The Black Guy is Ruining the Fantastic Four Reboot!
Oh, what? He isn’t? Are you sure? I mean. He’s black. That means, like, Sue has to be black, right? She doesn’t? Johnny or Sue could be adopted? Or they could be children of different mothers or fathers or maybe they’re interracial or something? But I thought if you’re half black and half white you […]
Literary Explorations: Gender Normativity, Genre Fiction, and Other Such Nonsense
In a past episode of The Skiffy and Fanty Show, we (Paul, Liz Bourke, and myself) discussed, however briefly, the paucity of women among published science fiction authors in the UK. Specifically, we were talking about their minority status in the present while acknowledging the existence of a long string of incredible female SF writers […]
To the Hugo Defenders: Check Your Financial Privilege at the Door
If you have been following the Hugo Awards discussion, then you’ll be familiar with the various forms of this argument: if you don’t show up and do the work, then you should stop complaining. In the Hugo discussion, it translates to the following: you don’t like how the awards work, but you don’t bother to […]
Hugo Awards Finalists (Plus Preliminary Commentary)
I’m too lazy to offer a proper introduction, so I’m just going to dive in (give me a break; I walked over five miles today). The only thing I will say is that most of these are preliminary, most-likely-haven’t-read-it thoughts. For the most part, I will have nothing to say about a work except why […]
Tolkien and Martin Don’t Have Much to Answer For (Or, Hey, Bad Arguments About Fantasy)
Apparently A.J. Dalton doesn’t care for J.R.R. Tolkien or George R.R. Martin. Here’s the moment when I stopped reading: They have both come to dominate the genre in which I write, that’s what. All fantasy gets compared to them. They are the standard. They are the definition of fantasy. Anything too different to them doesn’t […]
Hugo Award: What I Nominated
First, I’d like to request that nobody shoot me for this list. I know I left some stuff out. I know I missed things. Some of that is my fault, but I also blame it on a ridiculous work schedule (teaching five classes is insane). So, you know, don’t shoot me — do leave a […]