Tag: Pink SF

Pink SF will ban itself

MidAmericaCon II refuses to include a Hugo-nominated work in the Hugo Packet:

As the World Science Fiction Convention, MidAmeriCon II has members from 35 countries. Safe Space as Rape Room quotes extensively from a written work containing explicit descriptions of children engaged in sexual activities. This material may be illegal in some home countries of  members. MidAmeriCon II does not wish to put any member at risk of inadvertently violating the law in their country of residence by downloading it in the packet without intent. As such, under legal advice, we are not  hosting or distributing this material directly. 

The “written work” referred to in the above is the novel Hogg, by the SFWA’s Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Samuel R. Delany.

The WorldCon convention has also issued at least two other “warning labels” to two other Hugo-nominated works in the packet, one a Best Related Work by Moira Greyland, the other a Best Short Story by Chuck Tingle.

Speaking of Pink SF, now that John Scalzi’s new book has been announced, it’s time to congratulate everyone who had “Isaac Asimov”. I’m sure we all look forward to reading the adventures of Eli Seldom and her psychic predictions of how the Galactic Empire would collapse as a result of interplanetary menstrual synchronization.

The decline of science fiction literature

He raises a significant question I haven’t seen: why is it that science fiction editors talk so much about politics, and so little about books they’ve read? He also hammers McRapey for his corrupt little arrangement with Cory Doctorow and BoingBoing.

He also found over a dozen voting slates and determined that there was only  one difference between the Puppy success and the lack of success of the rival slates: the Puppy slates – which, in the case of the Rabid Puppies were of course not even slates at all – were put forth by more popular blogs.

In other words, the only reason for all the fandom histrionics is that our writers are considerably more popular – or even worse, more influential – than theirs are. That is why they are constantly changing the rules and appealing to the media in order to continue their affirmative action campaign of destroying science fiction in order to improve it.

Earlier this week, a rousing headline shot at warp-speed across browsers and Twitter feeds: Women Swept The 2015 Nebula Awards, taking home the prestigious science-fiction and fantasy prizes in the categories of Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Story and Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy work.

The news might’ve come as a surprise to — or, at least, to the chagrin of — a boisterous group of science fiction writers and fans who’ve taken up the cause of restoring the genre to its tenants of yore: lighthearted adventure that’s sleek, zippy, fun, and — oh yeah — comprised of shelves’ worth of white male writers.

The ostensible platform of the Sad and Rabid Puppies, whose name is meant to mock heartfelt liberalism, is meant to support action stories sans political or moral message. And the cost? Last year, they rigged the voting for a similarly lauded set of prizes, the Hugo Awards, favoring white male writers and effectively quelling women and authors of color. Unlike the Nebulas — which are voted on by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, an organization comprised not just of writers but editors and publishers — the Hugos are controlled by readers, so the Puppies were able to leave their mark.

They didn’t succeed entirely. The categories they stocked with their own nominees received “No Award” due to voters rejecting their white male nominees. But for writers whose books were unfairly overlooked, the damage was done.

This year, the conversation howls on, especially in light of the woman-centered Nebula slate. Nnedi Okorafor, who won for her novella Binti, an interstellar story about a girl who leaves her people to attend the prestigious Oomza University, worlds away from her home, says she’s thankful that issues of prejudice in the industry are being discussed.

In an interview with The Huffington Post, Okorafor said, “Honestly, I love hearing people arguing out in the open, not hidden away in their own echo chambers. That’s what I want to see more of: Dialogue. The issues swirling around the Hugos are merely manifestations of the growing pains this country is experiencing as a whole,” she added. “Growing pains are painful, awkward, annoying, sometimes destructive in order to create. What I hope will be the outcome of the Hugos is an airing out, an addressing, a debate, and a moving forward.”

Naomi Novik, who took home the 2016 Nebula for her novel Uprooted, a fantasy book about a girl whose taken from her beloved community by a seemingly harmless dragon, feels differently. For her, the Sad Puppies’ rhetoric has been damaging, manipulative and unreflective of true fandom.

