Welpendämmerung 6/13

aka Operas in The Collar Cycle by Wagger, also including Das Whinegold, Die Walkies, and Sig-Flea’d

Saturday’s roundup brings you Matthew Foster, Gray Rinehart, Gary McGath, Allum Bokhari, Vox Day, Barry Deutsch, Adam-Troy Castro, A (W) Hendry, Tom Knighton, Eric Flint, George R.R. Martin, Lis Carey, Spacefaring Kitten, Russell Blackford and Ken Richards. (Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editors of the day Octavia, Camestros Felapton and Kyra, as inspired by Scott Frazer’s original idea.)

Matthew Foster at Foster on Film

“What’s the Point? Human Minds and Sad Puppies” – June 13

So, how does this end? Not with Eric persuading or David Gerrold’s call for respect. Not with valentines saying “All is forgiven” and kumbayas. We, humans, are creatures of grudges. We should try to be better beings, but never forget reality while doing so. Those who forget history…

There will be no ending, no defined finish. But there can be, and almost certainly will be, a fading. There will be fewer articles, fewer rants, fewer votes cast for political reasons. It can gently drift away until it is a footnote. Or it can lessen, but still split fandom for years to come. How this works out depends on how it fades. If enthusiasm dies quicker from the anti-pups, the results will be less equality than in recent years, a continuation of the dominance of white authors, a touch less innovation in known writers, a reduction in the quality of writing, and a greater acceptance of minor racism and sexism in fandom, (keeping in mind those grand statements only apply to awards and to a corner of fantasy and science fiction fandom—the Pups are not going to be altering racism in general society—so how big a deal this is to you depends on how close you are to that corner). If it dies quicker in the Pups, things will float closer to how they were: increasing equality, a lessening of dominance of white authors, more innovation, and greater condemnation of racism and sexism (still just in our pocket of fandom—again, don’t get too excited by those lofty phrases). Either way, the effects will not be that large, except for The Hugos, where the awards will lose some of their prestige if the Pups end up more on top, and slowly gain most of it back if the Pups end up on bottom.

Of course things could get worse. New Pup leaders could arise who have the charm of Vox and the mouth of Larry. We could start getting death threats and rape threats.

I expect a very slow fade, with people snapping at each other for a few years at least, and grumbling when alone with their colleagues for many years. I hope the Pups will fade faster, but as it will be most likely determined by general fatigue, there’s no way to know. One “side” could fade faster (keeping in mind there really is only one side to this mess—the Pups are the side; everybody else are just fans who got stuck in a fight they didn’t ask for) if its leaders faded. If Vox or Brad or Larry were to go through some life change, or just get caught up in other matters, the Pups would fade faster and we’d have less Puppy smell. There are no leaders in the fans who dislike the pups, but some, like John Scalzi, David Gerrold, and George R.R. Martin might have more of an effect if they walked away in disgust.

So, what’s my point? Why do I write all these words over so many posts? Partly it is an obsession to support what I think is right, even when it will make very little difference. Partly it is because I know how she felt about the Pups, and would feel about their mess, though she’d have said a great deal less about it. Partly it is to help out friends. Partly it is to whip up the troops as I’d prefer less Puppy smell. Partly it is to be part of the community. But mainly, for me, it is a distraction. Because this was Eugie’s world, it feels a little important, and because it is not what I spent my time doing before, it doesn’t feel lonely, which makes it a good distraction. And that is the point.

 

Gray Rinehart on GhostWriter

“Halfway to the Hugos” – June 13

To aid the casual reader, here’s what I plan to cover in this overly-long post: – My disappointment, but also my ambivalence, at the way things have been characterized – The metaphor I’ve most recently developed to describe the situation I’m in – Some Scripture verses I am trying to hold on to as this process unfolds – My regret at being unable to attend the upcoming ceremony Forewarned is forearmed. Now, knowing what’s coming, if you don’t want to read the rest that’s perfectly fine…..

When the plane landed in Nomination City, some of us were surprised, because we expected to land in Passed-Over-Ville. (Every other time people have told me they nominated one of my stories, I haven’t even made the post-award long list, so I didn’t expect this time to be any different.)

