Lyda Morehouse's Blog, page 17

Hugo on the Brain and the Nature of Fandom

Catherynne M. Valente has weighed in on the Puppies and the Hugos this morning. I haven't read all the words because I'm suffering a bit of Hugo neepery burnout. That doesn't mean I've stopped thinking about it. In fact, I'm having some thoughts about it that are probably... I'm not sure what, but no one on my "side" is talking about it as far as I can tell.

Obviously, everything about what the SP/RP did to this year's Hugo was wrong with wrong sauce. But, I've been thinking a lot about why anyone sympathize with them, ever, under any circumstances. I don't think it's as simple as a lot of people want to paint it. It's super-easy to decide the whole lot of them are racist (and in Beale/Vox's case, that's not at all unfounded.) But, if that were the only motivator, I don't see how they'd have quite as much traction. Okay, maybe I'm being naive here. Clearly race relations are broken in the US, so maybe that's enough to fuel this kind of thing... but, okay, really? I just want to talk about ANOTHER aspect.

In Larry Correia's back and forth with George R. R. Martin, Martin vehemently denies that there are 'cool kids' in SF/F. He's wrong. Because, of course there are. Whenever you get a group of people together, cliques happen. That's just the nature of humanity and group dynamics.

Correia whines a lot about feeling shut out, and, while I think it all amounts to a load of man pain, I actually sympathize with him a little, on a basic human level.

I GET feeling left out of that inner circle, particularly at somewhere as huge as a WorldCON. I spent all of 1998 Baltimore WorldCON feeling like I was forever just one step from the parties everyone was talking about the next day. You'd go to a panel the next morning and hear Gardner Dozois laughing about how Warren Lapine shot a pickle out his nose (or visa versa) and I'd think: What? Where? When? How come *I* wasn't invited!??

Baltimore, it should be noted, was particularly egregious that year because of some corkage law or other that messed up how and where alcohol could be served and so there were A LOT of rumors of "secret pro parities" where the free beer flowed freely. I was also, it turned out, just on the verge of making my first pro sale, but not there yet.*

But, this happened to me once I was established, too. In fact, the WorldCON I felt the worst at was the most recent ChiCON in 2012, when I had, what, fourteen books under my belt? I was on paneling and, therefor, very much part of the "in" crowd. I also got my very first ever invitation to a secret pro party (a party I later referred to as the f*cking boat) which was a cruise on the Chicago canals/out into Lake Michigan hosted by Random House (which was not even my publisher.) I have never felt more uncool, than I did at that WorldCON, despite everything, and it all had to do with the fact that my career was starting to sour. But, regardless, I felt left out and all the things that Correia complains about (except no one shouted at me that I was a liar and a misogynist, perhaps for obvious reasons. Though honestly? I might have believed everyone hated me, my mood was so foul. I felt very picked on during the one panel I was on, because it was about serial fiction and all my series had failed.)

Okay, so you see? We all feel this.

It's especially maddening when you're just starting out, because you finally broke in only to find that there's still barriers to being in the spotlight, and we ALL want to be in the spotlight.

Look, we're all divas. Correia is just saying out loud what lot of us feel: boo hoo, it's NOT all about me! (Pro tip: most of us don't say it out loud, because we realize how whiny and self-centered it makes us look.)

BUT... yes, okay? I actually sympathize a little with this. To say there aren't cool kid cliques is disingenuous too. There just are.

Also, this feeling of being shut out of WorldCON culture something that has happened to people on the left, too. Not that long ago (but apparently outside of the collective memory), there was a huge controversy around the London WorldCON about a cliquish inner circle of white guys (and GRRM is even pictured!)

Here's the thing I want to say about this: con culture is a thing. It's a thing everyone needs to learn how to negotiate.

I've even talked about this idea before on this blog because I came across someone on Twitter complaining about feeling left out/unwelcomed at a con. The thing I said to that person (who was decidedly on the left), is that we're all responsible for our own con experience. It's not the con's job to make you feel welcome. You have to learn the culture of cons and figure out how to fit in. Some conventions even have panels on the opening days ABOUT how to make inroads and make friends and be involved in a way that will let you leave the con feeling like you were part of it in a positive way. I was lucky because we have a lot of local cons to "practice" on, some of them are HUGE, so you can get something very akin to a WorldCON experience. I know for a fact that I bounced in and out of the first con I ever attended, which was a WisCON: 1984, when Elizabeth A. Lynn was one of the Guests of Honor.