“I am glad to trumpet my disdain for this loudly,” Novik told HuffPost. “What I very much hope will come out of this year’s Hugo Awards is that the rules will be changed. [The Puppies] need to just go away.”

Both women agree that prejudiced lines of thinking have been historically damaging to women and writers of color working in the genre, who have both been recognized in their time, but largely forgotten by history. Kate Wilhelm’s suspenseful speculative fiction has won multiple Nebulas and a Hugo; Vonda N. McIntyre, whose longstanding attachment to the “Star Trek” franchise rocketed her to acclaim, won both awards as well. Yet neither is discussed alongside Orson Scott Card or William Gibson.

If Maddie Crum had ever read Kate Wilhelm’s or Vonda McIntyre’s books, or Card’s and Gibson’s, for that matter, she would know perfectly well why the former are not discussed alongside the latter. They’re neither as good nor as important and influential. They’re just not. It’s not even debatable.

It will be interesting to see how Novik’s disdain will be affected if we give her book Best Novel, just as we gave it to Three-Body Problem last year. Uprooted isn’t a great book, nor is it an important one, but it’s not a bad little fairy tale either. It’s a lightweight book more akin to Among Others than Redshirts or The Quantum Rose. It’s rather amusing that fendom is so caught up in the nominations game that they have failed to recognize that while they decide if anyone wins or not, the Rabid Puppies now decide who will win whenever there is more than one contestant in play.

The thing is, neither Novik nor Okorafor are bad writers. I generally like their works I’ve read. In historical terms, they write competent midlist fantasy and science fiction, respectively. But the fact that they are the best Pink SF has to offer is sufficient evidence of both the decline of the mainstream science fiction infrastructure as well as the general mediocrity of female SF/F writers.

What female SF/F writer today can compete with Tanith Lee at her best? If you compare Novik’s take on fairy tales to Lee’s, well, it’s not even close. There is still Lois McMaster Bujold, of course, but even she has lost her fastball when it comes to her novel-length works. Fat Seanan? N… K… Jemisin? Kameron “We Have Always Invented History” Hurley? Ann “Tea in Space” Leckie?

Please. There are better women writers working in the game industry than are getting nominated for awards in SF/F literature these days. Forget the awards, half these women couldn’t get published traditionally or self-publish and sell in the Amazon top 100,000 if they used a male pen name.

I’d very much like to see one of them try to prove me wrong. And as for the converse, well, are you absolutely certain I haven’t already done so?

How to save science fiction

Brad Torgersen explains how the Tor Cabal is going to save science fiction from the badthinkers:

GRUMPY OLD FAT RICH FAMOUS AUTHOR: Back when I didn’t have two nickels to rub together, the Hugos represented something special in this field. They were the yearly culmination of the collective Fannish spirit. Our communal celebration of what is best in this genre. We did this together — the many, come to unite as one.

AUDIENCE: (tepid applause, some straining forward in their seats, not quite sure where this is going)

GRUMPY OLD FAT RICH FAMOUS AUTHOR: Now, it’s all well and good to get rid of the Bad People™ because Lord knows I’m as sick of them as you all are.

AUDIENCE: (a spontaneous roar of agreement)

GRUMPY OLD FAT RICH FAMOUS AUTHOR: Our genre has never, ever been about Bad People™ nor should we ever be forced to tolerate the intolerant, who of course were never real Fans in the true meaning of Fannishness anyway, because we say so.

AUDIENCE: (collective orgasm of hearty ascent)

GRUMPY OLD FAT RICH FAMOUS AUTHOR: But this has to be done very politic-like. Why do you think all the great Socialist reformers of the past hundred years, have always staged elections? It didn’t matter if they were at the pinnacle of a one-party system, and gave themselves titles like “President.” What mattered is that their subjects — excuse me, citizens — were able to vote. That is the basis of the Republic — allowing people to pretend that there is actual democracy happening.

AUDIENCE: (murmurs, a few shouts, some scattered golf claps)

MODERATOR: (coughs nervously) But, sir, how are we to preserve and protect our glorious accolades?

