Tag: Puppies

First, thanks to all the Rabid Puppies who got involved, at both the nomination and the voting stages. Things went very much according to form, and we have the SF-SJWs exactly where we want them at this point in time. Observe that after only two years, we already have them voting almost entirely in reaction to us, changing and complicating their rules, and awarding SJWs instead of merit in most categories.

Second, a few observations:

• We were only able to burn two categories this year, but we reduced their choices to X or No Award in 5 other categories.
• We got them to show the public their true colors and demonstrate that what the Hugo Award primarily means is public adherence to the SJW Narrative. Among the finalists no awarded this year: Jerry Pournelle, Larry Elmore, Toni Weisskopf, Moira Greyland, David Vandyke, Pierce Brown, and RazörFist. In most cases, the awards were given to people whose work is of observably lower quality. For example, the bestselling Pierce Brown, whose novel was not even nominated, wrote what was almost certainly, by any reasonable standard, the best science fiction novel published this year. Tough crowd, if even he’s not worthy of mere consideration for Best New Author.
• They did have the sense to avoid no-awarding Jim Butcher for a second straight year, though. Apparently Mr. Butcher’s writing has improved a lot since last year.
• They no-awarded a serious literary work about Gene Wolfe. Remember, these are the same people that have repeatedly claimed a blog post was “the Best Related Work” in science fiction that year. The contrast is informative.
• The four fiction categories are increasingly becoming No White Male territory. The winners were: black woman, black woman, Asian woman, white woman, none of whom are bestselling or even very well-known authors. This is reliably indicative of increasing irrelevance. It won’t be long before simply being a minority won’t be enough and authors will have to be gay, blind, and crippled just to be nominated.
• Contra all their unconvincing pretenses of delight, the nomination of “Space Raptor Butt Invasion” embarrassed them greatly. Chuck Tingle’s masterpiece was no-awarded, exactly as I predicted.
• We played kingmaker in Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, where The Martian beat Fury Road, and in the John W. Campbell Award, where Andy Weir beat Alyssa Wong, thanks to our votes. And, of course, in Best Novel, where Jemisin’s win was primarily a vote against us.
• Neil Gaiman’s acceptance was, characteristically, as classy as the man’s himself. “It meant a lot to see Sandman Overture nominated for a Hugo award, and was disappointing to see that it had been dragged into the unfortunate mess that the pitiable people who call themselves Puppy had attempted to inflict on Worldcon and its awards. I would have withdrawn it from consideration, but even that seemed like it would have been giving these sad losers too much acknowledgement. I am proud it won, and prouder by far of the amazing work that JH Williams, Dave Stewart, Todd Klein, Dave McKean and Shelly Bond did. Thank you.”
• It’s interesting to note that SJWs aren’t celebrating the fact that more of the awards went to women this year than ever before, including all of the fiction categories.

All in all, despite the twin disappointments of Jerry Pournelle and Chuck Tingle not winning their categories, 2016 was a very good year; arguably better, from the strategic perspective, than last year’s results. The Guardian‘s coverage of the awards is a pretty good summary for the SJW perspective. They still have no idea what’s going on:

The winners of the 2016 Hugo awards have been announced, with this year’s choices signalling a resounding defeat for the so-called “Puppies” campaigns to derail the venerable annual honouring of science fiction literature and drama. As in previous years, there had been attempts by two separate groups, the Sad Puppies and the Rabid Puppies, to “game” the awards in favour of their preferred slates of works. Both groups claimed that science fiction has become dominated by a liberal, left-wing bias.

It’s complete with a picture of the award-winning half-savage herself. It’s quite clear most of these people cheering her Best Novel award have never read even a little of The Fifth Season, which makes George Martin’s masterpiece of rape, death, and grimdark look cheerful and features a protagonist less likeable than Rand al’Thor and Ramsay Bolton combined.

As one reviewer of the 2016 Best Novel put it: “the main character became more and more unlikable as the tale goes on. She ends up in a gay/poly triad, has a child with the gay member of the group, and then essentially decides she’s not cut out to be a mother and goes on and on about how she doesn’t really care about the toddler, ditching him. All of this after a main hook where she’s supposed to be frantically searching for yet another child who she seems for forget for years at a time.”

That pretty well sums it up. Redshirts and Among Others were mediocrities, but The Fifth Season is a depth no Best Novel has seen since The Quantum Rose won the Nebula in 2000. The Impossibility of SJW Convergence is increasingly working in our favor. It won’t be long it won’t even need our paws on the scale to help the process along.

The Guardian claims 2016 was “a resounding defeat” for the Rabid Puppies, but then, they are an SJW institution and we know what SJWs always do. Consider a relatively neutral party’s verdict, as declared back in April, by the Reverend 3.0.

If any other Castalia House work wins Best Related Work or second places to No Award, then the Rabid Puppies have obtained limited victory over the Hugos


Best Related Work
1. No Award
2. Between Light and Shadow: An Exploration of the Fiction of Gene Wolfe, 1951 to 1986, Marc Aramini, Castalia House

“A limited victory”. That is a fair description.

