The Heartbeat of the Universe collects poems from the top writers in the science fiction and literary genres, including voices such as Jane Yolen, Bruce Boston, Robert Frazier, Jessy Randall, and many others. These poems, selected by editor Emily Hockaday from the pages of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine and Analog Science Fiction and Fact over the past decade, examine the Universe’s smallest particles and largest astral phenomena. These poems travel through time, speak to and from the dead, explore the body and quantum physics, all depicting the human condition and allowing readers to learn more about their universe and themselves. The book is available to preorder from Interstellar Flight Press.
There will be a virtual release party/reading on April 4 beginning at 6:00 p.m. Central via Zoom. Register free at Eventbrite.
Featured Readers
Jane Yolen
Ian Goh
Robert Frazier
Mary Soon Lee
Kristian Macaron
Annie Sheng (D.A. Xiaolin Spires)
Josh Pearce
Holly Day
Jackie Sherbow
Leslie Anderson
Timons Esaias
Ashok Banker
Jessy Randall
Stewart C Baker
Advance praise for The Heartbeat of the Universe: Poems from Asimov’s Science Fiction and Analog Science Fiction and Fact 2012–2022 edited by Emily Hockaday.
Connie Willis: When I first started reading science fiction as a teenager, I always loved discovering the occasional poem tucked in among the short stories and novelettes in the Year’s Best collections, and I was so happy when Analog and Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine carried on the tradition of including poetry in their definition of what science fiction could be. And now this! It’s a true delight to see so many wonderful poems in one place! And such an infinite variety! There are poems here exploring virtually everything you can think of: —aliens, ants, quantum entanglement, grocery stores, 1950s sci-fi movies, math, music, Marie Curie, the National History Museum, messages from (and to) the dead, and poetry itself—and ranging from the elegiac to the soaring, the nostalgic to the futuristic, the harsh to the contemplative. A truly galactic collection of science fiction’s best poems and poets!
Fran Wilde: The Heartbeat of the Universe gathers poems into a story of the world, past, present, and future, as seen through sound and rhythm, wonder and science. It is a collection that spins and weaves—using both experimental and formal structure—a core connectivity: that we are all, each of us, in every moment, speculative and liminal, and the poetry that recognizes this is truly special. My heartfelt congratulations to the authors and editors of this magnificent book.
Bryan Thao Worra, former SFPA President (2016-2022): This collection constitutes an important step in keeping our appreciation of speculative poetry alive and well, with a remarkable sampling of the diverse voices and approaches poets featured in Analog and Asimov’s over the past decade. In an age when so many challenge the role of poetry in science fiction and fantasy, the editors have taken great care to remind us of how much has been achieved, and how more is yet possible. A commendable achievement, and I look forward to returning to this collection in the years ahead.
SciFidea’s international Dyson Sphere-Themed story contest opened in March 2023 offering cash prizes — $20,000 apiece to the ten winners, and $2,000 each for another ten shortlisted stories – with the entries to be judged by some of the field’s leading professionals. SciFidea named the winners this week, however, they now say they don’t have the money to pay the prizes.
SciFidea had a presence at Chengdu Worldcon, but based on the Chinese-langauge conreport Lynn Sun published in December (under the name Dongfang Mu — “I go by Dongfang Mu in Chinese” Lynn Sun said on Facebook) it seems there were issues behind-the-scenes. In fact, by the time the report was posted Lynn Sun (Sun Lin) had already left SciFidea, leading to an exchange in social media where she said finances were her real reason for doing so.
Then, on March 20, a Chinese-language announcement confirmed that SciFidea had declared bankruptcy, and the domestic side of the Dyson Sphere competition would be suspended. (Via Science Fiction Lightyear). Google Translate renders the announcement into English as follows (with minor manual edits):
Statement on the suspension of the Dyson Sphere Global Essay Contest
According to the competition schedule, the awarding of the “Dyson Sphere Global Essay Competition” was originally scheduled to be completed in February 2024. However, SciFidea’s capital chain was broken and it was no longer able to maintain the continued operation of the essay competition. It has now been decided to suspend the competition, and the project entity has also declared bankruptcy.
SciFidea waives all rights to all entries, and will no longer pay remuneration to participating authors and judges. All fees paid for this project will also be waived.