SHRIMPY FAMOUS-ON-THE-INTERNET AUTHOR: I know nobody included me in this conversation, but I am going to include myself anyway, because everybody knows it’s all about me, in the end — me, me, and me. In fact, the only reason the Bad People™ exist at all, is because they are out to get me. That’s why there’s trouble in the Peoples Republic of Science Fiction. There are individuals who don’t like me, and have decided to get militant about it.

MODERATOR: (fawning over Shrimpy Famous-On-The-Internet Author) Well, please, by all means, have my chair! We would love to hear more.

AUDIENCE: (cheers, laughter)

SHRIMPY FAMOUS-ON-THE-INTERNET AUTHOR: I agree one hundred percent with my lovely and esteemed colleague, who is wealthier and more famous than me, so I will suck up to him at every opportunity — just like I do with that rock star Sandman guy. We of the pure and true fold, don’t need to tolerate the intolerant. Diversity means ensuring that a rainbow spectrum of ethnicities, genders, and sexualities — who all vote the same in national politics, have the same ideas on economics, and also literary taste — are afforded the opportunity to come celebrate with us, this most wonderful thing we call Science Fiction and Fantasy.

AUDIENCE: (massive, outlandish, squeeing approval)

SHRIMPY FAMOUS-ON-THE-INTERNET AUTHOR: But we have to be careful about how we go about ensuring that the Baen people, the FOX News viewers, the homophobes — did I tell you this hour how much I love and adore all gay people, for all time, everywhere? Because I, like, totally do! — and the transphobes, islamophobes, and other assorted Heinlein devotees, are kept out of the awards process. Do it too bluntly, and we risk sacrificing the public face of the field. We have to be sure we can say to the world — with straight faces — that Science Fiction and Fantasy is still a field that celebrates all ideas. Even though we want to make damned sure that SF/F’s power people and core literary prizes remain firmly on the side of the right ideas. Progressive ideas. For all definitions of Progressive which include, “Whatever Jon Stewart is being cute about this week.”

AUDIENCE: (murmuring wonderment at the great man’s epic intellect)

MODERATOR: (crying) My God, that was so beautiful . . . (reaches for tissue)

GRUMPY OLD FAT RICH FAMOUS AUTHOR: (steeples fingers) We’re kind of stating the obvious at this point. So, since we agree that we can’t be direct in addressing the problem of Bad People™ meddling in our business, what’s your proposal?

EDITOR TO THE SHRIMPY FAMOUS-ON-THE-INTERNET AUTHOR: (clears throat) Actually, it’s not his proposal, it’s mine. Because when it comes right down to it, we all know you writers would sell your souls for the right offer; from my house specifically. I can make or break any of you, any time I want. Same goes for people like that chump moderator over there, licking the hand of the caterer who’s putting out the lavish spread of food and treats — a spread my company is of course paying for, because the best way to win the hearts and minds of Fandom, is to give them free shit. Anyway, you all will rubber stamp whatever I want, in the end — just like when we split the editor category — so I’ll have my wife draft something on our blog later in the week. We can assume it will pass with flying colors at the business meeting, right?

It’s funny because it’s true. A lot of people don’t realize that EPH is a mandate straight out of the Nielsen Hayden family blog, previously known for creating the Best Editor Long Form award so I could be nominated every year Patrick Nielsen Hayden would finally get a few Hugos and stop crying about always losing out to Gardner Dozois.

Meanwhile, the second stage of my master plan is rapidly coming to fruition.

To the CEOs of Penguin Random House, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster

We, the undersigned, are writing on behalf of the Black community, which has long supported the publishing industry despite being shut out of it. College-educated Black women are the group most likely to read books in the U.S., and Black people read more of every type of book. People of color make up 37% of the US population. The publishing industry cannot continue to shut out and ignore the literary interests of communities of color.

Black authors, reviewers, and editors are being shut out of the publishing industry. Despite pledges and commitments from the most influential institutions to rectify this imbalance, little progress has been made. The 2015 Diversity Baseline Survey, conducted by Lee & Low books, shows just how racially homogeneous the publishing industry is. 79% of publishing and review journal staffers are white. A full 86% of executives are white. The dearth of racial inclusion within the publishing industry is reflected in the books that are accepted, produced, and sold. Only 10% of children’s books published since 1994 have been by, or about, people of color.

