“However, Dagstine humor aside… There’s always been a streak of envy coming out of this place. Philbin noticed it. It took me a while longer to see the crud and decay. Like a dying world. So many people shouting from the surface of the planet, this ghetto. But the inhabitants of this ghetto never bothered to invest in their surroundings…. maybe add a few floors to a building, even plant a flower, think about the long-term. “

Dagstine posted the above quote on Odark.

Like so many people, he has no idea of what is meant by “ghetto” in the literary sense. A literary ghetto has both a positive and a negative side. ALL genre fiction is in a literary ghetto of one sort or another. Ideally, a literary ghetto is defined by low to no advances, and little to no promotion outside the genre, and is held in low esteem by the larger industry.

However, ghettos are created by people gathering together because they share something in common.

I have already given you the negative side. Now let’s look at the positive side of the ghetto. Being outside the view of the larger industry means that this ‘ghetto’ is safe from their moral impositions. Originality has a chance to flourish in the sheltered aspect of ghetto existence. Experimentation can be tolerated and encouraged. No prying eyes to tell that what we are doing is morally or ethically bad as we examine aspects of life and possibility where the larger literary establishment is afraid to go.

Flowers bloom in the ghettos and rise up, metamorphosing into trees of unknown delight.

Being a denizen of a literary ghetto is not a bad thing creatively. In fact, it is a very good thing.

Dagstine, however, is not part of the ghetto. He’s part of the cesspool that tries to spread through the literary streets and spread malignancies and maliciousness. I refuse to tolerate it.