Le Mutt d’Author 6/2

aka The Curs of Chalion

Today’s roundup offers the collected wisdom of Sarah A. Hoyt, David Mack, Paul Weimer, Adam-Troy Castro, Alexandra Erin, Lis Carey, Brian Niemeier, Lyle Hopwood, Chris Gerrib, David Langford, and Less Identifiable Others. (Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editors of the day JohnFromGR and  KestrelHill.)

Sarah A. Hoyt on According To Hoyt

“Glamor and Fairy Gold” – June 2

We’ve seen the same effect over and over again with people who comment on blogs (clears throat) both cultural and political, and even historical and that, no matter how often they’re proven wrong, keep coming back and stating the same thing they said in different words, as though that would make it true. They seem incapable of processing challenges, doubts, or even factual disproof of their charges.

Glamor. They’re under an enchantment. Something has affected them so hard, they can’t think, but can only repeat what they were told.

It’s not true, of course. Or not quite.

The enchantment of the “cool kids” is the glamor of social approbation and of opinions as positional goods.

People who have bought into an hierarchy of opinions, with some of the opinions “politically correct” no matter how factually wrong, have agreed to put themselves under the arbitrary power of others, and to subsume their reason and thought to them.

 

David Mack on The Analog Blog

“Write back (not) in anger (#SFWApro)” – June 2

Last August, I received an e-mail from a reader who was so offended by my inclusion of a same-sex relationship between a Vulcan woman and Klingon (disguised as human) woman in my novel Star Trek Vanguard: Harbinger that he swore off all my books forever. My public response, which I admit in hindsight was born more from passion than from reason, got noticed by a few sites.

When that post went wide, I expected to encounter some blowback and some criticism….For the most part, I deemed those uninformed responses unworthy of my attention or response.

Until this past weekend, I would have said the same about this piece by Amanda S. Green on the Mad Genius Blog: Don’t break canon without good reason.

For the impatient among you, here is a quick summary of her post: Amanda S. Green, an author and blogger who appears to have no professional experience writing or editing media tie-in fiction, tried to school me on the importance of adherence to canon when working in established universes, and on how I should have answered my homophobic critic.

Though Ms. Green provides absolutely no evidence to support her assertion, she accuses me of “breaking canon” vis-a-vis Star Trek for no reason other than to be “politically correct.” Her feeble attack on my professionalism and on my novel was published the day after my original post. Because Ms. Green did not mention me by name or link to my post, I didn’t learn of her essay until this past weekend, when a friend brought it to my attention…..

[Mack then analyzes the topic at length.]

Now, all this might seem to some folks like a lot of noise for very little signal. But I think it’s important to remember that as a nominee in the Best Fan Writer category, Ms. Green was offered the opportunity to submit self-selected examples of her work for the Hugo Voter Packet, to demonstrate which of her writings from 2014 show her to be worthy of taking home a Hugo award. That she chose to include the post I dissected above — an unresearched, factually deficient essay in which she lacks the basic courtesy even to name me as the author of the piece she tries (and fails) to deconstruct, never mind link to it so that readers can review the original materials and arrive at informed conclusions with regard to her arguments — speaks volumes.

I grew up knowing the Hugo awards stand for excellence in the broad and ever-changing field of science fiction and fantasy literature. Nothing I have seen in this essay from Ms. Green persuades me her work contains the insight or intellectual rigor that would make her worthy of being honored as a member of that longstanding tradition.

I also suspect she doesn’t know as much about Star Trek as she thinks she does.

 

 

Adam-Troy Castro

Open Letter To The Ants At the Base Of The Monument – June 2

Few things mark you as a schmuck faster than attacking a master for being “old.”

You can have great differences with a master. You can argue bitterly with a master. You can even think a master is an asshole.

But the second you start using his age and past accomplishments as a negative in your rhetoric. you mark yourself as a non-entity, a jackass, a pipsqueak, an ant shouting at a monument.

This sin, currently in evidence among some supporters of the Sad Puppies, is not exclusive to either end of the political spectrum.

