John C. Wright's Blog, page 27
April 10, 2015
Prayer and Donation Request
Larry Correia, the so called International Lord of Hate, has a request for all kind souls:
Many of you know Shadowdancer Duskstar, who has been posting here for many years.
Earlier this week they tragically lost their 11 month old son.
This Paypal link was set up for them. Because they live in Australia, this is the best way to donate money.
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=9MCPUTTUCBTUW
She said “Any donations will go towards the cost of providing Brandon with a proper farewell, and easing the strain on the family with our abnormally tight living expenses during this time.”
Our prayers are with them in this time of need.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
If You Were an International Hate Lord, My Love
Larry Correia, the International Lord of Hate himself in the AoSHQ podcast admires one of my stories.
http://podcast.aoshq.com/2015/04/10/larry-correia/
He is talking about Sad Puppies and the whole SF being mugged by Morlocks debacle.
His comment about me is about 24:00
Here are the two stories mentioned
http://www.apex-magazine.com/if-you-were-a-dinosaur-my-love/
http://www.scifiwright.com/2014/11/the-queen-of-the-tyrant-lizards/
* * *
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
What is the Hugo Worth?
A private conversation with a well placed and influential editor in the New York publishing house was rather eye opening to me. It seems the Hugo, at one time, predictably bumped up sales for a work that won by a thousand books sold. Now, thirty.
Hmm. Let us say you get the normal cut of the profit after selling through, for a $20 cover price of a hardback, this nets you roughly 2.50 per unit, or 75 bucks all told.
I spent more on tickets to take my children to see THE LAST AIRBENDER in 3D, which was a terrible movie in any dimension, and the reason why I pray daily to the Erinyes to punish M. Night Shyamalan with emerods.
Think of that. The Hugo might, might, give you extra money enough for an evening at the cinema, if that. No one is buying a replacement washing machine by selling thirty extra books.
For short works, the financial benefit is zero.
The financial benefit is small (in the case of novels) or zero (in the case of short works) because and only because the fans no longer regard the Hugo as a sign of worthwhile work. It used to be a trustworthy trumpet calling lovers of science fiction toward books and stories guaranteed to quicken the imagination, open casements to new worlds, throw wide the shining gates of the future.
It used to be the award that paid homage, for example, to Frank Herbert for DUNE. To this day, many if not most, science fiction fans regard as this as the best SF novel ever penned. Look at the sales for DUNE just this year. Look at the Amazon rating.
Now the Hugo Award has become a leper’s bell telling the wary to stay away from stories about nonbinary genderless nonheteronormative were-seals, murderous priests, and political statements of dreary leftwing dreck.
The fans do not know about the Hugo Awards or do not care, save for a small and ever more irrelevant cadre.
This means the Hugos mean nothing, represent nothing, and are no longer a sign of read-worthy work.
Until this year.
My fellow gentleman, shuggoths, dark lords, masterminds, countesses, impalers, sith, and beautiful but wicked queens of the Evil Legion of Evil Authors, delightful as it is to go all Death Star on the Hugos and blow it into asteroids (and what true science fiction fan does not delight in seeing cities nuked and worlds fried like eggs?) more delightful, to me, at least, would be to rip the award from the greasy pale fingers of the Morlocks, give a good spit shine, and make it mean again what it once meant.
I feel I owe Frank Herbert the attempt.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
April 9, 2015
The Curt Jester and The Minus Touch
I’ve exchanged pleasant words with the Curt Jester in times past, but until today, right now, I did not know he was a fan of the Monster Hunter International Series.
(He will be thrilled if I manage to sell a story into a certain shared-world anthology Larry Correia is orchestrating, so keep your fingers crossed.)
The Jester begins thuswise. (‘Thuswise’ is totally a real word. As of now.)
My genesis as a constant reader really came into full bloom just before high school. Before that I enjoyed reading, but wasn’t constantly reading. What really changed that was the discovery of the genre of Science Fiction. The Apollo program and the landing of the moon had me convinced we were living in a new age and SF fed that for me. The books of Isaac Asimov were my first real book-love and from there moved to all the other authors of the golden age of SF and beyond. I actually skipped classes to read books from Asimov and others. I don’t regret that at all as no doubt I probably made out on the deal. For decades the likelihood of the current book I was reading being SF was almost certain. It was only much later that I branched out into Fantasy, mystery, military fiction, thrillers, etc.
