Hugo Award 2012: The Winners (w/ Brief Commentary)
And the winners are… (Disclaimer: Most of the reactions below are “initial” reactions. Easily offended people will probably be offended. Such is life. đ ) Best Novel Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor) A Dance With Dragons, George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra) Deadline, Mira Grant (Orbit) Embassytown, China MiĂ©ville (Macmillan / Del Rey) Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey (Orbit) I’ve heard good and bad things about Among Others. Personally, I don’t have anything against it, but I do think Mieville’s work often deserves more recognition from an awards standpoint than it receives. He’s one of the few writers actually experimenting with form / concept / etc. these days. That, in my mind, keeps the genre fresh. Keeps it growing. But I guess you can’t win them all… Best Novella Countdown, Mira Grant (Orbit) âThe Ice Owlâ, Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction) âKiss Me Twiceâ, Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimovâs) âThe Man Who Bridged the Mistâ, Kij Johnson (Asimovâs) âThe Man Who Ended History: A Documentaryâ, Ken Liu (Panverse 3) Silently and Very Fast, Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA) Note: 6 nominees due to tie for final position. And here comes the big MEH from me. I have not liked anything I’ve read by Kij Johnson. Her writing is often stilted, uninspired, and overwhelmingly heavy-handed (I’ve rolled by eyes and contemplated throwing computers after trying to read some of her work). I’d love to be proven wrong, but after getting burned so many times, I doubt that will happen. The award should have gone to Ken Liu or anyone else. Meh. Best Novelette âThe Copenhagen Interpretationâ, Paul Cornell (Asimovâs) âFields of Goldâ, Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse Four) âRay of Lightâ, Brad R. Torgersen (Analog) âSix Months, Three Daysâ, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com) âWhat We Foundâ, Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction) I have nothing to say here. It’s not a category I’ve paid enough attention to for judgment. Best Short Story âThe Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Beesâ, E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld) âThe Homecomingâ, Mike Resnick (Asimovâs) âMovementâ, Nancy Fulda (Asimovâs) âThe Paper Menagerieâ, Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction) âShadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologueâ, John Scalzi (Tor.com) Thank God! If one of these had to win, it was Liu’s emotional fantasy about a young man’s rejection of his mother’s “foreign” culture, and the toll it takes on her and their relationship (I say “foreign” here because it can probably translate well enough to a lot of different cultures). A good piece of writing, if not flawed. I’m just glad folks did not destroy the awards for good by picking Scalzi’s joke piece… Best Related Work The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Third Edition, edited by John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls, and Graham Sleight (Gollancz) Jar Jar Binks Must DieâŠand other Observations about Science Fiction Movies, Daniel M. Kimmel (Fantastic Books) The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and Strange Literature, Jeff VanderMeer and S. J. Chambers (Abrams Image) Wicked Girls (CD), Seanan McGuire Writing Excuses, Season 6 (podcast series), Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Jordan Sanderson This is another of those categories that I’m not terribly pleased about. I still think Writing Excuses belongs somewhere else, and many of the other works just don’t appeal to me. That is except the winner, which is a nifty project and all, but one that, I think, needs to ferment for another year. But that’s about as much passion as I have for this category… Best Graphic Story Digger, by Ursula Vernon (Sofawolf Press) Fables Vol 15: Rose Red, by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham (Vertigo) Locke & Key Volume 4: Keys To The Kingdom, written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW) Schlock Mercenary: Force Multiplication, written and illustrated by Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton (The Tayler Corporation) The Unwritten (Volume 4): Leviathan, created by Mike Carey and Peter Gross, written by Mike Carey, illustrated by Peter Gross (Vertigo) I have no favorites on this list because I cannot afford to read graphic novels on a regular basis, and nobody sends them to me for review. Hooray for Vernon. That is all. Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form Captain America: The First Avenger, screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephan McFeely; directed by Joe Johnston (Marvel) Game of Thrones (Season 1), created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss; written by David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, Jane Espenson, and George R. R. Martin; directed by Brian Kirk, Daniel Minahan, Tim van Patten, and Alan Taylor (HBO) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, screenplay by Steve Kloves; directed by David Yates (Warner Bros.) Hugo, screenplay by John Logan; directed by Martin Scorsese (Paramount) Source Code, screenplay by Ben Ripley; directed by Duncan Jones (Vendome Pictures) I’ve already said what I think about Game of Thrones being on this list: it does not fucking belong. It’s a T.V. show. It aired as a T.V. show. Nobody would call Game of Thrones a “really fucking long movie” for the simple fact that it is a T.V. show. So while I love Game of Thrones, it really should be in the short form category as a single episode (or many), which would mean it would win the award there and not here. The award should have gone to Hugo, which is perhaps one of the best fantasy films (and children films) of the last decade. But, alas, certain individuals decided Game of Thrones is really a movie or single-string-production-whatever, not a collection of hour-long episodes. Meh. Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form Doctor Who, âThe Doctorâs Wifeâ, written by Neil Gaiman; directed by Richard Clark (BBC Wales) âThe Drink Tankâs Hugo Acceptance Speechâ, Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon (Renovation) Doctor Who, âThe Girl Who Waitedâ, written by Tom MacRae; directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Wales) Doctor Who, âA Good Man
The Weird Tales Fiasco: An Update (or, Head-in-Ass-Syndrome Anyone?)
