More pointless SFF fandom bullshit, notable only in that we called this one ages ago. Even the regular voters think WorldCon is getting hijacked by the Woke. And they don't like it.
From the WorldCon, home of the idiots who decided they needed to erase John W. Campbell's name from the eponymous award and substitute "Amazing!" Instead, we find the 2023 bid from Memphis to host the Worldcon wants to drop the Retro-Hugo awards.  |
| When in doubt, rub it out. |
The easiest question to answer is whether or not we intend to run Retro Hugo Awards: No, we do not. While we understand that some family members very much appreciate getting Hugos for the work their parents (or grandparents) did, the reaction to the Retros has been increasingly mixed. On balance, we therefore believe it is time to move on from these, at least for the time being.
Why, one asks, would they want to drop the "looking back ~50 years award" that reminds people of what has gone before them?
Because -this- year, the first year since Campbell's name was purged from the Campbell Award and replaced with an adjective, Mr. Campbell won the award for best editor. As well, HP Lovecraft won the "best series" award. Lovecraft is famous lately for having his likeness removed from the World Fantasy Award in 2015.
On the one hand, we saw the Wokesters flip out because the WorldCon voters had DARED to vote Campbell and Lovecraft a Hugo this year, 2020, in the midst of #BLM and Antifa in their ascendancy.
On the other hand, there was nobody to blame this time. No Sad Puppies to point at and scream "RAAAAACISTS!!!!11!" Just those oh-so-purehearted WorldCon voters who went to such great lengths to make sure that evil people like... me, I guess, couldn't pollute the Holy Award with our dire and horrible prolish Conservatism.
Last year the Inner Party voted to erase Mr. Campbell. This year the Outer Party told them to shove it in no uncertain terms. What to do? Double down, of course! " On balance, we therefore believe it is time to move on from these, at least for the time being."
Translation: if you voters can't do what you're told, we'll just cancel the fucking thing.
But wait, there's more. John Scalzi throws his hat into the ring.
Ugh, we're talking about the "canon" of science fiction literature, again, for reasons (most imminently the recent Hugo award ceremony and its fallout), and whether, basically, newer writers and readers should and must slog through a bunch of books in the genre that are now half a century old at least, from a bunch of mostly male, mostly white, mostly straight writers who are, shall we say, not necessarily speaking to the moment.
Scalzi is many things, most of them unpleasant, but no one can say he doesn't have his finger on the pulse and his eye on the main chance. He's quite in favor of cancelling those " mostly male, mostly white, mostly straight writers" who are so 1947, y'know? Real oldsville, man. Antique! Not hip and with it, like Scalzi.
Yes, Mr. Scalzi is down with the cool kidz's, for shore. He's old, male, white, and straight and knows his position in SF mainstream publishing is precarious. One wrong move and ZIP, that's all she wrote brother. He's outta there.
It also doesn't hurt him if nobody reads all those old white guys whose work Scalzi mines for gold. If you've never read "Starship Troopers", then "Old Man's War" looks really fresh and new. There's also the -really- subversive shit that they never mention in case somebody might read it. Like The Weapons Shops of Isher.
That's a general problem in SFF these days. People who read older work come to the recently published stuff with fresh eyes. Eyes which see things like SJW themes crammed into stories to the point where the Wokeness takes the place of plot, characterization and world building.
I read all of it back in the day. Most of that stuff from the 1940s on is pretty fun. Adventure stories, light on the bullshit politics. Just what SJWs hate the most.
6 comments:
It is pretty funny, isn't it? We're embarrassed that racist Campbell keeps winning, so let's just get rid of the award.
Part of the problem is that the Hugos have become a political event, rather that a vote for good, entertaining writing. Likely very few people actually read the awards material, and just vote for a political ideal--their idea of diversity.
Greetings Mr. Gordon sir.
IMHO, looking at the nominations as evidence, the Hugos (and by extension WorldCon as a convention) went full-Commie about 20 years ago.
Looking at this year's nominations, I would hazard that perhaps 1 in 10 read anything that was nominated, and 9/10 went on straight name recognition and "recommendations" aka slates.
I took a look at the Retro-Hugos, less than 600 votes total on the whole thing.
Yet even this little niche project MUST BE CANCELLED because it doesn't serve the Great Cause.
It's like a barn fire. One can only sit and stare at the spectacle.
"If you've never read "Starship Troopers", then "Old Man's War" looks really fresh and new."
This. Oh, man, yes, this.
There's virtually nothing in Old Man's War he didn't get from other places. That doesn't really matter, the books are still pretty fun.
If I didn't know who Scalzi was and what he's been doing in the industry I'd be happy to continue reading him. Because he writes 1970s stories with a thin coat of fresh Woke paint on them.
Unfortunately I do know, so I can't in good conscience give him a dime of my money.
About 25 years ago I noticed that anything trumpeting an award victory was dreck, and took to using it as a warning sign. I've more or less quit the entire genre since.
I'm with you on Scalzi, I liked his first couple of novels, but then he sickened me with his sanctimony in the real world. First author I ever quit reading for anything other than lack of enjoyment of the work, but I couldn't look at anything with his name on the cover without feeling a little sick.
Greetings Anonymous One. ~:D
When I was ~14 I read THE AMAZING BEST EVER COLLECTION of SF. Selected by the Great Minds of the SFWA, the Science Fiction Writers of America. The book was called The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Vol. 1 1929-1964.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Science_Fiction_Hall_of_Fame,_Volume_One,_1929%E2%80%931964
This would have been in the early 1970s. The book was a prelude to the Nebula Awards.
Holy crap. It did not make for pleasant reading, let's just say. I have found over the many years since then that unpleasant and distasteful things usually win the awards in SF. The things you read, think about, and then give thanks that it didn't come out of your brain.
25 years ago that trend accelerated hard, leaving rubber marks on the road, until now we have 2020 Hugos rewarding basically torture-pr0nz and outright political propaganda.
But JW Campbell and Lovecraft still win the Retros, proving that if the SJW faction hasn't rigged the voting, it won't go their way. Look for either rigging or cancellation next year.
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