SciFidea is the operator of the Dyson Sphere Global Essay Contest. When the project investors and sponsors no longer support it, and after I continued to operate it with personal funding for a period of time, it is really unsustainable. I am deeply sorry for this difficult decision!
SciFidea will close the website, related accounts and servers in the near future to avoid the risk of illegal leakage of user information and work content. The winning author of the competition will be issued an electronic award certificate. Due to the large number of contestants, it is impossible to notify everyone one by one, so we hereby make this public statement.
Tang Feng
March 20, 2024
Having learned the fate of the competition’s domestic side, File 770 wrote to the contest’s email to ask about the status of the international competition. The “SciFidea Editorial Team” sent a partial answer, saying “We have indeed been keeping the judges of the English side updated on the latest status of the contest”, and that an official announcement would be coming on their Facebook page.
The SciFidea Facebook announcement came out March 26 – releasing the names of the winners, but also stating they “are temporarily unable” to pay the prize money while pursuing new sponsors.
Dear participants and supporters, thank you for your patience. We are thrilled to announce the results of the SciFidea Dyson Sphere Contest!
The 20 shortlisted works were carefully deliberated and evaluated by our esteemed panel of judges based on the established criteria and scoring rubric, which we have previously published on our website as well as our Facebook page. The works with the ten highest total scores were then designated as the winning works.
Attached below in this post are the results of the contest, including the titles and authors of the winning and shortlisted works, in no particular order. All winning and shortlisted authors can expect to receive a certificate as a record of their outcome in the SciFidea Dyson Sphere Contest, for their future use.
Please join us in congratulating the winners for their creativity and outstanding works!
We would also like to express our gratitude to all participants for your submissions and continued attention. Your passion and talent is truly commendable, and we hope that you have gained much from the experience of the contest itself.
Last but not least, we would like to thank the judges for being a part of the contest: Phoenix Alexander, Neil Clarke, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Nancy Kress, Derek Kunsken, Robert J. Sawyer, Michael Swanwick, and Liza Groen Trombi. Your continued contributions and efforts have been truly invaluable to the contest, and we are inexpressibly grateful for your help.
The SciFidea Dyson Sphere Contest faced delays due to problems with our funding sources. As a result, we are temporarily unable to award the prize money for the time being, but we are currently pursuing new avenues of sponsorship. Please give us some time, and we will provide updates on the next steps of the contest in due time.
We have been in contact with the shortlisted authors and the judges, all of whom have been notified as to the results and the situation of the contest. We will continue to update the authors and judges on the next steps of the contest whenever more concrete information is available.
Thank you once again for your participation and support!
Here is the list of winners.
TRYING TO UNDERSTAND SCIFIDEA. Where were the funds to pay the prizes supposed to come from?
Reporter: Can you share with us how SciFidea was developed and launched back in 2021?
Lynn Sun: Sure. SciFidea started as a popular column named “奇想”(QiXiang) in the well-known Chinese SF magazine Science Fiction World. “Qixiang” means fantastic ideas literally, and it refers to the ideas or inspirations for science fiction. We then created a new word – SciFidea – for its English version. It was a new venture. When I joined Tang’s team, there were only Tang and me, a tiny startup with a big science fiction dream. We did all the work, editing, publishing, advertising… you name it! It was not until the second year that we started to have other workmates.
PARALLEL CONTESTS. The winners of the domestic side of the Dyson Sphere competition were named in January 2024, according to a March 10 SF Light Year post. Here’s the Google Translate rendition of the relevant paragraph:
The Dyson Sphere Essay Competition organized by Scifidea, a Singaporean international brand founded by the backbone of China Online’s science fiction platform “Fantasy Universe”, is divided into domestic and international competition areas. The domestic competition area announced on January 30, 2024 that 11 award-winning works have entered the signing process (Figure 1, link: Weibo text I confirmed with individual winners. After the announcement at the end of January, there was actually no follow-up contact at all and no one followed up on the signing matters.) The foreign competition area launched at the same time announced on November 30, 2023 (Figure 2) 20 shortlisted works selected from 205 entries, and it is expected that the top 10 finalists will be announced at the end of January, but it has been postponed several times to date.
SCIFIDEA’S “IP INVESTMENTS”. SciFidea used an unusual business model, where stories were promoted as “IP investments”. Per their tweets and information on their website, users would “subscribe to” individual stories. Subscribing would not only allow users to read the stories via the SciFidea app, but also promised users ownership, governance and profit-sharing benefits in those stories.
