So the Hugo awards happened. And last night was a pretty decisive defeat for the would-be awardwreckers behind the Sad and Rabid Puppies’ slates, and for Rabid Puppies ringmaster Theodore “Vox Day” Beale in particular: not only did his slate fail to crack the awards (aside from two nominees who didn’t need his help to win), but he also saw his longtime nemesis N.K. Jemisin take the top award for her novel The Fifth Season.
Teddy Baby is trying his best to spin the defeat as a victory (“we have the SF-SJWs exactly where we want them at this point in time”) but even the fake sci-fi boys on Reddit’s gamergate hangout KotakuInAction can see what happened. And they are indeed sad little puppies about it.
Here are some of their highly edifying reactions:
![YESmovementLaci Green raped me. 5 points 12 hours ago So was NK Jemisin the best author this year or are they doing exactly what they're shitting on the Puppies for doing? permalinkembedsavereportreply [–]BulbasaurusThe7th 9 points 10 hours ago No, she is the best black woman of the year. That is what matters. permalinkembedsaveparentreportreply [–]alexdrac 4 points 8 hours ago Black woman writes about "climate change". What more could they want ? I stopped caring what other people think of sci-fi writers when i gave Ursula le Guan (?) a try. The internet was all "omg, such great sci-fi. and from a woman, no less". Well, i couldn't be bothered to finish the book, because it was painfully obvious that it was a book written by a woman for women. The main character (a guy) was going through all kinds of shit, but it seemed his only concern was with the feelings of someone or another. 90% of his inner dialogue was what women think men should be thinking about more.](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/urs2.png?ssl=1)
(I had to cross out YESmovement’s Reddit flair because it was a rape joke.)
And then there was this ever-so-slightly ironic comment.
Hey, speak for yourself, dude. The only science fiction, er, books I’ve read in ages have been Chuck Tingle’s Pounded By The Pound: Turned Gay By The Socioeconomic Implications Of Britain Leaving The European Union and My Billionaire Triceratops Craves Gay Ass.
But I do like the irony inherent in lambasting unnamed authors for not being able to “write a coherent sentence” in a group of words that is not actually a sentence.
Dear “Jemisin only won because she’s a black SJW” dudes: you fail reading forever.
Look, I understanding that reading is a subjective experience. I personally thought The Fifth Season was terrific, but if it didn’t work for you, that’s totally fine. However, if your reaction is “people only claim to enjoy this because they have an agenda” (insert dramatic chord here), I genuinely wonder whether you understand fiction, or people, or, well, pretty much anything beyond shoe-tying and pooping.
Valentine:
Seriously? Why should women writers have to hide their identities? This is not a game, where the objective is to trick your readers into enjoying your work. Those dudes who can’t cope with women or PoC writing? Fuck ’em. The rest of us don’t have to bend to their will.
This reminds me of the man-babies who pitch a fit everytime a hint of diversity is introduced into Marvel and DC properties. I used to write up a goodly amount of DC stuff on my blog (and a little Marvel for balance), but when I checked my schedule for next month and the month after I am down to one Marvel and one DC trade. When you think of what Image was like when it started, it’s been doing some amazing work with diversity. Two of my favourite series are science-fiction too (Saga and Lazarus) written by men but they are definite allies. Sorry, got a bit off-topic, I’m glad the people who won, won. I don’t actually read much in the way non comicbook stuff nowadays but I’m mulling over getting a kindle and I think I’ll check some of this stuff out.
I also had a bit of a mea culpa realisation when I got to my 100th trade looked at and realised not one had a woman writer or artist. So I made my 100th a look at a Gail Simone comic and decided I wouldn’t let a month go by without including at least one book in which a woman was involved either as writer and/or artist.
Oh Christ, have you seen how they’ve been flipping out over a WoC’s casting as Mary Jane in the latest Spider-Man reboot?