I did that con and maybe hit an early MiniCON and thought, "Eh, not much for me here." It wasn't until much later when I was starting a writing career did I go back and really work to make in-roads by volunteering for panelling, etc.

TBF, the local fan scene is such that you did have to kind of know the right people or at least be known to them. I somehow got on Eric Heideman's radar, and that was panelling for me for life.

So, fandom as insider-y? Hella yeah.

Does it mean the Hugos are broken? I don't think so. Yeah, it's possible they've been out of touch, if only because WorldCON members are aging, etc., but as Cheryl Morgan talks about in her take on Puppygate-Winners and Losers, in many ways the Puppies have brought a renewed interest in the Hugos that you couldn't have bought and paid for, if you'd tried.




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*Out of curiosity, I went to see which WorldCONs I've attended and they are: 1998 BucCONeer (Baltimore), 2000 ChiCON (Chicago), 2004 NoreasCON (Boston), and 2012 ChiCON (Chicago).

Short Story Round-up, Week 1

Eric Flint wrote very eloquently about one of the real issues with the Hugo on his blog. The whole thing is interesting, but I think he has a very valid point about how science fiction/fantasy gets consumed. Casual-to-moderately-serious fans don't read nearly as much short fiction as we did, say, back when the Hugos were first developed/conceived. (Hence, those awards get voted on and decided by a fairly small number of fans... and why they were 'easy pickings' for a block vote.)

He suggests some solutions (some of which I agree with, others I'm not as sure about), but, either way, the Hugos by-laws aren't going to get changed overnight.

Thus, in the meantime, to fairly nominate in the short fiction categories, I'm going to have to read more short fiction!

I've been thinking about how to do this. I thought that maybe, in addition to my nominee book challenge, I'd challenge myself to try to read two or three short pieces of fiction a week. Thing is, there are several magazines that now offer podcasts, so I can listen to the stories as I do other things (like boring housework.) Normally, this is where I watch my anime, but I can set aside one or two episodes a week for this project, I figure.

On the weekends, I'm going to have to track down stories to read. Because otherwise, I would be only nominating from magazines that have podcast versions of their stories.

Then, I thought, I'd make a list of what I'm reading here for you to check out, if you're so inclined. If you're doing something similar this year, drop me a link, and I'll follow your recommendations/reviews/lists, too.

I'll be honest (or, if you prefer, 'transparent'): I totally plan to keep a running list of the short stories my friends write and publish. I think it's pretty clear people have always done this and that there's nothing wrong with it, so long as I don't compel several dozens of cohorts armed with the exact same list to vote as I do.

Instead, I intend to post them here for your consideration along with everything else I read. I will clearly indicate who is my friend and who isn't. (I can tell you right now, it'll probably be Eleanor Arnason and Naomi Kritzer and any other Wyrdsmith who sells a story this year.)


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So, this week, I listened to/read:

“We’ll Be Together Forever” by Joseph Allen Hill (Lightspeed, April 2015, #59).

“Let Baser Things Divide,” by Berrien C. Henderson (Clarkesworld, April 2015, #103)

The first one is a story of a love potion gone wrong and is kind of a foodie horror story. The second is about an "elevated" chimpanzee and a revived space program. It's also very sad, but it has some interesting things to say about humanity and primates and the echoes of each in the other.

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This year, so far, Naomi Kritzer has had a number of short stories published. If you’re so inclined check them out:

“Wind” in Apex Magazine (April 2015)
“Cat Pictures” in Clarkesworld Magazine (January 2015)
“Jubilee” in Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (Jan/Feb 2015)--which, sadly, has no online version.

