Rabid Puppies press release

This is the text of the press release that went out to the media yesterday.

RABID PUPPIES 2016 Make the Hugos Great

On the heels of last year’s magnificent campaign, which successfully placed 58 of its 67 recommended nominees on the ballot and inspired no less than 5 No Awards, the Supreme Dark Lord of the Evil Legion of Evil is proud to Make the Hugos Great Again by announcing his recommendations for the 2016 Hugo Awards.

“Many of the things that were said about the Puppies last year by luminaries of the field such as George R.R. Martin, David Gerrold, and John Scalzi were deeply hurtful,” said Vox Day, as he quaffed blood from the silvered skull of an SJW. “But I think we’ve learned from our past mistakes and put together a kindler, gentler, list of recommendations that will entertain the casual reader of science fiction and fantasy, as well as inform the more serious observers of the field what a ghastly collection of criminally sick freaks have been inhabiting the community of science fiction fandom for decades.”

Some of the more notable recommendations include:

  • Moira Greyland’s account of her childhood abuse at the hands of her mother, the award-winning science fiction writer Marion Zimmer Bradley
  • Five-time 2015 Hugo nominee John C. Wright’s novel Somewhither: A Tale of the Unwithering Realm.
  • SF great Jerry Pournelle, whose groundbreaking There Will Be War series returned after a 25-year absence due to the end of the Cold War.
  • “Safe Space as Rape Room”, a five-part series on the pedophiles and child molesters who have preyed upon children in the science fiction community.
  • “Space Raptor Butt Invasion”, a sensuous space romance that is a tribute to true diversity in science fiction.

A complete list of the recommendations for all 16 categories, including the 2016 Campbell Award for Best New Writer, can be found here: Rabid Puppies 2016.

“You may now commence the ritual denunciations,” the Supreme Dark Lord added. “Open up your hate and let it flow into me.”

About the Supreme Dark Lord

Described as “the most despised man in science fiction”, Vox Day is a three-time Hugo Awards nominee, the Lead Editor of Castalia House, and a bestselling political philosopher. His blogs, Vox Popoli and Alpha Game, average 2.2 million pageviews per month.

  • “I think I have made my disgust with Vox Day and his Rabid Puppies clear.” —George R. R. Martin, author of A Game of Thrones, 19-time Hugo nominee.
  • “Vox Day rises all the way to ‘downright evil’.” —Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Manager of Science Fiction, Tor Books, 15-time Hugo nominee
  • “Vox Day is a real bigoted shithole of a human being.” —John Scalzi, author of Redshirts, 9-time Hugo nominee
  • “SF esteems Vox Day more than me. That’s a hard pill to swallow.” —Adam Roberts, Campbell Memorial Award winner.

A portrait in projection

The usual suspects are upset about Sad Puppies, albeit for different reasons this time. It’s always something.

Declan Finn addresses the topic with his usual flair:

The level of stupid maybe be getting to me.  The Puppy Kickers — like Damien — seem to be going full on insane.  They’ve apparently decided that they can just spew insults, and it’s reality. Wright will never be a pro writer again because they hate him, and anyone they hate must be blackballed. Brad and Larry are demagogues, because Damien said so — and they “ran away” because Brad and Larry didn’t want to play with this crap anymore.

Then again, these ARE the same people that insist that Brad ran away to the Middle East, because being shot at was preferable to standing up to the great and powerful Puppy Kickers. Yes, there are some idiots who’ve actually stated this, online. In public.

See what I mean about the stupid? It burns a LOT.

Damien doesn’t even seem to consider that, had more of his friends came to play at the SP4 site, they could have taken over the list entirely. But that would have meant engaging with people who disagree with him.

    .@Sinapus Let me make this clear then. I don’t want messages from you or any Sad Puppies. Go away, don’t message me again.
    — Damien Walter (@damiengwalter) March 19, 2016

Yes, because actually talking with people who disagree with him might fracture Damien’s delicate hold on his reality. Besides, he wouldn’t want to be sullied with talking with the subhumans, now would he?

It makes you wonder who the heck are supposed to be the rabid ones here. Because I have to be honest, the level of paranoia that you have to induce in order to turn “Fans like my work” into “IT’S A TRAP” does not say good things about the bubble they’re living in. And Damien’s BS is so thick, he could fertilize acres every time he opens his mouth. His level of schizoid makes me wonder how he could tie his shoes. It’s obvious he has delusions of adequacy.