Major publishers have been historically averse to publishing books by or about Black individuals, averaging fewer than four African-American biographies a year. Journalism outlets like the New York Times and NPR regularly publish reading lists comprised almost exclusively of white authors. In majority non-white cities like New York, more than 60% of the cultural sector, which includes museums, theaters and other organizations, are white. And lack of editorial insight into sensitive historical and cultural issues can lead to harmful, ignorant books by white authors being published despite protest from Black communities.

The reality is that people of color often come from low-income backgrounds and have less access to professional opportunities or mentorship networks within the publishing industry. Unless the publishing industry makes a concerted, well-resourced effort to lower barriers that keep out minorities, the status quo will never change. Participating in voluntary diversity surveys or pledging to pay more attention to racial demographics is only an acknowledgement of the diversity crisis. Large publishing institutions should fund initiatives that foster inclusion and create opportunities for authors, reviewers, and editors of color to thrive within the industry.

There have been myriad discussions on the necessity of diversity, on the importance of inclusion, on the value of equitable racial representation in not just publishing, but every industry. But we have come to a point where those words and sentiments must be matched with actions. When presidential candidates feel comfortable spewing hateful rhetoric to their supporters, it is a sign that all of us must do more to fight back against ideas and beliefs that divide or endanger people of color. Books shape our perceptions, give us insights into different experiences, and teach us lessons that we carry our entire lives.

Will you support a future that recognizes and values the literary voices and talents of Black people and people of color?

Yes, yes, absolutely yes! I could not agree more and I signed the petition. I absolutely support it, in fact, I will go one step further and demand that the CEOs of Penguin, Random House, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Simon & Schuster publish ONLY black WOMEN and women of color and/or diverse sexual orientations and identities. After all, “black people read more of every type of book.”

You can’t argue with that.

This year’s Nebula Awards, where 24 out of the 34 works nominated for the award were written by women from multiple racial and cultural backgrounds and a spectrum of sexual orientations, and only 5 works were written by straight white men, is a step in the right direction. But we’re not there yet! Not yet!

We must not stop until Pink SF is 100 percent SJW-converged, and 100 percent of the authors, editors, and awards are black women and women of color!

UPDATE: And you thought I was kidding.

Dear Vox,

Thank you for taking action and adding your voice to the demand that the “Big Five” publishing houses create internships specifically for Black people and people of color. With your help we can ensure that diversity is more than just a buzzword used by companies. We can ensure that racial inclusion and equity become a reality, and that we are included in the portrayal of our stories.

Sincerely,

Brandi, Rashad, Arisha, Bernard, Brittaney, Evan, and the rest of the ColorOfChange team 

SJWs never learn

This brilliant and totally new idea that has never been thought before by anyone in the science fiction world amused me when it was broached on Rape Rape’s blog:

mrjoshuaspeaks
Is it not time for a simple “Bannishment” of the Pet Leech? I realize that nobody wants to open up a “BlackList” situation but why not just say “you are done” to V.D. and his publishing house and obvious cohort saboteurs. If that is to much at least cut out V.D..

As a diverse and open fanbase it is completely justified and to our collective benefit to say you are a problem and we do not acknowledge you. Let him prove his point on the web by spewing hate speech and gibberish, nobody but his little niche of followers would care. It may leave out a small sum of quality works that sadly will not be recognized but that is a small price to pay for the quality we lose with his contributors sweeping the votes.

Simply saying we do not want V.D. and his views and actions as a representation of fandom as a whole sounds “great” does it not? Let him slaver and spew from afar.

Duly noted. I acknowledge SF fandom’s refusal to acknowledge me, accept it at face value, and for my part, promise to continue to ignore their opinions, feelings, and perspectives. As for “bannishment” that is a tactic that has clearly worked out very well for Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, SFWA, and others. I would absolutely welcome another banishment, not because I am a gamma male engaging in the customary public posturing, but because the most recent one resulted in a one-million monthly increase in my average pageviews. I expect a Martin-inspired Worldcon banishment could prove even more productive in this regard than the Scalzi-driven SFWA “expulsion” was.