Of these, my personal favorite is "Cat Pictures," because it's one of those ideas that just feels like it would be True, i.e. that if the internet became sentient it would totally want more cat pictures. :-)

"Jubilee" is another Seastead story, if you've been following Beck's adventures in the previous F&SF issues. If not, it can totally be read independently. Beck lives on a Libertarian seastead in the future and her world is fascinating, and each story she ends up having to use her resources to solve some major problem/mystery. They're almost like amateur detective stories in a Libertarian future world, and I enjoy them very much any time they come through critique.

"Wind" is a fascinating story about magical promises going wrong.

in the same issue of F&SF, Eleanor Arnason had a great story:

“Telling Stories to the Sky,” Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (Jan/Feb 2015)--also without link, alas, but well worth tracking down if you can. This is one of Eleanor's many stories that deal with an aspect of writing in one way or another.

Just Enough to Be Dangerous

That's how much science I told my students they needed to know. (Also your magic needs rules).

That pretty much summed up class. We have come to the point where it has dawned on my students that the true value of the class is in the last hour of instructor/peer critique. In fact, I'm certain they figured it out because the ones who had never volunteered previously all asked me suddenly if there was a way to slip them in to the schedule (now that we're literally at the half way point). And, the answer is, of course, yes: I will lecture less and we will critique more.

My insights into writing are just that: mine. And we all know that there are as many ways to write properly as there are writers writing.

It's so much more valuable to have people talking to you, directly, about your work and helping you do what it is you're trying to do. So much more. I'm super glad they all twigged to that. Of course, if anything, this means I'm going to be working HARDER--because critique is time consuming when done as instruction. But, I think the students are all going to come away very satisfied and feeling like class was time (and money) was well spent.

So, yay. And they all behaved admirably again too. Only once did I need to say, "Okay, but you need to say something you liked about the piece. It's part of the structure of how we do critique and one of the rules."

The problem wasn't that there weren't nice things to say to the student being critiqued last time, as I told him after class, the problem was that his prose was at such a high level that it became invisible to the reader. They fell, head first, into his story, and so they wanted to nitpick the EVENTS of the story, and had a hard time remembering that the amazing thing was that the story captured them SO PROFOUNDLY (even as they ran up against things they didn't like.) Adorably, he looked at me and asked, "So I don't suck?" I was like, "Oh, honey, no. So much no. You're writing at at a professional level." He blinked, "You mean it? I could sell this?" I said, "Yes, some day, you WILL."

I don't say this lightly. I have been wrong, of course. But, I've also been right.

Speaking of being wrong, I really didn't expect to enjoy Jeff VanderMeer's ANNIHILATION as much as I did. As I was telling Mason, it kind of reads like Myst come to life...only weirder. Normally, I'd have told you that this book reminds me of some of those trippy movies where it turns out in the end that the "hero" is a psych ward patient, but a) that's not at ALL what happens and b) while it does have that style, which I normally don't like at all, coming off PEOPLE IN THE TREES (which I hated), I found this really awesome, refreshing, and clever.

As an aside, I've noticed that women writers rarely forget women's periods, but men, even ones writing in a female p.o.v., always do. There was actually no reason for the author of THE PEOPLE IN THE TREES who was writing a faux memoir from a guy's point of view to ever mention the one female explorer's period, but she finds a way. Our doctor "hero" manages to come across the female explorer's unburied, bloodied feminine supplies and is horrified by the fact that they're just laying there, destroying the pristine jungle's greenness with their awful white and blood-red. He doesn't much like her anyway, but this kind of seals the deal.

Meanwhile, though, TBF, it's only a matter of weeks that the events of ANNIHILATION takes place in, our heroine, never even worries about what she'll do when that time comes. She doesn't even think about what supplies she might need, even though she's in the middle of an (alien) wilderness. Despite the fact, also, that the entire crew is female, periods never come up. Which only struck me because there is, in fact, a lot of discussion about supplies. A similar packing-for-a-possibly-suicidal-adventure scene in THE GIRL IN THE ROAD is all about, "I wonder how many periods I'll have, and what I should use when I have them?" Similarly, THE BOOK OF THE UNNAMED MIDWIFE could be subtitled, "F*ck, I still have to deal with my period in the apocalypse (and worse, while I'm trying to pass as a dude)." The heroine in that is always scouting for a pharmacy, not only for medicine, but also for tampons.