It seemed that the plane had been hijacked. When the flight subsequently took off from Nomination City, en route to Hugotown, the reaction to the hijacking was loud and angry. Some passengers snuck off the plane during the Nomination City stop, and a couple bailed out later; I’m not sure yet if their parachutes worked, if they made safe landings, or if anyone has picked them up out of the wilderness. I hope they’re okay.

The more it looked like a hijacking, the more some people on the ground talked as if they wanted to shoot down the plane; some of them seem determined to do so, even if only with their own personal weapons. Just as worrisome, some of the hijackers have talked as if they want to crash the plane in the middle of Hugotown. My fellow passengers and I are left to wonder if there’s anything we can do to improve our chances of survival.

I’ve been in touch with my friends, both inside and outside the community of fans, throughout the ordeal. Those who contributed to my ticket or who like my work or who support me personally almost all told me that they want me to stay aboard, and ride it out. One person advised me to bail out, parachute or no. Outside my relatively small circle of family and friends, from what I can tell quite a few spectators are glued to their computer screens, watching every agonizing minute of the event; I don’t know if they care a whole lot what happens to me or the other passengers….

Some Closing Thoughts. Whenever we value something highly, when we have invested time or treasure in it and derived some reward (however intangible) from it, and that thing is threatened in some way, we rightly resent and are justified in trying to defend against the threat. That is true whether we are talking about our families and friendships, our homes and personal property, our reputations, or institutions with which we identify. I think sometimes we forget that others have the same right, to defend those things which they value.

Based on that, I understand the impulse on the part of longtime WorldCon participants and serious fen to protect the institution and its flagship award. I understand that barbarians storming the gates, brazenly and with unexpected success, is frightening and naturally foments resentment and anger.

I choose the barbarian example deliberately. Outsiders are labeled barbarians not because that is what they call themselves, but because their language is incomprehensible to the insiders — to the refined ears of the citizens it sounds like “bar-bar-bar” (which among science fiction convention-goers is not, in itself, damning). But the outsiders do have language and culture, however strange it may seem to the citizens: from their own point of view they are not barbarians but Goths, Visigoths, or Ostrogoths; Celts, Huns, or Vandals.

This year’s Hugo-nominating barbarians, unlike historical tribes characterized as such, brought alms with which they gained entry into the city and bought their citizenship: the $40 Supporting Membership. And they brought their own opinions — perhaps studiously formed, perhaps informed or even influenced by others – which they expressed in the nomination process. They joined the community, but some of the original citizens still see them as barbarians, as outsiders, and seethe. I understand that, and I have seen the results in some of the reviews and comments about my own nominated story.

So I offer this: Reading should be a pleasure and a joy, and if any Hugo Award voter is upset at the way my novelette wound up on the ballot and has not read it yet, I encourage them and give them my full permission to ignore my entry completely.

 

Gary McGath on Building My World

“On the Sad Puppies” – June 13

I’ve kept my distance from the “Sad Puppies” controversy in the Hugo Awards. I’m not registered for the upcoming World Science Fiction Convention, and I don’t follow a lot of current science fiction, so I couldn’t cast an informed vote without a lot of extra work. I have noticed quite a bit of nastiness from the anti-Puppy faction, including sniping at the people nominated because of the Sad Puppy and Rabid Puppy slates. If you dislike the methods of promotion, that’s fine, but attacking people for being nominated and failing to decline the nomination isn’t. It exemplifies the growing illiberalism and intolerance that I’ve seen in fandom….

There’s an outside chance that my Tomorrow’s Songs Today could be nominated next year in the category of “best related work,” and I’ve thought about whether I’d want that. Some people would very likely lump me, because of my views, with the Puppy faction, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few alleged friends turn on me. If it happens, I think I’d do more good by giving them reasoned responses than by running away from the situation.

 

Allum Bokhari on Breitbart.com

“TORpedoed! Media narrative on Hugo Awards incorrect, says Tor Books founder” – June 13

Because their chief opponents were a set of hard-line progressive authors hell-bent on ostracizing anyone who challenged their ideology, the Puppies were attacked by multiple media outlets as a force of ‘white male reaction’.

