Alexander Hellene's Blog, page 16

Ten Easy Life Hacks to Not Be a Total Creep! (Sci-fi Author edition)

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Hi there, sci-fi and fantasy writers and fans! Are you tired of being accused of inappropriate conduct towards women? Are you sick of constant allegations of being a “creep”? Lucky for you, I’m here with ten life hacks to help keep you from being metooed like Myke Cole, Sam Sykes, Warren Ellis, and Paul Krueger, among others. There’s also Elizabeth Bear and her husband Scott Lynch who are accused of all sorts of horrible stuff.

Remember: these are all ALLEGATIONS at this point, but as we’ve learned with Marion Zimmer Bradley and Water Breen, among other sci-fi luminaries, where there’s smoke there’s usually fire.

Before we get started with our list, you need to keep in mind my Number One Overarching Lesson: You can’t get metooed if you’re not a creepy gamma.

So keep your head, exercise some common sense, and pay attention to my Ten Easy Life Hacks to Not Be a Total Creep!

NOTE: Most of these apply to the workplace or other professional setting, and are written for male-feminist ally types who may or may not be sci-fi and fantasy authors or otherwise involved in what is commonly referred to as “pop culture,” but some still apply to normal healthy men in places like a club or party where single women expect single men to approach them . . . but they’re still good to keep in mind.

Do not flirt with or compliment the looks of women who are not your wife/girlfriend. Unless you’re in a situation where it’s customary for men to flirt with women, you’re single, and you’re reasonably sure the object of your flirtations is single, keep to your “suave” and “clever” comments to yourself. If you’re a male-feminist ally who constantly talks about how much you totally respect women and you’re not like those awful meatheads jocks, your flirtations are probably creepy.
Do not go out to dinner, attend a social engagement, or otherwise be alone with women who are not your wife/girlfriend. Remember how everyone in the left-wing world of sci-fi and fantasy makes fun of the Mike Pence Rule? Remember how Mike Pence is never going to get metooed? This extends to hiring and mentor/mentee relationships. You might get into other kinds of trouble, but those types are vastly preferable to getting falsely accused of sexual misconduct . . . or actually committing sexual misconduct. Keep your damn door open!
If you’re not sure how that joke might be taken by women around you, don’t tell it. You’re not a professional comedian. You’re not even a talented amateur. You’re a left-wing sci-fi and/or fantasy author. Save the dirty jokes for your guy friends.
If a woman is not returning your interest, move on. There will be others. Don’t get hung up on a single female thinking she’s “the one.” Maybe she doesn’t feel the same about you. That’s fine! She owes you nothing and you owe her nothing. There are millions of attractive world out there who probably would be interested in you. Don’t waste your time on any who clearly aren’t. That’s how trouble can start!
Never text anything inappropriate or creepy. Is she your wife or girlfriend? No? Then only text if you have something bland and boring and work-related to discuss. Otherwise, don’t do it.
Do not hug or otherwise engage in physical contact with women who are not your wife/girlfriend. These things can get taken the wrong way, even if you proudly proclaim your status as an ally and a white kngijt. Keep your hands to yourself. If the hover hand is good enough for Keanu Reeves, it’s good enough for you. And don’t worry about any “Alpha” guru calling you a wimp. At least you’ll also never get metooed like creepy perverts such as former U.S. senator (man it feels good to put the former there) Al “Creepy Perv” Franken.
Do not try to pick up left-wing women. Just don’t. It’s not worth it. I understand sci-fi and fantasy authors are left-wing men in a left-wing industry, so they only encounter left-wing women. They really should know better, but alas! Maybe the problem is that you’re trying to pick up women who at worst hate men with every fiber of their being, and at best assume all men are perverts and creepers in waiting (which, in the world of professional sci-fi and fantasy authors, that’s a reasonable bet to make). So go elsewhere to find some normal women who don’t hate men and actually want to start a family with one!
Do treat women like human beings, not objects who exist for your pleasure. Again, an easy lesson to understand for normal people, but if you’re a left-wing professional sci-fi author you, have remember that if she doesn’t accept your advances, don’t get angry at her! Rejecting you does not make her a defective human being worthy of scorn and hatred. Maybe you’re the one who sucks. Rejection stings, but continuous rejection might be a clue that you’re the one with little to offer. So hit the gym and brush your teeth or something.
Don’t abuse your position of power to get women. In other words, even if you’re not a fat, ugly, disgusting pervert like Harvey Weinstein, and even if many women seek you out for favor, and are willing to exchange sexual favors for whatever you have to offer (as was the case with the aforementioned Mr. Weinstein), don’t do it. Not only is that gross, it will also come back to bite you.
If you see something, do something. The right reason to do this is that men are supposed to protect women. You’re a male-feminist ally, right? So act like one! The selfish reason to do this is that you won’t later get smeared by association like noted sci-fi male-feminist ally John Scalzi, who seems to be quite worried about this just now. And don’t protect women from your fellow left-wing sci-fi and fantasy author and/or pop culture gurus in the hopes that maybe the woman in question will sleep with you. That’s creepy! And that’s what we call “white knighting.” Act like a real knight.