  1. Nielsen Haydens condemn VD’s presence on a Nebula jury 
    • Nebula juries canceled
  2. SF SJWs proclaim VD will never be published by mainstream SF publishing houses
    • Castalia House launched.
    • Multiple bestselling authors join Castalia House.
    • VD writes and publishes four category bestsellers in nine months (with assistance from John Red Eagle, Dr. James Miller, and Dominic Saltarelli.)
  3. SFWA Board votes to expel VD from SFWA
    • John Wright joins Castalia House
    • VD’s average monthly pageviews grow from 1.2 million to 2.2 million.
    • VD collects first Hugo nomination
  4. SF fandom votes to No Award “Opera Vita Aeterna” in 2014.
    • Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies take 57 nominations.
    • VD collects second and third Hugo nominations
  5. SF fandom No Awards the Puppies in 2015
    • Rabid Puppies take 69 nominations (5 games DQ’d)
    • VD collects fourth and fifth Hugo nominations
    • Hugo rules changed: EPH and 4 of 6 pass.
    • “Space Raptor Butt Invasion”

Apparently SJWs aren’t gifted when it comes to pattern recognition. By all means, open up your hate and let it flow into me. Who could possibly doubt if they redouble their efforts one more time, just this one more time, their exclude-and-disapprove-and-refuse-to-acknowledge tactics will finally succeed!

Meanwhile, Yagathai not only confirms that Larry Correia was correct all along, but justifies the ongoing campaign against Tor Books:

yagathai
I have not read Between Light and Shadow. I do not plan to. I will nevertheless vote against it. Castalia House is the propaganda organ of an odious white supremacist and obscene misogynist, and I will fight to deny it even a breath of legitimacy.

That may not be all Castalia is. It may also publish serious works of scholarship, but that’s immaterial — lay down with puppies and you get fleas. Any work published by CH is tainted.

You can call this a “political reason” if you like. I don’t. I see it as a matter of common decency.

He has a right to his opinion, as silly as it may be. As do we. Tor Books is the SJW-converged propaganda organ of an unreconstructed Stalinist, feminist, and dyscivilizationist, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, and while it may publish a few works that are not Pink SF, that is immaterial. Any work published by Tor Books is tainted.

It is a matter of common decency. Boycott Tor Books. Tor delenda est.

And finally, one of the authors of EPH shows his true colors. Remember, Worldcon kept going on and on about how impartial their very professional statisticians were, right up until those statisticians discovered that the Puppies were not the only slates in play and promptly buried the evidence by refusing to disclose the information they’d previously promised to disclose.

jamesonquinn
I’m the person who put together the ideas for EPH in the first place; a co-author of the analysis that prompted this post; and the person who first suggested a strengthened version of EPH (being called “EPH+” on File 770) for 2018. Clearly I’m not unbiased, but I am an expert on voting systems….

(VD is currently crowing about how GRRM is not a real hard science fiction writer like Piers Anthony was or else he would have realized that EPH wasn’t a panacea, and about how he will always have another plan and thus can never be foiled. As a voting theorist, I can say to him: I may also be no golden age SF author, but I do know how to shut you, and your innumerable plans, down. And what it looks like is exactly like what you’re seeing: an inexorable reduction of your ability to create the chaos you desire, step by carefully-considered consensus step.)

All things are possible, Mr. Quinn. I will certainly welcome adding the scalp of a Harvard statistician to my growing collection. I note there is already one strike against you; I knew, as you did not, that EPH would fail from the start. And I take no small pleasure in being the first to inform you that EPH+ will as well, as you quite clearly do not understand its inevitable consequences.

