That one guy was kirking on GRRM because he didn't mention Bakker and Erikson and I thought GRRM handled that guy well. You know how highly I think of Bakker, but it seemed like a goofy place to start a debate like that. Interesting reading though.
He had a point. I'd put it as this: he saw Martin as having the potential to help out his contemporaries. Martin is a name known by millions now, whether you're a horror fan (Fevre Dream), a superhero fan (Wild Cards), a sci-fi reader (his endorsement on books such as Leviathan Wakes) or a fantasy reader (that small series called A Song of Ice and Fire), and that gives him... some level of power. Gaiman's endorsement of Vera Brosgol's Anya's Ghost would have aided its sales, for example, because Gaiman is a household name in the comics industry, as well as the fantasy one due to books such as Neverwhere and Coraline.
His point was, in my opinion, that Martin should have instead celebrated works by Bakker and so on as they are authors who deserve the mention for whatever reason. Rothfuss is everyone's best friend right now, Stephen King is beyond being a household name, Abraham and Franck are friends of Martin and have had a lot of success with LW, to the point where it's on a lot of Best Of lists.
If Martin says on his blog that Bakker got, say, an honorable mention in his Best Of... list, Bakker would see an increase in sales because people would check his books out 'cos Martin likes them. You can't tell me you've not checked out a book an author has mentioned before, because we've all done it, even if we haven't bought it.
Guess that was what he was trying to say. Not that Martin was wrong to make his choices, but that perhaps Martin should consider lending a hand to those who need it, rather than those that everyone reads anyway. Except me, of course, 'cos I'm not going to read Rothfuss.