So there you go! Whether or not you’re a creepy male-feminist ally in the world of sci-fi and fantasy, or a normal guy trying to navigate the fun and exciting word of inter-gender relations, just remember these ten easy tricks and you’ll be fine!

Or as I like to say, “The code of chivalry is always a good guide, and your great-grandparents’ idea or social norms was probably better than whatever the hell it is we have now?.”

Remember this: Women are not your enemy. The society and the amenable authorizes that enable the crazy vindictive ones is.

So watch your six at all times, and watch each other’s. Though this may make finding a wife harder, it it can still be done, and it’s still worth it. Just like left-wing women always seem to only encounter creepy perv left-wing men, you need to make sure you’re looking in the right places as well.

And never, never, never try to date anybody in the workplace.

One great thing about PulpRev authors is that we’re not creepy left-wing gammas and perverts. The majority of us are married family men with children who love our wives. Support our work!

Good People

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Everyone needs to think of themselves as a “good” person so their psyche doesn’t fracture and cause enormous psychological pain.

This is axiomatic. But next we have to define “good.”

Modern man has as many definitions as there are people (because everyone’s feelings and preferences mystically become “their truth,” remember?). There are a few agreed-upon standards, but even some tenets we once considered foundational–wanton violence is bad, vengeance is bad, sex with children and animals is bad–are up for debate. Caring for your fellow man is also, apparently, a negotiable proposition.

A huge part of this is that secular materialism has replaced traditional religious systems of morality in the bulk of the Western world. And so far, it’s solutions are woefully lacking (some with more vulgar mouths might say secular materialism is a “piss poor” substitute, but we’ll leave the earthy language to them).

America seems particularly confused as of late. But nature abhors a vacuum, and so does the human soul. Enter the new religion of anti-racism, based on the proposition that exclusion is the worst thing ever. Mostly. Some people can be excluded (you know which ones), but most have to be included in everything. Some men menstruate, and so on.

A funny thing happened, though: those in charge, those pushing and profiting from this insanity, are spiritual. They just worship the opposite side of what they overthrew.

All of them.

We’ve seen this thousands of time before. The same spirit that animated the French Revolution and the Bolshevik Revolution and the Third Reich is animating this chaos. It’s been animating the transhumanists and the depopulationists and now the anti-racists, who are actually quite racist themselves, but that’s beside the point.

And these people are the ones making moral pronouncements on you! No wonder they want to now smash churches and images of Christ. He is a stinging rebuke to their twisted and tortured souls.

Anti-racism attempts to mind-read, to judge the quality and contents of one’s soul and the goodness of one’s character not just by how one acts–though that’s a small part of it–but by how one thinks and feels.

And in the weird religion of anti-racism, you don’t know what you really think and feel! No, it’s the self-styled arbiters of Morality and Goodness who do. They tell you what you really are. What’s more, they can never be wrong. They created the definitions of all these terms, after all.

Threatened by this? You’re a racist. Disagree? It’s because you’re a racist. Are you an avowed anti-racist? It doesn’t matter, because depending on your melanin content (or lack thereof) you’re a racist no matter what.