We had over 200 people at the Rabid Puppy Hugo Party last night, which featured Dragon Award finalists John C. Wright, Nick Cole, and Brian Niemeier, as well as Hugo Award finalist Jeffro Johnson, and I think it’s fair to say that a good time was had by most, if not all. One attendee even wrote to express his enjoyment of it.

Thank you for hosting The 2016 Hugo Awards this evening, which doubled as a most excellent and informative SFF convention panel. No one signaled virtue, no one posed, all was honest and free. I’ve never had the pleasure of witnessing a panel of guests quite like these before.

This is how I will be voting for the 2016 Hugos. As MidAmericaCon2 has noted, there are less than two weeks to vote, so if you’re already registered, don’t neglect to send in your ballot.

BEST NOVEL

1. Uprooted by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
2. Seveneves: A Novel by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow)
3. The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher (Roc)
4. No Award

BEST NOVELLA

1. Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold (Spectrum)
2. Perfect State by Brandon Sanderson (Dragonsteel Entertainment)
3. Slow Bullets by Alastair Reynolds (Tachyon)
4. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)
5. The Builders by Daniel Polansky (Tor.com)

BEST NOVELETTE

1. “Obits” by Stephen King (The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Scribner)
2. “What Price Humanity?” by David VanDyke (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)
3. “Flashpoint: Titan” by Cheah Kai Wai (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)
4. “Folding Beijing” by Hao Jingfang, trans. Ken Liu (Uncanny Magazine, Jan-Feb 2015)
5.  No Award

BEST SHORT STORY

1. “Space Raptor Butt Invasion” by Chuck Tingle (Amazon Digital Services)
2. “Seven Kill Tiger” by Charles Shao (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)
3. “If You Were an Award, My Love” by Juan Tabo and S. Harris (voxday.blogspot.com, Jun 2015)
4. “Asymmetrical Warfare” by S. R. Algernon (Nature, Mar 2015)
5. “Cat Pictures Please” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2015)

BEST RELATED WORK (2080 ballots)

1. Between Light and Shadow: An Exploration of the Fiction of Gene Wolfe, 1951 to 1986 by Marc Aramini (Castalia House)
2. “The Story of Moira Greyland” by Moira Greyland (askthebigot.com)
3. “Safe Space as Rape Room” by Daniel Eness (castaliahouse.com)
4. “The First Draft of My Appendix N Book” by Jeffro Johnson (jeffro.wordpress.com)
5. SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police by Vox Day (Castalia House)

BEST GRAPHIC STORY

1. The Sandman: Overture written by Neil Gaiman, art by J.H. Williams III (Vertigo)
2. No Award

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (LONG FORM)

1. The Martian screenplay by Drew Goddard, directed by Ridley Scott (Scott Free Productions; Kinberg Genre; TSG Entertainment; 20th Century Fox)
2. Avengers: Age of Ultron written and directed by Joss Whedon (Marvel Studios; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
3. Ex Machina written and directed by Alex Garland (Film4; DNA Films; Universal Pictures)
4. Mad Max: Fury Road written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, and Nico Lathouris, directed by George Miller (Village Roadshow Pictures; Kennedy Miller Mitchell; RatPac-Dune Entertainment; Warner Bros. Pictures)
5. Star Wars: The Force Awakens written by Lawrence Kasdan, J. J. Abrams, and Michael Arndt, directed by J.J. Abrams (Lucasfilm Ltd.; Bad Robot Productions; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (SHORT FORM)

1. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: “The Cutie Map” Parts 1 and 2 written by Scott Sonneborn, M.A. Larson, and Meghan McCarthy, directed by Jayson Thiessen and Jim Miller (DHX Media/Vancouver; Hasbro Studios)
2. Supernatural: “Just My Imagination” written by Jenny Klein, directed by Richard Speight Jr. (Kripke Enterprises; Wonderland Sound and Vision; Warner Bros. Television)
3. Grimm: “Headache” written by Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt, directed by Jim Kouf(Universal Television; GK Productions; Hazy Mills Productions; Open 4 Business Productions; NBCUniversal Television Distribution)
4. Jessica Jones: “AKA Smile” written by Scott Reynolds, Melissa Rosenberg, and Jamie King, directed by Michael Rymer (Marvel Television; ABC Studios; Tall Girls Productions;Netflix)
5. Doctor Who: “Heaven Sent” written by Steven Moffat, directed by Rachel Talalay (BBC Television)

BEST EDITOR – SHORT FORM

1. Jerry Pournelle
2. No Award

BEST EDITOR – LONG FORM

1. Vox Day
2. Toni Weisskopf
3. Jim Minz
4. No Award

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

1. Larry Elmore
2. Lars Braad Andersen
3. Michal Karcz
4. Larry Rostant
5. Abigail Larson

BEST SEMIPROZINE

1. No Award

BEST FANZINE

1. File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
2. Castalia House Blog edited by Jeffro Johnson
3. Tangent Online edited by Dave Truesdale
4. Superversive SF edited by Jason Rennie

