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.
@sevenofmine
Huzzah! Wonderful said. 🙂
“Ursula le Guan”?
IT’S URSULA LE GUIN, YOU FUCKING CRETIN!
Seriously, could he not Google that shit?
Also: I’m incredulous that he actually read any book by her. Other than not mentioning a title, that description is so vague that it can be applied to a ton of other books.
Some more gems from vacation with the otter family.
Father-in-law (at dinner): You know, we might get a big lesbian problem here in Texas soon. (Beat.) The Ike Dike! (All laugh.)
—
Uncle Rico (watching a TV commercial with mostly black cast): You know, this is all because of Obama.
Cousin Carly: Maybe it’s a good thing that they have more diversity on TV?
Cousin Arnie: I’ve been playing Madden all my life, and the default character has always been a white man. When Obama was elected, the next year they changed the default to a black guy. I don’t mind diversity but I don’t want Obama to force it on videogame developers!
—
FiL and MiL going on about the evils of gay rights, sitting right next to openly gay uncle Javier (whose dog just died the day before, so he’s already not in a great place).
—
Somewhat severely autistic 19 year old Cousin Peter (in private conversation with me, in the pool): I just got my HPV vaccine the other day.
Me: Oh cool.
Peter: It actually hurt quite a bit, but I think it’s important.
Me: Definitely! I should probably get that vaccination too. I’ll look into it this fall.
Peter: Yeah, I pretty much get every vaccination I can. You know, many people think vaccines cause autism, and that makes me feel sad sometimes. Because, you know… I have autism. I know it’s not true, but even if it was, I would rather have autism than be dead. So now I just get every vaccination I can. I already have autism, so they don’t have anything to worry about now.
re: Imperial Radch stuff
I’ve been through the books a few times now, and it’s actually really hard to pin most characters’ sex down, I suspect deliberately. And of course the protagonist complains quite openly about how you can’t rely on size, height, hair length, presence or absence of jewelry or makeup or tats, etc. Those are all possible gender cues, and they all vary from one bunch of people to another. SJW FTW!
Someone mentioned Seivarden, who is identified as male right out of the gate, and then I think it’s never mentioned again. Anaander Mianaai is also male: Dr. Strigan refers to “him” (which only happens because she [?] is speaking a non-Radchaai language), but you’ve got to be paying attention to notice, or reading the books more than once, like some obsessive people I could mention.
Oh, the head priest of Ikkt is described as having a beard, for what it’s worth (I’m not sure what it’s worth).
@IP
http://i.imgur.com/tWe8Ahk.gif
Thru what kinda alternate universe warlockery Otter turned out OK, I’ll never quite understand
@ramen
Also, in the 2nd and 3rd books we get Uran, who is identified as male because his people use gendered pronouns. Leckie uses him to slip in a subplot where a male character is sexually exploited by a female one.
I’ve noticed this pattern lately in several SF books by women, usually with secondary characters as a subplot. Trying to give readers a glimpse of what it’s like with the roles reversed, without being heavy-handed about it. The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) and Parable of the Talents (Octavia E. Butler) both have male characters being forcibly prostituted. CJ Cherryh deals with female-on-male rape in Downbelow Station, and sexual harassment in Chanur’s Legacy. In each case, it’s portrayed without romanicizing or making it titillating.
The casting for the Matrix movies was race-blind. Will Smith was one of the actors considered to play Neo before Keanu Reeves. In one of the worst career decisions in history, he turned it down to make Wild Wild West.
I really want to know which Ursula le Guan novel is only appealing to women because the male protagonist isn’t self-centered enough.
@Aunt Podger
One million points to you for mentioning Tiptree’s darkest and most powerful story. The words “I think I saw a real estate agent” turned out to be a truly chilling ending.
I’m guessing Seaearth? A really awesome SyFy channel movie was adapted from it!
so much /s
@Tara
Oh I do remember Uran being male, now that you mention it. And Raughd is labeled female in that language as well (which I guess nails Fosyf down too). And does that mean Piat is also male, or does Raughd like to go both ways?
And what about Breq? And why does my brain want to know so badly?
@W.W.T.H.:
Just imagine their reaction if it was Left Hand of Darkness…
@ramen:
According to a prequel short story, which is linked on the radch tvtropes page, Breq’s body is female.
Which is kind of funny for me, as in German all ships are female, even if they were named for a man.