This panicked narrative has taken yet another blow after an intervention by Tim Dohety, the founder and president of Tor books, one of the most influential publishing houses in sci-fi. Writing on the Tor’s blog, the 43-year veteran of the publishing industry acknowledged that media stories portraying the Sad Puppies as a racist, sexist campaign aimed at promoting white men was entirely inaccurate.

 

Vox Day on Vox Popoli

“Bokhari on the Tor debacle” – June 13

We are admittedly making some minor, if encouraging, dents in the ongoing SJW onslaught. But while we should be encouraged, we should not be complacent or think that what we have accomplished will not be undone in a heartbeat if we stop paying attention and slip back into pushover mode.

And while it’s great to see the Publisher at the largest SF/F publishing house disavowing the SJW thought-policing in which some of Tor’s editors have engaged for the last decade or more, that doesn’t mean that he is absolved of the need to get his house in order. I have heard, from different sources this time, that Tor Books is very much concerned about the prospect of a boycott, particularly one that is supported by SF/F authors.

Which is interesting, because so far they have been unwilling to do the one thing that will end the matter. Indeed, Tor Books appears to have decided to stand by the broad spectrum insults of its Creative Director and its Associate Publisher. So, let’s see what Macmillan will do. And if they won’t do anything either, well, at least we will know that we gave them every chance to avoid what they apparently wish to avoid.

The key to Tor’s intransigence is their belief that the “thousands of emails” they have received are from “bots”. This is the same narrative #GamerGate has encountered to attempt to minimize its numbers. Therefore, we will need to find a way to demonstrate to Macmillan that those “thousands of emails” represent “thousands of bookbuyers”.

 

 

Adam-Troy Castro on Facebook – June 12

You know, there are an awful lot of people weighing in on this Sad Puppy situation, and it’s impossible to single out the very stupidest thing anybody’s said, not when some of the more stupid things actually qualify as signs of mental illness. But Edward Trimnell’s characterization of the kind of fiction the Sad Puppies think they’re advocating against, as excerpted on File 770 this morning, is certainly a monument.

 

A (W) Hendry

“Totally No Homophobe” – June 13

….Now, I’m not saying that straight white dudes don’t have it slightly easier than everyone else -we live in a society where the ruling class have fostered racism, sexism, and homophobia for centuries to suit their own ends- but the portrayal of heterosexuality, whiteness, or maleness as privileges has the effect of turning our focus away from the things we should be fighting -oppression, injustice, capitalism and class society- onto those things that we can not, and should not, fight -ourselves. The privileges identified by those who take an intersectional approach are unlike the privilege that 99% of the population think of when they hear the term: economic privilege. Unlike economic privilege these privileges can be neither given up nor adopted –no matter how hard some may try– and so, in practical terms, all a focus on them can do is turn introspection into a form of faux activism. It also has the effect of making those with the privileges the centre of attention -which is probably why it is so popular with white middle class kids- rather than the people experiencing the various manifestations of oppression…..

Now, to segue wildly back towards the topic of the Puppies and internet shit squalls, people like John C Wright and Theodore Beale serve a social purpose. They are there to be mocked and to have the piss taken out of them. That is their purpose and that is the full extent of that purpose. Engaging with them in any way beyond this is a distraction from engaging in actual political activity -something that suits them and their ilk down to the ground- and creating a society that has solidarity at its heart and which therefore would be a place unwelcoming of those who would seek to undermine that solidarity. If that’s what a person wants rather than merely wanting to have their ego stroked.

When people like the Puppies pipe up, as they inevitably will, just point, laugh, and carry on not buying their books.

 

 

Eric Flint

“BRING THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUGO AWARDS INTO THE MODERN WORLD” – June 13

…Today, that structure is hopelessly outdated. Short form fiction is now a very small part of fantasy and science fiction, whether you measure that in terms of money—where it’s now a tiny percentage of the income authors receive—or in terms of readership. It’s certainly a larger percentage of the readers than it is of income, but it’s not more than 10% and it’s probably closer to 5%.

People who are active in fandom are often surprised to hear this and sometimes think it’s nonsense, but that’s because reading short fiction is much more common in fandom than it is in the general audience for F&SF. There are many more people who only read novels than there are people who read any short fiction at all, much less do something like subscribe to a magazine or regularly read anthologies of short fiction…..