To be complete, periods never once came up in MEMORY OF WATER or Cherie Priest's MAPLECROFT DISPATCHES. So, it's not all women, all the time... and I'm certainly not implying that *not* mentioning a women's period is some kind of sin of omission. Certainly, I don't think about mine all the time (and I'd rather not think about yours, thank you very much, especially when there's something more interesting to talk about... which is pretty much anything.) But, I don't know. I guess I might expect it to come up when planning a trip or thinking about surviving in an unknown wilderness where there are no pharmacies to restock from... and maybe if these other women hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't notice when it's not there.

It certainly isn't this important, but I will tell you I'll be looking for it other places, gods help me. :-)

A reading confession...

This weekend, the only thing I had 'on' was a Loft "First Pages" at Maplewood Library at 2:00 pm on Saturday. I was meant to be facilitating "Novel Writing for Teens." At last count, they had seven students signed up.

And... it was so gorgeous outside that not a SINGLE SOUL showed up.

I would feel bad about it, but this is fairly typical for these Loft First Pages, in my experience. I don't know if other instructors have an easier time getting warm bodies to fill chairs, but I have had zero luck. I think the MOST successful one had, maybe, three students? Talking a little to the teen librarian at Maplewood, we decided that a big part of it is that it's generally hard to get teenagers to make a concerted effort to come to an event like this (which is to say, free and of unknown value,) especially given all the other choices available (or required, ala soccer or what-have-you.) Add on top of that one of the first truly spectacular days of spring?

Yeah, I'm not surprised no one came.

I get paid regardless. The whole idea of "First Pages," actually, is that they're meant to be drop-in and casual. I'm supposed to be ready to facilitate (notice my careful avoidance of the words teach or instruct) anywhere from ten to one participants. They specifically chose facilitators who are flexible and ready to offer any kind of help/lecture/prompts, etc. So, if I sit there for 90 minutes and chat with the librarian, so be it. The whole idea is that if someone wanders in with 3 minutes to spare, I give them whatever they might need in that time. The Loft only asks that I'm there and that I'm ready for whoever shows and whatever they want to talk about.

Plus, the librarian I chatted with on Saturday is THE person who is responsible for Maplewood's extraordinary graphic novel, comic book, and manga collection. So, we had things to natter on at each other about, no problem!

Then Sunday was gray and rainy and a perfect day to cuddle up and read. I finished a book I really enjoyed called A DARKLING SEA by James L. Cambias. I found this book on the Locus Award's long list in the debut author section. The story takes place on an alien planet where the life there is a lot like the things they've found here at the deep ocean depths--volcanic vents that support huge colonies of life. Human are there doing research and things go off the tracks pretty early and soon enough there's first contact with the natives *and* then the arrival of a third alien race that we'd previously made contact with who are unhappy with our "meddling."

It's a quick read, too.

Now I'm about a hundred pages into PEOPLE IN THE TREES by Hanya Yanagihara, which I'm also finding really gripping. This one is a written as though it's a biography of a famous scientist, complete with a forward and footnotes. I chose to read this one first because it's the one due back at the library soonest, plus it's also one of the ones that was up for a Kitschie and I seem to be going through those for Bitter Empire.

I also bounced out of LAGOON by Nnedi Okorafor after about 30 pages. In this book, Okorafor does a lot of what I'd call "head-hopping" (where the narrative switches p.o.v. without any obvious transition or other signaling, like a space break, etc.) and I got lost really quickly. Plus, I felt a little robbed when one of the major events (alien contact??) was glossed over and told in disjointed flashbacks (little one-liners from various p.o.v. characters). So I felt really unanchored, like I was just floating through the story without any sense of who I should care about or why. So, I set it aside. I might or might not give it another try later. It's probably just a style issue, but I've given up on other books in this challenge, some of them much further in, like Ann Leckie's ANCILLARY SWORD. (Interestingly, I bounced out of MOST of the books up for the Nebula this year.)

