On how I will be voting on the Hugo ballot this year

[annathepiper]

For the first time since 2007, Dara and I will be going to Worldcon. We’ve come out of the mire of the financial hits leveled at us by several consecutive years of medical crap, and moreover, the convention’s taking place in our home state. We can drive to it. Even better, I and several other authors in NIWA are banding together to run a table there. We’ve got books. We’re gonna sell ‘em.

The thing that makes me sad and tired and wary, though, is what’s happened with the Hugo ballot this year.

As y’all may remember, since Dara and I semi-regularly post about this, there’s a broad ultra-right-wing conservative clique within SFdom. They’ve been up in arms lately because the wrong things have been winning Hugos. And by “wrong things”, I mean “things created by women, people of color, and queers”. They’ve pushed back against this with an organized rush to get things they consider acceptable onto the voting ballot.

And the particularly vile part of this: they’ve reached out to GamerGate to pull them in on these shenanigans. All in the name of getting additional recruits for their declared war on “social justice warriors”.

(About that phrase, by the way: I’m now ranking “social justice warrior” right alongside “political correctness” on the list of phrases that set my teeth on edge. I’ve said before that if the first words out of your mouth on any issue are “political correctness”, then you are part of the problem. Likewise, I here and now state for the record that if you are the sort of person to dismiss progressives and liberals as “social justice warriors”, you are going to have to work very, very hard to get me to respect and take seriously anything you have to say. Do not bank on your success in that regard.

Besides, me? Totally a social justice healer. But I digress.)

Dara has written up a comprehensive post on the matter, and what attendees of Worldcon can do about this to cut this and future Hugo shenanigans off at the pass, in the name of trying to keep the award from becoming entirely meaningless. Her recommendation: vote “No Award” on any category overloaded with the nominees from the voting bloc in question.

I will be following Dara’s recommendations, because it is deeply disheartening to me to see SFdom becoming, more and more, a microcosm of the same “us-vs-them”, toxic tribalism that has infected US culture in general. If you’re going to Worldcon too and therefore have the ability to vote on the Hugos, I encourage you to consider doing the same.

Mirrored from angelahighland.com.

Comments

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

I am likewise sad and disheartened, though I can't vote this year (even the supporting membership's a bit beyond me, I'm afraid). The thing that saddens me the most is that there are a couple of people who were on the slate - and, what Torgerson is saying aside, I've seen a whole bunch of people who weren't contacted about slatehood - that I'd otherwise have been really delighted for. Jim Butcher, for one, though I don't think Skin Game is best-novelly as it doesn't stand by itself all that well (writing a fantastic series is a different, if not exclusive, skill to writing a fantastic novel, and he veers more that way). Rajnar Vajra for another; I haven't read the story in question, but I've always really liked the Vajra stories I've read, particularly the "Doctor Alien" ones.

As it is, I can't even be pleased about that. It pisses me off.

[annathepiper]

Yes. I very much enjoyed Skin Game, as I've enjoyed the Dresden Files series in general. But.

All the political drama around the Hugos in general the last couple years though has made it tough for me to get happy about any of the awards. :(

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

I'll likely be going to the Kansas City worldcon (I have a friend in KC whose couch I can stay on; given the lack of youth hostels in KC, hotelling it isn't a very good option for me), so I'm going to try to read as much _new_ stuff in 2015 as I can (I hadn't actually read more than two things published in 2014 by the nomination deadline, which makes nominating stuff hard). As for 2017, I may or may not be attending depending on where it is. I have conflicting hopes there, because on one hand there's "location which really should have a Worldcon and which would be an awesome place to have it" and on the other there's "location which is the city I live in and therefore I can attend the convention".

It's just, ugh.

[annathepiper]

I personally have high hopes for Montreal winning 2017, just because I missed the last Montreal Worldcon and want another excuse to visit.

Dara, on the other hand, is rooting for Japan!

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

Japan's had one about as recently as Montreal has, relatively speaking; my non-Montreal hope is Helsinki. But oh, I'd like it to be in Montreal. I could sleep in my own _bed_!

[annathepiper]

That WOULD be awesome. ^_^

Though yeah, on general principles, Helsinki would be awesome as well!

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

Last time it was in Montreal, I booked myself a bed towntown at the UQAM residences, because I was staying with my folks who live that much further out of town. Right now, though, I can get to PdC super easily on public transit; there's direct bus that leaves from forty feet from my front door that goes right to Bonaventure metro station, which is two stops (or, if the weather's nice and I'm not dead on my feet because End Of Con, a ten-fifteen-minute walk) from the convention centre.

I could go to the DC one without too much awfulness (among other things, it's within driving distance and has a hostel I could stay at and easy-to-use-public-transit), but that would make it in the USA four years in a row*, which would be ridiculous.

*2018 bids are in San José (which would be cool, I could visit my coworkers!) and New Orleans (which I'd like to visit).

[annathepiper]

I would not turn down an opportunity to go to New Orleans, I think.

San Jose would be within shouting distance of Disneyland, and _well_. My household totally would take an excuse to go to Disneyland!

[solarbird]

I don't like posting things where I do not have a quotable source. But you might notice I took out Jim Butcher's name as an example of people who didn't know and weren't involved.

In comments on my post, I'm saying that people may draw their own conclusions from that removal. But here, I'll just say outright I have a very reliable primary source who says Jim knew, and further, is onboard.

However, since this source is unwilling to go on the record, I'm not saying it in the post. There are some, certainly, who did not know and do not want to be involved, but I'm afraid that the information I have says Jim is not one of them.

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

I don't know either way for Butcher or Vajra; they weren't the people I was talking about who say they didn't know. Should have been more specific, sorry!

[solarbird]

Not at all. Glad to clarify.