Link of the Week: “Bigotry, Cognitive Dissonance, and Submission Guidelines” by Charles A Tan
I was going to write about this whole ordeal today, but by the time I got the chance to do so, I saw that Charles Tan had beat me to the punch (and by “beat me to the punch” I mean “he blogged about it and in no way actually beat me to anything because I own nothing”). Instead of going on about the same things and repeating brilliant points already made by Charles, I’ll send you all over to his essay: “Bigotry, Cognitive Dissonance, and Submission Guidelines.” Here’s a quote: Wait, wait, a privileged Western white writer writing about Africa? This hasn’t been done before. And Mike Resnick has written about Africa before. He must get it right, right? In many ways, the editor’s oversight of this fact is part of a larger, arguably unconscious, racism on his part. Take for example his blog entry titled Broadening The Toolbox Through Cross Cultural Encounters: On Resnick, Africa & Opportunity. Instead of talking about writers from the continent of Africa (and it’s a large continent, so there’s a large pool of writers like Chinua Achebe, Lauren Beukes, and Joan De La Haye), we get Mike Resnick. Nnedi Okorafor gets mentioned but only as an off-hand comment, rather than the focus of the article. So when talking about an anthology that’s diverse and inclusive, neither Mike Resnick, Kay Kenyon, or Jack McDevitt are what I’d consider the examples you should be touting as a contributors. Because to many, it appears that you are favoring the already privileged writers instead of those marginalized. Enjoy! (For the record, I have also written on things said by the editor mentioned in Charle’s post. My post was on misery tourism, which may be of interest to some of you.)
Mass Market Paperback Bingo: Pick a Book; I’ll Read and Review It
The title says it all. Since I have a really large collection of unread books, I figure I could have some fun by letting the public pick one from my shelves. Below, you’ll see two pictures from one shelf (front level; there is another level of books behind these). You should be able to open the images to see the larger versions, which will make some of the titles and author names easier to read. Here’s how this will work: You pick a book. You offer a reason for why I should read that book in the comments. Be creative, serious, or confusing. It doesn’t matter. I pick the answer that most pleases me based on utterly random and totally subjective criteria I won’t disclose (basically, it’ll depend on my mood) I’ll read and review the book in question. Some of my shelves may include sequels and the like. If you pick a sequel to a book whose predecessor I have not read, I will read the previous book instead. These shelves used to be in order, but my cat has basically knocked half of the books from this shelf to the floor at some point, and I’ve yet to fix things. If this whole feature is successful, I’ll do it again with another part of the shelf (or a tower of books from elsewhere). So, have at it!
Videos Found: Women in SF w/ Karen Lord, Stephanie Saulter and Naomi Foyle
They need no introduction. Enjoy!
Ethnic Heritage, Rejection, and Me
A few months back, Julia Rios and I recorded a whole bunch of interviews at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA). One of those interviews involved a discussion about ethnic heritage and its various diversities with Mary Anne Mohanraj and Cecilia Tan, in which I lightly (and rightly) got called out for referring to my own heritage as “uninteresting” by dint of having descended from “old dead white people.” Having just edited the episode which contains this interview, I feel I should talk about this aspect in more depth, since I didn’t actually explore my heritage in the podcast in question (me being the interviewer, not the interviewee). I’ve been known to say two things about my ethnic heritage: It’s not important (see above) I’m descended from Saxon Thanes (which I usually utter in an absurd, sarcastically prideful fashion) Neither of these responses is actually fair to my history. So I should probably say something about where I come from. First, both of my biological parents were adopted. I know very little about my father’s side of the family, except that there is likely some Native American heritage there; I know considerably more about my mother’s side, in part because she became obsessed with figuring out our family tree many years ago and has pages and pages of information. On my mother’s side, I’m supposedly descended from Saxon Thanes. No joke. She traced our lineage back to the 900s. That’s pretty cool. Most of my mother’s side is French or Anglo-Saxon (or mixtures therein). There may be other European groups in there, but I haven’t dug deep enough into it. Supposedly, my family owned a huge portion of what is now Yorkshire; the Norman conquest of 1066 apparently put an end to that, but I’m not exactly sure how or why. My heritage doesn’t stop there, though. In a weird way, being the son of two adopted parents means I have a connection to a lot of different pots. For a long time, I didn’t feel like I had a right to these pots, since I’m not biologically connected. I’m not sure that’s fair to my heritage or to myself, as heritage is also cultural. My mother’s adoptive parents (i.e., my grandparents) are an interesting bunch: my grandfather was a would-be rancher / thoroughbred Yankee in the Western U.S.; my grandmother is a white South African. My father’s adoptive parents are equally interesting: on that side, my grandfather is, as far as I know, a white American (heritage unknown), but my grandmother was a Native American (I don’t know which group or the percentage, but I seem to recall she was very much rooted in her Native American heritage and was herself more NA than anything else). I still have the leather wallet she gave me when I was a kid (no idea where she got it). All of this is part of my family’s history and is actually far more interesting than “descended from old dead white people.” The more I think about this, the more I actually want to know where I come from, biologically and otherwise. There must be some interesting characters in my family’s past. I bring all of this up because I have started to wonder why I reject my heritage in such a flippant manner. Why would I deem my history as less worthy than others’? Why would I make fun of it when it, in some ways, defines who I am? I can’t put my finger on the reasons. The truth is that I probably discount this heritage because of my own insecurities, which seem derived from my past and not from anything happening now. And that’s got to stop. My history matters. My family’s history matters. Anywho.
Worldcon Fundraiser Updatery: A Flash Milestone Perk
I only need to raise $150 more in my Worldcon fundraiser, and then I’ve got every penny I need to make my stay in London reasonable. First, I want to thank everyone who has supported me in this endeavor thus far. You are all amazingly awesome. There are lots of Milestone Perks waiting to be fulfilled at the moment (some take longer than others because they involve recording stuff). I’ll get those fulfilled this summer (preferably this month, where possible). Second, I have decided to make things a little…interesting. Since $150 isn’t that much money, and I want to get this done ASAP, I’m running a little last minute Milestone Perk addon: If my Worldcon fundraiser finishes by Monday, May 27th, Mike Underwood and I will record our special readings of classic works of literature/philosophy as Kermit and Yoda (respectively) LIVE. We may even stay in character the whole time. We may even have a conversation as Kermit and Yoda. We may even do it on video via Google+. We may even wear homemade costumes. (By “may” I mean “pretty much going to do it unless we can’t for some reason”). Right now, it looks like I’m reading Nietzche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra. I’m not sure what Mike is reading yet, but I did see someone suggest The Candide. Obviously, these will be excerpt readings, as Nietzche’s book is so long that my voicebox would probably explode if I tried to do the whole thing in one go. So if that’s not incentive to donate $10 and convince your friends to do so, too, I don’t know what is! Now get to it. You’ve got three-and-a-half days!
Videos Found: The Making of Blake’s 7
For you fans of Blake’s 7. Part One: Part Two: Part Three: Enjoy!