The ThrillerFight Before ThrillerFest

If, like me, you love thrillers, you are no doubt aware of the organization called ITW, the International Thriller Writers. Their website can be found at: http://www.thrillerwriters.org/index.php.

According to their website, the ITW was founded on 10/9/04. I think I first became aware of its existence about six weeks later because I used a giftcard I'd received for Christmas that year to purchase a book by an author recommended on their website.

Next week, from 6/29 to 7/2, the ITW will host their first ThrillerFest in Phoenix at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa. On Saturday night, they will hold a banquet at which they will present the organization's first Thriller awards.

Unfortunately, excitement about this debut event has been marred by controversy over the past few days. On Wednesday, writer Elaine Viets posted a blog over at The Lipstick Chronicles (http://thelipstickchronicles.typepad.com/) lambasting the ITW awards.

Her post began: "It’s tough to define an award-winning thriller, but the new International Thriller Writers has succeeded:

It’s anything written by a man."

Viets was incensed because all of the five nominees in each of the ITW awards categories were men. There wasn't a single woman nominated.

Confession time: When I first read the list of the ITW nominees three months ago, I, too, was a little disconcerted by its overall maleness. I immediately went to the ITW website and checked the list of judges. Of the judging panel, a third of the judges were female.

Then I considered my own literary choices. I closed my eyes and made a mental list of the thriller writers I would have named as the ten best. Nine of my choices were men. The sole woman on my list was Carol O'Connell (Dana Stabenow was on the runner-up list).

There are probably two reasons my list was so heavily weighted in favor of males: The thriller industry is dominated by men, and--from talking with fellow readers--my tastes are probably harder-edged than 75% of women. The harder-edged stuff *tends* to be written by men.

At that point, my internal fairness meter satisfied, I forgot all about the issue. Until Viets raised it again this week.

Everyone and his brother has an opinion on this subject. Some of the posts I'd recommend include:

http://jasonpinter.blogspot.com/
http://sandrablabber.blogspot.com/
http://www.sarahweinman.com/

My bottom line: The best novels should win. That's the only criterium that matters. Otherwise, we start talking about quotas, and that's an ugly slippery slope.

One last point. If I had to list my favorite erotic romance writers, the list would be 100% female. Men just don't write sex scenes that turn me on. Does that mean I'm sexist? No. It means my individual tastes lean toward women romance writers and men thriller writers. Nothing wrong with that.

I hope this controversy settles down before next week. The winners should enjoy their awards without any hint of bias to spoil the moment.