I'm not sure what to do about the books that I bounce out of, but since I'm doing this mostly for myself, I've been trying to give the books I read a "fair" chance to grip me. I arbitrarily decided to give most books 50 pages. I didn't quite make that with LAGOON, but I also gave up on GOBLIN EMPEROR after only about 20 or 25 pages (that one was just too high fantasy for me.)

Honestly? I feel a little guilty admitting to giving up on books, especially books I've challenged myself to try to read. But, the truth is, I'm actually a slow reader due to my dyslexia. Because it's hard for me to read, if I'm not INTO a book, I slow down exponentially. I COULD push my way through some of these books, but I think it would be at the detriment to how many books I'll be able to read and finish this year (and possibly massive library overdue fines!) I don't know that the number of books I get read is really all that important, but I also don't really intend to review anything I didn't finish.... so... I dunno.

Some of these books, I could return to. And maybe I will. But I might as well read the ones that grip me first. I feel like, at least, I'm getting a good sampling of what's out there and up for awards, and some books I gave a hundred or more pages--I gave up on both ANCILLARY SWORD and THREE-BODY PROBLEM well after 100 pages. I kept going with both of those because, particularly Leckie, is up for SO MANY awards and THREE-BODY PROBLEM is that book that everyone is talking about. (I dropped out of both those books, interestingly, because I just didn't care that much. The authors failed to give me a human/heart to hang on to, and I'm just not an idea-driven reader. I need to have some reason to care beyond 'whiz-bang.' And, I'm very fond of whiz-bang, as I read a lot of graphic novels/comic books/manga. But trust me, all the ones of those I love also have a human core--I don't need much, just something or someone whose story affects me.)

At any rate, I thought I'd confess all that here. Forgive me, Reader, for I have sinned...

Flu and Such

Some time yesterday afternoon, the rumbling in my guts finally stopped... just in time for me to get ready to teach my Loft SF/F writing class.

I can't say my lecture was terribly coherent or useful, but we had our first critique and my students are all 100% amazing, no kidding. Not only was everyone intelligent and civil, but they also all hit the same notes as I had. So, I feel very in sync with these folks. And, honestly, I suspect, for them, the class just paid for itself, because there is no bigger boost to your writing skills, IMHO, than getting real, helpful critique from peers and a mentor (and learning how to look at work with a critical eye.)

But, as promised, I'm going to try to reconstruct a more cogent version of my lecture for them here, on my blog. We were discussing characters and how you create them. I've talked about this a bit before: "What's My Motivation? Creating Character Through Narrative Voice.", "Narrative Voice (An Epiphany about Adjectives)" and then I apparently once had a grammar aneurysm over Omniscient Point of View: Grammar GeekFest and More About Bob

As I flailed around in class, I hit a lot of things that I talked about in these blog posts, so go ahead and read through them if you like, since apparently much of what I think is true about writing hasn't much changed over the intervening years.

I did manage to pass on that other tidbit that I probably wrote about at some point, too, which is the idea that EVERYTHING, absolutely EVERYTHING you write should be in service to plot. In terms of character, I specifically mentioned the idea that an author should cultivate a narrative voice that creates atmosphere and mood, something that hooks the readers into the FEEL of the plot (sometimes without their conscious knowledge). Literary writers, what with all their focus on word choice, are trained to do this better than genre writers are, but I think we're certainly capable of it to one degree or another.

...

Oh dear. It seems my brain isn't very coherent this morning, either. Well, I'll keep pondering this until next class and if I have other thoughts on character, I'll post them.

Stomach Flu and Books

I've been trying to keep a running list of the various awards that I'm reading from here, and I've neglected to mention the books that made the Arthur C. Clarke short list:

The Girl With All The Gifts, M.R. Carey (Orbit)
The Book Of Strange New Things, Michel Faber (Canongate)
Europe In Autumn, Dave Hutchinson (Solaris)
Memory Of Water, Emmi Itäranta (HarperVoyager)
The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August, Claire North (Orbit)
Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel (Picador)

Romantic Times Reader's choice just announced their winners:

Valley of Fires, J. Barton Mitchell
My Real Children Jo Walton
The Widow's House Daniel Abraham
Daring Elliot James

In other, far more mundane news, I have a stomach bug. It's nothing terribly serious although I slept away all of Sunday and have been having stupidly painful stomach cramps and far too many trips to the bathroom. The weird thing is that mentally, I feel fine. I just have to spend a lot of the day hovering close to a toilet.

