Hugos Vs Puppies IV: Wrath of the Rabid
Mere minutes after the nominations were announced, John Scalzi said that the Puppies were attempting to lead a parade that was already in motion, by nominating works of obvious quality that probably would have been nominated anyway. George R. R. Martin made a similar observation:
The Rabids used a new tactic this year. They nominated legitimate, quality works in addition to the dross. Works by writers like Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Neal Stephenson, Alastair Reynolds,…Andy Weir, and several others. Some of these writers are apolitical (like Weir) while others are known to oppose everything that VD stands for (Gaiman, Stephenson, King).
This is a tacit admission that the Puppies are doing exactly what they claim to be doing–nominating “legitimate, quality works” based on “excellence in actual science fiction and fantasy,” regardless of the political stance of the nominated writer.
And while the bulk of the nominations are obviously for deserving works–Stephen King received his first nomination for over thirty years–several of them are…unique.
Two
Best Related Work nominations, however, are generally being overlooked
in the furor over My Little Ponies (and Chuck Tingle’s gay dinosaur
erotica in space), and those are much more problematic. “The Story of
Moira Greyland” outs fantasy writer Marion Zimmer Bradley for abuse and
molestation, and “Safe Space as Rape Room” by Daniel Eness raises some
very uncomfortable questions about science fiction fandom.
Uncomfortable questions indeed. Questions which pedophandom is desperate to avoid asking, or being answered.