Fans from the left wing thought they had reason to be upset at Mike Resnick and Barry Malzberg, a couple of years back, and though it was arguable that they had a case, it was downright appalling how many of them thought they were issuing slammers when they complained that these greats hailed from before their time, or were “old and irrelevant,” or, tellingly, “I never even heard of them!”

That controversy provided fuel for this one, where among things fans from the right wing are slamming David Gerrold for being old and senile and irrelevant and all those things he most assuredly is not.

 

David Gerrold on Facebook – June 2

Okay, so now that I’ve laid some groundwork — see my two previous essays about communication forensics and compelling questions — I’m going to ask some compelling questions.

In the past, I’ve asked these questions about the sad-puppy slate and the rabid-puppy slate:

1) Who are the horrible, no-good, terrible people who have conspired against the science fiction that has been “overlooked?” How have they conspired?

2) What are the qualities of storytelling that define excellence? How are these qualities recognized by the reader?

3) The stories on the sad-puppy slate and the stories on the rabid-puppy slate? How do they demonstrate the qualities of excellence that would make a reader consider them award-worthy?

Let me add a few more questions here:

4) If you are a supporter of either or both slates, then did you read the stories on the slate you support before the ballot was announced? Did you nominate any or all of the stories on either slate? Did you nominate any story you had not read? Why?

5) Have you now read any or all of the stories on the final Hugo ballot? If so, can you please tell us which stories you feel are award-worthy? Why? (Let me rephrase that.) Without considering the author or the politics of the author, can you explain why any of the stories from either slate are award-worthy?

6) Which do you feel is more important in the award process — the excellence of the story or the political views of the author?

I’m not the only one posing these questions.

 

 

Alexandra Erin on Blue Author Is About To Write

“Because hope springs eternal.” – June 2

[Quoting a comment Erin left on Brad R. Torgersen’s blog.]

I’m sure I’m not the first person to try to tell you this, but the people who spew hot air about “warriors for social justice” are all over here with you. That’s not a thing people called themselves. It’s a pejorative made up to dismiss people, a la calling someone “PC patrol” or “feminazi” or “thought police”.

Some people have taken it as an ironic badge of honor or made geeky riffs on it (like “Social Justice Paladin” or “Social Justice Bard”), but by and large, you’re chiding people for not living up to the standards of a label that was foisted upon them in the first place.

Which is actually part of the function of the label. Most of the people I have seen getting slapped with the “SJW” label not only don’t describe themselves as social justice warriors, they don’t describe themselves as activists. They’re just people, living their lives, dealing with their own problems, and acting their consciences.

 

bibliogramma on My Life In Books

“Campbell Award Nominations: Jason Cordova” – May 26

Basing my assessment on these two submissions, Cordova has a future as an SF writer to be sure, and I enjoyed them both, but to me, his work does not rise to the level of previous Campbell winners such as Spider Robinson, C. J. Cherryh, Ted Chiang, Nalo Hopkinson, Cory Doctorow, Elizabeth Bear, Jo Walton, and others.

 

bibliogramma on My Life In Books

“Campbell Award Nominations: Wesley Chu” – May 26

Obviously, I am very much impressed by these two novels. Chu easily passes my standard as a worthy candidate for the Campbell.

 

bibliogramma on My Life In Books

“Campbell Award Nominations: Kary English” – May 26

English has some definite writing chops, but I felt that there wasn’t a lot of variety in the pieces offered, which weakens my overall assessment of her as a Campbell nominee. I have already noted the similarities in protagonist choice. There are also structural similarities in the pieces, and I was irked in that I wanted to use the word “bittersweet” in describing all three stories. I think English has definite potential and I hope she continues to develop her craft.

 

bibliogramma on My Life In Books

“Campell Award Nominations: Eric S. Raymond and Rolf Nelson” – June 2

Rolf Nelson and Eric S. Raymond did not submit any pieces [to the Hugo Voters Packet], but as there are samples of their writing in the Castalia House anthology Riding the Red Horse, submitted by the publisher in support of nominations of other pieces in the anthology, I read those in order to gain some sense of Nelson and Raymond’s work. I was not inspired by what was available to go searching for any more samples of either author’s work.

