Were this year’s controversial choices for the National Book Awards “payback from the literary community for Stephen King‘s recognition” at last year’s award ceremony? Pittsburgh Post-Gazette book editor Bob Hoover poses the question in his most recent column. Plus, he says, “While this controversy will probably have no impact on changing mainstream American fiction, it does briefly shine some light on the wide range of authors trying their luck in the marketplace.” Not only that, “I also suspect it offers some encouragement to all of those students in creative writing programs.”