Of course, I have Hugo Thoughts.

[agilebrit]

Got back from the Easter Jeep Safari in Moab to find that the internet blew up in my absence. Since I knew the Hugo nominations would be announced on Easter Saturday, this was inevitable. And I thought long and hard about whether I was going to make a public post or just lock it to the folks I trust, but I've decided I'm not going to let fear rule me. I'm going to do my best to be a Voice of Reason. Considering the fact that in other circles I'm considered The Mean One, this may be difficult, but I'll try.

Disclaimer: Larry Correia and Brad Torgerson are friends of mine. I do not know Vox Day, and have never had a conversation with him, though I have on occasion visited his blog, and I've read (and enjoyed) some of his fiction.

First of all, congrats to all the nominees. Special shout-outs to Kevin J. Anderson, Jim Butcher, John C. Wright, Tom Kratman, Gray Rhinehart, Annie Bellet, Kary English, Carter Reid, and Bryan Thomas Schmidt. I look forward to reading the Hugo voter packet once it's ready.

I am somewhat gobsmacked by the reaction, though I suppose I shouldn't be. I've been trying to unpack my own reaction to the reaction, and it boils down to a few points:

1. The Hugos are a fan award, and the "fans" in this instance are the ones who buy at least a Supporting Membership to Worldcon. The fact that more fans found out they could do this, and blew at least forty bucks of their hard-earned money in order to make their voices heard, thus putting more money into Worldcon coffers? Is a good thing. The fact that those fans might not be the Sorts Of People that "fandom" is used to having vote on "their" award? Is also a good thing. Because, you know what? The award belongs to them too. Everything should be turned upside down on occasion; it lets in air and light.

2. I keep seeing people saying that they're going to vote "No Award" for anything and anyone who appeared on the Sad Puppies/Rabid Puppies slate. I am gobsmacked by this reaction as well. Are you seriously going to punish Jim Butcher, Kary English, John C. Wright, and all the others because of how you think they got on the ballot? Because of who supported them? Do you honestly think they don't belong there?

This strikes me as petty, and beneath us. I thought we were better than that. But apparently there are Cool Kids, and there are the Cooler Kids, and then there are the Great Unwashed. If giving everyone a fair shake--by actually reading the works and voting accordingly--makes me one of the Great Unwashed, well, I'll stand proudly with them. And if your conscience is clear when you vote No Award over the godfather of an entire freaking genre without even reading him, well. I guess it's your conscience.

3. The idea that the nominees aren't "real" and should have an asterisk or something on their win. I'll be succinct here: Bull fucking shit. Jim Butcher is, as said earlier, the godfather of an entire genre and helps writers out wherever he can. Kevin J. Anderson has written more books than God and also helps out new writers. John C. Wright is generally the smartest guy in any room and has books published by Tor, which is not precisely easy. Kary English won Writers of the Future, which is also not precisely easy, and she is lovely. Toni Weisskopf manages--very well!--a publishing house that gives no shits about the politics of their writers. Are you seriously telling me that these luminaries don't belong on the ballot? Please.

4. On "fixing" this "problem": The thing is, no one did anything against the rules. Anyone and everyone is free to suggest their own slate based on their own agenda. Others probably will, next year. As far as I'm concerned, the more the merrier. The way to combat speech you disagree with is not to ban that speech, it's more speech. So. You don't like how this panned out? Start your own campaign. Come up with your own slate next year. Get your friends who read SFF involved. Let them know that they can be involved, for crying out loud. I keep seeing, again and again and freaking again "Oh, wow, I did not realize I could actually have a voice in this, how cool."

We don't need to shut it down. We need to pump it up.

Comments

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

Figuratively punch Wright in the face? I want to say... REVENGE RAMPAGE!
He certainly doesn't deserve the award. Someone posted some excerpts from what I think is One Bright Star To Guide Them and it's somehow both insipid and pretentious.

Godfather of a genre? Sweet Silver Blues was published in 1987, you know.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Somehow I knew you were still stalking me. What's the matter, Clamps, banned everywhere else?

I'm pretty sure that Sweet Silver Blues did not put urban fantasy on the map the way Dresden Files did. As for punching John, well, honey, I'm pretty sure he's too much of a gentleman to punch you back.

Also, if you derail this into a conversation about how terrible people are who aren't even involved, I, too, will ban your sorry ass.

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

If by "people who aren't involved" you mean the publisher of several of John's novels?

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

*innocent whistling* You mean Tor and PNH?

If you're talking about Vox, and you have "demands" for me (or anyone else) to "explain" something he did? Yes, you can leave that at the door. I won't entertain it here.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

Banning doesn't slow him down much. But his style makes the anon comments easily recognizable.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

True. But if he tries to get around a ban by anon commenting, he can be reported to LJ (and yes, I'm logging IP addresses now), and they could very well kick him completely off the site.

