aka ”He’s not the Messiah. He’s a very naughty puppy!”
Today’s roundup brings you Amanda S. Green, Rachel Iliffe, Sarah A. Hoyt, Vox Day, Lou Antonelli, Camestros Felapton, Jeet Heer, Joseph Tomaras, Lis Carey, Lisa J. Goldstein, Rebekah Golden, and cryptic others. (Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editors of the day Whym and Hampus Eckerman.)
Amanda S. Green
“The gloves came off” – May 31
Over the last couple of days, I’ve been fighting the urge to respond to a post in a private Facebook group that is supposedly dedicated to the appreciation of the writings of Robert A. Heinlein. I say supposedly because it had become more and more apparent that wasn’t necessarily the case. But the crowning point came when one of the members posted a link to a story about why Connie Willis would not be presenting at the Hugo Awards. I’m not going to get into Ms. Willis’ reasons other than to say I don’t agree with them. But it was her decision and she will have to live with the consequences — good, bad or indifferent.
However, what got to me was the poster of the link starting out by saying that she was a so far unpublished science fiction writer who is just so angry at the “talentless and angry malcontents” who have supposedly ruined the Hugos. Okay, nothing new there. Still, it was a bit surprising to find such a position being advocated in a Heinlein forum, especially when it became clear that the whole issue was that there have been more men nominated for a Hugo and that more men have won than women. Again, nothing new….
Rachel Iliffe on Rachelloon Productions
“#HugoAwards Follow Up: Dextrous and Sinister” – May 31
- 2500 people are not representative of the entire SF fandom.
This is the number I’ve been hearing anyway, from various people–the estimate of who, in recent years, was actually submitting and voting on the books in question. And from what I can make out, these people are also mostly made up of the fan clubs of a certain select group of authors; suggesting they are perhaps not particularly diverse in their opinions.
Again, it’s not that anything untoward happened to lead to that–no one was stopping other people from getting involved, the whole event just seemed to have become more obscure in recent times, but the lack of mass involvement in recent years has been telling. Perhaps the event just hasn’t been publicised properly, I mean–it’s supposed to be like the Emmys for SF, right?
How was this ever going to change, but by some ‘radical’ action? I’m not saying it had to happen the way it did–I would have preferred it hadn’t since so many authors have felt the need to disassociate themselves–but for new life to be breathed into the Hugos, someone had to put them in the spotlight again. And I do think they needed new life.
Sarah A. Hoyt on According To Hoyt
“Truth and Fiction” – May 31
Which brings us to the other “Big Lie” that we just want “pulp” or “adventure” or “old fashioned” stories.
This incredible nonsense doesn’t pass the smell test. None of us has said that. What’s more, as far as I can tell, none of us believes that. I have in the past advised fledglings not to try to write in the style of long-gone-by writers (except the occasional send up. I’ve been known to do Bradbury pastiche.) Writing styles and tastes have changed. No one wants to work that hard for their fiction.
Much as I love say Jane Austen, I’m aware styles of prose have changed completely since her day. You see, we are a lot more visual. Also omniscient narrator doesn’t seem to do as well as it once did, because competing with visual media forces writing to employ its one advantage: putting you in a character’s head for a while.
Also, frankly, with some exceptions, I have great trouble reading science fiction published before the sixties or so, because I’m sensitive to language shifts and also because some of the assumptions are risible. (You know the exceptions, Simak, Heinlein and half a dozen others.)
Yes, I just did a post exhorting us to recreate the Golden Age, which I note File 770 immediately echoed, even though it had clear nothing to do with the Hugos. They picked it up because they thought it supported their narrative. One despairs of trying to talk to whole-word-readers.
That post of course exhorted writers to write for their fans not the publishing establishment. And it exhorted the fans to support their writers. It also exhorted writers to be a little more daring with their science (because that’s why science fiction is getting its lunch eaten by fantasy.) In my opinion that’s what Golden Age IS. It was not about writing pulpy. Not that I expect anyone there would get it.
Vox Day on Vox Popoli
“Sad Puppies can’t be wrong” – May 31
Let’s just say their behavior shocked me about as much as the discovery that the sun rose again this morning. There are precisely four things that have surprised me about the SJW response to date:
- John Scalzi more or less keeping his mouth shut. Now we know why.
- Charles Stross attempting to doxx Castalia and his insane Finnish Nazi theories. I genuinely thought he was smarter than that.
- The public approval of Mary Kowal openly buying supporting memberships for other people. It’s so hard to imagine anyone else making effective use of that tactic in the future.
- Popular Science being one of the publications in which they planted their hit stories. I knew from past experience they would plant hit pieces in the media. But that would not have been among the first 250 publications I would have guessed.
https://twitter.com/dunnolol4/status/604946335268102144
Lou Antonelli on This Way To Texas
“Still an honor” – May 31
Those of us who feel the Hugo award is an honor well worth pursuing, such a myself, probably feel some resentment – as I do – towards those Sad Puppy “fellow travelers” who have made statements indicating they want to burn down or destroy the awards.
Folks, if you don’t like the award, then why allow yourself to be nominated in the first place? I mean, we can all differ on the meaning, usefulness or value of an award, but if you don’t even believe in it – why bother? It’s a free country, which means we all have the right of free association. Nobody forced you to participate in the Hugo process.