And of course, SP4 states that it is the exact same thing as Locus Magazine’s recommended list for the Hugos. The only difference? Locus seems to be in Tor’s back pocket, while actual fans out in the real world are voting for Sad Puppies.

Given the 3rd Law of SJW, what do we know about Damien’s accusation? First, that he is bitter. And second, that he believes his own pro writing career is over. After all, the comparison of his own career with Mr. Wright’s can only lead to one conclusion: it’s not Mr. Wright whose career is struggling:


My Lovesick Zombie Boy Band by Damien Walter
7 reviews, 3.1 rating
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #510,062 Paid in Kindle Store
    #557 > Fantasy > New Adult & College 

Iron Chamber of Memory by John C. Wright
16 reviews, 5.0 rating
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,477 Paid in Kindle Store
    #19 > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction > Fantasy

Speaking as one of his publishers, and one of his smaller publishers, I can testify that Mr. Wright sold more books in the five days since his most recent novel was released than Mr. Walter has sold in his life.


Rabid Puppies 2016: the list

BEST NOVEL

  • Seveneves: A Novel, Neal Stephenson, William Morrow
  • Golden Son, Pierce Brown, Del Rey
  • Somewhither: A Tale of the Unwithering Realm, John C. Wright, Castalia House
  • The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass, Jim Butcher, Roc
  • Agent of the Imperium, Marc Miller, Far Future

BEST NOVELLA

  • Fear of the Unknown and Self-Loathing in Hollywood, Nick Cole, Tales of Tinfoil
  • Penric’s Demon, Lois McMaster Bujold, Spectrum
  • Perfect State, Brandon Sanderson, Dragonsteel Entertainment
  • The Builders, Daniel Polansky, Tor.com
  • Slow Bullets, Alastair Reynolds, Tachyon Publications

BEST NOVELETTE

  • Flashpoint: Titan, Cheah Kai Wai, There Will Be War Vol. X, Castalia House
  • Folding Beijing, Hao Jingfang, Uncanny Magazine
  • What Price Humanity?, David VanDyke, There Will Be War Vol. X, Castalia House
  • Hyperspace Demons, Jonathan Moeller, Castalia House
  • Obits, Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Scribner

BEST SHORT STORY

  • Asymmetrical Warfare, S. R. Algernon, Nature Nr. 519
  • Seven Kill Tiger, Charles Shao, There Will Be War Vol. X, Castalia House
  • The Commuter, Thomas Mays, Amazon Digital Services
  • If You Were an Award, My Love, Juan Tabo and S. Harris, Vox Popoli
  • Space Raptor Butt Invasion, Chuck Tingle, Amazon Digital Services

BEST RELATED WORK 

  • Appendix N, Jeffro Johnson, Castalia House blog
  • Between Light and Shadow: An Exploration of the Fiction of Gene Wolfe, 1951 to 1986, Marc Aramini, Castalia House
  • The Story of Moira Greyland, Moira Greyland, Askthebigot.com
  • Safe Space as Rape Room, Daniel Eness, Castalia House blog
  • SJWs Always Lie, Vox Day, Castalia House

BEST GRAPHIC STORY

  • The Divine, Boaz Lavie, Asaf Hanuka, Tomer Hanuka, First Second
  • Full Frontal Nerdity, Aaron Williams, Do Gooder Press
  • Erin Dies Alone, Cory Rydell and Grey Carter, The Escapist
  • The Sandman: Overture, Neil Gaiman and JH Williams III, Vertigo
  • Invisible Republic Vol 1 (#1–5), Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, Image Comics

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM

  • Jerry Pournelle

 BEST EDITOR, LONG FORM 

  • Anne Sowards, Penguin
  • Jim Minz, Baen Books
  • Mike Braff, Del Rey
  • Toni Weisskopf, Baen Books
  • Vox Day, Castalia House

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM

  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz and Mateusz Kanik Sebastian, CD Projekt RED
  • Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Hideo Kojima, Kojima Productions
  • Until Dawn, Will Byles, Supermassive Games
  • Avengers: Age of Ultron, Zak Penn‎ and ‎Joss Whedon, Marvel Studios
  • The Martian, Ridley Scott, Scott Free Productions

 BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

  • Supernatural, “Just My Imagination” Season 11, Episode 8, Richard Speight Jr, Supernatural
  • Grimm, Season 4 Episode 21, “Headache”, Jim Kouf, Grimm
  • Tales from the Borderlands Episode 5, “The Vault of the Traveller”
  • Life is Strange, Episode 1, Raoul Barbet and Michel Koch, Life is Strange
  • My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic, Season 5, Episodes 1-2, “The Cutie Map”, Jayson Thiessen, Jim Miller and Rebecca Dart, My Little Pony

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

  • Larry Elmore
  • Michal Karcz (Karezoid on Deviant Art)
  • Abigail Larson
  • Lars Braad Andersen, example
  • Larry Rostant, example

BEST SEMIPROZINE

  • Abyss & Apex, Wendy Delmater
  • Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Scott H. Andrews
  • Daily Science Fiction, Jonathan Laden and Michele Barasso
  • Sci-Phi Journal, Jason Rennie
  • Strange Horizons, Niall Harrison

BEST FANZINE

BEST FANCAST

  • The Rageaholic by Razorfist
  • Hello Greedo
  • 8-4 Play
  • Cane and Rinse
  • Tales to Terrify

BEST FAN WRITER

  • Jeffro Johnson
  • Morgan (Castalia House)
  • Shamus Young
  • Zenopus
  • Douglas Ernst

BEST FAN ARTIST

  • Rgus
  • Matthew Callahan
  • Disse86
  • Darkcloud013
  • Kukuruyo

BEST NEW WRITER (Campbell Award)

  • Pierce Brown
  • Cheah Kai Wai
  • Sebastien de Castell
  • Brian Niemeier
  • Andy Weir

This is a list of recommendations for the 2016 Hugo Awards, not a slate, and of course by no means a direct order to fill out the list exactly as specified to anyone, least of all the Rabid Puppies, the Sad Puppies, the Ilk, the Dread Ilk, the Vile Faceless Minions, or the Evil Legion of Evil, by their Supreme Dark Lord.

The nominating ballots are at the MidAmeriCon II website. They must be completed before the end of the month, so don’t delay. I encourage everyone to fill out their nomination forms completely, as it was readily apparent last year that both Puppies and SJWs alike were lax about that.

What I choose to recommend is no one else’s concern or responsibility, regardless of why I chose to recommend it. I will not entertain requests for removals from this list of recommendations, except on the grounds of ineligibility.

SF-SJWs, you may now commence the ritual denunciations. Open up your hate and let it flow into me.


Mailvox: an epiphany

A reader has a realization:

A long time ago, there was a comfortable Establishment, which ran the roost via handshakes and insider back-scratching. The Right People got the right rewards, and all was good for the  Establishment

Then a bold, brash newbie shows up, and, despite pissing off the establishment by being exceptionally politically incorrect, becomes more and more successful until the Establishment decides that Steps Must Be Taken, and the Newbie must be destroyed. They’re destroying the accepted procedure, and they don’t care. . .

The question: Who am I talking about: The Puppies. . . .or Donald Trump ??

I’ve realized it’s the SAME STORY, and the ‪#‎NoTrumpers are just the PuppyKickers in a different venue.  How is gaming the convention rules any different from E Pluribus Hugo?

This is why the Puppinette referred to me as “the Donald Trump of science fiction”, which is, of course, a grand compliment indeed. But in both cases, we are the change that the establishment does not want to see.


The art of virtue-signaling

She is furious, just FURIOUS, about her work appearing on the Sad Puppies IV list. Please to vote for her anyway:

Catherynne Valente ‏@catvalente
For the record, I was not asked and I do not consent to be on the Sad Puppies List. I am furious.

Damien Walter ‏@damiengwalter
Given their reputation, you’d probably have a pretty good legal case against the organisers for defamation of character.

VFM_5411
‏I get it @damiengwalter – if @catvalente doesn’t disavow #sadpuppies then people might think she’s one of THOSE people. As bad as @voxday.

Supreme Dark Lord ‏@voxday
No one is as bad as Vox Day. That’s sort of the point of being Supreme Dark Lord.

