(1) SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS WHO WERE NEVER DRUNK ON ST. PATRICK’S DAY. Here are a few of the genre’s known teetotalers – doubtless there are others…
- H.P. Lovecraft
- Harlan Ellison
- J. Michael Straczynski
- John C. Wright (see comment #14)
- Isaac Asimov is another famous nondrinker, but one can’t be sure never applies here:
Asimov was a teetotaler in later life, mainly because in all of his experiences with drinking alcoholic beverages, just one or two drinks were sufficient to get him drunk. On the day he passed the oral examination for his Ph.D., he drank five Manhattans in celebration, and his friends had to carry him back to school and try to sober him up. His wife told him that he spent that entire night in bed giggling every once in a while and saying “Doctor Asimov”.
(2) OB IRISH. For a more substantial tribute to St. Patrick’s Day, we recommend James H. Burns’ tribute to Disney’s Darby O’Gill movie — “And A Moonbeam To Charm You”.
(3) FANHISTORY OF GREATER IRELAND. David Langford (coincidentally) chose St. Patrick’s Day to trumpet the forthcoming update of Rob Hansen’s history of UK fandom.
Wearing my Ansible Editions hat, I’ve been copyediting the final sections of Rob Hansen’s expanded (though not, as he says, extended), corrected and source-noted THEN: A HISTORY OF UK FANDOM 1930-1980. The final word count is around 211,000, about 20% more than the original. Our planned trade paperback is up to 410 pages, which will grow a bit more when the awaited 1970s fan mugshots go in (dread chore). To be published … Summer 2016?
(4) RECOMMENDED GREEN READING. At the B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, “5 Fantasy Novels That Go Full Emerald Isle” not only gives you Ireland but the magic number 5!
Ireland isn’t just a country, it’s a repository of myth and legend that has been mined by genre writers for decades. Even today, Ireland seems to be bursting with magical energies that other countries couldn’t hope to match—I mean, who would imagine an epic fantasy set in the wilds of New Jersey? Naturally, that means that not only have some of the best works of fantasy ever written taken inspiration from Irish history, but several are explicitly in Ireland. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, here are a five fantasy novels exploring the Emerald Isle.
The Book of Kells, by R.A. MacAvoy As with all of MacAvoy’s novels, The Book of Kells is difficult to pin down. Time travel, ancient Ireland, Viking invasions, and a saint or goddess meddling in mortal affairs? You’ll find all of it here, as an accidental confluence of ancient music and the tracing of an ages-old pattern by a modern-day artist transports first a screaming young woman from the past into the artist’s bedroom, then the woman, the artist, and a companion back in time a thousand years, into a medieval Ireland grounded in historical fact—which doesn’t lessen the fantastical nature of the ensuing adventures. It might lack wizards and dragons, but that doesn’t make it any less fun, and part of that is down to exploring a raw, roiling Ireland of old, populated by characters who act intelligently, considering (one even nips back to the modern day in order to convert all his cash into material that would be valuable in the tenth century)…
(5) MOVIE MAKING TECHNOLOGY. Lucid Dreams of Time is a short from Disney’s Zurich research division (and yes, Disney has an alliance with the Gnomes of Zurich) which is a time travel story but also a way of showcasing new Disney technologies.
The film portrays a moment of transition, from life to afterlife, with the story being told from three different perspectives – a mother, her son, and the messenger who can alter time. Simona and her son Gabriel travel through three realms – a present moment, supernatural world and a lucid dream – to discover purpose after a series of events change their lives forever. Through an afterlife mirror, Simona views the last few minutes of life with her son. Later, as Gabriel falls asleep, Simona receives a small gift from the Messenger – to talk to her son for exactly one minute. As the sands of time quickly run out, she appears to Gabriel in his dream to deliver a message that he will never forget.
(6) YESTERDAY’S BIRTHDAY BOY.
- Born March 16, 1926 – Jerry Lewis. Click to read a tribute by James H. Burns.
(7) SILICON VALLEY COMIC CON. Steve Wozniak has brought a Comi Con to Silicon Valley reports smofnews. The Los Angeles Times previews his plans in “Silicon Valley Comic Con comes with an extra dose of tech”.
Kicking off Friday at the San Jose Convention Center, the inaugural Silicon Valley Comic Con will bring the internationally recognized comic, science fiction, fantasy and video gaming convention to the Bay Area.
