Pixel Scroll 8/21/18 When The Deep Pixel Scrolls Over Sleepy Filer Walls

(1) OPENING MONOLOGUE. Thanks for everyone’s congratulations about the Hugo and kind wishes for my health. Back with a short scroll while I’m still in the hospital (for medical issues (which I’m not going to plaster all over the internet, but check with me via email if you want to be in touch about that.) Full gratitude to Jo Van Ekeren for doing the honors of accepting File 770’s Hugo for me in the emergency (and facing the lion’s den of the Hugo Losers Party after having had her hands on the trophy.)

(2) CONZEALAND. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand (SFFANZ) has posted a great set of ”Links for CoNZealand” for the now-officially-selected Worldcon of 2020, CoNZealand. (And let me say how enthusiastic I am that they picked a nickname, rather than just numbering the con! Since I don’t buy the idea that numbering enhances the Worldcon brand, there’s never been any attraction in it for me.)

(3) HUGO STATS. PDF files of the Retro-Hugos and 2018 Hugos have been posted by Worldcon 76.

(4) THE WINNER IS. Worldcon 76 has video of the Hugo ceremony online —

Miss the Hugo livestream? Want to watch it again? Head over to Worldcon 76’s YouTube Channel. The video of the entire ceremony is available to view.

(5) OH, JOHN (DIFFERENT JOHN).  This is far better than any set of second-place remarks I ever thought of, even after consecutive finishes behind Locus or David Langford!

Last night I did a thing that no one else in the entire history of the Hugo Awards has ever done, an achievement so singular, so unique, that no one could have possibly have imagined it for me or for anyone else:

I came in second in the Best Novel category to someone who has won back-to-back-to-back Best Novel Hugos!

No one else has ever done this! Ever! My achievement is monumental! No one can take this spectacular moment in time from me!

And naturally, I owe it all to N.K. Jemisin, who, by being the first person ever to win back-to-back-to-back Best Novel Hugo awards, created the necessary conditions for my exceptional position in the history books. I couldn’t have done this without all of her hard work over the years, and I thank her for it.

….So, while the first part of this post was obviously a bit silly, do not doubt that I am in all seriousness proud and happy to have come in second in the Best Novel category this year. The right book, and person, won, and I am delighted.

(5) SECOND FIFTH. Another thing I missed was N.K. Jemisin’s Best Novel Hugo acceptance speech. The B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog has posted the text (and the video is available online – presumably as part of the ceremony video above, for one.)

This is the year in which I get to smile at all of those naysayers: every single mediocre, insecure wannabe who fixes their mouth to suggest that I do not belong on this stage, that people like me cannot possibly have earned such an honor, and that when they win it’s meritocracy, but when we win it’s identity politics,” she said. “I get to smile at those people and lift a massive shining rocket-shaped finger in their direction.”

(6) THIRD FIFTH NOT LAST AND NOT LEAST. As always, Camestros Felapton thinks of the appropriate reference at these moments, in “Post Hugo Post”.

So first off, thank you to everybody who voted for me. It really was special having Robert Silverberg present the awards. Sarah Gailey was a very deserving winner. I had a respectable showing but I guess the most elegant outcome would have been to have lost to No Award :).

(7) MORE ABOUT INCLUSIVENESS, RESISTING ALT-RIGHT IMPACT ON SCA. A Society for Creative Anachronism member who participates as Fulk Beauxarmes has written two more insightful follow-up posts about trending problems symptomized by the Kingdom of Trimaris.