It seems the furor over the would-be publication of the first chapter of Save the Pearls by Victoria Foyt hasn’t quite sunk in yet for Marvin Kaye, the new editor of Weird Tales. You can read my previous post and all the attached links to get a sense of what happened — if you don’t know already. To add to the mess, as Rose Fox of Publishers Weekly reports, Kaye has taken to defending himself in emails sent to individuals requesting to have their subscriptions canceled rather than posting a public response as “promised” by the publisher (the request Rose discusses was made by L. Grabenstetter here)(I’ve taken the liberty of reprinting the message here, though I strongly suggest reading both Rose Fox’s and L. Grabenstetter’s articles): Your wishes will be respected; I believe the publisher will handle that, I regret your decision, and can only say that after reading the book, I found it a powerful attack on racism, just the opposite from the charges leveled at it. However, I only recently saw the marketing of this book, and find it in terrible taste; had I seen it, I would not have read the book. As it is, we have decided not to publish the story. Regarding Scott Cardâs story, I did not see any homophobia in it, or I would have objected, but for the record, I did not want to buy anything from him; the publisher, Tor Books, made it clear that if I did not include his story, they would not publish the book at all. MK I can’t help but wonder what is going through Kaye’s head. Whatever you think of Card, his Hamlet rewrite was thoroughly panned for, well, being rather homophobic and legitimating certain anti-gay stereotypes. How Kaye can defend Hamlet’s Father against these criticisms is perhaps indicative of his inability to accept what many are saying about Save the Pearls. While I have personally reserved judgment on Save the Pearls because I have yet to read it, the community has voiced its mostly-negative opinion. They are not happy, and the more I read about their reasons, the more I’m inclined to agree with them. Most people/organizations would see the anger being funneled their way and immediately go into damage control. But not Kaye. Rather than, if you’ll excuse the phrase, take his head out of his ass, he’s decided to suspend critical analysis in favor of further idiocy. At this point it doesn’t really matter whether Save the Pearls is racist; Kaye and the publisher have made a critical error, both in effectively lying to us about when they became aware of the depth of controversy surrounding Foyt’s work and in refusing to recognize what is happening to them (or, rather, what they have done to themselves) as a product of poor management, poor vision, and poor public relations. By sending defensive emails to subscribers, you don’t help your case. Just look at how poorly Progressive Insurance have handled themselves in recent weeks. The point is that as a member of a professional venture, it behooves you to maintain professional decorum, even if the Internet will not afford you the same courtesy. That means admitting mistakes when you make them, acknowledging and fielding counterpoints with respect, and so on (these are basic concepts of argumentation, by the way). Perhaps some people are being overly harsh to Save the Pearls, but you cannot make that case by, as I mentioned the other day, treating the opposition with condescension bordering on contempt. I’m not sure if Weird Tales can recover from these massive failures. With subscribers shedding the magazine and the SF/F community generally up in arms over it all, it will take an extraordinary amount of work to gain the community’s trust. And that might be an understatement.
