Swanwick isn’t stand out here, he’s in the majority, and ‘classiness’ isn’t the prime motivation for most authors.
In truth, there’s a definite price to be paid for honestly evaluating the bad work of fellow authors. It’s understandable that neither Swanwick nor Cory want to be pariahs in their field, but classy? It may be a nice way to treat fellow writers, but it’s a poor way to treat fellow readers and paying customers. “Classy” would either be honest recommendations or refusal to give any recommendations at all.
Writer’s blog recommendations seem to fall into two general categories. Some writers will recommend nearly anything written by one of their friends or associates. Other writers will only recommend books they have actually have found to be of high quality.
Unfortunately, I’ve had to put Cory in the first category. I totally get wanting to give your friends a leg up, but recommending crap doesn’t help friends, readers, or the author doing the recommending.
