Michael Chabon, acclaimed literary writer and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for such wonderful novels as The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, appears to be killing his literary reputation with a form of seppuku known as genrecide. At least, that's the only way I can understand his decision to become an active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (according to the fall 2007 issue of the SFWA Bulletin). I bet his literary peers and acolytes will choke on that news.

Seriously, Chabon is one of the few literary heavyweights in the U.S. who gives full credit to genre writers and works. While I disagreed with him on a minor point regarding his essay last year on Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel The Road, we can only wish that more members of the literary elite were as open minded and talented as him.