So…over the weekend, the Hugo Awards nominee lists were released to the public. And the Internet blew up.
For anyone not an SFF geek, the Hugos are the SFF publishing industry awards voted on by the members of Worldcon. They’re a coveted prize, but by no means an all-encompassing or even reader-relevant accomplishment.
To be honest, I haven’t paid attention to who won the Hugos for over 15 years. I can’t go to Worldcons, and I can think of better immediate uses for $40 (the non-attending supporting membership fee, which allows one to vote.) I use sample texts and trusted review sources to determine which SFF books I will buy or borrow. So I almost never pay attention to the nominees lists. (I might notice after the fact, while I’m reading one.)
The Internet blew up because a group of authors, editors, and sympathizers decided to vote in organized slates, for their specific candidates, to supposedly strike a blow against what they consider to be Social Justice Warriors. According to the complaints made popular by Brad Torgerson, Larry Correia, and Vox Day, these SJWs have been perverting the glorious old, white, male traditions in SFF toward icky character-driven and sexually deviant stories. To counter this, for several years, this group has been nominating socially-conservative writers they know (or themselves), as well as non-affiliated writers whom they deem effective at the old-school forms of science fiction and fantasy.*
Their attempts worked very well this year, effectively shutting out all other candidates but their own from a number of Hugo categories. It’s also backfiring sloppily all over the place. Some of the nominees have asked their names be removed from the ballot. Whether out of actual distaste or fear of being ‘stalked’ by Social Justice Warriors, really doesn’t matter at this point. The intricacies of Hugo voting have been outlined in many posts, with instructions on how the much larger block of voting members can force down the nominations with a ‘No Award’ (or even below) vote.
Here’s a link to Jim Hines’ blog, which contains other links to get an overview on the Great Hugo Kerfuffle of 2015.
*Whether this is an actual Culture War battle** or not, it’s both slimy and hilarious to follow. I can say this as an outsider writer unlikely to ever get a Hugo nomination, and a reader who has enjoyed works from many different camps of SFF. One sad side effect: I’m even less likely, as a fan, to engage in fandom in general as a result of conflicts like this.
** Ah, I thought I’d seen the apparent chief instigators before this, a group centered around the small-press publisher Castalia House. Last year in an AbsoluteWrite forum discussion about Castalia, I wondered if its principals would boycott ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ because it was written by a woman. They went so far as to nominate it on their Hugo slate this year (though listing James Gunn on the entry). I have no idea if it was nominated out of sheer joy and respect for the medium, or as a sideways attempt to say ‘See, we are inclusive!’
While I poke fun and satire at the whole mess, Charles Stross has a sobering post that is worth a look or two, about the ‘real’ game Castalia and the Puppies may be waging.
With that in mind, I may find an extra $40 just so I can vote.
Between Romancelandia drama and SFF outbursts, it amazing writers in these genres manage to get anything done!
I know. I suspect it’s because the majority of authors in both SFF and Romancelandia pay very little attention to these things, until the fights blow up to absurd levels.
I find myself in the odd position of sharing some sympathies with both camps in this fight. I grew up loving the ‘old’ SFF, racist, colonialist, and misogynist as much of it was. It is a relic of times and cultures gone by. I can read it, and Huckleberry Finn, without needing to revise to wash away all those hurtful trigger words, because I recognize they are artifacts.
Have the Hugos been driven by soft-SFF and literary influences recently? I can see some anecdotal evidence of ‘literary’ styles in today’s SFF. But I survived ‘the New Weird’. And a few decades of reading magic-realism means I can parse literary SFF just fine.
I’m happy to be writing at a time when there *are* diverse markets for many different kinds of SFF. I like reading well-rounded, quality stories that don’t whitewash or ignore racial and gender issues – or overtly fetishize or politicize them into allegories and dog-whistle codes.
I just wish the instigators of this particular Kerfuffle realized ahead of time, between their Beavis and Butthead-style snickers and gloats, that they’re trying to apply the gravitas of La Chanson de Roland to a pie fight. The rest of us can plainly see it’s a pie fight, on a very small stage, with some very bright lights trained on the action.
All this commotion really is a tempest in a teapot. Most readers I know get recs from friends/family, trusted blogs, or browsing. Awards really don’t factor into their selection method.
I love the current array of spec fic. Growing up, I never would have thought Sci-fi Romance could become a thing. Now? The choices are mind blowing. Just look at comics. You have straight forward DC/Marvel superhero stuff right along side more substantial stories like Saga, Y the Last Man, DMZ, Walking Dead, etc.
It’s a great time to be a reader and writer in this genre!