So I certainly consider myself a SF fan. While a fan though, I have never been much involved in fandom. I am sure I would love to go to one of the conventions and converse with other fans. Well at least I like the idea of it. I would describe myself as a gregarious introvert. I really like being around others and hearing what others have to say. If perhaps I have spent six months among such a group I might even be comfortable contributing to conversations. I mean other than making comedic cracks since for whatever reason being the class clown was the more gregarious part of my nature. Although this aspect I have found is not uncommon among introverts and jesters.
Mostly when it comes to fandom I find it interesting, but mostly would just rather read than participate in fan sites and other fan related activity. When I read someone as knowledgeable as Maureen at Aliens in This World on conventions and other aspects I wish this was otherwise for me.
So mostly I was unaware of much that was going on in the SF/Fantasy world in regards to political correctness. Still I was picking up more regarding this from some publishing site blogs along with the limited number of author blogs I read. In the last year the nonsense has been much more apparent to me. Last year there was this article on Tor.com Post-Binary Gender in SF: Introduction. The introduction gives you a taste of the this:
I want an end to the default of binary gender in science fiction stories.
What do I mean by “post-binary gender”? It’s a term that has already been used to mean multiple things, so I will set out my definition:
Post-binary gender in SF is the acknowledgement that gender is more complex than the Western cultural norm of two genders (female and male): that there are more genders than two, that gender can be fluid, that gender exists in many forms.
As far as I am concerned this is total idiocy. All I want to do is read is a good well-written SF story. I have certainly read very good SF where such topics were explored and was never put off if alien reproductive abilities were totally different than humans. Just as long as it was a good story. But now I have seen more and more of articles of this type demanding agenda driven message fiction.
Then there were articles like I Challenge You to Stop Reading White, Straight, Cis Male Authors for One Year. This article which included a picture of the finger-waving author would have been awesome if printed by the Onion. Although I guess self-parody is a form of parody.
I thought: What if I only read stories by a certain type of author?
Well I thought knock yourself out if that is what you want to do. Strangely I couldn’t care less about the race, sex, or political persuasion of an author. There have been many times after reading a book I happened to find out more about an author and that they held views contrary to my own. This never stopped me from buying another of their books if I enjoyed their previous ones. Sure there is a special delight to find that an author you love does share your views. If I decided to boycott authors with different views then my own I would save a lot of money and Amazon’s stocks would probably slide.
Today I saw Maureen had written a response to a study coming out about author Lois Mcmaster Bujold.
Acclaimed science fiction scholar Edward James traces how Bujold emerged from fanzine culture to win devoted male and female readers despite working in genres–military SF, space opera–perceived as solely by and for males.
She puts the idiocy in context regarding all the women writers who have written both military SF and space opera. Not just written in this genre, but creating classic books in these SF sub-genres.
Bujold is remarkable because she is a Darned Good Writer.
Exactly. I’ve read 22 of Bujold’s books in the last two years and look forward to more.
Last year I picked up Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia due to a recommendation by a Facebook friend. I really enjoyed his first book and soon read everything he has written. I enjoyed that series along with totally loving his The Grimnoir Chronicles. The audiobook versions with Bronson Pinchot are phenomenal. I knew nothing about him other than I really liked his books. I started finding references about him and that apparently he was pissing off all the right people (in my opinion). So I added his blog to my small selection of author blogs.
One author blog I have followed for several years is that of SF author John C. Wright. Mark Shea had once linked to a post of his critiquing the so-called technological singularity when AI will surpass human intelligence. I enjoyed that post and picked up his Golden Age trilogy which was already on my wishlist to read. He quickly became another author where I quickly read everything they had and whose new books were instant preorders. Plus his blog posts are a wonder to behold in their rhetoric and philosophical discussions. His back and forth with readers of his blog and especially critiques keeps me coming back for more. Instead of the “shut up” of the left he engages in more of a “explain yourself” and questioning tone. Certainly polemical, but the target is always ideas and not persons.
