Re: S.T. Joshi says....
 

Critics were never meant to be warm and fuzzy. Some critics are fair; some aren't. Jo Russ was one of my favorites and her brief reviews could be devastating. She even explained once why critics develop mean streaks. I like Joshi and think he tries to be fair but we all have our blind spots. But, in my view, much contemporary horror is indeed dreadful.

Re: S.T. Joshi says....
 

Eh, everyone makes mistakes. Joshi probably just forgot that Word Horde published the Griffin book.

Re: S.T. Joshi says....
 

Joshi's not covering Samuels in his forthcoming work on 21st century horror writers?
Surprising if true. I know Joshi regards Samuels' work quite highly.

Re: S.T. Joshi says....
 

That is no excuse. Anyway, Orrin Grey's collection was also published by WH, and this is what Joshi wrote of him not that long ago:

Another thing that he choose to forget, as it doesn't fit the daily petty politics. BTW, looking at the Goodreads ratings for World Horde releases, that is damn lot of weird fiction readers who apparently don't count as intelligent or sane people...

Re: S.T. Joshi says....
 

In before the thread nuke.

Joshi has some lame opinions, but I don't see why anybody should be outraged about it. He's a solid critic of classic supernatural fiction, and while he is mostly off-base when it comes to the modern stuff in terms of who he overrates and underrates, I don't think many people listen to his recommendations about current writers.

I used to think he had more influence in this regard, but if you look at who he targets most and who sells the most then I don't think it quite adds up any more, so he's just some guy with an opinion and is entitled to it, even if the petty drama can make his reviews seem compromised.

Re: S.T. Joshi says....
 

Joshi wrote a foreword to Nicole Cushing's collection The Mirrors that is full of praise for her writing. (You can use Amazon's "Look Inside" feature to read that foreword.) Just the previous year, one of her novels had been published by Word Horde. Perhaps that novel is so bad that no "sane and intelligent" person would buy it, whereas the collection is so good that it warrants a foreword by S. T. himself. Or perhaps there is something other than level-headed critical judgment going on here.

I have several books by Joshi on my shelves, and I generally enjoy his writing. But sometimes he gets very carried away.

Re: S.T. Joshi says....
 

I originally learned about Ligotti through Joshi, and I appreciate his role in helping Lovecraft obtain better literary recognition, but I never cared much for his literary criticism and now he's becoming increasingly vindictive and erratic.

Re: S.T. Joshi says....
 

Yeah, that's a good way to put it.

Re: S.T. Joshi says....
 

I remember Jo Russ in the 70's explaining why critics can appear so 'nasty' at times. Basically, she said, the ton of garbage they're forced to read would make a saint despair.

You know, there is a lot of crap out there.

I loved her short stories and her reviews even if I thought her politics were off the wall. "Picnic on Paradise" was fine. The Alyx stories were great. (If memory doesn't fail, Alyx got it on at one point with Fafhrd. If Leiber and Russ had a thing going, however brief, I wouldn't be surprised, I'd be delighted.)

No one out there like her today.

Re: S.T. Joshi says....
 

Pretty much. One tweet from someone like Barron will provide more visibility and sales for your book than a number of positive reviews from Joshi.

But, I'd say the same about any professional critic in this horror/weird niche, their reviews and coverage just don't count for much in the end.