….It isn’t enough to be a passive ally anymore, because we’re losing ground; it’s not enough to hold the belief that everyone should have the right to join the SCA, you need to stand up and be seen. How many newbies have seen something objectionable early on in their SCA career, have seen nobody speak against it, and just decide that the SCA isn’t the place for them? Judging from my comment section, too many. (As an aside, I’d like to see a real push to making sure that every SCA group, from canton on up, follow the example of the Barony of Ayreton and publish a statement of inclusivity so that newcomers can have no doubt.)…

Over the weekend, a member of the Board of Directors wrote a blog post in the form of an open letter to me, rebutting my most recent blog post Power, Justice and Safety in the SCA on an almost point-by-point basis. To her credit, Baroness Franca Donato contacted me ahead of time for permission to extensively quote from my blog as per my posted rules, which is a gesture of respect and courtesy which I greatly appreciated. Her post was exhaustively researched, politely written and as I said when I updated my blog post to include it yesterday, an invaluable addition to the ongoing discussion that is raging in the SCA; having a member of the BoD go on record with what the BoD can and can’t do was extremely educational.

A number of people have been vocally offended by Baroness Franca’s post on my behalf. My response to that is to simply state that I am not offended because people are allowed to tell me I’m wrong….

[Thanks to the heroic efforts of Jo Van Ekeren and Rick Moen and DB, I bring you today’s Pixel Scroll from high atop the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, with the lilting cardio rhythms of That Guy. Thanks to all of you who sent in items and I hope to get to a bunch soon. Some thanks in advance to JJ, John King Tarpinian, Martin Morse Wooster, Mike Kennedy, Cat Eldridge, Carl Slaughter, Chip Hitchcock, and Jason. Title credit goes to contributing editor of the day Jack Lint.]

95 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 8/21/18 When The Deep Pixel Scrolls Over Sleepy Filer Walls

  1. Yay! Sending positive thoughts, teleporting health particles, beaming regeneration.

  2. Good to hear from you, even by proxy!

    ETA: Accidental Fifth! (Would that be a sharp or a flat?)

  3. Stay healthy.

    ****

    “Do you have a pixel?”

    “Mother, Please! I’d rather scroll it myself!”

  4. Congrats for the Hugo AND for getting better! Is it twelfth massive shining rocket-shaped finger or what? I guess somebody should update Mike’s Wikipedia page sometime.

  5. Stay healthy, get better, Mr. Glyer! Thanks to Jo Van Ekeren and Rick Moen and DB for helping make this possible.

  6. @spacefaringkitten

    Per sfadb it is indeed rocket #12, which puts Mike 4th on the all-time list:

    Total Hugo Wins
    (Number of fiction wins in parentheses)
    29 Charles N. Brown, David Langford (1)
    15 Gardner Dozois, Michael Whelan
    13 Richard E. Geis
    12 Mike Glyer, no award (3)
    11 Connie Willis (11)

    It also leaves Mike at 57 total finalist places, top of that particular leaderboard:

    Total Hugo Nominations
    (Number of fiction nominations in parentheses)
    [Number of wins in brackets]
    57 Mike Glyer [12]
    55 David Langford (1) [29]
    47 Charles N. Brown [29]
    41 David G. Hartwell [3]
    37 Mike Resnick (30) [5]
    35 Stanley Schmidt (1) [1]
    34 Richard E. Geis [13]
    31 Michael Whelan [15], Bob Eggleton [9]

    Not bad positions to “retire” from!

    (ETA just to avoid worrying anyone who’s missed that particular announcement, by “retire” I mean that Mike has said he’s recusing himself/F770 from future nominations, not that he’s stopping his excellent work here)

  7. @Mark:

    OGH is actually tied for sixth (rather than fourth), behind Brown, Langford, Dozois, Whelan, and Geis. (Yes, nitpicking, but this particular shape of common error–counting things as 1,1, 2, 2, 3, 4 rather than 1, 1, 3, 3, 5, 6–feels worth correcting.

  8. So, entirely unrelated to anything in this pixel scroll…

    A while ago some of us exchanged Pokemon Go “friend” numbers. Well, now Pokemon Go wants me to “make three new friends”… and I have exactly one meatspace friend who play Pokemon Go, who I’ve already friended. So, I’m wondering if there are three more Pokemon Go people out there who would like to “friend” me…? <best hopeful look>

    My handle is “Cascatching” and my trainer code is 0500 8956 3773

  9. I was on a long drive up Interstate 95 and made an amazing discovery at Sadler Travel Plaza in Dunn, North Carolina. It had a spinner rack with SF paperbacks!