 

Lis Carey on Lis Carey’s Library

“Journey Planet, edited by James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia, Lynda E. Rucker, Pete Young, Colin Harris, and Helen J.Montgomery”  – June 2

Journey Planet is visually attractive, filled with interesting and thoughtful articles, well-written, and well-edited. I’m totally impressed. Go read it. Highly recommended.

 

Brian Niemeier on Superversive SF

“Transhuman and Subhuman Part VIII: Gene Wolfe, Genre Work, and Literary Duty” – June 2

The eighth essay in John C. Wright’s Transhuman and Subhuman collection is a meditation on the merits of speculative fiction occasioned by SFWA making Gene Wolfe a Grand Master. “He is the greatest living author writing in the English language today,” Wright declares, “and I do not confine that remark to genre authors.”

“Sometimes in this life,” Wright says in regard to Wolfe’s accolade, “we see justice done.” If honors are rightly given to those who perform their duty, what obligations do SFF authors owe to their readers, to society at large, and to the truth itself?

Wright seeks the answer through a critical via negativa. What causes our disappointment–even outrage–when due honor is denied?

 

Chris Gerrib on Private Mars Rocket

“Hugo Thoughts, Down-Ballot Edition” – June 2

More thoughts on this year’s Hugo.

Best Fan Writer (777 nominating ballots, 265 entries, range 129-201)

Dave Freer
Amanda S. Green
Jeffro Johnson
Laura J. Mixon
Cedar Sanderson

Freer’s been an ass to me, and incoherent at length to pretty much everybody, so no rocket for him. Green and Sanderson seem to not like SJWs like me, so I’ll return the favor. I’m a bit reluctant to give Mixon the award for an expose. Johnson at least restricts himself to book reviews, so my ballot is Johnson and no award.

 

Reading SFF

“2015 Hugo Awards reading: Kevin J. Anderson – The Dark Between the Stars (2014)” – June 2

I did not finish this novel. I abandoned it at about 25% in (and I am “proud” of having made it so far) but the book did not grab me and the writing is not good enough to keep me reading for the sake of the writing. If I have the time (and I probably won’t have the time) to get back to the book before voting on the Hugos closes, I will try to finish it. But only then.

 

Lyle Hopwood on Peromyscus

“Big Boys Don’t Cry by Tom Kr*tman (Castalia House)”  – May 30

This is a Sad Puppy and Rabid Puppy nomination.

It’s is an okay story about the basic training of AIs used in combat. The methods used are cruel, but the humans don’t care. They wall off the AI’s memories of pain and injury after training is complete, but in the case of Maggie, severe damage during combat allows her (she’s a she) to recall the training sessions. All the while she is accessing her memories, she is being investigated for scrap value, and she can see and hear the humans discussing her fate. It’s not a very new concept, but it’s handled well. It’s just so very long. It’s interesting to compare this with Steve Rzasa’s story, Turncoat, as the AI warships come to very different conclusions about humans.

 

Alexandra Erin at Blue Author Is About To Write

“Sad Puppies Review Books: STREGA NONA” – June 2

strega-nona-225x300

Reviewed by John Z. Upjohn, USMC (Aspired)

If you want chilling proof of the radical feminist lesbian witch cult (also known as “Social Justice”) that has infiltrated all ranks of society, look no further than this book which blatantly glorifies witchcraft, matriarchy, and the creation of a loyal slave nation of emasculated beta male cucks.

Exactly as foretold in a literal straightforward reading of the Book of Revelation, this book portrays a near-future world where even the Catholic Church itself is in thrall of a woman. The church is no longer the Bride of Christ but the scarlet woman of Babylon.

“Although all the people in the town talked about her in whispers, they all went to see her if they had troubles. Even the priests and the sisters in the convent went, for Strega Nona had a magic touch.” If that isn’t straight out of the Bible then I don’t even know what the Bible says. I do know that it says to not suffer a witch to live, not to treat her as a valued civic leader.