Click now, invest wisely, and shape the destiny of sci-fi greatness.
It's time to level up your investment game with SciFidea @Scifidea_SG
The app used a virtual currency of coins to purchase/subscribe to stories. Stories would be initially priced at one coin ($0.01 USD), but each additional subscriber would increase the price of a story by 1 coin, up to a theoretical maximum of 200,000 coins ($2000 USD). As of March 28th, the price range of the stories on the site is between 315 and 1756 coins ($3.15 to $17.56).
Want to become an IP investor? Look no further than @Scifidea_SG!
Our books use a gradually increasing pricing model, so you can start investing from as low as $0.01. For less than the price of a cup of coffee, you could be part of the exciting world of IP investment.
The Scifidea FAQ page also had a rule to keep users from gaming their investment:
SCIFIDEA’S RIGHTS TO CONTEST ENTRANTS. Per the contest page on the SciFidea website, the authors of the shortlisted works “will be required to allow us to make it publicly and freely available on our website for a year”, with non-winning authors receiving $2000.
The ten winning authors “will each receive US$20,000”, but would be required to “agree to grant SciFidea a ten-year publishing license to that work, with the US$20,000 prize being an advance against royalties. The author will share 50% of the net income on print publishing rights (including foreign languages in foreign countries), and another 30% of the net income from developing your work into other media (film, television, animation, graphic novels/manga, and so on).”, with the possibility of a further 10 year license if the work has been adapted or similar.
Whether those winning works could or would be utilized in a similar “IP investment” sales model wasn’t explicitly stated.
MARTIAN SIDESHOW. Another thing SciFidea did to attract interest was this curious promotion about “tickets to Mars” which appeared on their site/app in September 2023:
A FINAL WORD FROM LYNN SUN. Two weeks ago, before SciFidea publicly announced it had filed bankruptcy, Lynn Sun made this statement on Facebook because people were still contacting her about the contest.
..Although my new project has recently been established, since my former employer SciFidea seems to be out of management, some authors from both China and the West have still reached out to me.
I feel the need to clarify the situation so that my new project isn’t adversely affected. It wouldn’t be fair to me or my team otherwise.
The founder and director of SciFidea has always been Tang Feng. The project was curated under the company ChineseAll Digital Publishing Co., Ltd., with their Singaporean branch being Col Web Pte Ltd. We were all employees of this company. Due to the organizational structure, I wasn’t supposed to know anything about the situation between Tang and his supervisor, so what was happening to SciFidea was actually beyond my knowledge….
…I’m not sure how SciFidea is doing now. Although I really wanted to help, some things are simply beyond my control. However, their issues have affected me directly or indirectly, which naturally frustrates me. Judges who used to trust them (or maybe even “us”) a lot might resonate with similar emotions, which makes me feel very sorry and sad about this.
So, let me just express my appreciation for all the effort that has been put into the contest, while I was still managing it.
Firstly, the judges were very responsible, they even helped to check through the contracts between the company and the authors before they took on the job. They only did this to help build a bridge between China and the West, payment was secondary.
As for me and the editorial team, we fulfilled our responsibilities, which allowed everything to proceed smoothly within our scope of work….
CONCLUSION. Unfortunately, overshadowing everyone’s good work is the issue that SciFidea induced people to enter a competition with promises of large cash prizes which they do not have the resources to pay.
[Thanks to Ersatz Culture for providing the research used in this article.]
After several authors withdrew their stories today from the New Demons anthology due to the involvement of co-editor Patrick R. McDonough, another co-editor, Joe R. Lansdale, said the anthology is “done”.
A Kickstarter to fund the New Demons anthology was launched two days ago and promptly raised almost five times the amount of its target goal. The anthology was to be co-edited by Joe R. Lansdale, Patrick R. McDonough and Keith Lansdale, and feature stories from the following authors:
Subtweeting in social media about McDonough began when pre-launch publicity about the Kickstarter appeared. Ginger Nuts of Horror review website editor Jim McLeod then wrote explicitly on March 18:
Here are posts from several writers who today dropped out of the anthology.
The Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with United for Libraries, Book Riot, Booklist, and NoveList®, a division of EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO), has announced the sixth annual Summer Scares Reading List, with titles selected by a panel of authors and librarians and designed to promote horror as a great reading option for all ages, during any time of the year.
This year, Summer Scares welcomes author Clay McLeod Chapman as the 2024 spokesperson. “Our bookshelves are getting haunted this summer!” exclaims Chapman. “Every last one of the books selected for this year’s Summer Scares is a beautiful little nightmare just waiting for the right reader to come along and crack it open. The outright honor of amassing this awesome roster of authors cannot be overstated. I love each and every last one of these books and I can’t wait to shout about how terrifying they are all summer long.”
Every year, three titles are selected in each of three categories: Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade. For 2024 the selected titles are:
ADULT SELECTIONS:
Jackal by Erin E. Adams (Bantam, 2022)
Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison (Berkley, 2022)
This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno (MCD x FSG Originals, 2021)
YOUNG ADULT SELECTIONS:
All These Bodies by Kendare Blake (Quill Tree Books, 2021)
Dead Flip by Sara Farizan (Algonquin Young Readers, 2022)
#MurderTrending by Gretchen McNeil (Freeform, 2018)
MIDDLE GRADE SELECTIONS:
Ophie’s Ghosts by Justina Ireland (Balzer + Bray, 2021)
The Nest by Kenneth Oppel (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2015)
My Aunt Is A Monster by Reimena Yee (Random House Graphic, 2022)
The goal of Summer Scares is to introduce Horror titles to school and public library workers in order to help them start conversations with readers that will extend beyond the books from each list and promote reading for years to come. In addition to the annual list of recommended titles, the Summer Scares Programming Guide, created each year by the Springfield-Greene County (MO) Library–and free for libraries anywhere to access, is back with the tools libraries need to connect with their patrons.
“The 2024 guide is packed with ideas that library workers can use to engage their communities with these great titles, whether they’re putting up book displays, hosting author events, or planning an entire Summer Scares program series,” states Konrad Stump, co-creator of the programming guide. The guide will be available beginning March 1, 2024 on the Summer Scares Resource page.
Along with the guide, the Summer Scares committee will work with both the recommended list authors and Horror authors from all over the country to provide free programming to libraries. Any library looking to host horror-themed events anytime of year is encouraged to email [email protected] to get started.
Once again, Summer Scares will be included as part of iRead, a summer reading program that is used by libraries in the United States and across the globe by the Department of Defense for libraries on military bases. “While there is nothing scary about Summer Reading, there is no better time than summer to scare up some great books. iREAD is thrilled (and chilled!) to partner once again with Summer Scares to introduce Horror titles to school and public library workers in order to help them start conversations with readers that perfectly align with our mission to bridge the summer gap while inspiring literacy and life-long learning,” shares iREAD Content and Development Manager Becca Boland.
Booklist is helping to kick off Summer Scares 2024 in March with a series of three free webinars with this year’s featured authors in conversation with the committee members:
Monday, March 11, 2024, at 4pm Eastern, featuring our Middle Grade authors and moderated by Sarah Hunter (register here)
Thursday, March 21, 2024, at 2pm Eastern, featuring our Young Adult authors and moderated by Yaika Sabat (register here)
Monday March 25, 2024, at 2pm Eastern, featuring our Adult authors and moderated by Clay McLeod Chapman (register here)
All are welcome to join the Summer Scares committee and featured authors at the HWA’s Librarians’ Day, taking place in person on May 31, 2024, in San Diego as part of StokerConⓇ. Details at: https://www.stokercon2024.com.
The HWA is a non-profit organization of writers and publishing professionals and the oldest organization dedicated to the Horror/Dark Fiction genre. One of the HWA’s missions is to foster an appreciation of reading through extensive programming and partnerships with libraries, schools, and literacy-based organizations.
The 2024 Summer Scares program committee consists of author Clay McLeod Chapman, HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump, as well as Academic Librarian Carolyn Ciesla, Book Riot Editor and YA specialist Kelly Jensen, Booklist Editor and Middle Grade specialist Julia Smith, and Manager of Reader Services at NoveList Yaika Sabat.
For more information about the Summer Scares reading program, including committee member bios and how to obtain promotional materials and schedule events with the authors/committee members, please visit the Summer Scares Resource page or email HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump at [email protected].