I like that we all acknowledge that a woman essentially started Sci Fi, but how about the fact that Sci Fi has almost always been political and progressive? The War of the Worlds by Heinlein was written as an indictment of British Colonialism by putting the British in the place of the technologically inferior group with a different language.
I am loving the taste of their tears! Also, thanks to everyone for the scifi authors and book recommendations! I will pick some of these up next time I go to the library!
Aerinea:
Sorry, but War of the Worlds was written by HG wells.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say *that*, he seems to understand pooping. It’s wiping that trips him up.
Dan Kasteray:
It’s easier to imagine Heinlein was progressive if you arbitrarily assign other work to him. I was particular impressed by Heinlein’s The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, and chilled to the bone by Heinlein’s The Handmaid’s Tale. What’s your favourite Heinlein work?
@Knitting Cat Lady
A short story prequel, you say…
I remember the Nilter in the bar saying “Aren’t you a tough little girl,” but I decided that was inconclusive, because it might be a macho dude insult.
Off to TV Tropes!
ETA thanks!
@ ramen
See you in three weeks.
Oh. Your. God. It’s a rabbit-hole MADE OF RABBIT-HOLES
Thus Spake ZaraAerinea:
I politely disagree with the oft-repeated claim that Frankenstein was the first science fiction novel. Kepler’s Somnium beat Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by almost two centuries.
I’d also argue that one of the central themes of Frankenstein is “there are things humankind is not meant to know” — Adam is despised on sight by just about everyone, for no clear reason other than being big, ugly, and especially, unnatural. Victor Frankenstein’s obsessive hatred for the creature is framed as entirely reasonable and justified, and Adam finding a mate and founding a new species is framed as a genuinely terrifying threat. The subtitle of the work evokes Prometheus’s gift of fire not as a boon but as a blasphemy; Victor Frankenstein, after stealing fire from the gods by creating life, decides humankind is better off without fire after all, and the authorial tone agrees with him.
“There are things we are not meant to know, questions we should not ask, and answers we must not seek” is a very unusual motif for sci-fi. I wouldn’t argue that Frankenstein isn’t science fiction — quite the contrary, it’s an influential work whose import was radically underestimated before the advent of feminist media criticism — but it’s very unusual science-fiction, and regardless it’s not the first of the genre, not by two hundred years and several preceding works.
::cough cough H.G. Wells:: 🙂
But yes, sci-fi has always been a vessel for social and political criticism — one would be hard-pressed to find a science fiction author more seminal than H.G. Wells, and he was a nakedly political writer, as well as a socialist, anti-racist, and anti-militarist. In other words, he was an SJW and damned proud of it. 😀
That Ted Beale and his fellow grotz whine about writers “politicizing” science fiction is just one more indicator they have no clue what they’re talking about.
Thus Spake ZaraMoggie:
I am exceptionally fond of Heinlein’s The Forever War — it’s probably the single best piece of post-Vietnam military science fiction (and hugely influential on later works, such as Heinlein’s Old Man’s War). If you haven’t read it, I suggest it’s worth your time.
(But seriously, Heinlein’s “War: It’s fantastic!” attitude can take a long walk off a short pier. Heinlein was a pampered REMF who medicaled out before he ever saw real combat; I can’t stand hearing him preach about the glory and nobility of war.)
Edit: But truly, The Forever War is fabulous and you should read it.
PocketNerd, Heinlein’s The Forever War was indeed fantastic. It’s rare to see a writer refuting their own earlier work so effectively. Heinlein later went on to revisit some of the same themes in his The Ballad of Halo Jones and, in anime form, Gunbuster, showcasing his cross-media talents. I personally thought Heinlein’s Old Man’s War was less successful, and I wondered whether adopting a largely burrito-based diet affected his brain. But he returned to storming form with Ancillary Justice, so I have high hopes for the future.
Imaginary Petal, sounds like Peter is the most lucid person in the otter family. Good for him.
@Sinkable John
Would you like a free copy of my English language SF anthology? (All short stories that have been published somewhere or other) It’s not like it would cost me anything.
Heck, would anyone else like one? It’s available as .mobi (for Kindle) .epub (for iPad or Mac) or .pdf.
Reviews on amazon would be nice, but it’s not a condition. I’m a so-and-so for never getting around to writing reviews of other people’s books, so it would be hypocritical to demand reviews myself.
Anyway, apply to [email protected]