@SFHC: Yeah I read that and it’s ridiculous. But also expected, sigh. They don’t seem to understand that comics can’t exist in some perfect 1960’s stasis and still survive in todays world. Mind you part of me has started to write Marvel and DC off as a lost cause, DC especially after the DC rebirth killed off two series, one lead by a gay man (Midnighter), the other with a genderqueer team member (Secret Six) and the notable thing about pre-DC rebirth John Constantine was they put his bisexuality front and centre and it looks like he might have suffered bi-erasure again in his new title.
After a brief and wonderful gap between the grimdark New 52 and the old skool male pandering of the DC Rebirth, when it seemed like some real progress was being made, it’s back to the same old, same old. I have to admit I don’t know much about Marvel to rail against them the only series of theirs I read recently was Kelly Sue DeConnicks excellent Captain Marvel and that ended abruptly thanks to the linewide crossovers Marvel seem to have about twice a year. Bah, comics.
I don’t much care for sci-fi… but I’m more willing to believe that this person won on merit than these winer clowns dislike her because her writing’s bad.
Seems to be a weird glitch preventing me from commenting x_x
ETA : of course the only time it works is when I post this, heh.
Hmm, who am I to disagree with alexdrac? But I’ve read a fair amount by Ursula Le Guin. And I wouldn’t say that her characters ignore their own predicaments in favour of getting angsty about the feelings of others. Her Hugo-winner “The Dispossessed” features a male protagonist who isn’t particularly sensitive, and the behaviour of many of the other characters would strike most of us as impolite and insensitive. There are reasons, of course, because she’s a good writer.
In Roosh’s case, even pooping may not be so well understood.
@ Sinkable John:
Re Kindle and content / geoblocking issues: If you want to explore how likely it is that the content you want will be available to you, they offer free apps for reading / shopping Amazon Kindle on pretty much any device, so you can very easily install one on your phone / tablet / deskbrick and browse what content they will sell you. If the content you want is available to you, you can start thinking about a comfortable device for reading it on, if not the point is moot.
I’m sure the other e-reader companies do a similar thing, since the business model is more about frequent content sale than occasion device sale.
ETA: With Kindle at least, and I’m sure with other brands, you can also import nonproprietary content like Project Gutenberg, PDFs into your reader.
Hi, Ms Vanilla Rose.
I really liked Le Guin’s “The Left Hand of Darkness”. It is obviously one of her big hits, of course. And I did like her treatment of gender fluidity. But I do think that this particular novel contradicts your, “her characters ignore their own predicaments in favour of getting angsty about the feelings of others” comment.
Did you not think that Genly was completely aware of his situation and that it was an integral part of the message?
And okaaaaaay. This is a feminist blog and not a literature appreciation forum ?. But still, I feel that you are not being totally fair to Le Guin.
Nothing new, please — we’re Nazis who pretend to be puppies.
Sinkable John, the Amazon limit on ebooks is a problem I’ve run into in the other direction – I’d love to be able to buy more stuff in other languages, but Amazon UK doesn’t have much of a selection. It looks like the English language selection on amazon.fr is much better, so it might still work for you.
And I definitely hear you about the quality of translations – I’ve come across some truly appalling ones, to the point of things like major plot points just being entirely missed so the whole story makes no sense. I have come across one major exception, though – the French translations of the Discworld series are amazing.
@Sinkable John
Kobo is an eReader option that’s available in Canada (I’m not sure about other countries, but you can probably order one online and get it shipped). As far as I know, their online store is available worldwide and sells DRM free epubs (an ebook format). The input port on all the ones I’ve seen is your standard micro USB, so no fancy, hard to get cords are required. I’ve had two so far and they’ve treated me very well. Might be an option to look into?
Vox Day’s mental gymnastics as he tries to convince himself that this is actually a Glorious Victory have been particularly hilarious.
Also, I would totally read Captain Homo’s Gay Adventures on Planet Diversity. Just sayin’.
Personally I’ve been a fan since he was Ensign Homo. Nice to see merit rewarded.