The Science Fiction Women’s Awards

The SFWA’s Nebula Awards were given out this weekend and offer further proof that allowing women into a men’s club inevitably destroys it over time. The winners in the four major categories:

Novel: Uprooted, Naomi Novik
Novella: Binti, Nnedi Okorafor
Novelette: “Our Lady of the Open Road,” Sarah Pinsker
Short Story: “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers,” Alyssa Wong

What’s interesting about this is that all the screaming about sexism in science fiction has never been louder. This is despite the fact that women now dominate the SF publishing houses, the editorships, run the SFWA, and are giving themselves literally all the major awards. Consider the winners of the four categories over the last five years:

2015: 4/4 women
2014: 3/4 women
2013: 4/4 women
2012: 2/4 women
2011: 2/4 women


The trend is clear, and what is readily apparent is that very few, if any, men will win Nebula Awards in the future. You might think I’m complaining about this, but quite to the contrary, I very much welcome the transformation of SFWA into the Science Fiction Women’s Awards. The more the SF publishers are influenced by it, the bigger a competitive advantage Castalia House is going to have.


Men reliably flee female-dominated institutions and activities. There is a reason there are so few lawsuits by men demanding admittance into women’s-only organizations, after all. The 2015 Nebula Awards not only tell us who is probably going to win the Hugo Awards for Best Novel and Best Novella, but also indicate that Pink SF is going to become even more omnipresent in what passes for mainstream science fiction publishing.

Look out, SF fandom

Mike Cernovich is taking scalps:

Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska will not be running for President after his connection to pedophiles was revealed by Mike Cernovich of Danger & Play Media. (Read: Ben Sasse and #NeverTrump’s Pedophile Problem.)

This entire election season Sasse has building up his personal brand by attacking Trump. Sasse had not taken a principled stand against anyone else on the right, and thus he’s engaging in showmanship marketing in an effort to run for president.

His campaign for president began gaining momentum, with establishment conservatives hailing him as a hero. He was primed to run, and then I scalped him.

Sasse claimed to be a political outsider, so I began digging. Far
from being an everyman, Sasse was an insider’s insider, working at
companies like McKinsey and Company in between stints in Washington,
D.C. Yet what was not common knowledge was Sasse’s role as a tutor of
underage boys.

Sasse tutored and was sworn to protect underage boys working as
Congressional pages. Yet pages were constantly abused, and I suspected,
were abused under his watch. When I raise those concerns to Sasse, he
went radio silent.

Radio silence is a good way to describe the science fiction’s response to the considerable amount of smoke surrounding Samuel Delaney, just to specifically name one oft-celebrated individual. Notice that despite the science fiction community’s retroactive distancing from H.P. Lovecraft, Marion Zimmer Bradley has not yet been stripped of a single award or honor, DAW still publishes her Darkover books, and Tor Books still publishes her “Light” series.

So why are DAW and Tor Books still publishing Marion Zimmer Bradley in the full knowledge of her crimes? Do they endorse child abuse? It certainly puts a very dark spin on the title of Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden’s blog, “Making Light”.

So angry

It’s amusing how the SJWs keep relying upon their primary tactic, which is to spin the Narrative no matter what relation it might have to the truth.

Michael Morlock ‏@RevWinfield
The latest tantrum by @voxday has just gone to show that Buttpounding enthusiast @ChuckTingle is both a better man and a better writer.

Great. So vote “Space Raptor Butt Invasion” for Best Short Story. Perhaps I will too.

I am intrigued by Kevin Standlee’s proposal, for a three-stage process
(nomination as now, but leading to a list of up to 15 potential stories,
then an up-down vote on whether a story was worthy, by current Worldcon
members only, then the final ballot as now). The better solution would
be for Vox Day to abandon his childish games, but that seems unlikely in
the near future at least.
– Rich Horton, Black Gate

Angry. Crying. Childish. Tantrum. Toddler.

Those who have read SJW Always Lie will, of course, recognize the tactic for what it is: a rhetorical attack. Their objective is no different than the objective of the fourth-grade girl who calls another girl ugly or fat. They’re simply playing Mean Girl Game, in which the rules are the first person to upset the other person and make them run off crying wins.

Now, you might ask yourself, what is the point of that? Even if I did feel devastated by people calling me names on the Internet and ran off crying, what would that change? In reality, nothing. But in their weird little delusion bubbles, they believe that just the right verbal sally will cause neutral parties to publicly acclaim them and enemies to submit. The fact that this has never, ever happened in their adult lives doesn’t prevent them from relying upon the tactic.