The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its eleventh annual season. The festival will be held from Thursday, April 4 through Sunday, April 7, across Manhattan and Queens. Passes are available here.
“Philip K. Dick’s themes explore our humanity and relational stance with technology,” says founder and director Daniel Abella. “He taught us to embrace our inherent qualities and capacity to make the world a better place. Whether it’s UFOs, the rapid growth of AI and genetic engineering, or everyday factors such as pain, sadness, and grief, our festival serves as a medium for his work.”
Noted for his roles in Full Metal Jacket (1987) and Netflix’s Stranger Things (2016-22), Matthew Modine will appear at the screening of I Am What You Imagine, on Thursday, April 4. In addition, Arnold Chun, who starred in the Amazon adaptation of PKD’s novel The Man in the High Castle (2015-19), will attend the presentation of Purgy’s on Saturday, April 6.
As life continues to be as unpredictable as ever, the festival remains committed to offering important lessons through entertainment. “Science fiction is a mindset,” said Abella. “The boundaries between the genre and real life are quickly evaporating, and while PKD bemoaned how sci-fi was regarded as ‘pulp fiction,’ he would be very proud to know that his works are part of the literary canon, and serve as a preview into our very near future.”
Locus Magazine’s annual fundraiser is live! Help fund a strong 2024 by donating today to Locus Magazine, locusmag.com, and the Locus Awards! In its 56th year of publishing, donor and reader support is a crucial component to continuing everything Locus does into 2024.
Locus is more than a review magazine or a news website or a literary award – it is an enthusiastic mix of readers, writers, fans, and industry professionals, working together to uplift the science fiction, fantasy, and horror field (SFFH) they love for a global audience. In the magazine and on the website, they provide book reviews, author interviews, curated reading lists, and industry news and resources, along with hosting the annual Locus Awards and running writing workshops. Your support will help Locus continue providing these services to the SFFH community.
The Locus Indiegogo Campaign has some great donor swag, with more being added daily, including author chats, crits, personalized and signed books, Locus coffee mugs and tees, acts of whimsy, personalized letters from bestselling authors, and more, from names like Eugen Bacon, Cory Doctorow, William Gibson, Fonda Lee, Ken Liu, George R.R. Martin, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Suzanne Palmer, Brandon Sanderson, John Scalzi, Nisi Shawl, Wole Talabi, Sheree Renée Thomas, Jo Walton, Connie Willis, and more.
“I’ve been part of the Locus community for over three decades, and I believe it is incredibly important to the speculative fiction community.”
Neil Gaiman
Over the past 55 years, Locus has published more than 750 issues, keeping readers, authors, artists, book buyers, industry professionals, and fans up to date on what’s happening in the field. The Locusmag.com archive holds thousands of reviews, news posts, and articles covering fiction, craft, art, conventions, international events, and more, chronicling the field, including SFADB.org. Those archives are a searchable resource to both subscribers and the general reading public.
Beyond the magazine, they started the Locus Awards in 1971, celebrating writers, editors, and artists of SFFH; including an award specifically for debut authors as well as an award for community development, historically given to those who boost marginalized voices. Locus also started a writing workshop series tapping our immense community of master writers. They offer internships and have seen many move on to establish publishing careers.
A lot has changed at Locus over the years and with the shifting landscape of magazine publishing, including the near collapse of print advertising revenue, Locus has shifted to an annual fundraiser to continue funding the archival and community work so dear to their hearts.
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, Locus is now donor-supported in addition to the steady revenue from a strong subscriber base.
“Locus Magazine is the spit and baling wire that holds the entire, bizarre, wondrous enterprise of publishing together. We’re all seriously f—ed if it ever stops working.”
—Cory Doctorow
Your donations support…
Interviews with up-and-coming and established writers, providing an in-depth look at their publishing journey, process, philosophy, experiences, and more.
Reviews of books and short fiction by award winning critics who pinpoint exciting new titles and writers to look out for.
Forthcoming Books Lists used worldwide by bookstores, librarians, collectors, and avid readers to make buying decisions.
News including international reports about what’s happening in the SFFH community around the world, to keep us all connected and informed.
The Locus Awards, the democratic, readers’ choice award that acknowledges, celebrates, and embraces authors and artists in the field.
And more, including recommended reading lists, convention and workshop news, workshops, internships, event calendars, and obituaries honoring the life and work of SFFH’s voices.