Although the event will be smaller than the flagship San Diego Comic-Con, which last year drew nearly 170,000 attendees (the three-day Silicon Valley event is expected to draw 30,000 per day, with many attendees attending multiple days), Steve Wozniak, the event’s host and pioneer of the personal computer, said it would be for the same audience.
“It’s for people who are local who haven’t been able to get to the San Diego one,” said Wozniak, who co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs. “It’ll be a full Comic Con in terms of the sorts and booths, presentations and celebrities that we have.”
The key difference? There will be more technology — the kind that “carries over into pop culture,” Wozniak said — and a greater focus on science fiction.
The convention will have a dedicated virtual reality zone where attendees will be able to play with the latest VR gadgets, and there will also be science-driven panels, such as one about whether artificial intelligence or “super babies” will be the greatest threat to humankind.
But Wozniak made clear that Silicon Valley Comic Con is “not just a tech conference.”
The event will also feature a “Back to the Future” cast reunion, a presentation by actor William Shatner, appearances by “Mythbusters” co-host Adam Savage and science fiction authors and artists.
“I wanted to be a part of Silicon Valley Comic Con because for me this show highlights what the Valley has meant to science, technology and innovation and encapsulates what ‘Back to the Future’ is about,” said Christopher Lloyd, one of the film’s stars.
(8) ERIN ON HUGOS. If you want to know what Alexandra Erin’s thinking about Hugo nominating season, check out Blue Author Is About To Write.
I haven’t been talking about the Sad and Rabid Puppies much this year because the Hugo Awards are going to happen every year and I don’t want that to be my life, but I understand they’re still at it, still spinning the same narratives, still spreading the same propaganda, still appealing to the biases and suspicions of the biased and the suspicious. I don’t know how much impact they’ll have.
For nominations, there are three possibilities: they’ll have another walk in the park, their machinations will be shut out entirely, or they’ll have some impact but not be able to seize as total control as they did last year. I think if everybody who was mobilized to get involved and vote on conscience and merits rather than politics stays involved, their ability to unduly influence the process will be nullified, but that depends on a big if.
My name has come up in a few circles as a possible nominee. By that I mean, I know that some people have nominated me, but that’s not the same as making it onto the ballot, even without any puppies piddling in the box. In truth, it is an honor just to be nominated, even if I don’t make the short list. It is an honor to have my name being mentioned in conjunction with some of the giants of the field…..
(9) THE EARLY RETURNS. Here are some reactions to the Sad Puppies 4 list, which was posted today.
The G at Nerds of a Feather
Given last year’s caustic battle over the Hugo Awards, as well as the generally caustic nature of U.S. politics in 2016, you might be forgiven for assuming that the 2016 Hugo Awards would be yet another battleground in the never-ending (and endlessly tiresome) culture wars. Only it isn’t looking that way, in part because the Sad Puppies have followed up last year’s politically partisan and highly divisive slate with a longlist of recommendations that…isn’t partisan or divisive at all.
Rachael Acks
https://twitter.com/katsudonburi/status/710556932344385537
Eric Franklin
https://twitter.com/gamethyme/status/710595443219046400
Brian Niemeier
https://twitter.com/BrianNiemeier/status/710579138919174144
It may have been a mistake to post a recommended reading list with probably over a million words of content two weeks before nominations close. Unless it was a clever trick to say “aha! Sad Puppies was about the discussion, not the final list!” in which case, well played. That means that those who came over from places like File770 to leave comments and votes are now Sad Puppies.
Without the synergy between Sads & Rabids this year, I think we’ll see less of a direct impact this time around, but I think that it gives a pretty good look at how the Hugo noms would’ve shaken out with or without the Puppies. Plus, it may give the statisticians out there a better look at just how much pull Vox has. There was a lot of talk last year that there were actually only a handful of Sad Puppies and the 500 or so Vile Faceless Minions were the deciding factor.
And where the list was posted, Mad Genius Club commenters have been submitting a large number of copyedits and arithmetic corrections.
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Martin Morse Wooster, and James H. Burns for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day IanP.]
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@Andrew M
Or it shows that without the chance to “make liberal heads explode” they care so little about science fiction that they couldn’t be bothered to nominated. If a few requests from people who were either testing the words SP4 were saying or engaged in some light hearted trolling were able to swamp their system, that says something to.
Pretty soon Hoyt and the rest of them will start talking. And then we’ll see what they really think of Declan Finn as opposed to Ann Beckie.
Ann Beckie
Is this like the Taylor Swift “No, it’s Becky” thing?
Oh, my, God, Becky. Look at her butt.