I was rather thrilled when Larry Correia started linking to John C. Wright’s posts and vice-versa.
http://www.scifiwright.com/Ah? What happens next? Read on, dear reader: http://www.splendoroftruth.com/curtjester/2015/04/political-correctness-ruins-everything/
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
Chastity is Thoughtcrime!
I note a particular oddity in the ongoing debate about the legitimacy of the Hugo Award slate. For all the ink that has so for been spilled over it — including more than one libelous article hurredly retracted — no one is actually talking about it.
No one is talking about the merit of any of the works, mine or others, being judged.
Consider the irony of that for a moment. We masterminds of evil living in our villain lair in the cone of an extinct volcano in Antarctica are being accused of introducing politics and bloc voting into the Hugo Awards. Our main complaint is the the Hugo Awards in recent years have been a matter of politics hence not about the merit of the work. Our complaint is that meritorious works are being shut out; that the merit of the work is being ignored. And the response of our critics is …. to launch personal attacks, to attempt clumsy character assassination, besmirch and besmear our character, and never to talk about the merit of the works.
Point made; case closed.
I have so far found one and only one exception, and the comment is worthy of sustained and detailed mockery.
Here is the quote from the one and only one detractor who mentioned discontent with my work rather than badmouthing the author.
And even he only mentioned the writing in passing after several paragraphs of condemning me for badthink and thoughtcrime.
This is regrettable, but that’s what is to be expected when you recruit Vox Day for your side and champion John C. Wright, a guy who thinks there should be laws against sex outside of marriage.
(quoting me, emphasis his) I will gladly clarify: I am not a libertarian any more. I think the state has a right and a duty and a sacred obligation to enforce marriage laws, and put men in jail for adultery, for fornication, as well as to punish the johns and patrons of prostitutes with severe penalties: http://johncwright.livejournal.com/337756.html?nojs=1&thread=11474268
He also thinks that women must obey their husbands:
(quoting me) For her part, she must vow to love and honor and obey. And if you do not understand about that obey part, you do not understand women. She wants a leader, an alpha male, a chief, a Christ, and you must be willing to die for her as Christ was willing to die for you, or she will not feel secure in your love. If she does not swear to obey, you are not a couple, not a dyad, not a unit, but are still two sovereigns dealing with each other at arm’s length, not intimate, and she cannot trust you fully, cannot love you fully, not with a divine and self-sacrificing love. http://www.everyjoe.com/2014/07/16/politics/secret-to-the-most-mind-blowing-sex-ever/
And the less said about his views on LGBT people, the better.
But, you say, maybe he is a bigot, but they championed him because he wrote great fiction last year.
To which I say – try reading it without laughing at how bad it is. Believe me, it’s not easy.
Actually, no man not bereft of this wits says of me, maybe he is a bigot.
A sane man merely wishing to publish a libel or slander would invent a more credible falsehood and level a less absurd accusation, such as, for example, by saying I am an isosceles triangle seeking to overthrow the social order of the Polygons Flatland, and that I must be bound with the magical gossamer ribbon gleipnir before I eat the sun and moon, leaving the world in darkness forever.
Bigotry is defined as a man who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion.
The words utterly intolerant do not mean respectfully and with endless, easygoing, and jovial clemency, patience, charity and magnanimity welcoming any disagreement with those of differing creed, belief and opinion, while never losing sight of their innate human dignity ergo treating them with scrupulous fairness, dispassionate justice, and princely courtesy. It means the opposite.
Except when fellows like this use the word. In his world, tolerance is bigotry, bigotry is tolerance, war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
April 8, 2015
The Curt Jester and The Minus Touch
I’ve exchanged pleasant words with the Curt Jester in times past, but until today, right now, I did not know he was a fan of the Monster Hunter International Series.
(He will be thrilled if I manage to sell a story into a certain shared-world anthology Larry Correia is orchestrating, so keep your fingers crossed.)
The Jester begins thuswise. (‘Thuswise’ is totally a real word. As of now.)