Pepto-Bismol has done WONDERS for the cramps.

As for the rest, I've been sucking on Pediolyte pops that we bought some time ago (maybe for Mason, but Shawn likes them better than drinking that stuff, too.) I just went to Walgreens and got unflavored Pediolyte to drink (man, is that stuff gross.) No coffee for me. All BRAT all the time. I'm eating B=banana right now.

Man, I want this to go away.

Next Year Matters Too (More Hugo Thoughts)

I was going to title this "Last Hugo Thoughts," but I'm sure I will have more. First, I want to direct people's attention to the lovely "Journal of Impropriety" who is reading the Hugo Award Nominees in the short form categories so you don't have to. This person (whose identity is a secrit) is summarizing and reviewing each of them. Reviews are always subjective, but the summaries, in some cases, stand on their own. I'm following along admittedly for the 'train wreck' effect because I plan to vote 'No Award' on principle.

Speaking of principles, there's something I feel the need to say in all this. PLEASE, please consider buying a supporting (or attending) membership to WorldCon if you're upset about this. The Hugos are important. Maybe they're not representative. Maybe they never have been. But they're a target because mundanes still go to the Hugo list for a recommended reading list (heck, even casual fans do!)

I know it may feel like some kind of nihilistic rote response to a crisis, very after the barn doors have been left open, but 1) something needs to be done, and 2) please remember that WordCon memberships are good for TWO YEARS of nominating and voting rights.

THIS COULD HAPPEN AGAIN.

We need to take action now so that we can return the Hugo to what it should be: a collection of science fiction readers who nominate things they liked of the large and varied pool of All The Things written in the previous year. I hope that the other side (aka "my" side) can resist making a slate next year, and I think we could feel confident enough not to have to do that IF THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF US MUDDYING THE PUPPY VOTE.

To help, you need to plunk down $40 and register. I know forty bucks is a lot for many of us, okay? I really do. I had to talk my family into this because there are plenty of other things forty bucks can go to in our household. However, the way *I* sold it to them is on this idea: it's $20 bucks a year of voting/nominating privilege. That's not so bad when you think of it that way.

Maybe you're thinking "well, I don't really read a lot of short fiction in the spec fic field." That's fine, because now you can start. This year you can just go down the "No Puppy Slate" and vote accordingly. Because, okay, it's true. Things are well and truly f*cked this year.

Next year, however, you can go to Locus Magazine regularly and see what they recommend for short fiction or... if you're feeling bold, just pick a magazine or two and start checking what's on offer regularly. I will help you. My next year's project has already been determined for me: I will read a much short fiction as I can, so you can see what's out there. When my friends write short stories and publish them, I will post news about it here and on every social media outlet I can think of.

It's far harder to solve world hunger, you know? This is something we can DO. We should do it. I don't care if you share my political bent or not. The Hugos need to belong to WorldCon fans. The Hugos should be decided by people who are reading widely and varied and who want to share that year's best and favorites on a world-recognized 'recommended reading list' like the Hugo nominee ballot.

Are you with me?

Edited for important correction:
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Lyda--a supporting membership in this year's WorldCon lets you vote in this year's Hugos (it would have let you nominate also, but only if bought before Jan 31) and nominate, *but not vote* for next year's Hugos. So yes, vote, but NOMINATE NEXT YEAR also!
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For local folks this should make no nevermind in a way, because next year's WorldCon is in Kansas City. I for one am I'm considering buying an ATTENDING membership for next year's WorldCon, anyway, because from here that's a short drive.

While Most of You Are at a Literary Con...

...I was at home, doing this: "Story Time: Live-Blogging 'Taken By the Gay Unicorn Biker.'"

Bitter Empire has promised me business cards that say: "Reading weird erotica, so you don't have to."