Space Cowboys Books’ online reading series of stories under 1000 words, Flash Science Fiction Nights, run 30 minutes or less, and are a fun and great way to learn about new authors from around the world. Register for the events for free at Space Cowboys Books. Seating is limited.
4/23/24 – Howard V. Hendrix, Ai Jiang, and Hailey Piper
5/21/24 – KC Grifant, Laura Blackwell, and Denise Dumars
6/11/24 – Eliane Boey, Jendia Gammon, and Jonathan Nevair
7/09/24 – From the pages of Radon Journal: Katherine Karch, H.A. Eugene, and Vivian Chou
8/20/24 – Brent A. Harris, Pedro Iniguez, and FJ Bergmann
9/09/24 – Jenna Hanchey, Eric Fomley, and Marie Vibbert
…No reason was given for the exclusions, which were only revealed on 20 January when the Hugo awards published the full nomination statistics for last year’s prize. Certain titles were listed as having been given votes, but were marked with an asterisk and the words “not eligible”, with no further details given….
…Concerns have been raised that the authors were targeted for political reasons, connected to the fact that the ruling Chinese Communist party exerts a tight control on all cultural events that take place inside its borders.
Dave McCarty, the head of the 2023 Hugo awards jury, wrote on Facebook: “Nobody has ordered me to do anything … There was no communication between the Hugo administration team and the Chinese government in any official manner.”
McCarty did not respond to a request from the Guardian for comment, but shared what he said was the official response from the awards administration team on Facebook: “After reviewing the constitution and the rules we must follow, the administration team determined those works/persons were not eligible.” He declined to elaborate on what the rules were.
“I can only guess to why I was excluded, but it probably has something to do with my critical comments about the Chinese government in the past,” said Xiran. “You would think that as a big, powerful country, China would be graceful about criticisms, but they in fact take it very personally, and doubly so when it’s from Chinese diaspora.”…
…In an Instagram post published on 22 January, Kuang wrote: “I wish to clarify that no reason for Babel’s ineligibility was given to me or my team. I did not decline a nomination, as no nomination was offered … I assume this was a matter of undesirability rather than ineligibility.”
Paul Weimer, a hobbyist sci-fi writer, discovered last week that he was excluded from the best fan writer category, despite receiving enough nominations to be shortlisted. “I had the highest of hopes for Chengdu,” said Weimer, who has been nominated for Hugos in previous years. “I thought it was amazing that a number of Chinese fans had got together to get this bid together.”
The organising committee of Chengdu Worldcon did not respond to requests for comment….
The Bookseller posts about the Hugo controversy; seemingly removes the post shortly afterwards
Around 1:20pm UK time on Wednesday, I noticed that the website of The Bookseller trade magazine had posted a piece about the Hugos, covering material that should already be very familiar to File 770 readers.
Perhaps more interestingly, by around an hour later, the post seemed to be no longer available, or shown on their homepage, instead presenting a visitor with a login prompt, The Bookseller does operate a system where you can only read one article a month without creating a (paid) account, but the usual workaround of opening the link in an incognito window or clearing cookies did not work. (As I write this up several hours later, a generic “topics” index page is instead returned.)
Bizarre post from Chengdu Worldcon Vice-Chair and Hugo finalist/nominee La Zi
拉兹 (La Zi, aka Raz aka Lattsep) is – per his Weibo bio, as rendered by Google Translate – ‘Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Science Fiction World, Chief Editor of “Science Fiction World”‘. (I think one of those is in reference to the general SFW company, and the other to the SFW print magazine.) The Chengdu Worldcon site lists him as one of eleven Vice Chairs of the con. He was co-editor of the Best Fanzine finalist 中文科幻学术速递 (Chinese Science Fiction Express), placed tenth in the Best Editor, Short Form nominations. He also co-edited the 2022 bilingual Galaxy Awards 1 anthology, the English translations therein being the means by which the older Chinese stories “Color The World”, “Upstart”, “Turing Food Court”, “Fogong Temple Pagoda”, “Resurrection”, “Tongji Bridge” and “2039: Era of Brain Computer” appear in the Novelette and Short Story nominations lists, although only Resurrection was a finalist, with “Color the World” and “Fogong Temple Pagoda” both being marked as “Not eligible”. (The former being excluded because the translation had previously appeared in a 2021 anthology; the issue with the latter is still unknown.)