But there is a grain of truth lurking beneath their claim, because it is in fact true that there is a quite heavy bias against popular authors in the way the awards are determined—the Nebulas as much the Hugos. That’s not due to anything conscious on anyone’s part, and it’s not due to any sort of deliberate bias or discrimination. It’s simply inherent in the divergence between the reality of the market and the structure of the awards.

When most popular authors work exclusively or almost exclusively in series or multi-volume works like trilogies and quartets (and quintets, and sextets) and 75% of the awards are given out for short fiction, then it is inevitable that most popular authors will never get a Hugo or Nebula award….

I’d recommend replacing the existing four awards with seven, as follows:

Short Story. Anything up to 7,500 words.

Novelette. Between 7,500 and 17,500 words.

Novella. Between 17,400 words and 40,000 words.

Short Novel. Between 40,000 and 80,000 words.

Novel. Any length above 80,000 words so long as it remains within one cover, if it’s a paper edition. If only an electronic edition exists, it cannot exceed 300,000 words (which is pretty much the effective limit of a paper edition).

Multi-volume Stories. Any length above 80,000 words provided: a) it is divided into at least two volumes in paper editions none of which is shorter than 80,000 words or is more than 300,000 words if it exists only in an electronic edition. And b) it must be a completed work.

 

George R.R. Martin on Not A Blog

“Hugo Voting Continues” – June 13

Both supporting and attending members get an electronic “Hugo packet” that will enable you to read many of the works nominated for this year’s rockets. You should do that, no matter what side of the Puppy Wars you are on; we want informed voters. Yes, sadly, IMNSHO this is the weakest Hugo ballot in recent memory, thanks to the Puppy slates… but there’s still some damn strong work there, especially in Novel and Dramatic Presentation. And of course it is possible that your own tastes may differ from mine. So join, read, vote. And fifty years from now, when your fannish grandchildren ask you, “Say, gramps, what did you do in the Great Hugo War?” you’ll have an answer for them.

 

Lis Carey on Lis Carey’s Library

“Departure Gate 34B, by Kary English” – June 13

Kary English is a nominee for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. This is a gentle, melancholy story about a ghost who doesn’t know they’re now a ghost, and the surviving spouse who still loves, but is ready to move on. Enjoyable, even if not a stand-out.

 

 

Spacefaring Kitten on Spacefaring Extradimensional Happy Kittens

“Dave ‘Cool Beard but Incoherent Rants’ Freer” – June 12

Okay, let’s start with something positive: Freer has managed to include in the Hugo package one blog post that is actually about SFF books and in which the acronym SJW is mentioned (in the comments) only once. Well done!

Freer seems passionate, and I do like passionate people. Too bad he’s passionate about things I find reprehensible, such as defending sexism with this incoherent rant which consists of satire quotes of nobody knows what and run-of-the-mill anti-feminist bullshit that never stops to make an understandable point. The post is turbocharged with obscure references to cases of supposed “misandry” I may not be familiar with. However, after reading the post, I wasn’t inclined to do any research.

 

Russell Blackford on Metamagician and The Hellfire Club

“’Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, Earth to Alluvium’ by Gray Rinehart – Hugo Award voting 2015” – June 13

This is another work nominated in “Best Novelette”, and again we have a competent, thoughtful, but not especially distinguished, space adventure. The underlying theme involves conflict between humans and technologically advanced aliens, in this case the Peshari, a lizard-like bunch with a taste for open skies and a morbid distaste (or more than that) for anything to do with digging into the ground. By my standards, which are not binding on anybody else, “Ashes to Ashes” suffers from being far too talky.

 

Ken Richards on learning the world, one step at a time

“TOM Kratman’s anti war polemic” – June 13

Assembled as a blank slate, ‘newbie’ Maggie is thrust through a vile ‘Boot Camp’ experience, which manipulates and transforms her from an innocent lover of flowers, to a pitiless, immoral killer, always following orders, no matter how reprehensible her actions may be. The sequence recalls the Paris Island Act of ‘Full Metal Jacket’, as we Kratman tells how soldiers are broken as humans and remoulded into unquestioning killers and followers of orders in that age old practice of brutalisation, intended to strip away the since of self, and replace it with the sense of the machine. The final ‘Full Metal Jacket’ reference is saved for the final act, where the scrap metal dealer, the general and the politician (deliberately generic, one-dimensional characters, in contrast to the betrayed heroine) receive, like the brutal drill sergeant, their just reward. Bravo Sir.

