-style thinking. Time to be dragged into the twenty-first century, methinks.

Firstly, I would like to offer my apologies to Mr. Banker. I agree that my reaction to refuse to buy your books was a wrong one to take. I legitimately am interested in SF/F and fiction (and graphic novels, too) by authors from (living in or outside of) India, and I would really like to see your work, if only it were readily available in the States. While I understand you dislike of our system, I do think you do yourself a bit of a disservice by refusing to publish, in some fashion, here in the States. Aren’t there any small press publishers you might want to work with, or something? I think a part of breaking the system that you have clear issues with would be to make sure more people of color are pushing their work out there. But that’s besides the point here.

A lot of my initial reactions were born out of an exhaustion with the style of rhetoric being used to discuss this issue. While I understand the anger and irritation, I think it has become clear that nothing is really getting done. We’re pissing people off, creating tension, etc., but all we’re doing is making things even worse, in my opinion. A lot of people who might be inclined to act are pushed out by the labeling and screaming (me included). There’s a point, I think, where the intentional creation of discomfort ceases to hold value. We need action, collectively, from the community as a whole (or at least most of it). There’s more at work than just publishing, just editors, etc. This is an enormous issue that will not be solved by attacking editors or publishers.

Anyway, I want to end this while I still can. I’d like to touch on other points, but I’m unfortunately short of time this evening for Internet things, and I’m not sure if Futurismic will work for me on another day.

So, yes, there’s a problem. Yes it needs solving. I just don’t personally see how we’re solving a problem by being, as John says, “uppity” about it. The issue is too big for us to have faces to blame. Publishers do respond to consumers. Maybe consumers need to start demanding more, but perhaps some of the root of the problem is with consumers…