(If I could do an Imperial Radch filk of “Baby’s Got Back”, I would.)
@Aaron
Autocorrect, my old enemy.
@Dawn
YES.
Dawn Incognito, I don’t get it. Who or what is Becky? (I don’t know Taylor Swift, other than in a general “she’s a singer, isn’t she?” way. Call me clueless regarding popular culture. <wry> )
Cassy:
https://youtu.be/oU19mwjHiRs
That’s why a few weeks ago in the depths of my flu, looking out at the dark, dank, damp day, I wailed: “SANTORINI!”
@Cassy B:
I believe that Dawn was referring to the opening lines of Baby Got Back.
The Taylor Swift thing is explained here.
@Cassy B:
Just don’t ask me about today’s popular culture, and we’re all good 😉
Always love to see I sparked an interesting conversation. I grew up with an alcoholic parent and didn’t drink as a teen. Well there was a short time my brother had me drink with friends but they didn’t like my attitude and I was quickly uninvited. Why do you need juice with the vodka we are kids trying to get drunk. Drink the vodka straight you’ll get drunk faster.
I married a recovering alcoholic. But when going out with girlfriends I’d drink a glass of white Zinfandel. I worked for Digital (DEC) as a temp for a year and the guys couldn’t take my wine drinking and determined to teach me good micro-brewery beer. Between my divorce and my current marriage I dated a guy who was a wine snob and I learned to be one. At some point I’d already learned to be a champagne snob. You don’t guzzle expensive wine or champagne you savor each sip. Current husband doesn’t drink.
I was very careful about my drinking as I was afraid I’d become an alcoholic like my father and various other family members. So up into my 30s I rarely drank if I had strong feelings. Thanks to my abusive background I don’t like being out of control so getting drunk is not something I like. The very little beginning of a buzz is nice as it lets me drop some of the hyper awareness of the world around me but anything more and I’m a suicidally depressed drunk. Not fun and not pretty.
I enjoy a glass of wine Friday night and Saturday lunch (Shabbos). I enjoy 1-3 glasses over dinner at my parents depending on how many of us are over (3-20) and what topics are being discussed (blacks are born more violent, owning a handgun makes you safer & no it won’t put the 1-year old at risk if it’s not kept locked up, you should forgive your rapists, let’s go to the beach tomorrow, outlet shopping, museums we could visit). I’ll let you guess which are 1 glass and which are 3 glass topics. 😉
I love the taste of a good red wine or oatmeal stout. Or Domaine Chandon Rose which I miss since it’s not kosher. A level below Dom Perignon.
Dawn & Aaron, thank you both. I’m not sure if that makes me a Lucky 10,000, but at least I won’t look completely clueless and out of touch around the water cooler if/when this comes up!
As an addendum to my post above about being a low alcohol consumer. Tasha did remind me that I did enjoy wine on a number of occasions on my November trip to Rome. Because, frankly, I know people who’d never speak to me again if I didn’t, and how many times would I get to have wine in Italy anyway? (Similarly, I had all the gelato I could, and pizza, and seafood)
Wine with Pizza in Rome. It’s a thing, and a very good thing.
Wine with Pizza in Rome. It’s a thing, and a very good thing.
My recollection from many years ago is that most food related events in Rome are good things.
@aaron, I am glad I (generally) walked >5 miles a day, or else I might have come back significantly heavier from my trip!
I was only in Italy once, some 35 years ago. I remember what Italians call pizza and what Chicagoans call pizza are two very, very different things. Is that still true?
Mind you, I liked Italian pizza, but I considered it a different food than anything I would get from a pizza place at home. Nowadays, of course, we have artisan pizza places that serve things my 15-year-old self also wouldn’t have recognized as pizza…
Cassy B: it was still true in 2006: the pizza was lovely, but it wasn’t much like most North American pizza, and even further from Chicago style.
(Sorry i don’t have more current info. Also, holy crap, that means this May will be my 10th wedding anniversary. How did that happen?)
@Lenora Rose Also, holy crap, that means this May will be my 10th wedding anniversary. How did that happen?
Time flies when you’re in love 😉
Put me down as another person who doesn’t drink because I can’t stand the taste (and secondarily because the drinkers around me are terrible at making it sound like a pleasant experience anyway).
The assumed norm in the US is moderate social drinking, which is why USians who don’t drink can tend to be so assertive about not drinking. The reality is that a little over a third of US adults never drink, a number which has remained stable for a long time, but because of the assumed norm, non-drinkers usually think they’re part of a tiny minority.