669 thoughts on “Welpendämmerung 6/13

  1. @Gabriel F.:

    <>

    But sometimes fussing about the esoteric things is fun. Friends and I were howling over the opening of the Star Trek movie with Kirk speeding across what was supposedly Iowa. And the opening of “Twister” nagged at us until we figured out that the chickens were what was wrong.
    And now that I live in San Francisco, movies where you hear cable car bells in every part of the goddam city annoy me.

  2. To Estee: my father was a foreign journalist tossed into prison during the Cultural Revolution. Fortunately. Zhou Enlai intervened and he was expelled rather htan sent to a camp.

    I haven’t gotten around to 3BP but I appreciate hearing yoir take on it. Now I really do have to run. Nay not be back fir a day or two. Busy Mondays.

  3. ULTRAGOTHA: I would give a lot* if I could find a small silver penis pin the size of the Hugo Nominee pins they give to all the nominees to give to Ann Leckie..

    I reckon Spring Schoenhuth might be able to help you out with that one. It wouldn’t hurt to ask for a price (hell, I’d go halfsies with you in exchange for getting to help present it to her!).

  4. I googled for images of “penis lapel pin”. I’m much too much of a coward, and too easily squicked, to have tried that without the word “lapel”.

  5. Etsy once again vastly overemphasises the largeness of its ballsack, so below no award it goes.

    I think there’s a point when people stop nominating and stop voting because they don’t have the time or money

    It’s also a matter of being able to do the award justice commiserate to having enough respect for the award as an institution to want to vote in it in the first place – taken from that angle the novellette and novella categories might count as a serious barrier to enticing more people into more regularly involving themselves in the hugos, as for the life of me I have no idea what sort of venue I’d need to look in to read more novellettes or novellas, let alone read “enough” to start making a sizable number of intelligent nominations for “best of the year” in that category; Should I be looking more in short story markets for “long” short stories or in special anthologies? Do they have their own markets I’m not aware of? etc…

  6. @Fred Davis

    The impression I’ve got so far is they turn up in the same anthologies and magazines that publish the short stories, so accessing all three ought to be fairly streamlined. The biggest barrier for me is knowing which length something fits into.

  7. I’m really surprised that people can’t see the value of a Hugo for series and sagas; everyone seems to want to retain a system which was fine for the market 50 years ago but ignores what people want to read now

    Of course, 50 years ago Worldcon was voting on a Hugo for Best All-Time Series, so…

  8. I will keep looking. You’ve certainly upped my vague idea into a firmer intention.

    (Also, my wife is rolling her eyes at all of us.)

  9. With regard to a “Saga” or “Series” Hugo, I’m of mixed feelings. I can see where it would be useful as proposed by Flint. On the other hand, I don’t see a way to make it distinctive from the Novel category. WSFS members have traditionally resisted creating any Hugo category such that a work could legitimately fit into more than one category.

    And there’s the problem of when/if a series is actually done. And the (at best ambiguous) distinction between a book is part of a series or when it is part of a saga (same universe, but not a sequel). And how much reading members would have to do to judge a series (I’ve seen so many people say they were not able/willing to spend the time to read the entire WoT for voting).

    I think adding such a Hugo category would be a very big uphill battle. Any time a new category has been added, proponents have had to demonstrate that the changes would result in no blurriness/ambiguity across categories in order to get sufficient support.

  10. Happy-Puppy said: I went back and checked and I’ve only read 18 Hugo nominated novels from1995 to 2014. But I also checked and saw i’d read at least one often ywo books by two-thirds of authors nomonated.

    I am not a masochist. If I’ve already read works by an author and did not like them, I’m not going to buy a novel kust because it was nominated for a Hugo.

    I think I’ve read enough to have an opinion. You may disagree.

    I would say that’s generally fair enough, but I would note that any time a non-Puppy says anything remotely similar, aeou pops up to say that “just proves what the Poppies have been saying”.