 

David Langford in Ansible #335 – June 2015

File 770 has proudly adopted a new motto on its website masthead: ‘”… the 770 blog, that wretched hive of scum and villainy …” – John C. Wright.’ Another satisfied customer!

487 thoughts on “Le Mutt d’Author 6/2

  1. “I enjoy the Honor Harrington series, but when it became apparent that the endless recitations of weapons totals and hits and misses and blah blah blah was going to be a thing now, I started skipping those scenes without the slightest remorse. Likewise, when the political lecturing gets too lengthy or heavy-handed. So I’ve been able to maintain an appreciation for and enjoyment of the books — but also without ever feeling that they’re in need of a Hugo nomination.”

    Some of the plot twists since I quit have made me curious, but the combination of the bits I didn’t enjoy, and more stuff being moved off to other books made it less appealing to get caught up on.

    “If you want to metaphorically see me frothing at the mouth, go here( http://brendanpodger.livejournal.com/32172.html ) and check out my HH rant.”

    Your opinion of War of Honor is pretty spot on mine as well.

  2. @Anna

    I live in the Barbican; my apartment is in the block closest to Moorgate so it’s very convenient should I wish to go somewhere else. On the other hand, there are two theatres, three cinemas, two art galleries, one concert hall and a large library five minutes from my front door, so I’m not exactly starved of things to do.

    I was originally transferred to the City and decided that I couldn’t face commuting; not everybody likes brutalist architecture, but I have come to enjoy it. I’m retired now so I can enjoy our gardens as well; I’m incredibly lucky.

    I suspect the fact that I realise that I have been incredibly lucky is what makes me immune to the pleas of puppydum; everything I own I have earned, but I couldn’t have done it without the help of countless others.

    @Meredith

    I was born at Abyad, in the Egyptian desert, and I moved around a lot. Growing up in Lewisham sounds like fun…

  3. @Stevie

    Well, I was home educated so I can’t say I had a typical Lewisham upbringing 🙂 Its a nice place to grow up more for its surroundings than itself. London Bridge was a ten minute train ride away with Charing Cross not much further and Greenwich was within walking distance, plus once the DLR got going properly Lewisham station had great connections with Canary Wharf. I went there before most of the shops had been leased and it was a rather creepy experience – no people and naked mannequins everywhere!

    We spent a lot of time in the galleries and museums of London, being mistaken for conscientious school children, in between being followed around shops since a man with three small girls during the school term had to be Fagin and his little shop lifters… 🙂

  4. Meredith

    That sounds an interesting way of growing up; I can certainly see there must have been some strange encounters of a Fagin kind, but you had opportunities not many kids do.

    I remember going to Canary Wharf when quite a lot of lawyers had moved in; maybe even spookier than naked mannequins…

  5. @Laura Resnick

    Antonelli got called an asshole by Aaron on twitter, then proceeded to send threatening emails and phoned Aaron’s workplace (public sector) and tried to start a congressional investigation against him. Its in the comments here but I’m afraid I don’t remember which post.

  6. Seriously? For real?

    (Apart from the obvious issues with such actions… I’m also wondering how someone can possibly find the time to WRITE if they invest so much time and energy in pursuing everyone who says negative things about them. My calendar would be completely filled with stalking and harassment obligations if I did that.)

  7. @Laura Resnick

    Hopefully someone not on a phone will dig you out a link, but the short story is: didn’t like a tweet, found out tweeter worked for federal government, rang him at office, complained to him, followed up with email to his work email address, and finally complained to his bosses. Tweet was demonstrably not in work time.

  8. Meredith on June 4, 2015 at 2:04 pm said:

    @Laura Resnick

    Antonelli got called an asshole by Aaron on twitter, then proceeded to send threatening emails and phoned Aaron’s workplace (public sector) and tried to start a congressional investigation against him. Its in the comments here but I’m afraid I don’t remember which post.