@Paul (@princejvstin): Wine with Pizza in Rome. It’s a thing, and a very good thing.
May you have many chances in life to enjoy good things such as wine with pizza in Rome. Cheers to good memories. 😀
@Vasha, thank you for compiling the File770 comments on Planetfall (and for adding your own review). The book remains close to, but not at, the top of my TBR, and I’m glad to have an easier way to find the discussion once I do get to it.
Any discussion about fantasy in the wilds of New Jersey ought to include mention of… The Toxic Avenger. What a strange movie.
Bruce Springsteen has had variations of UFO encounters on or near the Jersey Turnpike in some of the stories he tells during concerts. They usually end with the alien giving him a guitar and leading into the second half of Growing Up (“I took month long vacations in the stratosphere….).
(pulls pin, throws) Chicago style pizza is mildly inferior to New York style.
Chicago Deep Dish “Pizza” is more of a pizza-themed casserole/pot pie.
I think the “No, it’s Becky” of Ann Leckie would be “Tor author Ann Leckie”
GSLamb, have you every actually had deep dish pizza? I’ve heard that charge thrown around for years, and always and inevitably it seems to be made by people who haven’t tried it. Honestly, it’s not goopy like a casserole or pot pie; it’s more like… um… a flat pizza with five times the toppings. Constrained in a (flat, not bready) crust with a lip to hold it in. (If it has a bready crust, it’s a very bad deep dish pizza.)
Deep dish pizza (or stuffed pizza, for that matter, which is like deep dish but with a very thin top crust as well) does, however, require a knife and fork to eat unless you’re very, very practiced.
My comment about Chicago pizza vs. Italian pizza was actually referring to regular flat pizza, however; I wouldn’t expect to see deep dish pizza anywhere outside of Chicago and its immediate environs.
I think NY-style pizza and Chicago deep dish are sufficiently different that there’s not much point comparing them. It’s a little like comparing a cheeseburger with a steak.
Interesting to see so many non-drinkers here. For myself I like the Thomas Jefferson quote: “Good wine is a necessity of life for me.” But plonk’ll do in a pinch.
(9) THE EARLY RETURNS
Cat Valente is not happy:
https://twitter.com/catvalente/status/710663990989357056
There is more in her Twitter timeline:
https://twitter.com/catvalente/status/710665773321052161
https://twitter.com/catvalente/status/710674995039457281
I didn’t post any recommendations to SP4 because of the reputation associated with the Sad Puppy brand (that association is hard to shake especially when they keep using the same branding), and have ignored them for most part. I don’t think the more charitable non-Puppies who posted recommendations in good faith improved the situation.
On the subject of “Recommended Green Reading” (#4), my list of “Irish” fantasy novels perversely includes the underground lost-world fantasy “The Moon Pool” by A. Merritt. The reason is its action hero, Larry O’Keefe, who does the heavy lifting in the second part of the novel, while the earnest John Watson-like narrator develops a man-crush on him. O’Keefe is 50% Irish, and 100% Lucky Charms, lining up all the more attractive stereotypes that non-Irish folks have developed about the Irish. Magazine publication of “The Moon Pool” in All-Story Weekly occurred around the same time James Joyce’s “Ulysses” ran in The Little Review, providing American readers with two radically different views of the Irish. I wonder if any readers of the time read both of them.
Cat Valente: WHEN IS A SLATE NOT A SLATE? OR WHY IS THE PUPPY SAD?
Repeating here what I said on the full page “Sad Puppies”:
I’m also very saddened to see how much filers had an impact on SP4. Many of the works with high numbers and which are clearly not part of puppy ideology are due to anti-slaters participation in the creation of the slate. It puts authors in a difficult position as well as the hypocritical aspects.
Rachael Acks blogs about that too.
Speaking as one who doesn’t even know where the Sad Puppy IV site is, much less recommended anything thereon, I think people need to keep calm and carry on completing their Hugo, and not-a-Hugo Campbell, nominations of work they, as individuals, think are worthy, taking into account any preferences individual creators may have expressed.
Otherwise I will feel compelled to quote the second verse of Vitae Lambada and you really, really don’t want that to happen…
There’s some truth in what you say — at least that a few people who frequently comment here added items of that nature to the SP4 recs, and due to it taking only 2 votes to get things on the final list in most categories, it had that result. And so, writers who want nothing to do with the SP4 brand are on the list.