  11. I’m really surprised that people can’t see the value of a Hugo for series and sagas; everyone seems to want to retain a system which was fine for the market 50 years ago but ignores what people want to read now

    The Hugos are not an industry award.

  12. Is the problem with a Hugo for series and sagas maybe that you’d have a hard time finding enough good stuff to fill a ballot? How many series wrap up in any given year?

    What was eligible in, say, 2015? I can’t think of anything besides the Southern Reach Trilogy, though I’m sure there must be several. I’m not all that well-read.

  13. “Oh, and, B’rer Henley; sometimes it’s more fun to play something straight.”

    Wasn’t someone just saying something about how a krat will lick himself and pretend he totally meant to do that?

  14. Laertes –

    How many people realistically thought that Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance was the last book in the Vorkosigan series?

    Yet, lo! We are now all eagerly awaiting Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen.

    When *is* a series over? Is Connie Willis finished with her Time Travel books? Will there ever be another book in Bujold’s Five Gods Universe? Is Temeraire complete?

  15. @aeou: “Yup, possessing fairly arcane Unix knowledge is a sure sign of stupidity.”

    Thinking that file permission codes count as “fairly arcane Unix knowledge” is a pretty solid sign of it.

    @Mark: “Congratulations on making the roundup….of commentators who said mean things about Peter Grant.”

    Woo-hoo! As expected, he utterly failed to understand why I depicted him as a petulant, entitled crybaby.

    @Cmm: (“Nutty Nuggets” image)

    Hmm. Perhaps Torgersen should wonder if Kroger has grounds for a defamation case against him.

    @Paul Oldroyd: “It was all duplicators and ink. Much more difficult than stone and files.”

    At least we didn’t have to worry about toner policing so much back then.

    @John Seavey:

    Jack Lint said: “Why didn’t the Beagles carry the ring to Mordor?”

    I originally read this as the Beatles, and am now off to write the BEST FANFIC EVER.

    No, a sequel to Help! – in which John, Paul, and George must prevent a motley crew from tossing Ringo into a volcano.

  16. Mike Glyer: A couple of months ago I figured if someone checked in and left a comment every two or three days that put them at the top of the activity pyramid. And really, my attitude hasn’t changed. But it is an incredible compliment to have so many here who do comment frequently every day.

    I have this mental image of the front doorbell ringing on April 5, Mike getting up to answer and opening the door, only to stand there in bemusement while fan after fan after fan files in through the doorway, bringing snacks and drinks and books and board games, filling up his couches and chairs and making themselves comfortable sitting around on his floor.

    Cut to 70 days later… everyone’s still hanging out at his house, the fridge and cupboards are empty, every flat surface is covered with dishes and books and games, the conversation is maintaining a constant dull roar, 3 couples have gotten engaged and 2 more have broken up, Diana has relocated to a hotel for the duration, and Mike is still standing there at the open door with a glazed look in his eyes, as more fans keep filing in…

  17. Right?

    So, once again, which series wrapped up in 2014?

    Of the ones I’m into:

    Abraham’s Dagger and Coin series is still going and the next book has, I think, slipped into 2016 and there’s no telling if that’s the last. Abercrombie’s The First Law wrapped up in 2008, and his last volume of his Shattered Sea trilogy is supposed to ship next month. The Expanse is running with no end in sight. Martin, of course, won’t finish up for many years yet. If Patrick Rothfuss has given any indication of when he’ll be done with book 3 of the Kingkiller Chronicle, I missed it.

    So if there was a category for best series, I’d have exactly one thing to consider.

  18. Now I have an image in my mind of Mike Glyer as a long-suffering Bilbo Baggins, and we’re all the Dwarves who decided to sit around talking about how much dragons suck and reading all his books.

  19. @JJ And it had been great fun but I sort of hope next year’s file770.con has an autograph session.

  20. Following up to JJ at 6:47, I did appreciate the twist in Three-Body Problem that jung frrzrq gb or uhznaf pbasebagrq ol n Ybirpensgvna pehry naq frafryrff havirefr ghearq bhg gb whfg or nyvraf tnfyvtugvat hf.