    I’m going to stop there on each trip now and buy one. The first two I picked up on the trip up and back were Star Trek: Deep Space Nine books. I didn’t know there were still books being published to extend that series. Spoiler alert: Cardassia Prime has changed!

    Inspired by this find, I’m thinking about creating an online directory to track the endangered SF/F spinner rack. If someone finds one in the wild at a gas station, convenience store or other place they could add it.

    Does anyone know how books are getting to those racks? A publisher or distributor telling me where they are stocking them would give the site a nice start.

  10. @Cassy B: Do you have to initiate it for it to count? (Haven’t played in ages.)

    Edit: Nemmind, checked reddit. Sent.

  11. @Chip, re (6), perhaps he meant 2012 publications, which were awarded in 2013, rather than the 2012 awards. I think the 2014 awards were the first puppy-affected ones, correct?

  12. I believe 2013 was the year of Larry’s initial Sad Puppies, which had minimal impact on the ballot, as its only goal was to get Larry a Best Novel nomination, which it failed at.

  13. rcade: Wow — this reminds me I read something about a person starting up a spinner rack book business in some part of the US as their independent business. Don’t know if I scrolled that, though. Probably saw a writer say something about it on FB.

  14. Good to hear you’re on the mend, Mike. Congrats again on your well-deserved honors at WorldCon.

    Non-pixel-related (non-pixelated?) filer update: This filer will be in Omaha, Nebraska this weekend, where her roller derby team, the Boulder County Bombers “All Stars,” is seeded 9th in the North America West Continental Cup playoffs. All good-luck well-wishes appreciated. Other filers may wish to watch the livestream here (except for some reason it’s returning a Page Not Found right now; I suspect it’s a temporary glitch). Single weekend watch pass is $15 with, so I’m told, no region shenanigans; watching it from their archives afterward is free. Should archive promptly; North America East was only this past weekend but it’s available in the archives already.

    If you do watch, I’m the short blocker with the long braid, roster number 504, Fleur de Beast.

    I’ll also be in New Orleans come November to watch this year’s WFTDA Championships, and if you’re there too we should hang out. But plenty time for details about that later.

    We now return you to your regularly scheduled pixel scroll. We now return me to my pre-travel preparation panic.

  15. As always, I’m glad for the great updates on many things fannish (I’d say all things fannish, but then someone would object, someone would be pedantic, someone would be disingenuous, and someone would be offended. There would be words. And more words. Keys would be rotated. Cities would burn. Children would weep.
    But I digress…)

    Anyway, the point is the fannish news is always great, but the better news is that you’re on the mend.

    Actually, it’s the best news!

  16. @Matthew Johnson
    All the pixels at File 770 scrolled from end to end would have five times the height of Mount Tsundoku

  17. Very glad to hear you are feeling better. Now you need to do what they tell you so you can get home and enjoy Rocket #12!

  18. @Peer: Oh, now you’ve done it. Now, I’m going to have to generate a photo essay in the living room, and title it Thirty-six Views of Mount Tsundoku. Starting, of course, with Under the Wave off Stillness.

  19. I’m so glad you’re doing better!

    BiPAP news: My doctor is so pleased with my progress that, barring my experiencing any difficulties in the meantime, he has scheduled my next appointment for next August.

  20. Glad to see you are doing better Mike. My Worldcon is sort of not over since I did an appearance with Mary Robinette Kowal and John Scalzi at the Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale last night (available on their facebook live at https://www.facebook.com/pg/The-Poisoned-Pen-Bookstore-238297496213972/videos/?ref=page_internal . In the Q&A, I did bring up the question about how people should look at her two novels when nominating and she would prefer the first book be nominated instead of both as a pair since she intends to write more in the series.

    Jason Heller talking about Strange Stars at Changing Hands in Tempe tonight. Jason ended up missing the Evolution of SF and Music panel at Worldcon due to getting hit by a stomach bug in the middle of the con.

