At a fundraiser for writers’ retreat Sangam House, Rick Moody got cold, whipped-creamy revenge for the 2002 review in which Dale Peck called him “the worst writer of his generation.” Moody didn’t pie Peck gently, either — he really put his arm into it, and then smeared it around after making contact.
This is cute and all, but there’s a chummy, clubby aspect of the ‘reconciliation’ that bothers me. Does Peck really take back everything he ever said about, say,’The Black Veil?’ Does he still care fervently about literature and how it’s marketed, or is he just spending his free time swimming around in a vault full of money a la Scrooge McDuck now that his sci-fi project with the dude from Heroes sold for $3 million? Also, I feel that this establishes a dangerous precedent. Well, I am not about to get pied, not even to support the worthiest writer’s retreat imaginable.