  21. Hey! Dragons are awesome! I think we’ll have to start a flame war over this.

    #NotAllDwarves

  22. JJ on June 14, 2015 at 6:47 pm said:
    With regard to The Three-Body Problem, it was my understanding that the physicists were committing suicide because (rot13)

    That still doesn’t make sense, sorry. I have had contact with working scientists in a number of fields (including physics) for more than two decades. That just isn’t the reaction I’d conceive of even one of them having, let alone most of them…no matter the data. In fact, all I can visualize them doing is raising @&$% with every other colleague they had, all their professional organizations/contacts, all their institutions, all the journals (Science, Nature, et al)…to try to find out what was happening. I cannot see them giving up.

    As I said, I’ll give the story one more try.

    @ Estee 6:24 pm:

    Thank you for the information and your take on it. In fact, Ye was the most understandable and sympathetic character. Her actions were understandable to a great degree from the story (I haven’t been able to finish it because of the characterization issues, so can’t speak to the justification for her decision wrt the aliens).

    But, to me, none of the rest of what you explained arose from either the events or the inner life of any character. I may be missing that subtext because of the cultural differences, but it may also be that some of that missing subtext is what is called headcanon. That is when the reader inserts mental plugs for holes in the story that the author doesn’t actually provide.

    As I said, I’ll try one more time before voting closes.

  23. Oh god, who ever recommended Charles de Lint to me – THANK YOU!

    I just finished Somewhere to be Flying, and I loved it! Off to buy more now 🙂

  24. It’s my understanding that the habitués of Making Light have a gathering at Worldcons, where commenters get together to meet each other and chat in realtime.

    I’m wondering if we shouldn’t set something like this up for File770 at Sasquan.

  25. Lose the blockquotes and trash the slates!
    Mention Kr*tman or else the J*ws!
    That’s what Michael Glyer hates—
    Gossip, rage and half-true news!

    Troll the threads and tread on the host!
    Call the GamerGaters to the stead!
    Cite the misinterpreted post!
    Badmouth books you’ve never read!

    Argue loud with every troll;
    Trump them up with a made-up poll;
    And when you’ve finished if any are whole,
    Summon Beale to take control!

    That’s what Michael Glyer hates!
    So, carefully! carefully about the slates!

  26. @Estee: very nice summary. I noticed a lot of what you were talking about too, and those details really made the story for me. Also the way that people who had been traumatized by those historical events might conclude that human beings were beyond saving. Not sure that 3BP will end up at the top of my list this year, but it was one of the best and most thought-provoking novels I’ve read in quite a while.

  27. I think it’s hilarious that period dramas of the 60s always give the women makeup and hairstyles that look so distinctly 1960s. It makes everything of that era, no matter how seriously intended, feel like it’s an amateur community theater production.

    I noticed that the Hobbit movies had Bilbo writing with the bold, legible hand attributed to Frodo, as opposed to the more spidery writing Bilbo is said to have used. I didn’t really object because I was too busy objecting to the other problems.

    I screamed in agony when I watched The Ninth Gate and Johnny Depp’s character, supposedly a rare book dealer, turns the pages of a super-duper rare book with his bare hands, really casually, like it’s nothing at all. I swear he even licks his fingers at some point, it’s that bad.

  28. McJulie: “turns the pages of a super-duper rare book with his bare hands”

    The number of times you see history program with real live historians and archaeologists doing that, is even more dreadful. Spouse and I sit there with mouths open in horror.

  29. junego: As I said, I’ll try one more time before voting closes.

    If it’s any consolation, I normally read a novel in an evening or two, but TBP took me a week, in small chunks at a time. I found it very hard to get absorbed in the novel because its style is so dispassionate and detached (it’s my understanding this may be the usual style of Chinese SF).

    The characters, I felt, were superficial and existed mainly to further the plot. I figured out the “secret” of the game the first time in (someone should probably talk to Cixin Liu and Steve Rzasa about putting spoilers in the story title), and the “reveals” at the end were interesting but not mind-blowing.

    It just didn’t keep me engrossed and absorbed the way most novels do, or keep up a constant pace and tension that made it hard to put down. I have a huge science and engineering background, and I expected to love this novel, but I just didn’t. I had to force myself to stick with it until the end — not as much as I did with Skin Game, but still. If I have to force myself, then I’m not enjoying it.