My genesis as a constant reader really came into full bloom just before high school. Before that I enjoyed reading, but wasn’t constantly reading. What really changed that was the discovery of the genre of Science Fiction. The Apollo program and the landing of the moon had me convinced we were living in a new age and SF fed that for me. The books of Isaac Asimov were my first real book-love and from there moved to all the other authors of the golden age of SF and beyond. I actually skipped classes to read books from Asimov and others. I don’t regret that at all as no doubt I probably made out on the deal. For decades the likelihood of the current book I was reading being SF was almost certain. It was only much later that I branched out into Fantasy, mystery, military fiction, thrillers, etc.
So I certainly consider myself a SF fan. While a fan though, I have never been much involved in fandom. I am sure I would love to go to one of the conventions and converse with other fans. Well at least I like the idea of it. I would describe myself as a gregarious introvert. I really like being around others and hearing what others have to say. If perhaps I have spent six months among such a group I might even be comfortable contributing to conversations. I mean other than making comedic cracks since for whatever reason being the class clown was the more gregarious part of my nature. Although this aspect I have found is not uncommon among introverts and jesters.
Mostly when it comes to fandom I find it interesting, but mostly would just rather read than participate in fan sites and other fan related activity. When I read someone as knowledgeable as Maureen at Aliens in This World on conventions and other aspects I wish this was otherwise for me.
So mostly I was unaware of much that was going on in the SF/Fantasy world in regards to political correctness. Still I was picking up more regarding this from some publishing site blogs along with the limited number of author blogs I read. In the last year the nonsense has been much more apparent to me. Last year there was this article on Tor.com Post-Binary Gender in SF: Introduction. The introduction gives you a taste of the this:
I want an end to the default of binary gender in science fiction stories.
What do I mean by “post-binary gender”? It’s a term that has already been used to mean multiple things, so I will set out my definition:
Post-binary gender in SF is the acknowledgement that gender is more complex than the Western cultural norm of two genders (female and male): that there are more genders than two, that gender can be fluid, that gender exists in many forms.
As far as I am concerned this is total idiocy. All I want to do is read is a good well-written SF story. I have certainly read very good SF where such topics were explored and was never put off if alien reproductive abilities were totally different than humans. Just as long as it was a good story. But now I have seen more and more of articles of this type demanding agenda driven message fiction.
Then there were articles like I Challenge You to Stop Reading White, Straight, Cis Male Authors for One Year. This article which included a picture of the finger-waving author would have been awesome if printed by the Onion. Although I guess self-parody is a form of parody.
I thought: What if I only read stories by a certain type of author?
Well I thought knock yourself out if that is what you want to do. Strangely I couldn’t care less about the race, sex, or political persuasion of an author. There have been many times after reading a book I happened to find out more about an author and that they held views contrary to my own. This never stopped me from buying another of their books if I enjoyed their previous ones. Sure there is a special delight to find that an author you love does share your views. If I decided to boycott authors with different views then my own I would save a lot of money and Amazon’s stocks would probably slide.
Today I saw Maureen had written a response to a study coming out about author Lois Mcmaster Bujold.
Acclaimed science fiction scholar Edward James traces how Bujold emerged from fanzine culture to win devoted male and female readers despite working in genres–military SF, space opera–perceived as solely by and for males.
She puts the idiocy in context regarding all the women writers who have written both military SF and space opera. Not just written in this genre, but creating classic books in these SF sub-genres.
Bujold is remarkable because she is a Darned Good Writer.
Exactly. I’ve read 22 of Bujold’s books in the last two years and look forward to more.
Last year I picked up Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia due to a recommendation by a Facebook friend. I really enjoyed his first book and soon read everything he has written. I enjoyed that series along with totally loving his The Grimnoir Chronicles. The audiobook versions with Bronson Pinchot are phenomenal. I knew nothing about him other than I really liked his books. I started finding references about him and that apparently he was pissing off all the right people (in my opinion). So I added his blog to my small selection of author blogs.
One author blog I have followed for several years is that of SF author John C. Wright. Mark Shea had once linked to a post of his critiquing the so-called technological singularity when AI will surpass human intelligence. I enjoyed that post and picked up his Golden Age trilogy which was already on my wishlist to read. He quickly became another author where I quickly read everything they had and whose new books were instant preorders. Plus his blog posts are a wonder to behold in their rhetoric and philosophical discussions. His back and forth with readers of his blog and especially critiques keeps me coming back for more. Instead of the “shut up” of the left he engages in more of a “explain yourself” and questioning tone. Certainly polemical, but the target is always ideas and not persons.
