social niceties, backstabbing, tribalism

I’m reading a lot of indie science fiction literature on my kindle.

Two things pain me.

The smaller of the two: most of it is mediocre at best, trash at the worst.

The larger of the two: I’m starting to think politically, and while I won’t try to make friends with someone by kissing asses, it does occur to me that it’s probably a good idea to not actively make enemies by panning material by other authors who work in the same space that I do.

…which is to say, I find myself twitching and quivering from the pressure of not giving crap novels, novellas, and short stories the 1, 2, and 3 star ratings at Amazon that they deserve.