Seriously, a very important conference is happening in town right now, the AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) is happening. I will tell you that I looked at their off-site events schedule (here's today's) and I know none of the people doing readings. I don't think they invited the spec fic community, though I might be wrong about that.

So, yeah, I stayed home and read unicorn porn, out loud (rather: on-line) instead.

Also, after yesterday (wherein I got a surprising amount of attention for what I thought was a very 101 Hugo's post), I feel the need to post this:



For the most part, I have to say, I remain lucky. If people are saying vile things about me because I compared the puppies to Nazis (possibly an unwise hyperbole, though the fascist stuff is very much connected to the rabid pups and I linked to my source in the article), I'm not really hearing it to my face. I had one troll come on my FB feed to say "How many lies can you print in one article?" to which I have to confess my first response was going to be "ALL OF THEM" (but I feared I might be taken seriously or out of context), so instead I asked for clarification, got it, and refuted it.

I also pointed out that the blog was not an article, but an opinion piece, which had been clearly labeled as such.

Kittens and unicorn sex. The only antidote, IMHO.

Slowly Taking Over Bitter Empire

Possibly there were more qualified (and snappier) writers to sum up the Hugo shenanigans for the mundanes, but my editor asked and I answered with "Why Are All my Science Fiction Friends Screaming About Sad Puppies?"

If you're a long time fan and have been following along even tangentially, I say nothing new here. Mostly it's a link salad to some of the more awful things known about Vox Day and his Rabid Puppies (the more stridently vocal right wing of the already right-of-center Sad Puppies). My only new insight is that I, too, have never really felt the Hugos were "all that" in terms of pointing out what was the best in my field, but I have long used the nominee list to get a good sense of "what is trending" in science fiction/fantasy.

I will say here (as I do there) that I do think they're worth fighting.

If it were true that the Sad Puppies actually promoted the idea of fun-loving, non-navel-gazing science fiction, I might be one of them. Ironically (perhaps), yesterday I posted my review of The Girl in the Road in which I make some very snarky comments about what I call "NPR science fiction."

I like my science fiction to have a lot of vim and vigor. I'm very much uninterested in novels that are ONLY explorations of inner spaces. My favorite stuff (and the very best, IMHO,) is when you have high action AND deep thinking. Human beings are political creatures. To imagine a book that was apolitical sounds dreadful to me. Also it sounds impossible. I just read a book The Way Inn by Will Wiles which is basically about how plastic and empty hotels are and how literally soul-sucking they can be. Even that book had a thematic/political point: banality is evil. When you find comfort in emptiness, you probably should consider the value in spending a bit more time naval gazing. That's what this book was ultimately kind of about.

But that's not REALLY what this conversation is about. If it were, the puppies wouldn't complain about the Hugo's NEVER going to their sort. Lois McMaster Bujold has a few of these coveted rockets, and I don't see how she's not exactly what they should be excited about: action-oriented, fun, and... oh, right, she talks a lot about GLBT issues and gender and ability. Never mind she's published by Baen (their supposed favorite publisher). Lois doesn't count because her epic space battles have girl/queer cooties on them.

Ah, I could go on, but, ultimately, all this has been said already. Over and over. By smarter people than me.

It's really interesting the culture of backlash, though, of which the Hugo malarky is clearly part of. I mean, we're living in very weird times. On one hand there's so much moving forward. On the other, there's Indiana.

Failing

Despite what's on most people's minds in the SF world today, I ended up over at Kurtis Scaletta's blog talking about failure. Not the culture of "fail" in the SF community, but my own personal f*ck ups.

"My Biggest Failure: Letting the B-st-rds Get Me Down."

Those of you who are regular readers here will have already heard much of what I have to say in the blog. If I have ONE regret, it's that I've sat on my hands for too long.

To that end, I'm happy to report I have a draft of the first book in a three-part comic book script, which I'm intending to hand out at the next Wyrdsmiths. I haven't done much yet about UnJust Cause and what I need to do with that story/novel, BUT I did start a novella about Garnet Lacey that I'm hoping to keep working on. I also have a short story that needs an ending, but that I have several pages on. So, I am starting to write for publication again, too.

Fingers crossed that I continue to be prolific.