[fierynotes.livejournal.com]

Ma na mah na! (Do do, do-do-do!)

Okay, with that out of my system...

What the everloving FUCK are you doing here?

Seriously!

I speak as a lefty, and as one of those filthy dudes who occasionally fucks other dudes, so I can guess what Vox, Wright, and various puppies (never mind the GamerGate assholes) think of me. (To agilebrit's list: I'm taking a huge leap here. I know agilebrit's a grown-up with respect to dudes who occasionally fuck other dudes (in my defense, I'm awfully fond of ladies as well), but the rest of you, I beg: PLEASE don't let me down here.) With that in mind, what the screaming, everloving FUUUUCCCKKK are you doing here?

You're being an idiot. And my opinions of Wright, Vox, etc, aside (one of my friends knows Vox personally, and I've advised him that trying to get me and Vox in the same room would be the Platonic example of Not A Good Idea Unless You Like Explosions), you're being an asshole. And not even one of those people who mistakes cruelty for candor and prides themselves on saying the awful truths no one likes to hear. You're just an asshole.

For all it's worth (I don't vote for Hugos, and I consider it two steps above "popularity contest" in terms of relevance), I'll consider Butcher -- many trusted friends assure me he's damned fun to read. I'll also consider Correia, mostly because the hostess of my current drunken rant swears that his writing is damned fun to read. When I have time, that is... I'm working on a symphony at the moment, and I'm dismayed at how little I've read as a result. (That said, I have a list of people I won't support, and Vox is at the top of it. OSC is on it as well, and that's sad, as that guy can actually write.) And in spite of all this, I have to wonder just what you think you're accomplishing here.

...

Sorry, agilebrit, I'm drunk again. And I'm a lussy wightleight. (I weigh 205, BTW, so I have no excuse for being a lussy wightleight. And yet, I am.) And I seem to recall I was quite smashed the last time I visited you. Very sorry about that. Amazing how I forget livejournal exists until I've had a few.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

I will tell you exactly what he's doing here: it's the only place he can pick a fight where hasn't been banned yet. ("Yet" being the operative word. I have a line, and he'd better not cross it on this post, or his minders will get a very shirty note from me.) He seems to enjoy being a punching bag, for some reason. I guess everyone needs a hobby, and he is a sad little man with a sad little life.

As for the Hugos being a couple of steps above a popularity contest, I'm going to disagree with you here. They are a popularity contest, full stop. Part of the problem is that they're a popularity contest chosen by a very "select" crowd, which is upset by the barbarians at their gate and seems to be reacting accordingly.

[fierynotes.livejournal.com]

Actually, he just pm'ed me (all the gods help me). I'm a little more sympathetic, in that his beef with vox and the reasons for it are both understandable and credible... But your lj still isn't the place for it.

I may have to post my own thoughts on the hugos, minus alcohol and oversharing. Ma na ma na is likely to agree with me a lot more than with you... But he's still not welcome. I won't go into that here with you, though, because unlike ma na ma na, I grasp that somebody else's lj isn't the time or place.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

I've got no sympathy for the dude. None. He's made his bed, and he can lie in it, and I'm sure he was very very selective about what he told you about his own egregiously terrible behavior--which resulted in a visit from the police to his house. There's a long history between him and the other actors in this little internet drama, and I've been watching this for--literally--years.

Fortunately, I'm (mostly) at the periphery of it, and he only raises his head in here when I mention Larry, whom he seems to have a deep and abiding hatred for.

I have a finger hovering over my Ban Button, and I will use it if he crosses the line.

[fierynotes.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say "selective" so much as "must have completely slipped his mind." Not that I have trouble believing it, considering how much he's already pissed on your carpet.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what brings him by my way too. I strongly suspect clinical OCD.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

While I am hesitant to diagnose someone over the internet, I think I can safely say that the dude is not right in the head.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

Amid all the terror and panic I'm seeing on FB there's some hopeful signs. People signing up to vote because they're annoyed by "no award without reading" rants. People who hate SP who are still reading and voting according to the stories. And more people signing up to vote in general.

I suspect the SPs and RPs will go in different directions next year. The two factions were held together by predator pressure, they'll split with the CHORFs defeated. It'll be interesting to see if the other side coalesces around Tor or if they form multiple factions as well.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm vastly annoyed by people saying that they're going to vote No Award over anything on SP or RP just because they ended up on the slates. Hell, Vox didn't even ask if he could put people on his slate, he just did it. This is those people's faults, how?

"I'm going to punish you because someone I hate liked your stuff." Well. That's real mature. I thought we were all grownups...

[kensieg.livejournal.com]

Middle school is forever. Some of us are psychologically still vicious little brats.

[frogfarm]

Smiling, and nodding, and glad there are voices of sanity left anywhere - but particularly in this case, Livejournal - I approve this message.