Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Murdaland

There is this hideous misunderstanding going on re: Murdaland and its intentions on the Internet. I met Mike Langnas at Bouchercon and believe me, he was a lovely fellow, full of goodwill, civility and hope for his venture, even though the folks in Madison had inadvertently snubbed him.
Somehow his desire to produce a magazine with goals and an audience different from current crime mags is now seen as reactionary, pompous, supercilious and in bad form. Is there no room for other POVs or MOs in this business? Help. Can't we all live together.
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2 comments:

Steve Allan said...

I think the magazine's intentions should be viewed like the Grunge movement in the early 1990's: a burst of fresh style to go beyond a stale environment. The current mainstream mystery publications have hit a plateau where they are starting to become formula rather than developing the genre further.This is happening to a great number of literary publications as well. A New Yorker story is a New Yorker story, and the magazine seems reluctant to go beyond that. The whole MFA generation has proven that they are not renegades, but willing to propagate a homogenized style. Perhaps the reaction to Murdaland's motivation is a form of denial?

12:58 PM
mybillcrider said...

I'm not sure what all the uproar is about. Maybe people just need to read with Mike actually said and then to read the magazine.

6:19 PM

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