    It was “Canine Princes in Amber 5/22”, approximately the last five pages of comments:

    https://file770.com/?p=22668

  9. Laura Resnick: I think I’ve missed a chapter. What did Antonelli do?

    It’s in The Effect of Puppy Rays on Fan-in-Spokane Rocketships 5/26, starting on page 1.

    Antonelli openly admits stalking, harassing, and threatening Aaron and makes it clear that he doesn’t think that there was anything out-of-the-ordinary about what he did.

  10. Its part of what made me decide I wasn’t going anywhere near any Puppy-hosted comment threads. If even the less rabid are willing to do that over a tweet…

  11. @Laura, Mark –
    “Tweet was demonstrably not in work time.”

    I’m willing to assume that it was, but I don’t think anyone said so.

    I believe that Antonelli was saying that he was going to report this to… the GSA(?) over the part where the stalkee mentioned sharing the email with his coworkers. Antonelli apparently assumed that this was done on work time and on work computers.

  12. Gah. I linked to the T. Kr*tman thread, not the Antonelli thread. I apologize to all for the confusion.

  13. Maximillian: I believe that Antonelli was saying that he was going to report this to… the GSA(?) over the part where the stalkee mentioned sharing the email with his coworkers. Antonelli apparently assumed that this was done on work time and on work computers…

    … while being completely oblivious to the fact that threatening a Federal employee at their place of work is potentially a felony-level offense.

  14. JJ: “… while being completely oblivious to the fact that threatening a Federal employee at their place of work is potentially a felony-level offense.”

    I can personally assure you it is not a violation of any law to “threaten” to report misconduct of federal employees to their bosses.

  15. Mike Glyer: I can personally assure you it is not a violation of any law to “threaten” to report misconduct of federal employees to their bosses.

    According to Aaron, the contents of the e-mail and phone call went above-and-beyond that.

  16. @ JJ: “It’s in The Effect of Puppy Rays on Fan-in-Spokane Rocketships 5/26, starting on page 1.”

    Okay, found it. Thanks.

    And… wow. I don’t even… I can’t… This is just… Good grief.

  17. “I can personally assure you it is not a violation of any law to “threaten” to report misconduct of federal employees to their bosses.”

    I’m going to go with Mike on this one, though I would have taken the quote marks from around threaten and put them around ‘misconduct’. 🙂

  18. Okay, found it. Thanks.

    Because it has been garbled slightly in the reporting in the comments here, the timeline of events is as follows:

    1. I tweeted that people don’t like Antonelli (and Correia, and Wright, and Torgersen) because they are assholes. With respect to Antonelli, I was thinking specifically of his calling Deidre Saoirse Moen a Nazi because she banned him from her blog comments. I did this from my phone, on my personal twitter account, while commuting on public transportation.

    2. Antonelli tracked down my work e-mail and sent me an e-mail in which, among other things, he said he was going to come down to my office that Friday and try to cause me some sort of trouble by reporting my tweet to my bosses.

    3. I tweeted that his e-mail showed him to be dumb as a box of rocks. Given that I didn’t see his e-mail sent to my work e-mail address until I was at work, this tweet was sent while I was at work. This fell well within my agency’s guidelines for incidental use, which I should know since I helped write them.

    4. He reiterated his threat to come and cause some sort of trouble at my office via a tweet.

    5. I tweeted that I had shown my coworkers his e-mail, and their reactions ranged from amused to incredulous (mostly “That’s hilarious” or “That guy is clearly nuts”).

    6. This apparently got him really mad, so he phoned the main line for my office and spoke with one of our administrative assistants, who offered to connect him to my phone line. He apparently declined, but said he would be sending an angry letter to the general counsel.

    7. By the time he made his phone call, I had already told the various people who needed to know what was going on about it, including the general counsel, just on the off-chance that he would indeed show up at the office building that Friday. I didn’t want them to be surprised if a ranting apparently unbalanced man showed up and got stopped by security. Their reaction was “This guy is really out of control”. At no point was anyone concerned about the tweeting.

    8. Not getting the response he thought he would, Antonelli never showed up and apparently dropped it. When he jumped into the comments when the issue came up here on File 770 he said he was waiting for 2016 when he was going to ask for a Congressional investigation into something or other. I suspect that will be as effective as everything else he has tried.