  21. @Cassy B.
    Just sent you a friend request or whatever it’s called on Pokemon Go.

    @Nicole
    Good luck for the match

    The puppy impact on the 2013 ballot was minimal, but Larry Correia suggested nominating Toni Weisskopf, Elitist Book Reviews and (I think) Schlock Mercenary in addition to himself. All three made it on the ballot, though it is debatable how much Larry Correia had to do with that, since Toni Weisskopf and Schlock Mercenary might well have made it organically.

  22. I can’t quite decide exactly which of my feelings about this to feel: Woman Loses Nasa Internship AF (a headline I created by transliterating the file name in the URL), but I’ll settle on gllad, I think.

  23. I am STILL EXHAUSTED and I blame much of it on GRRM. He did not manage to kill me with his party, but I am lying around home whining quietly and taking prescription doses of ibuprofen plus other things.

    This is Wednesday, right? I got to the con hotel last Wed, of course there were plenty of fen and I only got roped into helping set-up for about 15 min. But after that I totally lost track of mundane time. It was all one big blur of books and fen and occasional sparkly outfits.

    Jo did even better than Mike said; he gave her the bones of the speech in the hospital and she fleshed it out at the reception, phone in one hand, cheese plate in the other. And she’d sprained her ankle and wrist leaving the hospital to boot!

    The Hugo winners didn’t get much torture (I was Jo’s +1 and promptly dumped her for the rest of the party, LOL), just a bit of mocking and yelling “LOOOOSER!” from the assemblage. Not even pro winners get much hassle. Everyone got a lovely Irish coffee mug with the Dublin logo on it.

    The reception beforehand was lovely and had very fancy and delicious noms both carnivorous and vegetable. Thanks to Mike who provided me with the wisdom of his many previous Hugo ceremonies by telling me “The buffet beforehand is good as long as you’re willing to fight your way to it.” It was, and it wasn’t much of a fight, everyone was extremely polite and happy. And sparkly. Check out the Twitter hashtag #HugosRedCarpet for all the awesome looks. Geeks clean up good.

    Dancing, not so much, but we all suck together. Scalzi’s 80s Dance Party on opening night was a killer as well, he kept playing so much good music that nobody wanted to leave that. Topped only by GRRM hiring freakin’ NEON DANCING ROBOTS.

    Did I mention I am still exhausted? But happy to have met many Filers IRL, both at the Thursday meetup (despite the Worst Band Ever, necessitating us decamping to the nice Chinese restaurant) and at various points during the con.

    My credentials have forgiven me. Mostly.

  24. @7
    I have no skin in this at all (besides some friends and acquaintances that have been SCA adjacent) but the reply from Baroness Franca Donato was pretty off-putting. It all boiled down to “Whether this behaviour is happening matters less than whether the proper reporting procedures have been followed”.

    So-and-so MIGHT be a racist (there’s no way to tell!) but if the Directors have not received the appropriate forms in triplicate there can’t actually be a problem. Certainly nothing could possibly be done proactively. Reactive actions only. And only if they must.

    If I did have skin in this, I’d be looking for an exit rather fast. I couldn’t imagine a better signal that it’s going to get worse for them before it gets better.

  25. @Nicole: Best of wishes for the match! Your skate name is fabulous. I hope you and yours do well and that no one sustains permanent injury — I know a few dings and bruises come with the territory.

    @Cora: IIRC, Schlock Mercenary had been on the ballot before, honestly, or at least close. Howard is well-liked. I think I voted SM pretty highly that year. Pretty sure Weisskopf had also been on it legitimately in previous years — there’s only so many Long Form editors, after all, and she used to be less slapdash.

    @Ryan: It’s all a bit “file cabinet/beware of leopard” isn’t it? Kafka-esque; the papers matter more than the people.

  26. @cassy b: I’d be happy to be Pokemon friends – I’m EtaoinShrdlu, code 1856 9358 3201

    @OGH: hope you get released soon! Dealing with medical issues on the road is not fun (not that it ever is, but it seems more stressful away from home)

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