Anyhow, if an SJW someone else is slinging rhetoric at you, there is no need whatsoever to address it directly, to deny their ludicrous accusations, or to defend yourself in any way. Because what it means is that whatever you are doing is upsetting them and you should simply keep doing it. You can respond in kind if you feel like it, but there is no need to do so. The more they emote, the more they project, the more they will inform you where their vulnerabilities are.

For example, it should be readily apparent why so many of their preferred insults this year have a noticeable theme to them. They are projecting their emotional response to the accurate charge that as a community, they are harboring, defending, and celebrating pedophiles and child abusers. They very much dislike being referred to as pedofilers and pedophandom, because, as we know, the best and most effective rhetoric is that which has its basis in truth.

Sexism at the Locus Awards

The SF SJWS are up in arms about sexism at the Locus Awards:

Renay, The Cabal ‎@renay
Surprise, welcome to Systemic Sexism, Locus Awards edition!!

Stephanie A. Allen ‏@stephandrea_
I guess I didn’t get the memo that female YA writers don’t write SFF

Martha Brockenbrough ‎@mbrockenbrough
Hey, if you read LOCUS, don’t worry: women do actually write fantasy and science fiction, even if they didn’t make any awards lists.

Martha Brockenbrough ‏@mbrockenbrough
To clarify my earlier tweet about LOCUS’s finalists. No books by women made the list in the YA category. This defies belief.

 No wonder they’re upset:

FANTASY NOVEL

    Karen Memory, Elizabeth Bear (Tor)
    The House of Shattered Wings, Aliette de Bodard (Roc; Gollancz)
    Wylding Hall, Elizabeth Hand (PS; Open Road)
    The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
    Uprooted, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

Wait, what? Oh, sorry, apparently this is the problem.

YOUNG ADULT BOOK

    Half a War, Joe Abercrombie (Del Rey; Harper Voyager UK)
    Half the World, Joe Abercrombie (Del Rey)
    Harrison Squared, Daryl Gregory (Tor)
    Shadowshaper, Daniel José Older (Levine)
    The Shepherd’s Crown, Terry Pratchett (Harper; Doubleday UK)

For feminists, “sexism” means that somewhere, somehow, a man still has something that a woman thinks she should have.

Supreme Dark Lord ‏@voxday
 You’re obviously forgetting that Joe Abercrombie identifies as a woman now. So much hate! You should be ashamed!

Martha Brockenbrough ‏@mbrockenbrough
Is this a joke? Because I am not getting it.

Supreme Dark Lord ‏@voxday
I just think you’re being very insensitive and hateful to Ms Abercrombie. Not all women have vaginas, you know.

Martha Brockenbrough ‏@mbrockenbrough
First I have heard that Joe Abercrombie identifies as a woman. If she does, that changes things. 

And to think they say SJWs are no fun!

An impossible conundrum

It’s rather remarkable that in this long article about female fans doing to the new Star Wars what female fans always do – which is turn literally everything into sordid romance – that the author can’t possibly figure out why nearly all of them are intent on putting Rey together with Kylo rather than with the nominal hero of the piece:

In those days, as now, fan-fiction was a hobby largely undertaken by women; though solid data is sparse, most of it shows cisgender men in the minority by a wide margin. There’s no single agreed upon answer to the question of why this is, but one common explanation cites the desire to create narratives outside the male perspective that has historically ruled the entertainment world. Interviewed by Fangirl Chat in 2014, Maggie Nowakowska, a prominent member of the early Star Wars zine scene, recalled that this was an explicit goal of hers: “We wanted to make sure we got some female Jedi in there because we were afraid the boys would get on it first and the next thing you’d know women were never Jedi.”

Not all fan fiction centers on romance, but a good portion of it does. In many fandoms (The Force Awakens included), “slash” stories about men getting with men tend to be very popular: perhaps for some of the same reasons lesbian porn is popular among straight men, or because pop culture generally tends to create more (and more fleshed-out) male characters than female ones, or because media has historically lacked for queer love stories. Even when the subject of a story is a heterosexual relationship between leading characters, foregrounding romance can be a transgressive move depending on the source material. At one point in the ’80s, Lucasfilm broke with a policy of mostly ignoring fan fiction by sending publishers warning letters because of a story that featured love scenes between Han and Leia….