  19. Mike Glyer: I can personally assure you it is not a violation of any law to “threaten” to report misconduct of federal employees to their bosses.

    Maximillian: I’m going to go with Mike on this one, though I would have taken the quote marks from around threaten and put them around ‘misconduct’.

    According to Aaron, the accusations of doing personal things on work time was after-the-fact (perhaps in attempt to make his actions appear more legitimate). In the phone call, Antonelli made allegations about Aaron’s character to his co-worker, and in the e-mail, he threatened to come down to Aaron’s place of work and “sort him out”.

    I don’t know what you would call that. I call it threats, harassment, and stalking.

  20. @Meredith, @MickyFinn — Yay roller derby zebras! All the respect. My league is the Boulder County Bombers (Colorado, USA), and we have a truly phenomenal zebra herd, our “Bomb Squad” of refs and NSOs. Both our travel teams and a goodly representative of our Bomb Squad will be heading to Nebraska next weekend for a double-header against No Coast. About a day’s drive. Alas that Canberra is significantly farther away! (Who does your sister zebra for, Meredith, if I may ask?)

    As for pre-prep of tasty post-derby recovery foods, I’ve been nibbling the leftovers cold out the fridge today, and they’re tasty. Wish I’d used more cream in the mashed potatoes, though. Another of my common tricks is doing red beans in the crock pot and having red beans and rice (New Orleans style) after practice.

    @Craig R. — I really, really need to rewatch Rollerball. I think, though, in terms of post-apocalyptic roller skating movies, I’m probably more familiar with Solarbabies, which came out in 1986 and made it to cable TV fairly soon afterwards. (I need to rewatch that one, too.)

  21. @JJ “I don’t know what you would call that. I call it threats, harassment, and stalking.”

    Right. Were we disagreeing?

  22. Maximillian: Right. Were we disagreeing?

    My impression was that you were agreeing with Mike that threatening to report misconduct was Antonelli’s main offense, and that it is not the sort of threat covered by the felony laws regarding making threats to Federal employees.

    If I misunderstood, my apologies.

  23. @JJ Got it. Yes on the second part, Antonelli appears to have believed that he was reporting ‘misconduct’ and that isn’t a felony.

    Not so much on the first part. Doxxing on its own is serious. Just because the doxxing ended up being ineffective doesn’t incline me to forgive him.

    Wait! I see why you were confused – I wasn’t clear. The initial doxxing predates anything that might have been considered ‘misconduct’. So no, I wasn’t arguing that Antonelli can use ‘I just wanted to report misconduct’ as his excuse.

  24. @Nicole

    She’s a London Rockin’ Rollers zebra, although she’s had to take some time off recently for an injury.

    Chilli and lentil and bacon soup are my go-to’s for things-which-reheat-beautifully, but basically anything with a soupy or stewy base (like shepherd’s pie) works. Leftover shepherd’s pie is one of my favourite indulgent lunches.

    Have you got a favourite recipe for the New Orleans beans? My American cooking knowledge is a little patchy. 🙂

  25. @Nicole

    Oh, and have you put your fancied up mashed potatoes topping with anything else? The most adventurous I usually get with mashed potato is stirring through cheese or cabbage (as well as the usual stuff – milk or cream, butter, salt and pepper) so I’m curious what you might put it with. Or if you fancy it up in other ways. 🙂

    *considers starting a File770 cooking club* (just kidding, Mr Glyer)

  26. Rek:

    Here is a definition of MilSF from wikipedia:
    “A detailed description of the conflict, the tactics and weapons used for it, and the role of a military service and the individual members of that military organization forms the basis for a typical work of military science fiction.”

    So much the worse for Wikipedia. When I look at good military fiction set in the past or present of our own world, it generally recognizes that a lot of the experience of military people happens outside of the time they are actually being shot at.

  27. Will: that word ‘typical’ provides a lot of wiggle room. and allows us to consider good milSF that doesn’t follow their typical model to be exceptional.

