Writing

Details

So is Worldcon.

My daughter's first event was at 10 days old.  She's 17, has been to 17 Pennsics, 15 Windycons, 17 Marcons, dozens of Capricons, Libertycons, numerous other cons as one-offs. She runs my booth when I'm on panels.  She runs my booth at Comic and Anime cons, because she speaks that language.  She reads Molly Harper, Tamora Pierce, TA Barron, Piers Anthony, occasional Niven, Heinlein, Burroughs, lots of manga, some comics, she games a bit, cosplays. 

She has probably been to more events and conventions than you.

Today, she asked me, "So how do you get a Hugo?"

I explained that last year's Worldcon members, and this year's, can nominate, and this year's can vote and then nominate for next year, either supporting or attending.

She replied, "That's it?  From a small convention like that?" (She just finished running my booth at Indy Comic Con, with 30,000 attendees.)

Raised in fandom, child of an author who's been published since she was five, a dealer and attendee since before she was born, she:

A) Didn't really know what the Hugos are, and

2: Finds Worldcon to be small, unimpressive and not of note.

I guess she's the wrong kind of fan, too.

Don't worry. In twenty years, all 50 Worldcon attendees can vote each other a Hugo and be impressed with each other.

Details

EDIT:  Didn't get much response because most writers don't actually care what an author looks like. And, I've been busy with writing contracts.  This post is probably no longer of use, but I'll leave it for reference. Possibly after the awards I'll see about adding some stuff.

According to certain...well, all critics, the "Sad Puppies" slate of works are by authors who are all white, conservative males, and probably racist.  It's AN END TO DIVERSITY in the Hugos!

So, I thought, for reference, we should look at what diversity looked like in 2012:

width=

And 2013:

width=

 

Now, there are some decent people there, and some are my friends.

But apart from not discriminating against those with terrible fashion sense, I'm not seeing much ethnic diversity, and if you research the people in question, you'll find little political diversity.

Now, I "look" white, and am, except I'm an immigrant, thus an outsider to America, and have been discriminated against (and if you don't believe immigrants get discriminated against...I don't think any rational discourse between us is possible), and of course, there are various "white" ancestries. Mine includes recent Irish, which wasn't well regarded even a generation back, and Welsh, and "Scotch" as it was called, when my English mother dare marry beneath herself.

As far as politics, which are none of your business, but here goes:  I endorsed allowing gays to serve in the military when I was active duty back in the 1980s, before DADT was even a thing.  I'm areligious.  I think marriage should be a private matter without government definition of participants.  I don't "carefully manage" my blog posts because I support free speech.  I'm not sure where one commenter got "ultraconservative" from that.

I encourage the other nominees this year, whether SP endorsed or not, to post their images and backgrounds in comments, and I'll transfer them into this thread for comparison to the "diverse" Hugos of 2012 and 2013.

width=

Cedar Sanderson, finalist for Best Fan Writer:

Cedar considers herself apolitical. She was a military brat, homeschooled, and is currently a non-traditional student who supports herself largely with her writing while taking a full course load.

Details

Apparently, certain "Tolerant" "liberal" elements with a record of winning the Hugo are claiming some conspiracy exists to stuff nominations, compare notes, secretly manipulate a ballot and feed the information to the Illuminati or Aliens or something.

Sounds like they think "we" did what they did.

From my POV, Brad asked if he could promote me, I said, "Sure," remembered I had another story, mentioned it here, forgot all about it because I had no expectation of making it. Then I got an email.

As far as Vox Day endorsing me, I know he copies some of my gun related essays. I find him to be a troll and scientifically illiterate, blogged about that a few years back, and ignore him. No point in arguing when we aren't ever going to agree.

I'm glad he liked Wisdom, and appreciate the boost, but the first I was aware of it was after I got notified and someone else mentioned he'd endorsed me.

But hell, you can find my stuff on sites across the spectrum, some loathing, some loving. 

I'm not narcissistic enough to cruise the web looking for mentions of my name. Nor would it matter if I did--what can I do to stop it? And why should I?

I swear, these people with 20, 30, 50 nominations seem to be getting awfully butthurt over some of us getting one.  I wonder what that says?

And I have no idea how 60 some people would keep something like this secret.  Could be why I wasn't invited.

Or, maybe it doesn't exist.

Details

There's been much debate about revising the rules for the Hugo Award, but there's one aspect that everyone has either missed or been afraid to touch.

Some history:

The then grandiosely named World Science Fiction Convention started in 1939, with about 200 people.  It wasn't held during WWII, and it stuck to larger, American cities--New York, Chicago, Philly.

The first one outside the US was Torcon in 1948.

The first one outside North America, was Loncon in 1957, thus finally making a valid claim of "World" after 18 years.

In 1970, Germany hosted, bringing Europe into the SF "World."

Australia came on board in 1975, actually bringing in another hemisphere.

It wasn't until 2007 that Asia merited note, with Yokohama.

Now, an astute observer will notice that all those countries are progressive, wealthy, nations of privilege, mostly Western, and certainly all in the upper echelons of economic success.

Supporting memberships at this point are $40 US.

There are people in the US for whom $40 is a stiff part of a budget.  Beyond that, I just heard from two of my fans in India and Bangladesh. My Bangledeshi friend works for their DoT as a senior engineer, and earns a princely $150 a week.  He's managed projects where the repair cost for the road was estimated at a half million, and been told, "You have $5000." (Adjusted to US currency.)

I send Najmul e-copies of my books for free, because not only can he not find them, he couldn't possibly afford them.  He's currently doing some training in Australia, and glad to be there, since he has much less worry about roving gangs, or if a neighboring country will build another dam and cut off his water supply.

He bought a supporting membership at $50 AUS, being most of a week's disposable income for him--and remember, he's one of the better paid people in that country--and since he's a fan of several others, we've all sent him a large package of SF to read, electronically.  I informed Brad Torgersen, and quite a few of the other writers he has promoted are doing likewise. I will also forward any ebooks from other known authors to him.

But, a "World" con should be more accessible to the world.  SF fans in developing or struggling nations should not have to balance a supporting membership, to an event they can never afford to attend in person, with daily necessities.

If you look at the membership lists for any Worldcon, you will find almost no participation from Africa, East or South Asia other than Japan and Korea, or much of South America.

I propose a supporting membership should be $5. It's arrogant and elitist to proclaim to be a world event, then to price three fourths of the world out of it.

This will need to be brought up at the WSFS business meeting and voted on.  On the one hand, it will mean less money per supporting member. On the other hand, it will mean more members, more inclusivity, and a better reach of SF to the world as a whole.

It's time to put the World into Worldcon.

  1. An Observation Regarding the Hugo Awards
  2. Presenting Hugo Finalist: Me!
  • You are here:  
  • Home
  • Writing