    So I will quote Bruce Baugh here, and say that if you’ve given TBP a fair chance, “Sez I: feel free to stop.”

  30. @ Ann Somerville on June 14, 2015 at 7:40 pm said:

    Oh god, who ever recommended Charles de Lint to me – THANK YOU!

    I just finished Somewhere to be Flying, and I loved it! Off to buy more now 🙂

    That was me! YAY! I love Somewhere to be Flying!

  31. Gabriel, thank you so much. It took me a little time to be absolutely hooked, though I liked it right off. But once I was hooked, I was a goner 🙂

  32. McJulie: I screamed in agony when I watched The Ninth Gate and Johnny Depp’s character, supposedly a rare book dealer, turns the pages of a super-duper rare book with his bare hands, really casually, like it’s nothing at all. I swear he even licks his fingers at some point, it’s that bad.

    It’s been years since I saw that movie (when it first came out on DVD) but I remember howling audibly at that scene (and I’m neither an historian nor a document conservator). It was such a blatant violation of reality and common sense, I couldn’t believe that anyone associated with writing or filming that scene hadn’t caught that it was a huge problem.

  33. Perhaps aeou thinks that File770 means that we have execute permissions? MOAR DEATH THREATS AGAINST PUPPIES!

  34. @ Ann Somerville

    Try Jack of Kinrowan, it’s also fantastic 🙂 Riddle of the Wren if you can find it.

    Memory and Dream is my absolute favorite, it’s achingly lovely, but it’s not a happy book.

  35. FYI re: bare handed book handling
    Depending on the type and the age of the materials, the recommendation about using gloves is not so hard and fast anymore. With some really fragile papers, it’s actually dangerous to use the white gloves because because you lose your dexterity and sensitivity and risk tearing the paper. Photos and negatives, however, should use gloves,

  36. Gabriel: “Memory and Dream is my absolute favorite, it’s achingly lovely, but it’s not a happy book.”

    Damn, I just bought it 🙁 I hope it’s not too depressing.

  37. In most years, I’d figure that if something made it onto the ballot, it’s worth giving it a chance even if I’d disliked the author’s previous work: many writers improve over their careers, and maybe I picked up the wrong book to start with. (For example, I bounced hard off Steve Brust’s _Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grill_, to the point that it took me years to give the Vlad Taltos books a try; I like them quite a bit, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to reread Cowboy Feng.)

    That feels like a much lower bar than “read so-and-so’s newest book because someone recommended it, and maybe it’ll be good enough to nominate”: if it’s that good, people who didn’t dislike their previous work will nominate it. And if I haven’t gotten to reading stuff, I may not vote in that category. (If I only picked up one novella, or saw one movie, I’d have to be really blown away to vote for it.)

  38. @ULTRAGOTHA: “You’ve certainly upped my vague idea into a firmer intention.”

    Do you have any idea how difficult it’s been not to wonder whether such lapel pins should also be given to PKD award nominees?

    @JJ: “and Mike is still standing there at the open door with a glazed look in his eyes, as more fans keep filing in…”

    …wondering how long it will take for the population to reach 770…

  39. Glenn Hauman: Perhaps aeou thinks that File770 means that we have execute permissions? MOAR DEATH THREATS AGAINST PUPPIES!

    To be fair, the commenter who advanced the File 770 Unix permissions conspiracy theory posted it under the username “Chmod”.

    I’m still laughing my ass off about that post. I’m having visions of Chmod using binoculars to watch Mike Glyer inside his house working out on a treadmill, while muttering his Unix permissions theory which he is going to publish in his Sooper Sekrit Sycho Puppy newsletter…

  40. And a big thank you to whoever recommended Rivers of London – I am reading the first book and loving the hell out of it. It’s funny in a very British way, and I know all the places being talked about.

  41. I have to admit, I did once deliberately touch a thousand year old book with my bare finger. Didn’t handle it past that.

  42. I agree mostly with JJ at 7:59 pm about The Three Body Problem. I just couldn’t make myself care about any of the characters. In addition, the physics and math near the end (involving protons and higher dimensions) seemed nonsensical to me, as if it had been written by someone who had read a little bit about string theory without understanding any of it.

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