I was rather thrilled when Larry Correia started linking to John C. Wright’s posts and vice-versa.
Ah? What happens next? Read on, dear reader: http://www.splendoroftruth.com/curtje...
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
Brontosaurs Exist After All!
Glad that Brontosaurus was saved. Pluto next.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
April 7, 2015
Hugo Award Nominations Fall Victim to Misogynistic and Racist Voting
http://monsterhunternation.com/2015/04/07/addendum-to-yesterdays-letter/
Larry Correia notes
Yesterday the following media outlets ran articles about the Sad Puppies campaign, in which they either directly said or insinuated that it was run and populated by racist straight white males with the goal of keeping scifi white and male. (not true)
The Telegraph
Entertainment Weekly
Salon
Huffington Post
Slash Dot
io9
The GuardianIt was almost like they were all reading off the same script.
Most of them said our slate was exclusively white, straight, and male (not true)
Most of them said that last year was a big win for diversity (I believe last years winners were all white and one Asian).
Most of them said our slate was exclusively right wing (not true, in fact the majority skew left, we have socialists, liberals, moderates, libertarians, conservatives, and question marks. To the best of my knowledge, I believe that last year’s “diverse” winners all espoused the same social justice politics).
But there is no bias in this perfectly functioning system. My side said that political narrative trumped reality in this business. Believe me yet?
We’ve seen this behavior before, but never at a level so blatantly false.
By all means, read the whole thing: http://monsterhunternation.com/2015/04/07/addendum-to-yesterdays-letter/
I will also add:
Comics Alliance
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
In Which a Morlock Chides Me
A reader with the somewhat dark name of Schwartz takes me to task:
(Quoting me): ” I think it sad that Mr Stross has decided, not for the first time, to insult me publicly, when I have never said a harsh word against him, nor treated him with anything but respect, nor am I likely to change that policy.”
When you are on the public record decrying large portions of the world as “Morlocks”, you do not then get to claim that “you’ve never said a harsh word against” someone who feels he fits in with the people you decry.
I ask you, in your own conscience, do you honestly believe you wrote three of the five best novellas published this year? If so, I am stunned by your arrogance. If not, I ask you to pick one, and decline the other two nominations; let other deserving candidates appear on the ballot.
Because all you are doing is proving that yes, yelling loud and organizing can overwhelm people trying to make individual decisions; and that is a point far too often proven in our history as human beings.
My reply:
Logic. If I call those who act like Morlocks ‘Morlocks’ but do not say ‘And Mr Stross is one such’ nor imply it, nor direct any contumely against him, then, no, sir, I do indeed get to claim what I have claimed, for the simple reason that it is the simple truth.
But for you to use this as an excuse to justify Mr Stross’ bad manners? I complain about the world in general terms, and he calls me a lobotomy victim, and say he loathes my company. You somehow make that out as okay, or merited, or deserved.
For shame, sir. For shame.
Mr Damien Walter of the Guardian newspaper in England I called a Morlock, for so he is, and I registered no objection when he attempted, in his weak and girlish way, to insult me. Turn about is fair play, after all. But Mr Walter, even with the assistance of the Queen’s money, could not write a book to save his life, nor coin a truly ripping insult. He is a nobody, a nothing. Mr Stross is not nothing; he is a writer of solid credentials, widely admired in the field, and deservedly so. He knows how to land a blow when he insults a man. I but chide him for hitting below the belt, because it makes him look weak.
And you claim your shrill little clique of social justice freaklings is a large portion of the world? Indeed? (Ah, the happy kitten fluffs her warlike fur to make herself large!) Well, the nomination results seem not to agree with you.
As to my own opinion of my own work, I am disqualified to answer, since no author can assess his own work — which is not what the award measures.
It measures the view of the voters. They have spoken.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
SOMEWHITHER Cover Art
Now with the title spelled correctly!
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
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