The Weird Tales / Save the Pearls Fiasco: Preliminary Reactions
(Disclaimer: This post is a preliminary reaction. I have not read the novel in question and can only respond to what others have said about it. As such, what follows will not be based on what I know about the book itself, but rather a series of curiosities and questions that I suspect will be answered later this week. An educated reaction will follow. Note: I am collecting links to other responses at the bottom. Note 2: The original Weird Tales post has been taken down. An apology has been put in its place. Note 3: Some new details have surfaced. You can find my update here.) Twitter was in a rage this morning about this Weird Tales announcement involving the publication of the first chapter of Victoria Foyt’s Saving the Pearls: Revealing Eden. Authors/bloggers N. K. Jemisin, Celine Kiernan, Martha Wells, Nick Mamatas were among the most vocal hitters, decrying the selection as, at best, a phenomenally stupid choice of publication and, at worst, a throwback to the racism that might have made Lovecraft proud. If you’re not familiar with Saving the Pearls, then you’re not alone. I am writing this post from a position of profound ignorance, having only read reviews of Foyt’s novel, and not the novel itself (such as this review or the numerous reviews on the Amazon page). What many seem most bothered by is Foyt’s portrayal of a reverse-racist society which uses blackface to make its supposedly anti-racist point (a historically derogatory practice originally used by whites to stereotype and denigrate blacks — the white-race-glorification film, Birth of a Nation, for example, used blackface in order to portray black males as sexual “beasts,” which, as it turns out, is another stereotype that Foyt, according to reviews, unsuccessfully “turns on its head”). Coming from the outside, my first reactions were along these lines: Is it possible to reverse blackface without running into the problem of racist history? In other words, can one take the history of making blacks feel inferior because they are “too dark” and reverse it so whites must now darken in order to “fit in”? I’m thinking of a reversal of George Schuyler’s Black No More (a novel I am teaching this semester). What is the narrative context for the use of “pearls” to refer to whites and “coals” to refer to blacks? Since the novel is a dystopia, is it possible these terms actually mean something very different in that world? I wonder if (one, again, coming from not having read the book) perhaps coal has become a scarce, important resource, thus providing an added value to something we traditionally think of as prevalent and cheap (dirty, etc.). Why is it that whenever we have discussions about these very issues, there are a sea of loud-mouthed people proclaiming that there is no such thing as racism against whites, followed by condescending ad hominem attacks against anyone who suggests otherwise? (I’m not referring to anyone named in this post.) Racism is not colorblind. Some white people are targets of racism. The difference, as I see it, is a matter of degree and a matter of institution. That is that whites are rarely targeted by the institutions around them, and only uncommonly the target of racist ideas from other “racial” groups. Perhaps it’s a question of power dynamics? How many people coming into this discussion are screaming because they’ve already been tainted by other reactions? Some folks who have chimed in seem to have read the book after reading or agreeing with people who hate it. Is it possible that some of us are so emotionally driven against racism that we get trapped into knee-jerk-ism whenever something that appears to be racist shows its face? Now, I could be wrong about all of these reactions. We’ll see. I’ve said on Twitter that I will try to read the book, in part because I don’t want to offer a proper opinion on all this without knowing what I’m talking about (something some people will do in typical knee-jerk fashion). That doesn’t mean, however, that the Weird Tales post deserves to be ignored. The book in question… I say all of this knowing that there are all kinds of red flags in the Weird Tales post. Take, for example, the title: “A Thoroughly Non-Racist Book.” If it’s a thoroughly non-racist book, then why the insane overcompensation in the title? Even my hackles were raised when I saw that title. Or even Kaye’s need to reject the negative reviews on Amazon by saying “this is America and they have the right to express their opinion(s)” makes you wonder at which point he would acknowledge a negative review as intellectually valid. Or if you disagree with a review, does that immediately mean it is only valid as “free speech”? But perhaps what most concerns me is the level of condescension Kaye lobs at detractors of Foyt’s story. Kaye says that it will be “very clear to anyone with an appreciation for irony” that the book is not racist, but an attack on racism itself. Typically, one means satire, not irony; likewise, when one says “folks who are X will get it,” you’re essentially discounting the validity of contrary opinions. The clincher, though, is this: The blessing is to wish they acquire sufficient wit, wisdom and depth of literary analysis to understand what they read, and also the compassion not to attack others merely because they hold a different opinion. The curse is an integral part of the blessingâŠfor if they do acquire those virtues, they will then necessarily look at their own behaviour, and be thoroughly ashamed. You’re right. Because only people with insufficient wit, wisdom, and depth of literary analysis will not like Save the Pearls. Only people without compassion could find something wrong with Foyt’s novel. Because only becoming “like you,” oh Mr. Compassionate, Witty, Wisdom-filled, Literary Analysis Guru, can we fully comprehend the great wonders of the universe contained within Foyt’s novel. And
Larry’s Silly Survey of Silly
