I Have Officially Committed To A College!

​Naomi Kritzer’s excellent story Cat Pictures Please is up for Best Short Story. It’s also the only non-Rabid Puppy story in that category, if that’s something you care about. You can read it at http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_01_15/ and even if you aren’t planning on voting in the Hugos, you should still take a look -- it’s very good.

A few things about the Hugos

I’m almost through this year’s Voting Packet and would like to say a few things:

1. Hugo voting is for members and supporters of WorldCon. So, to vote, all you need to do is make a $50 donation to WorldCon. (Yes, I know that’s out of reach for many of you, but for others it might be worth it, and the packet often contains multiple full length ebooks).

2. We need more variety in Best Dramatic Presentation, both long and short forms. No, this isn’t a complaint about Doctor Who being nominated every year (the reason Doctor Who gets nominated every year is because Whovians are better at coming to a consensus about which episode to nominate than other fandoms, as far as I can tell).

No, what I mean is: Best Dramatic Presentation Long Form does not equal movie, and Short Form does not equal television episode.

From the Hugo website “The award can be given to a dramatized presentation in any medium.”

This means stage plays (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child if it’s any good) are eligible.

Video games are considered a dramatic presentation per the Hugo rules. I wouldn’t be able to vote for one, but some of the excellent games out there (the 90 minute cutoff would presumably be play time) could use to be recognized.

Audio dramas are eligible. Why has nobody nominated anything from Big Finish?

3. Best Related Work is a disgusting mess. Because so few people nominate, it was taken over by not the Sad Puppies (which has turned into a good thing) but by Vox Day’s Rabid Puppies.

One of the works nominated was outright hateful. Another contained such explicit descriptions of child molestation that MidAmeriCon’s lawyers advised them not to distribute it because of the risk of somebody being arrested for kiddie porn. Or so they say, I didn’t want to risk reading it…

A third was a book about how to fight SJWs by Day himself which - and I feel I can say this - was strewn with personal attacks against multiple people and promoted unethical activity.

The other two were good and I was surprised to find the treatise on Gene Wolfe’s fiction by John C. Wright (another extreme right winger and somebody who’s fiction I find all but unreadable) to be quite well written, interesting and award-worthy.

But outright hate for any group (including Vox Day and his friends) doesn’t belong in the Hugo packet. Neither does, uh…yeah…that.

So, in addition to pointing out to people that they can nominate things other than movies and TV shows, I’d like to toss out a challenge to people - including people who can’t afford the voting fee - to find good Related Works that can be nominated. (Please don’t post exactly five, that’s a slate, and we know those are bad).

Related Works are, essentially, non fiction related to science fiction and fantasy (or “works valuable primarily for things other than fiction”). So, if you find a cool biography of a writer, or even of an actor or director primarily known for genre work, talk about it. Scholarly or fan written works about a book, video game, movie, TV show, etc, also fit into this category. I am also pretty sure that books about writing science fiction and fantasy would be eligible. Collections of art are specifically eligible per the Hugo page. Books about the culture of fandom are eligible - just please don’t promote something that attacks any group or person. If a writer you know has published their memoirs, consider that. Finally, although it’s not clear from the site, it might be possible to nominate “Making of” documentaries associated with a movie, TV show, etc. We really need to get a lot more stuff nominated in this category so it isn’t all coming from one source, and to try and keep out stuff (best fan writer also has some problems in this area - please do nominate your favorite blogger) that promotes a political or social agenda rather than truly being about science fiction, fantasy, and fandom.

The funny thing about the expression “carpe diem” is that people use it to mean “Go out and achieve your dreams” but actually it was a pick up line.

(Trigger Warning: rape) Well, I couldn’t find any statistics on what percent of interactions in which a woman turns down sexual advances by a man end in violence. However, I did find a study on what percent of men are rapists. (http://www.davidlisak.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/RepeatRapeinUndetectedRapists.pdf) It found that (roughly) 6.3% of men have raped or attempted to rape someone. The majority of those had done so more than once, and averaged 5.8 times. The rapists had also committed an average of roughly 10 “acts of interpersonal violence, including rape, battery, and child physical and sexual abuse.” 6.3% might not seem like a lot, but it’s definitely enough to justify trust issues.

too true.

I could probably hit up ye olde googleheim for this but I wonder how they chose the order for LGBTQIA like … what type of alphabet

Why would you even gender candy in the first place?

old people are literally trying to blame our generation for food allergies…….

@allyfallsdownstairs

Okay, I found a quote from an interview with Ian McKellen. “The actor who’s starred as Magneto in the X-Men films also said he signed on for the films after director Bryan Singer explained to him that the mutant superheroes serve as an allegory for the gay community.”

(Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/jaimieetkin/ian-mckellen-ellen-page-living-in-the-closet?utm_term=.qnjmMjMDk#.tnRQzZzVg )

“ezra miller is going to be the first lgbt+ person to play a superhero!!”

i mean yes he’s going to be the first to get a solo movie but

Statements about DACA (which was referenced in the original screenshot) generally are about immigration, yes.

I also found the tweet that contained the original screenshot of the email. It’s from a reporter at The Blaze, which is a right-wing organization and I believe the group that originally broke the story.

I can’t find the full email anywhere, nor proof that it actually exists that can’t eventually be traced back to that same tweet. I’m also not subscribed to the Planned Parenthood mailing list, so I can’t just check, but if anyone who follows me is subscribed and would like to verify this, the email would have been from around September 5.

(Also, I think it’s legitimate for an organization to briefly mention issues relating to groups that are not its primary focus as an expression of support when it’s relevant. This would be true even if it were a group that I am not particularly involved with. For instance, if Trump were to sign an executive order tomorrow barring Mormons from attending school, it would be reasonable for GLSEN to send out an email saying something like “We stand with our Mormon members” even though that has nothing to do with GLSEN’s mission (and Mormonism is not known for its acceptance of LGBT+ people.) Putting aside questions of immigration law, Planned Parenthood most likely has DACA beneficiaries on its mailing list; if it wants to reassure those people that it supports them, that is legitimate.)

Zero self-awareness

My Little Sister: I love you! *hugs me*

Me: That’s sweet! I love you too.

My Little Sister: APRIL FOOLS!