It’s kind of impressive, in a way. Damien is even worse at lawyering than he is at writing. And he is a very bad writer.

I will be posting the Rabid Puppies 2016 list on Monday. Both Catherynne Valente and Damien Walter can relax. I don’t recommend any of their works, because neither of them have written anything as as well-written or entertaining, or even as science fictional as “Space Raptor Butt Invasion”.


Making The Hugos Great Again

Since I will be unveiling the final Rabid Puppies recommendation list this week, it seemed the time was right to unveil the Rabid Puppies 2016 logo and motto. And yes, we are planning to make t-shirts available in the near future.

On a related note, this exchange nicely summarizes everything about the smug cluelessness of the Puppy-kickers who oppose us. From, as you would expect, the File 770 comments:

Cassy B. on March 14, 2016 at 7:20 pm said:
John C. Wright still can’t spell Patrick Neilsen Hayden’s name correctly, can he?

Cally on March 14, 2016 at 7:35 pm said:
Err, it’s Nielsen Hayden.

No wonder they can’t figure out that we’re not interested in their approval. I’ve also created a Twitter header – you can see it here – and if you want to display it on your own Twitter account, you can download it.


Rabid Puppies 2016: Best Novel

The preliminary recommendations for the Best Novel category.

  • Seveneves: A Novel, Neal Stephenson
  • Golden Son, Pierce Brown 
  • Somewhither: A Tale of the Unwithering Realm, John C. Wright
  • The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass, Jim Butcher
  • Agent of the Imperium, Marc Miller

I will post the final list of Rabid Puppy recommendations this week after making a few eligibility checks and examining an alternative or two in a few categories.

Other 2016 Hugo categories


Rabid Puppies 2016: Best Novella

The preliminary recommendations for the Best Novella category.

  • “Fear and Self-Loathing in Hollywood”, Nick Cole
  • “Penric’s Demon”, Lois McMaster Bujold
  • “Hyperspace Demons”, Jonathan Moeller
  • “The Builders”, Daniel Polansky
  • “Slow Bullets”, Alastair Reynolds 

Also, I stand corrected. The intrepid readers at File 770 have been gracious enough to inform us that “Space Raptor Butt Invasion” is not actually a novelette, and therefore belongs in the short story category.

Khitty Hawk
Not sure what VD’s goal is since “Space Raptor Butt Invasion” isn’t even a novelette. The thing’s less than 5000 words. No one could No Award it since it’d get disqualified beforehand.

Aaron
Well, it is pretty much established that Beale simply isn’t particularly bright.

Glenn Hauman
We already know he has trouble counting past 5 without taking off the other mitten. Counting to see if it makes novelette length? He’d get lost after 21. Okay, 20 and a half.

I sincerely apologize for this inexcusable and unconscionable error, and will, of course, make the appropriate adjustments when the final Rabid Puppies list of recommendations is presented next week.

      Other 2016 Hugo categories


      Rabid Puppies 2016: Best Novelette

      The preliminary recommendations for the Best Novelette category.

      • “Flashpoint: Titan”, Kai Wai Cheah
      • “Folding Beijing”, Hao Jingfang
      • “What Price Humanity?”, David VanDyke
      • “Space Raptor Butt Invasion”, Chuck Tingle
      • “Obits”, Stephen King

      We have been repeatedly informed that homophobia and the lack of diversity is a serious problem in science fiction, and speaking as the leader of Rabid Puppies, I could not agree more. The decades of discrimination against gay dinosaur love in space by the science fiction community stops now, and it stops here!

      Let’s face it, there are just three words to describe the only event that might happen in 2016 that I
      can imagine would be more spectacularly awesome than “Space Raptor Butt
      Invasion” winning a Hugo Award this year, and those three words are “President-elect Donald Trump”.

      Other 2016 Hugo categories


        Rabid Puppies: Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

        The preliminary list of recommendations for the Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form category:

        • Grimm, Season 4 Episode 21, “Headache”
        • Tales from the Borderlands Episode 5, “The Vault of the Traveller”
        • Life is Strange, Episode 1
        • My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic, Season 5, Episodes 1-2, “The Cutie Map”
        • A Game of Thrones Season 5, Episode 8, “Hardhome” 

        Other 2016 Hugo categories