  28. Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little –
    I have only seen the 1975 Rollerball, no idea about how the 2002 remake is.

    I saw the 1975 movie in the theatre, and I think I may well have been the only Sfiffy person there: I think every else was there because it was a James Caan movie and also had John Houseman in it. From the mutterings I hear a lot of people were having WTF reactions.

    Another amusing tie-in — there is a scene where Houseman’s character is discussing how to deal with the too-popular player via television hookup with the league’s rulers. *very* reminiscent of the teleconferences we see of Nick Fury with the Council.

  29. @Craig R. – O Gods I keep forgetting there was a 2002 remake. I may be repressing the knowledge.

    When I finally rewatch the original, I will appreciate all the Things To Look For that you have been recommending.

    @Meredith – London! Cool. Best wishes to her for a speedy recovery. Injuries are so frustrating to athletes, by which term I definitely include skating refs. Especially the outside pack refs, who not only have to keep up with the pack but sometimes wind up having to perform amazing feats of agility to avoid getting bowled over by a careless or simply hapless team skater. I’ve been jumped over a few times (I was careless in where I chose to address a toestop malfunction) and it was awe-inspiring. Also a little terrifying.

    Re: food – I do not often make mashed potatoes, so I haven’t had much occasion to use them as a topping. My husband favors them as a side. I usually find them too bland unless they’re doctored with garlic, cheese, chopped green onions, and–if other diners are tolerant–a few mashed turnips.

    My base red beans recipe involves a crock-pot, because I am lazy, and vegan seasonings, because that makes it accessible to more people at a crock pot. It’s basically 1 part dry beans to 3 parts water on the High setting–which is 2 cups to 6 cups in my crock pot, and excuse the US measurements–couple bay leaves, splash of apple cider vinegar, touch of oil, glug of hot sauce, about 1 tbl Cajun crab boil seasonings, about 1 tbl instant espresso powder (because beans), and vegetarian bouillon as recommended by manufacturer to amount of water. About 6 hours in, add chopped onion, celery, garlic, green onion, and if you like it green pepper. When beans be creamy, serve over long grain white rice (I like jasmine).

    If only carnivores are expected, skip the vinegar and oil and bouillon. Add a ham hock and/or a pound of andouille sausage. This is more the traditional New Orleans style.

    My team is putting together a cook book as a fund raiser, and this recipe will certainly be in there. As will the cottage pie, and probably my corn chowder and my quick dahl recipes. I don’t know if we’ll be selling it online, but I’ll be happy to post the link if we do!

    (Fannish conversations turning to recipes and food? NO! Heavens! Put a stop to it! What else will they talk about — knitting?! It’s almost like Making Light all over again!)

  30. Personally, I’d much rather read a good recipe for red beans and rice than the fifteenth iteration of the causes of Puppy Sadness or any iteration of Puppy Rabidity. As the man said, that’s not writing, that’s typing! Food is much more inviting and interesting at this point.

  31. What’s with the Rabid Puppies and stalking? VD harassed my friends and contacted the place I volunteer at, and now this.

  32. Source Decay wrote:

    “It very much looks like the SP/RP contingent decided years ago that because vote buying COULD happen, it WAS happening, and that their recent shenanigans are entirely about revenge. Freer seems to think so, anyway. I guess he’s trying to pretty his little revenge fantasy up with high-minded rhetoric now.”

    That kind of unfortunate psychological projection has been standard with faux-conservatives and “culture warriors” for over a quarter-century at the minimum in my observation — it may have been occurring before but without my noticing. It would be unusual if that wasn’t the attitude taken in the present day.

  33. Stevie wrote:

    There is a huge difference between those who pose, and those who serve.

    On the posing front, people in the reserve forces are not usually put in life threatening situations.

    No disrespect intended, but tell that to the reservists in the various U. S. services (mostly the Army, but not limited to it) who were ordered into active combat duty in Iraq like so many chess pawns.

    Reserve and National Guard enlistments and commissions have long not been the guarantees against active duty under fire that they were during the Vietnam war.

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