Over at OF Blog of the Fallen, Larry has put up a bunch of seemingly random and bizarre questions for folks to answer. The following are my equally silly responses: 1. Do you believe that global warming could be ameliorated if there were more pirates in the world? Unfortunately, no. Because pirates have a tendency to burn things — such as boats and makeshift cigarettes and small coastal towns ripe for the picking — they contribute at least 50 times the amount of atmospheric pollutants as all volcanoes combined. In truth, to stop global warming, we would have to systematically hunt down and imprison all pirates. I’m told the Federated League of Ninjas is waiting for the call… 2. What is the last book you read and would you recommend it to a hobo who likes to speak in alliterations? Libidinal Economy by Jean-Francois Lyotard. And, no, I would not recommend it to an alliterating hobo, as to do so would constitute a violation of the Violence Against Hobos Act of 1996. 3. Which cartoon group, the Smurfs or the Care Bears, would most likely be condemned by “family” groups today? The Smurfs, obviously. They look and act suspiciously like immigrants, and they’re always pestering Gargamel, who is nothing less than an honest businessman. 4. Should there be more catfights among SF Fandom and/or authors? Yes. In fact, I think SF needs to announce a state of emergency and immediately start an internal war to cull the unworthy from its masses. There are too many people in this community who shouldn’t be here; we should do what we can to get rid of them, just like the Smurfs. 5. When I finally decide to post a photo of myself here, should I go with a beret or just merely a scarf wrapped around my neck in a diffident manner? Oh, Larry, you should always go for a beret. It is appropriately pretentious and, as the Internet has taught me, it makes it easy for people to dismiss you as nothing more than a Condescending Liberal Grad Student (even though you are nothing of the sort). Or you could go for a scarf if you just want people to think you drink coffee… 6. Does book porn make you think inappropriate literary thoughts? Yes. I’m currently on trial for indecent acts with a book or book-like object. This is the result of excessive amounts of images of book covers and people’s book collections, which are available all over the net… Make sure to check your local laws to avoid landing you in prison for overlying enjoying book porn. 7. If you have a Twitter account, how many literate squirrels do you follow on there? That I’m allowed to tell you about? One. But there are many others who wish to remain anonymous. They work for the Ministry of Knowledge in the central government of Squirreltopia. To tell you their names would jeopardize their missions… 8. Which genre of books should I review more often: pirates, westerns, ninjas, squirrels, Shatner? Shatner ninjas. Duh! 9. If you could get me to ask any question to any author, what would be the most inappropriate question that would come to mind and to which author would you want that question addressed? To China Mieville: “Have you ever considered writing Hentai?” 10. What was the best book that you ever read and ended up kicking across a room? I don’t kick books. I molest them and occasionally sniff their pages, but I believe it a sin to physically harm books. You can psychologically damage them, though. 11. What is more erotic, the sound of pages turning or the smell of an old book’s binding? The latter. But I’m weird. As previously mentioned, I sniff books. I sniff books a lot… That is all.
Question: What happens when laser pistols are everywhere?
The question is actually more complicated than the title suggests. It reads as follows: In a science fiction world where guns can be made of deadly lasers, pew pew pew, that you’d have to move at the speed of light to avoid, would there be a need for guns? I mean, if you got mad at someone and whipped out your laser gun, they could be dead before they heard the gun go off, sonic boom style. So… why guns?ï»ż I take as the underlying assumption here that such guns use realistic laser technology and not the sort of thing we see in science fiction from practically everything written in the 30s, 40s, and 50s to Star Wars to even the absolutely gorgeous trailer for the film adaptation of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas. In other words, lasers that likely make less noise than contemporary guns, have beams that shoot at the speed of light (or close to it), and so on. Real laser weapons would actually present a lot of challenges for humankind. Here I must express minor disagreement with Kathlyn Hawley about the impacts of such technology. Laser technology would be limited by a number of factors, the most important of which are: 1) power supply, and 2) beam strength. It is unlikely, for example, that we will have developed a power source capable of making beam weapons with the strength to blast through ship hulls and so on. People certainly wouldn’t be a problem, but I find it hard to believe that we will have solved the power gap in the next 100 years (though I could be wrong). From that perspective alone, we likely won’t use beam weapons. They will cost too much money and take up too much space and power. It’s easier to detonate a bunch of modified explosives against the hull of an enemy ship or over enemy personal than it is to charge and maintain lasers with the same general effect. The same will likely remain true for hand held weaponry, such as rifles and pistols. In a far future setting, it’s possible we could make the weapons light enough to warrant using as assault weapons, but even then, you’re dealing with a weapon that will run out of charge mighty fast. Even if you loaded up a mechanically augmented soldier (in a kind of exoskeleton), you’d have encumbered that soldier with a power supply that could be just as dangerous as the weapon itself. There’s a reason why we still don’t load up soldiers with excessive amounts of protective gear: they become slow and easy targets. Tanks and other kinds of vehicles serve the function of massive fire power, yet here we run into the same problem as before: where do you put the power supply and is it worth it when you can solve the problem with modified nuclear shells that leave no radiation behind (we’ll probably figure out how to suck the radiation out or neutralize it, thus making nuclear warfare a standard model). For me, lasers are just another of those science fiction concepts that you either accept or reject. Like FTL. Like millions of species of aliens that look vaguely human. Like so many tropes of the genre that violate all manner of scientific “rules.” Because if we’re going to be realistic about future weaponry, I doubt lasers are going to be useful for much more than stopping other weapons from doing their job. We might see lasers used to take down planes, but since combat ships in space will have considerable amounts of shielding to combat radiation, I don’t see these as being applicable except to take down missiles and other explosive devices. We should be more concerned about the kinds of weapons we already have. Future advances will make such things more deadly and easier to use. And that will make for an interesting future. Now it’s your turn. What do you think? Do you disagree with me or Kathryn? If so, why? The comments are yours! (Question suggested by Kathlyn Hawley on Google+.)