I myself had some very unpleasant thoughts the day I found File 770 had been added to the recommendations, more in the nature of feeling betrayed. But that forced me to reacquaint myself with an obvious truth — I don’t run this blog for the purposes of having an echo chamber, and if I have succeeded, then there are going to be people who think it’s a good idea to do various things I may not agree with.
They may have recommended F770 there (1) as a hack, (2) to test the integrity of the claims about SP4, (3) because they like the blog, (4) any combination of the above. And anyway, part of my brand is engaging with this controversy, which is my choice. Some of the writers being recommended are protesting because they don’t want to become ping pong balls being verbally batted around by the combatants. And they don’t get a choice.
Another book award is besieged by electioneering! Except the stakes are really low, consisting of “a boost in sale of tens, maybe even as much as a hundred copies” and a bottle of cheap claret, so the quotes in the press release sound bemused more than anything.
My reaction to the SPIV slate is one of overwhelming underwhelmedness. It’s basically a collection of mainstream popular works, their own community favourites, and some hysterically bad garbage that has been gamed into it. The sheer lack of participation in the process really underlines that they aren’t some silent majority like Torgersen kept braying on about, but a small, niche community whose tastes reflect only themselves. The only thing that is notable about the list is that it is covered in the filth of last year’s machinations. Otherwise, it looks like a rec list from a regional SF mailing group or a small Goodreads community.
I participated in the SP4 recommendation list early on, in good faith. I also wanted to see how honest the ultimate list would be, and hoped that having non-puppies take part in the conversation might show puppies that the non-puppy world isn’t all about politically-motivated message fiction. I was eventually convinced that it was a bad idea to participate at all, partially because there wasn’t all that much conversation going on, and partially because any sort of participation in puppidom felt gross, given the continued insults from and weird politics of the Puppy leadership.
I met stuffed pizza when my sister was living in north Berkeley. She was within walking distance of the Zachary’s on Solano.
The other quandary I’m finding myself in as I read the blogs @Soon Lee is linking us to. Do I have an obligation to let people know that names were added to the recommendation/slate by anti-slaters? Not because I want to make SP4 look better but because they are being accused of stuff when what they did was what they said they would:
1. Anyone could recommend
Non-puppy machinations that I argued against right here are being claimed as puppy machinations. That’s just wrong. What is our personal responsibility? What is our group responsibility? How are we any better than the puppies if we let a lie stand? This, this is why I was so against filers participating.
Of SFnal interest: Slacktivist has a post saying The rise of Donald Trump may disprove the possibility of time travel. OR DOES IT?
@Mike Glyer
Tough position for you. Proud of your way of looking at things.
I often wonder how you feel about your new community. We must challenge you on many levels. We are very different from your previous fanzine following. You seem to have adapted well. I hope we bring you as much joy as grief.
Pingback: sad puppies 4 | Crime and the Blog of Evil
@Tasha
“you should forgive your rapists”?
Holy crap. That would be three shot glasses of whiskey for me, not three glasses of wine. (Perhaps three glasses of whiskey thrown in the face of someone who would say something like that.)
Of interest (which I won’t link to) is the VD post “Let’s Make the Hugos Great Again!” which reveals this years RP logo and warns us that the final RP list is forthcoming. It will be interesting to see how the final list compares to the preliminary list he’s been posting. I wouldn’t be surprised if he adds some more SJW friendly items.
@Cassy B – I am sorry that you have only had soupy casserole in the past. While I am treated to both deep-dish and stuffed when I visit my Chicago friends, I still hold firm that pizza should never need knife & fork.
I will grant that Chicago’s take on ‘normal’ pizza is far superior to my native Detroit, but neither are as good as the New York style.
@redheadedfemme
LOL The thought comes from the right place.
Them: If there were more love and forgiveness the world would be a better place. You’d feel better if you forgave…
Me: Respect. If people respected each other more the world would be a better place. Forgiveness isn’t going to make me feel better. But if this conversation doesn’t end now I may do or say something we’ll both regret.
Them: looks around restaurant & shuts up
But they do just want me happy & healthy. We just disagree on how to get there. You just need a sense of humor, prescription meds, and booze. 😉
I didn’t participate in SP4 but I did watch it closely. It could have gone in many ways but it evolved into something more like a more right-leaning and less exhaustive form of the Hugo rec wikia and other similar projects to make finding eligible works easier.
The most toxic aspect of SP1,2,3 was the associated campaign. The most damaging part was the slate but the slate without a campaign would not have been as damaging.