Sooner or later, the bad things started to get worse. I got shit thrown at me when I tried to stop him, which made someone break up with me. I hope I know now why I blocked it. I blocked it because I saw that there were mines under certain seats. Sitting on them meant you would die, but you were slandered by the villains who gossiped about you for taking fame and fortune. Good intentions may be framed, but it doesn’t matter if you have a clear conscience.
If that makes “the rules we must follow” look like the model of clarity, bear in mind that of the six (as I write this up) user comments, three are variants of “what are you talking about?”, so it’s no more comprehensible to many Chinese users than those reading the translation.
Below is a screengrab of the post along with an alternative English translation from the Alibaba Cloud functionality built into Weibo.
BEIJING, Jan 22 (Reuters) – China will investigate and punish officials for falsifying economic data, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday, amid scepticism about the reliability of Chinese data….
“Statistical fraud is the biggest corruption in the field of statistics, which seriously violates the statistics law, seriously affects the quality of statistical data, obstructing and even misleading macro decision-making,” the official said…
There has long been scepticism about the reliability of Chinese data, especially as the government has sought to defuse market concerns about a protracted slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.
DP Foresi became the latest writer to tee off against a reviewer in social media when he posted complaints on Nancy Foster’s X.com account about her Goodreads review of his book, which gave the reasons why she voted to cut it from the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition.
SPSFC 3 began last summer with 221 entries and ten judging teams (now down to nine after one — the original Team EPIC — was dissolved in December). The opening round of the Competition begins with each team’s judges reading the first 10 to 20 percent of each of the 20-30 books allocated to their team. Then they make a Yes/No recommendation on whether the team should read further, and books not getting enough upvotes are winnowed out of the competition.
When Team EPIC was dissolved the SPSFC administrators had other judges go over the books they had cut to evaluate whether that was a fair outcome. Apparently, Foresi’s book was one of those cut by the original Team EPIC (see reference to “MS Olney” below) and received a second look.
Among the things Foster criticized about Foresi’s book was the unlikeable co-protagonist, Jeron, a character obsessed with boobs from the time he was an 8-year-old boy in an orphanage.
…And now finally, the characters. I will start with Jeron. Along with the tried & true trope of being orphaned at a young age, Jeron is… sexually very promiscuous. At only 8 years of age, he stares at the chests of female classmates, dreams about boobs, frets and obsesses about boobs (this goes on for at least 3 pages of the backstory). He never cares about the boobs of adult women, only his classmates. We are hinted he tried to sexually harass or grope a classmate more than once with this text: And he never got to feel up one girl either, so his fascination with girls was a total waste of time as well.
Yeah, this gross behavior made it really hard for me to like him at all. The book further delves into Jeron’s latent male toxicity when he is at the orphanage crying when he is alone. Never agrees to become close with anyone else and open up. But don’t worry, he is constantly looking at the boobs of his female clients. Very professional. I am surprised he didn’t grope the waitress Linda when he visited Ted’s tavern.
Save for Jeron’s off scene mom who never gets any screentime or his teachers, all of the women within the first 8% of the book are catalogued in 3 categories: waifu AI, woman that likes it when men stare at her boobs or prostitutes. I am still unsure where Linda falls into this system. Everyone seems to agree she is is not smart according to this text: Linda couldn’t hold a conversation with a three year old, not because she’s an idiot or something, but she just doesn’t like people….
After reading these criticisms author Foresi went on X.com and called her review “woke garbage.”
Foresi also wrote a post on his Substack “Woke Book Reviewer Loses Her Mind”, no longer available to read. As he explained at X.com, “This link isn’t dead. I took it down because I told @TheSPSFC that I would not take further action going forward from yesterday so I disabled the post. That said, I’m not perfect…”
However, people made screencaps of some of what he said about Foster’s review in discussion with other users.
As a result of his remarks, DP Foresi was kicked off the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition’s Discord platform. The administrators also have issued this “Official Statement by the SPSFC” that recaps both what happened after Team EPIC was dissolved in December and their response to Foresi’s social media comments.
We have unfortunately encountered some difficulties in this 3rd round of the SPSFC.