[image error]In 2020 America, the literal opposite of this is true.

It’s insidious, sick, gross, twisted, evil, and ascendant. The powers-that-be love this because they can parrot the platitudes and throw tons of money the advocates’ say and absolve themselves of this stain, this sin.

But you can’t. For anti-racism is a religion designed to terrorize and demean the little people (that’s us). It is a faith with all the hellfire and damnation it’s proponents like to pretend Christianity has, but with none of the hope and forgiveness and absolution Christianity has to offer.

You can repent all you want to the god of anti-racism. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never given a person of another race so much as an angry stare. They don’t care. You’re a racist. Once you’ve been tarred with that brush, once that scarlet letter has been affixed to your chest, it’s there forever. Good luck finding a job.

“Just keep your mouth shut,” you might think. And that’s a good start. But the disciples of anti-racism will tell you they know what you’re really thinking and feeling anyway.

So plan accordingly. Band together with people who think like you–i.e., normal, sane, healthy, and good people, actually good and decent people of all stripes–so that when one of you is attacked by the insane frothing-at-the-mouth mob of demons our overlords have weaponized against us, you can pick them back up and put them right stronger than before.

We are all in this together, and it doesn’t matter if you totally don’t like groups, man, or don’t want to be a part of any group that would accept you as a member. Grow up and push back.

I leave you with this: Who is the bigger villain? The one who may harbor abhorrent sentiments in their heart and mind but never acts on them and instead treats all he encounters with dignity and respect? Or the one who thinks and feels and says the right things so fervently but treats everybody around him like garbage?

How you answer this likely determines what side of the great divide you are on.

Support my writing by purchasing one of my books.

Favorite Fictional Fathers

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Now that the serious stuff is out of the way, here’s something related to Father’s Day that’s a little bit more fun.

Recently, I asked who everyone’s favorite fictional father was, and not only did this question get much more circulation and generate much more interest than I expected, I got some great–and some funny–answers.

Father’s Day today. Who is your favorite fictional dad?

I can think of one… pic.twitter.com/UZeYvba86f

— Alexander Hellene

Father’s Day, For Real This Time

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Okay, now I’m ready to talk about Father’s Day.

I hope all you fathers had a great day with your families; I know I did. I also hope that those of you who aren’t fathers but who have fathers at least gave your fathers a call. And if you don’t have a father, that’s okay. Father’s Day doesn’t invalidate you.

And the same goes for if you’re a mother. Father’s Day isn’t about you! Nobody goes around on Mother’s Day talking about how fathers are the real superheroes. Yet every Father’s Day, the reverse happens. It’s gross and annoying. Stop it.

Fathers have been devalued enough. In our culture–our movies, TV shows, advertisements, and children’s cartoons–dad is always a big, fat, stupid, lazy slob who has to always be bailed out by his long-suffering, snarky wife, and maybe also his kids (the daughters usually; sons are portrayed as mini-dads). We have two or three generations of kids raised on viewing fathers in this way.

And don’t tell me I’m being dramatic. Culture matters and has an influence on behaviors.

We see the results of this by looking at American society as a whole. Entire groups of people of all types are suffering from the dearth of good, strong, positive fathers or at least father figures. Our atomized society deliberately devalues and discourages men from being mentors to young boys and teenagers because of “They’re probably pedos/All men are rapists” hysteria. Our low levels of social trust don’t help either.

Anyway, Father’s Day is a time to celebrate the fathers that are their for their children, and for their wives. I am fortunate enough to have a father more than worthy of the title, and I consider him one of the biggest positive influences in my life, certainly a model for how to be a father to my own children. I am also blessed to have two fantastic grandfathers (one sadly no longer with us) and a father-in-law who has taken me in as his own son. 

Men need other men to learn from. Sorry moms–you have an important role in the development of men and women, but it’s a different role. And if anything, I think children in America these days have a bit too much mothering and not enough fathering.

Society, government, even our churches–there’s a distinct lack of masculinity in these institutions. It’s good to be nurtured and coddled and protected, but it’s also good to be encouraged to take risks and stand up for what is right. Duty, honor, doing the right thing even at great personal cost–these are things that fathers instill in men–and women!–and not mothers. Just as there are wonderful things mothers can do that fathers cannot, it goes the same the other way.