The campaign aspect of Sad Puppies has not gone and in some ways the bitterness and sense of being wronged is perhaps deeper. The underlying toxicity hasn’t gone away. However the association between the toxicity and the SP4 list has been substantially lessened and the slate aspects have been substantially dialed down.
I think we may well see some Sad or Sad-adjacent campaigning around Best Novel with potentially some impact on the finalists. However, if you look at the books that this will revolve around that really didn’t need a list – last years events make it already likely that any voter who felt strongly in favor of the Puppy campaigns would consider nominating Wright, Butcher & Williamson (plus Correia) if they had eligible books.
The Rabid campaign is something else and we’ll just have to wait and see. Political events in the US will be doing their own thing as well and given the strong associations between Puppy campaigns and some of the internecine struggles within US conservatism it is impossible to tell what the net effect will be.
It looks like the Sads and Rabids both are struggling to find meaning and purpose this year. I think I’m going to try ignoring them unless they make that impossible. Last year I discovered their existence because they were the answer to the question “how did all this horrible crap I’ve never heard of get on the Hugo ballot?” If the Hugo ballot isn’t full of horrible crap I’ve never heard of, I won’t need to know how it got there.
As far as fandom drinking sub-cultures go… I’m definitely part of a few. Scotch tastings and brew pub visits are popular. I think it comes partly from the fact that fans tend to get really nerdy about the things they like, whether that’s Star Trek or bourbon-barrel aged imperial stout. I’ll also admit that I find it difficult to socialize, especially with people I don’t know, unless I have a couple of drinks. I think it’s an introvert thing.
I’ve never completely figured out the American relationship with alcohol. It’s like, we think drinking is normal, but if you were just a better person you wouldn’t “need” to do it. We are the country that instituted, then repealed, Prohibition after all. We’re also the country that invented Alcoholics Anonymous and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Robin Reid, last November you said Planetfall contained “brilliant deconstruction of space colony tropes throughout.” I would love to hear you expand on that if it hasn’t been too long since you read it. I did wonder myself if the intent of the novel was deconstructive, though my opinion would be that it’s not entirely successful (you could persuade me otherwise).
I did not participate on the SP4 site in any way because ultimately I wasn’t comfortable lending any miniscule bit of legitimacy my involvement might bestow on a process I didn’t trust in or approve. Some people who post here regularly apparently did, for reasons of their own. Mike offers a partial, hypothetical list that looks pretty likely.
Now then. People here have often said, of last year’s controversy and its aftershocks, “There aren’t two sides. There are the slaters, and then there’s everybody else.” People who opposed what Torgersen and Day got up to last year were a diverse group with diverse reasons for disapproval.
What that means is that “Filers” who chose to interact at whatever degree with the SP4 site did not betray this community. “Filers” are not, and have never been, a side in Puppy-related disputes. That is on our own repeated insistence.
Individual people who are constructive members of the commentariat here who chose to make suggestions on the SP4 site for whatever set of idiosyncratic reasons were just that, individuals making the best decisions they could from the context in which they were operating at the time. “They” have not done “us” wrong thereby.
As for what some Mad Genius or Elk-Herder might claim based on the fact that some people here might have done on the SP4 site, I care not. Nor should you. The people in question are known quantities: they will claim literally anything proves they are stronger, faster and better-looking than their rivals of the moment.
As for what horrible trap the appearance of legit names suggested by Filers on the SP4 list might set for innocent authors, my answer is there is no trap at all. Last year’s final-ballot voting demonstrated that Hugo-voting fandom had an extremely sophisticated understanding of what things got on the ballot how. It will not be different this year. Anyone who thinks that Ann Leckie’s appearance as the ninth item on the SP4 roll or Bona Fide Ess Jay Double-Ewe’s unasked-for spot on the RP2 list is going to bamboozle a significant number of voters into punishing those works is selling the voters criminally short based on the evidence of the last three years.
So, really people. Give your confréres a break.
@Jim Henley
I’m not saying filers betrayed us. At the time some filers were making recommendations they were over here discussing why. I disagreed. Communities are not monoliths.
I think it’s too bad Cat Valente doesn’t know who/how her name got on SP4 so she is going through a mental and emotional pretzel. I feel the same way for all the others dragged in by anti-slaters. My heart goes out to them. If I were them I’d appreciate a comment on their blog posts or an email explaining and apologizing.
I live to see the day when people take personal responsibility for their actions.
@Mike Glyer a drink to world peace on my way offline for Shabbat.