 “There’s a curve as to which ships are the most popular and which are the least. That Reylo is bigger than Finn and Rey is surprising to me.”

It’s true: Stories by fans about The Force Awakens’s two lead heroes falling in love are far outnumbered by ones about the movie’s heroine and its village-slaughtering villain doing so. One common explanation for this says that Rey and Kylo are simply the most fascinating people on screen. J.J. Abrams has talked about his philosophy of movies being “mystery boxes,” and certainly both of these characters, with Rey’s unexplained backstory and Kylo’s hazy motivations, fit that description.

There’s also a level of moral unsettledness that make them stand out. Kylo is visibly tempted to turn back to good; Rey has more pressing concerns than the fate of the galaxy. Ricca explained it to me in terms of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Rey’s focused on the bottom, on survival, while Kylo highmindedly obsesses over being the best Dark Sider he can be. “Having the two meet as equals is bizarre, and hints a lot of things,” Ricca said. “Some of those things are explored in Interstellar Transmissions, and a lot of them aren’t, because there’s so much potential.”

The problematic fact that they are attempting to avoid mentioning is that Finn is black. The reason so little fan fiction is written about Finn and Rey is because, despite being under constant barrage by Hollywood and the advertising industry pushing miscegenated propaganda, the vast majority of white women simply don’t find black men to be as attractive as white men. Like calls to like, as it has always done and as it always will do.

However, the article does indicate the primary problem with science fiction and fantasy today. Most of it simply isn’t genuine science fiction and fantasy, it’s merely professional fan fiction.

“The Donald Trump of Science Fiction”

Prophetic words from the Puppinette:

Last year, during the lead up to the Hugos, I wrote a post about how this was more important than just a rocketship…. At the time, the idea that Donald Trump would be a serious front-runner for the Republican party was the fodder for jokes. It would never happen. But… if anyone was paying attention to what was happening in SFF, it should have been clear that the Rabid Puppies represented the same xenophobic, white supremacist drive that is giving Trump power.

Let me tell you, I’m terrified of the elections this year.

We’ve been writing dystopian novels as warnings for years. The Hunger Games? Reality Television as politics… not so far fetched right now, is it?

So let me be clear. The fight that is going on in SFF for inclusion is not small. It is not petty. It is a reflection of a much bigger problem, and if we, as a community, don’t start paying attention and trying to change the larger culture then we know how this will end.

Mary Kowall is a low-energy liar and a blatant cheater who bought over 40 Hugo votes last year. But “the Donald Trump of Science Fiction”? Flattering! Great honor!

(I have to admit, I thought her tweet on the subject was exactly eight percent funnier since it was about one “Theordore”.)

In any event, she’s right to be terrified of the elections. And she should be terrified of rather more than that. Little does she know what is on the horizon. Little does she know what is coming.

Her rather chagrined tweet in response to the reaction to her comparison was even more amusing.

Mary Robinette Kowal @MaryRobinette
I suspected this would be the case. 

See, she totally meant to do that. They still don’t seem to grasp that anything they say about the Supreme Dark Lord can and will be used against them. And not only by me and the Vile Faceless Minions. Like the Republican establishment, the self-righteous SJWs of what presently passes for science fiction have absolutely no idea how deeply and broadly hated they are.

Look at the novels on the right sidebar of her site. Does that look like science fiction to you? Does it even look like fantasy? No, it’s fucking romance and that’s exactly how her Pink SF publisher is trying to sell it. To even call it Pink SF is a bit of a stretch.

And like the Republican establishment, the SJWs of Pink SF simply do not understand why so many people are absolutely delighted to be able to support the man those SJWs fear and hate, whether they agree with him on many things or not. I’m now seeing traffic levels the PSF-SJWs used to fantasize and lie about having, and a fair amount of that is directly due to them.