BEST FANCAST

1. The Rageaholic, RazörFist
2. 8-4 Play, Mark MacDonald, John Ricciardi, Hiroko Minamoto, and Justin Epperson
3. Cane and Rinse, Cane and Rinse
4. HelloGreedo, HelloGreedo
5. Tales to Terrify, Stephen Kilpatrick

BEST FAN WRITER

1. Jeffro Johnson
2. Morgan Holmes
3. Mike Glyer
4. Shamus Young
5. Douglas Ernst

BEST FAN ARTIST

1. Christian Quinot
2. Kukuruyo
3. disse86
4. Matthew Callahan
5. Steve Stiles

JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER

1. Andy Weir *
2. Pierce Brown *
3. Sebastien de Castell *
4. Alyssa Wong *
5. Brian Niemeier

The Guardian tackles the most important questions of today:

For the second year running, campaign group Rabid Puppies has dominated the Hugo shortlists, encouraging its supporters to block-vote for specific titles and authors that they believe have been overlooked because of leftwing bias in science fiction publishing. The vast majority of the “slate” recommended by blogger Vox Day ended up with a Hugo nomination – including, on the best short story ballot, Space Raptor Butt Invasion by one Chuck Tingle.

Tingle’s presence shifted the dynamic of the post-Hugo discussions. Wasn’t his placing on the best of the best of science fiction list indicative of the Rabid Puppies’ true motivations, people asked: not to reward “better” writing, but to simply destroy the Hugos’ reputation? The presence of the author behind titles such as Helicopter Man Pounds Dinosaur Billionaire Ass and My Ass Is Haunted By the Gay Unicorn Colonel does somewhat detract from the grand stature of the Hugos. It’s easy to see why the Rabid Puppies would nominate Tingle; when a tingler appeared on the ballot, they must have had conniptions.

Day initially presented Tingle’s nomination as a way of combating homophobia in science fiction. (“The decades of discrimination against gay dinosaur love in space by the science fiction community stops now, and it stops here!”) but later admitted it was a joke. “I don’t give a quantum of a damn what my critics thought about it. Some things are worth doing simply because they are amusing,” he wrote, following it up with: “Chuck Tingle’s nomination is not a joke. Well, all right, it is.”

So who is he? The easiest answer would be the Rabid Puppies leader himself, Vox Day. But no. “I am not Chuck Tingle,” Day says. “I have my suspicions, but I do not actually know [who it is].” Nora Jemison, nominated for best novel for The Fifth Season, doesn’t know either, or “even if they’re only one person”.

I am flattered that there are those who believe that my writing is good enough for me to secretly be the Hugo-nominated Shakespeare of our time. But alas, that is not the case.

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.

I find it fascinating that every single step along the way, SF-SJWs are always convinced that this time, surely this one more time, they will be able to stop me from pursuing my objectives. The Reverend 3.0 considers the growing movement to permaban the Puppies from participation in the Hugo Awards.

In a way, the Puppy Revolt could end up making things easier on the Controllers, because it gives them an excuse to seize control under the cover of protecting everyone from the Puppies. Not that this will stop the slow death of traditional publishing, but whatever.

Now, Vox wants us to believe he can use the proposed PermaBan rule against the Kickers. That remains to be seen, but the man has an excellent track record on these things.

I’m torn on whether or not Vox can pull that off. My gut tells me that this is at least partially a bluff, but I have no evidence and it runs counter to Vox’s pattern of saying what he will do and then doing it. But the gut will say what it says, regardless of reason.

Predictions Time:

-The Powers That Be will move forward with PermaBanning, and will implement it if they think they can get away with it.

-If PermaBanning is implemented, the Hugo base will go along with it.

-If Vox can flip PermaBanning on the PTB, I will give my gut a very stern talking-to.

These people must spend all their time posing, posturing, and bluffing, because every time I do what I tell them I am going to do, they’re astonished. Although it is amusing that they’re already abandoning hope in EPH, which they were certain was the answer last year.

Of course, I told them as much, in fact, I made it clear that I welcome the passage of EPH, as its implementation will mark the start of the second stage of the Pink SF-Blue SF cultural war. But an open ban would take us to the third stage even faster.

That being said, one has to credit Rev 3.0 for being correct in the essentials:

First, we can all appreciate how much of a brilliant predictor I am. Second, we can examine that perennial question: is Vox Day a legitimate threat or a paper tiger? I have said (over and over again) that he is a legitimate threat. The Establishment has said (over and over again) that he is a “toddler.” You be the judge.

Betting against the SJW Narrative is usually the safe bet. And then, of course, there is this:

If the 2016 Hugos are the Year of the Gay Space Raptor (ie, the
biggest talking point and what people remember it for), Vox knows what
he’s doing.