Oh no, female minorities.
Anyway, I don’t read nearly as much sci-fi as I’d like to, but I’ve always been more of a fantasy-type girl. Well, any win for WOC is fine by me.
@Axecalibur
Because I know what frequent hair color changes (of the artificial chemical sort) can do to an individual’s hair the more they do it, I have to say I wish that these young whippersnappers would wear wigs more often instead of bleaching, dyeing, toning *repeat* over and over. Even the strongest of hair will eventually lose the very quality that protected it during earlier points of the hair color change timeline.
Incidentally, directors and others involved in cast selection + related decisions have ALWAYS made demands of actresses in regards to hair color. Never has their priority been about safety or even making sure these women don’t end up balding. It’s not really even about the source material because the people in charge of these things have veered from that whenever it suited them.
Kobo ebook readers: Available in Germany, no geolocking in the the store.
I recently listened to the audiobook of ‘The Fifth Season’ recently.
It was harrowing and amazing in equal measures.
I just sent my mum a copy to read it.
“I hate it when sci fi gets weird.”
@Sinkable John:
You may also want to take a look at the Onyx Boox e-readers – they support a huge variety of formats, EPUB, PDF and DOC included. So you can basically just grab any DRM-free e-book or document you find and load it onto them, and they’ll display it just fine.
Thanks to everyone for the amazing advice <3
I'm a bit oldschool in regards to tech, as in I tend to stay away from additional devices other than my computer, so I was completely lost there. I really like that I'll be able to keep it non-proprietary AND DRM-free.
@Moggie
Agreed, besides they don't even need to be tricked into making asses of themselves, they manage that perfectly fine on their own. World's greatest HARD science-fiction author (name of Chuck Tingle) is proof of that and also that love is real.
For some reason I can't seem to be able to post as long as there's a link in my comment, which is weird. I was gonna link to one of Chuck Tingle's treasure posters, which I have hanging on my wall – the one about the Hugos.
I suppose I should say that Kobo gives you DRM free* epubs, with a disclaimer. The files that they provide in their store sometimes (it varies) have DRM if you download them through the Kobo store link, but you can also download a link that you can feed into Adobe Digital Editions that will allow you to get the epubs on other devices. So it’s a bit roundabout.
Off topic, but also very important to me:
Today is moving day! However, I still haven’t managed to get everything packed up because of family constantly taking over the living room so I can’t pack my stuff in there/stress/anxiety/depression/insomnia due to previous factors/a slight back injury (Nothing big, I just pulled a muscle the night before last trying to move boxes).
So I have about eight hours left to get all this stuff packed up and I’m still freaking out because there’s SO MUCH TO DO AND NO TIME TO DO IT AND WHY AM I PROCRASTINATING RIGHT NOW?!??!?!
@PI
The feels. I’m moving in two weeks or so and I’ve been feeling the anxiety for two months, even though I badly want and need to move from here. HAVE SOME LIQUID COURAGE !
*pours beer on the floor before feeling bad and cleaning up*
Ugh I know the feeling about moving, the last place I moved out of I did under great duress. The old landlord sold the property to people who wanted to devlop it into luxury flats. I stubbornly stayed right up to the last second my lease ran until. And even with several friends and a sister staying over and partying in the empty house before helping me do a last minute pack, I still managed to forget a load of stuff. Luckily my other sister who is like a teacher and all sensible and organised went over to check and retrieved all the stuff I left that I still wanted.
Anyway, this month marks the tenth year I have lived here, longer than I have lived anywhere in my entire life. And I plan on staying, the medical services are amazing, the council tax and rent affordable the place is pleasant to live and handy for Manchester if I want to go see the relatives. I’ve become a great believer in their being advantages to living in a very, very safe Tory seat even though I am a lefty myself, heh. Anyway, hugs to everyone who is moving, I think if I ever have to do it again imma hire someone to do the packing for me and just sit watching eating bon bons and so on.