Men and women, mothers and fathers, are natural allies and not enemies. Two halves of a beautiful whole. This pitting of women against men, and men’s capitulation, is sick and disgusting and needs to end yesterday.

I talk a lot about fathers and sons, but fathers have a vital role in raising daughters as well. There is the protective element, of course, a different kind of protection than that offered by a mother, but there is also the modeling element. The kind of man a father is tends to be the kind of man a daughter seeks out. This is a fantastic responsibility and one that cannot be taken lightly.

I know that most fathers out there do a bang-up job, the best they can, and to you, I salute you. We need men to stop being lame, quit bitching about everything, and get busy with the job helping our wives and other women in our lives preserve some remnant of a remnant of our rapidly crumbling society and rebuild it back stronger–and more virtuous–than ever.

This is Part I of the day’s posts. Part II will be more fun, I promise. 

Happy Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day to all the great fathers out there! I’d write more but I’m having a fun Father’s Day.

Packaged Like a Rebel Or a Hero *UPDATED*

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If something or somebody that is seemingly dangerous or edgy isn’t stamped down hard by the powers that be, that’s how you can tell they’re really not a threat. Even more, that’s how you can tell they probably serve the interests of a status quo.

A true rebellion–a true revolution–that actually put the powers that be in danger would be squashed with maximum force, no questions asked, and no repercussions for the state agents doing the killing. This is why I’m not impressed by these autonomous zones, nor do I take these totally spontaneous and not at all well-funded and well-organized riots as being part of an actual uprising that put the social order of the United States in peril.

I mean, they do put the social order of the United States in peril, but they are doing so at the behest, or at the very least with the tacit approval, of those who really run the show. In other words, this chaos is not directed against The Man. It benefits The Man. 

If you are a part of a rebellion or a resistance and you don’t have the full force of the status quo against you, including violence, then you are not a rebel. You are a tool. You are the empire.

The system stinks and it needs to change. But be careful with whom you cast your lot with, and also be careful if you find yourself believing the official story about anything right after it happened.

Aristotle coined two different types of revolution:

The replacement of an existing constitution with a new one; and
The modification of an existing constitution

There are other definitions, of course, most involving repudiations of an existing order and some sort of mass uprising. Revolutions are also usually violent, and end with a lot of dead bodies.

Again, keep this in mind. If what we were seeing was true revolution and not orchestrated theater, there would be a lot more shooting and violence, much involving state actors. 

I don’t know what the outcome will be, and I don’t know what is the end game with any type of certainty. But what I do know is that the revolutionaries being sold to you, the warlords and the leaders, are a part of the system they’re pretending to want to dismantle and replace. Don’t believe them.

Update: Brian Neimeier compiles some really interesting facts about Raz Simone, the rapper turned so-called warlord of Seattle’s CHAZ who totally just spontaneously and organically took control and has guns to distribute to his followers and everything.

Seriously, it’s all bullshit. If Raz was really a threatening warlord and not a total LARP and/or Fed plant, he’d have been put down violently a week ago.

Be part of a literary rebellion.

Packaged Like a Rebel Or a Hero

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If something or somebody that is seemingly dangerous or edgy isn’t stamped down hard by the powers that be, that’s how you can tell they’re really not a threat. Even more, that’s how you can tell they probably serve the interests of a status quo.

A true rebellion–a true revolution–that actually put the powers that be in danger would be squashed with maximum force, no questions asked, and no repercussions for the state agents doing the killing. This is why I’m not impressed by these autonomous zones, nor do I take these totally spontaneous and not at all well-funded and well-organized riots as being part of an actual uprising that put the social order of the United States in peril.

I mean, they do put the social order of the United States in peril, but they are doing so at the behest, or at the very least with the tacit approval, of those who really run the show. In other words, this chaos is not directed against The Man. It benefits The Man. 

If you are a part of a rebellion or a resistance and you don’t have the full force of the status quo against you, including violence, then you are not a rebel. You are a tool. You are the empire.