In December, one of our judging teams resigned over a dispute regarding inclusivity and disagreements over how to resolve the ensuing conflict. We apologize for the delay in sharing our next steps, but we have been busy with books and with life over the holidays.
On both sides of this issue there were miscommunications and misunderstandings, and although emotions were running high, we have not found concrete evidence of harassment. The involved parties were cautioned and despite ongoing acrimony, it was decided that a separation of this team from the competition was the best choice.
The SPSFC has created a temporary team of volunteers to read through the books that were originally assigned to the departed team. The departing team’s reviews and interviews were well received and greatly appreciated by the competing authors and the SPSFC but we still want to be sure that there is no question among our competing writers that the contest is arranged in a fair manner.
The new team has agreed to reevaluate every entry in this grouping, which is not a quick process so please expect a delay of up to one month for the announcement of the semifinalist books in this allocation, which is planned for February 29.
In regard to the books that have previously been chosen as quarterfinalists in this allotment, SPSFC believes those authors should be proud of being chosen by the previous team and supports calling the books quarterfinalists nonetheless.
In addition to this, we also want to address a more recent incident where an author personally attacked and harassed one of our judges across multiple media platforms.
The SPSFC strives to make this competition a safe space for female judges and authors and encourages diversity because we live in a diverse world. We recognize that there is a possibility that a book will be assigned to a judge with a different worldview but our judges strive to remain fair in their assessments nonetheless. The judging and reviewing of art can never be truly objective though (that’s why we have multiple rounds and do as much as we can to ensure equal treatment) and we understand that receiving criticism about the result of the hard work of writing a book can be difficult, but we do want to remind everyone that this competition is run entirely by volunteers and takes up a significant amount of their time.
If you do feel that there is a serious issue in regard to the handling of your book, please reach out to the moderators of the contest rather than personally attacking any of the judges. We understand that emotions can run high sometimes when someone doesn’t love or agree with a book but that is no excuse to harass someone on multiple media platforms.
The SPSFC has removed the author in question from their discord and blocked them on other accounts after asking them to stop attacking our judge multiple times because we do not condone this behavior. We have evaluated the review in question and do not agree with the assessment that it was inappropriate. The judge stated her opinion about the book in question and did not make any comments about its author.
It is not appropriate to contact individual judges about their reviews, and there is absolutely no excuse for harassing judges through any outlet. We again ask that you contact contest moderation directly if you feel that there is an issue with how your book was handled.
Foresi’s choice of terms in dismissing Foster’s review has led to some other authors promoting their books as “woke garbage” and “woke trash.” There is even a #wokegarbage hash tag. 🙂
The public outcry against the Texas Library Association’s decision to revoke their invitation to Dr. Chuck Tingle to participate on their annual conference program, including expressions of support from Neil Gaiman and Ursula Vernon, as well as TJ Klune’s announcement that he would refuse his own invitation, has prompted the organization to apologize and renew their invitation to Tingle; however, he says he will not accept.
On January 10 the Texas Library Association’s executive director Shirley Robinson published a “TLA Statement Regarding Author Chuck Tingle” on the organization’s website which says they want him to reconsider participating in their annual conference. But the statement said nothing one way or the other about him going masked, which the group had contended was the issue.
As you may know, the Texas Library Association is currently planning and securing speakers for our annual conference in April. Last fall, we extended an initial invitation to author Chuck Tingle to participate as a panelist at our Evening with Authors event. We later offered Mr. Tingle the opportunity to participate in a different conference event.
This was a misstep that we regret, and it is counter to our mission to ‘unite and amplify voices…through intentional equity, diversity, and inclusion.’
I contacted Mr. Tingle’s publisher today to apologize and to ask whether or not he might reconsider participating in our Evening with Authors event. I hope Mr. Tingle will accept, and we can discuss what has transpired so that we may all come to a place of greater understanding.
TLA has spent the last two years fighting for the freedom to read and freedom of knowledge in school libraries, and we are always on the side of authors. We set a high standard for ourselves, and in this instance, we did not meet it. In the future, we will be more diligent in our processes and clearer and more thoughtful when discussing opportunities with potential speakers at our events. I am sorry for this mistake. We will learn from this and do better in the future.
Today, Dr. Chuck Tingle responded on Tumblr (and his other social media accounts) saying he appreciated their apology, but “very sincerely, thank you, but i will have to decline the re-invitation. maybe next year’”.