Question: Why does fantasy default to pseudo-medieval?
It’s an obsession. The contemporary fantasy genre has been making sweet, soft, dirty love to vaguely medieval Western cultures for almost a century now. You can tell because the two have made so many degenerate babies that the bookshelves are full with them. Some of them are more degenerate than others, taking those medieval Western cultures as mere background rather than as setting. Others are clearly the product of a well-managed, passionate marriage (or other applicable union). Joking aside, the reason for the clinging behavior of fantasy has more to do with the heritage of colonialism than it does with anything else. The last 400 years of empires, scientific racism, hierarchical anthropology, and so on have created a deep link within our conscious and subconscious minds that privileges the West. At some point in our cultural history, we started calling some “ancient cultures” by a new name: “primitive.” Thus, Rome became the pinnacle of the West, despite also being an “ancient culture,” and all those non-Western cultures, from Africa to Asia to the Americas, became “primitive.” “Primitive” ceased to mean “old, dead culture” and came to mean “unsophisticated, lesser culture.” Note the problematic distinction made between these terms. How can an equally ancient culture be “superior” to other ancient cultures? What makes them superior? A hard question to answer. Some would suggest that the West appeared superior because it rapidly advanced while the rest of the world seemed stuck “in the past.” There’s not enough space to deal with such a questionable argument here, except to say that there might be good reasons for why some cultures did not “progress” the same way as others. In contemporary anthropology, however, “primitive” represents the earlier forms of Homo Sapiens sapiens. The Cro Magnon. The first cultures. Rudimentary. But the wider culture has yet to catch on to this usage. Instead, anything “not West” is “primitive” and, therefore, “other.” That stems from centuries of imperial rhetoric and Western superiority (a complex, really). Our culture is a product of being told we are special, and that everyone else strives to be like us, to take from us the modes of progress, and so on. The “primitive cultures” were simply “on their way to being advanced, Western ones.” From that perspective, it shouldn’t be hard to imagine why the pseudo-medieval setting is the one that dominates fantasy, a generic tradition that began in the West and unfortunately remains there (with some exceptions). For all people in the West, the medieval period is the only medieval reference we can call “ours.” This despite the fact that many people in the West have links to other cultures (often intimate links). While these exceptions certainly value non-Western cultures, they are up against a wall which tells them “our history [the West’s] is most important, and so you should write analogues of it.” We are starting to see a serious push against this history. The “other” is creeping its way into the dominant discourse of the West, supplanting its authority to remind us that culture is mostly relative. It’s a slow, drawn out process, just as imperialism and its cultural parasitism took decades to build and decades to tear down. That’s the way it goes, though. When you build an immense hegemonic system of oppression, control, and assimilation, you can’t expect tomorrow to be full of sun when we’ve only just started pulling its ropes on the horizon. At least we have an explanation for the obsession, though. And having that knowledge might be useful some day. What do you all think? Which recent fantasy novels have you read that don’t include Western settings? I immediately think of work by N. K. Jemisin, Nalo Hopkinson, and Karen Lord. Things I haven’t read included Saladin Ahmed’s Throne of the Crescent Moon, the numerous Philippine SF/F anthologies that Charles A. Tan reminds us about, and a number of interesting works mentioned on the World SF blog (are Lavie Tidhar’s fantasy novels set elsewhere?). Let me know of some others. We could make a wicked list of fantasy set somewhere other than the West! (Question provied by Mike Reeves-McMillan on Google+)