The system stinks and it needs to change. But be careful with whom you cast your lot with, and also be careful if you find yourself believing the official story about anything right after it happened.

Aristotle coined two different types of revolution:

The replacement of an existing constitution with a new one; and
The modification of an existing constitution

There are other definitions, of course, most involving repudiations of an existing order and some sort of mass uprising. Revolutions are also usually violent, and end with a lot of dead bodies.

Again, keep this in mind. If what we were seeing was true revolution and not orchestrated theater, there would be a lot more shooting and violence, much involving state actors. 

I don’t know what the outcome will be, and I don’t know what is the end game with any type of certainty. But what I do know is that the revolutionaries being sold to you, the warlords and the leaders, are a part of the system they’re pretending to want to dismantle and replace. Don’t believe them.

Be part of a literary rebellion.

The Second Sojourn Map Reveal

Here’s something cool that mailing list subscribers got to see first: ArtAnon Studio’s fantastic map for The Swordbringer, Book II: [image error]

As you can see, this book covers more territory than The Last Ancestor, although there will be some familiar faces in familiar places.

This is how I like epic fantasy and sci-fi to approach world-travel: slowly expand, but don’t require traveling EVERYWHERE.

This, of course, also applies to video games, particularly RPGs, where you are almost guaranteed to cover the globe. Which is fine, but a bit unrealistic.

In this post from last year, I discuss how I found the Quest for Glory series did it right, but I also touch upon my preference generally:

I love the mystery of far-off lands a reader may never see.

At least, I enjoy this as a reader. Sometimes the mystery makes things more interesting than if everything is spelled out or seen first-hand.

Of course, it all depends upon what the story needs.

…

This is all kind of nuts-and-bolts stuff, but it has an intangible, romantic component. We like the idea of far-off lands, especially now that the world is so small and we’re not as fascinated by, say Shanghai or Samarkand or lost cities in Africa or Incan ruins or the Wild West. These things were fascinating because they were unknown. It’s why I find North Korea so bizarrely fascinating–because it might be the only nation on Earth we know next to nothing about.

Anyway, as a big fan of maps, I hope you enjoy this one, and that it gets you psyched for The Second Sojourn.

Read Book I and get prepped for Book II!

It’s So Hard, or Your Competition Has Never Been Weaker

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There’s been talk on social media by Big Prominent Authors who’ve been paid a lot of money to write stuff about how hard it is to stay prolific in these totally unprecedented and difficult times.

First it was the 2016 election. And then it was Russia stuff. Lately it’s been coronavirus and America’s racial crisis.

These writers–whose only job is to write–can’t seem to squeeze in a page or two amidst the chaos. It’s emotionally taxing do perform their job, you see. It’s so hard because evil bad people who may or may not be orange keep them from focusing.

What a bunch of weenies.

If you’re an independent writer, these are the crybabies you have to be better than. And you do have to be better–we do. And we are. Because we take what goes on around us and use it as fuel. Storytellers feed off of stuff like this, filter it, and try to make sense in our art.

Or, you could do what I suspect most of these writers do, and scroll social media obsessively, being lame and obnoxious in search of the steady dopamine slow-drip known as likes.

Let me tell you, I see indie authors cranking out books at a pace to make Robert E. Howard and Walter B. Gibson. Whether fantasy or sci-fi, these entrepreneurial artists are inspiring on how they built their own fan bases outside of the big publishing system through hard work and a refusal to quit.

Contrast with those who can’t finish their series even after signing contracts for a lot of money to do so.

Another theory: Lots of these big name authors aren’t that good. I mean, they can write in a technical sense, but they’re not that creative. I suspect many labored for 20 years on one story, finally got it out . . . and then found that the inspiration well had run dry. So they either do the same thing over and over, or they just languish in the world Internet “aspiring writers” do, where they just write about writing instead of writing.

To whomever reads this post: Never think you can’t be a writer!

Your competition are emotionally stunted adult children who can’t help but write about themselves, even in their fiction. They graft contemporary social and political issues on to their warmed-over, third-hand derivative premises and get high on the scent of their own mental flatulence.

Honestly, if you want a dose of inspiration, buy something from one of the Big Name pop sci-fi or fantasy authors and try to get through it. And then tell me you couldn’t do a better job.

Because you can. And the time has never been better to try.

Support independent authors to make this their day job.

Get A Good Job With Good Pay And You’re Okay

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The primarily threat and lever of power our enemies hold over us normal people is financial. They have successfully created an environment where dissent is punished by not only getting the dissenter fired, but unemployable anywhere else.

This happens because most authorities in charge of companies hit, big and medium are one of the three:

Fellow travelers;
Cynics hoping that being woke will make them more money; or
Afraid, and are hoping the alligator eats them last

Let’s define who I mean by “enemies” here. And I’m not going to be so facile as to merely say “leftists” or “progressives,” as there are subsets of subsets when it comes to any political ideology.

The main enemy is Satan, and when I speak of “enemies,” I mean those that do the devil’s bidding. In other words, whose who do evil.

Yes, some of these evildoers are progressives and leftists. But some of them are conservatives. Some of them are libertarians. Some profess no political ideology. Some evildoers profess no religion, and some profess to be very pious in this church or that synagogue or that mosque over there.

You know them by their fruits. And if their fruits are destruction and division and hurting other people for bad re-edits and in bad faith and while being shockingly mean and bitchy and petty about it–you’re evil.

I mean, just look at the news or check social media or look out your window. You know what I’m talking about.

So this howling mob of demon-possessed puppets loves to punish dissenters for wrongthink by making them lose their source of income. They’ve found the pressure point for some 99 percent of Americans.

And you know what? They’re good at shutting off the money valve of those who dare step out of line because they have amenable authorities who are in on the scam with them.

In fact, these agitators are so lame they don’t even realize that they’re being used as shock-troops by the same Man they pretend to be railing against.

This is a problem because so few in America create their own income. There aren’t a lot of us who are entrepreneurial enough to weather such a storm. We’re three or four generations now into being raised to be a salaryman and nothing else.

When you’re entirely dependent on somebody else for your income, what would you do if you lost said source of income? Especially if you have a family?

So you do the calculus, run a cost/benefit analysis, and wisely determine they it’s just not worth it to speak out or dissent. So you keep your mouth shut.

This is an intolerable state of being. We need some immediate action and some long-term action.

If you have too much to lose, don’t risk it. It’s not worth it. For the time being, keep your head down and deal with your business.
Try some kind of side-hustle. It doesn’t have to be massive, but try to find some other way to make money besides your day job. Easier said than done, I know, but a little is more than nothing.
If you’re an employer yourself, reach out to the canceled and offer them a job. We are our own cavalry. And we need to take a page out of the enemy’s playbook and stick together. Stop trying to go it alone or avoid controversy. It’ll come anyway.
Support others. It’s axiomatic that’s you need to support alternatives if you want to have alternatives. And this support will redound back to you. In other words, NETWORK. But be smart about it.
Raise your children to be entrepreneurs. Imagine owning your own business. You’d be beholden to nobody except your customers! Now imagine your children having this freedom. Money gives you the freedom to speak your mind. This college-to-wage-slavery pipeline needs to be broken.
Don’t throw those doing the fighting under the bus. This is such a common thing on the right and it needs to stop immediately. Don’t like someone’s tone? So what? Don’t be a bow tie-fiddling dork; just shut up and learn to deal with mean words.
Cancel the hell out of the other side. Spare me the bleating about “not stooping to their level” and “Defending to the death their right to say it.” They offer is no quarter. We should not offer them any either. Rub their mistakes and hypocrisies in their faces often and hard. Forcefully apply their own rules against them. Make it personal. Sorry, but Alinsky was right. He didn’t create the rules. He just wrote them down.

Someday soon, your financial security will come down to whether or not you posted the right hashtag or mouthed the proper platitudes. Our awful burgeoning secular cult is trying to police our hearts. It’s a moral crusade undertaken by, quite literally, the worst people in America. We need to stand strong and be ready to weather the blows and come back stronger.

Supporting independent art helps independent artists thrive in the face of outrage mobs.