At the very least, bear in mind – in light of the hostility that the Puppy effort has engendered – how your comments hurt those of use who would be proud and pleased to win one of the awards. Heck, I’m still proud to have been nominated, regardless how it turned out.
The “let it burn” folks on the Puppy side are, to my mind, the corresponding opposite of the “No Award everything!’ side on the anti side. I suspect the vast majority of people who care about the subject are in the vary large middle territory.
Vox Day on Vox Popoli
“367” – May 31
There are exactly 367 Vile Faceless Minions, as it happens, in addition to an unknown quantity of Rabid Puppies, Dread Ilk, and Ilk. As to what their staying power is, and if they are really going to stay interested enough to do this again next year, I have ordered Malwyn and her colleagues to unmuzzle them and thereby permit them to speak for themselves, if they so wish.
Camestros Felapton
“On petunias and whales: part 8” – May 31
Puppy slate adds data
The 2015 Puppy slates did not claim to be only nominating conservatives but it is reasonable to assume that if either of the puppy slates was intended to cove works that would otherwise not get nominated then the proportion of conservative writers should be higher. Notably the final nominations had a much smaller set of authors than might be expected. John C Wright was nominated fives times (it would have been 6 but one work was disqualified on a technicality). Given circumstances highly favorable to conservative writers it is notable that the nominations had to include the same writer multiple times (including 3 spots in bets Novella).
Camestros Felapton
“On petunias and whales: part 9” – May 31
A conclusion
Dave Freer’s argument does not show what he thinks it shows. The flaws in the argument are:
- His description of a left wing category of authors is probably faulty as it relies on key issues that enjoy more popular support in the US public than some conservatives realize.
- Consequently his estimate of 15% while accurate for genuinely “solid liberal” people is too low when considering Hugo eligible authors. The likelihoods he needed to model may have an upper range beyond 50%.
- The model he uses in his analogy has some flaws but is not unreasonable and the flaws don’t severely undermine his argument
- Using his model an expected proportion of 45% for what he calls “red” nominees would produce results that are not highly improbable and which match his analysis of past Hugo nominees for best novel.
- His choice of years to analyze may be distorted by avoiding 2004 and by including WorldCon years held in countries other than the US, but his analysis would still hold if his assumption of 15% for reds was correct.
- There is some plausible evidence of statistical bias against very conservative authors but overall the evidence of bias is slim
- Dave’s argument even if it was sound does not address multiple sources of bias – some of which may be beyond WorldCon (or Puppy) influence
The Sad Puppies have been so successful in discrediting @scalzi that he only got a $3.5 million book deal. Good work guys!
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) May 31, 2015
Joseph Tomaras on Skinseller’s Workshop
“My Last Word on the Hugos” – May 31
Campbell Award for best new writer: This is the category about which I am angriest, and not primarily or even secondarily because this was my first year of eligibility. Remember that “in addition to myself, I have also nominated Usman T. Malik (to whom I would be honored to lose), and Benjanun Sriduangkaew (who is in her second and final year of eligibility, and who I fear is unlikely to win due to some ridiculous drama).” And for a bit more about the latter, see this entry. Puppies aside, I have to question the legitimacy of a ballot with neither Malik nor Sriduangkaew. They are simply out-writing most everyone else in the present cohort.
I know I have read and enjoyed some short-form pieces by Wesley Chu. So I was mystified when I opened the Hugo voters packet, looked at the first page of The Deaths of Tao, and read this Bulwer-Lytton Award-worthy sentence:
The lone black car slunk through the dark, unlit streets, a ghostly shadow creeping past the decrepit warehouses and abandoned storefronts along the South Capitol at the outskirts of Washington DC.
Contrast that to my enthusiastic response to “Totaled” by Kary English. As for the rest of the nominees, they either have never reached my notice, or never merited it. Ballot:
- Kary English
- Wesley Chu
- NO AWARD
Lis Carey on Lis Carey’s Library
“Elitist Book Reviews, edited by Steven Diamond”
Unfortunately, during as much of the nominated year as I could push through, it’s visually hard to read–light text on dark grey background. I also didn’t find the tone and style of the reviews engaging, but I was probably less receptive because of the dark background and very light, thin text. For me, that’s a dealbreaker. If I’m going to read it, it has to be readable. Not recommended.
Lisa J. Goldstein on theinferior4
“The Hugo Ballot: Novel” – May 31
My main problem with this being on the Hugo ballot is that, as I said, it’s a formula. It’s comfort reading, the kind of book you turn to when you’ve had a hard day and need to relax, when you don’t want anything too challenging or surprising, when you’re pretty sure the good guys will win in the end.
Rebekah Golden
“2015 Hugo Awards Best Short Story: Reviewing Turncoat” – May 30
This story was readable. I have read some very old style English books that drone on with details that had greater meaning when they were written. It would have been more fun if I’d thought the numbers provided all had masonic meaning but the author gave no hints to that effect so again I’m not going to credit him with my random imaginings that are really just a desire for this story to have been better.
Rebekah Golden
“2015 Hugo Awards Best Short Story: Reviewing Totaled” – May 30
This story is the best of those I’ve read in the short story category so far. It made me cry at the end, touched on two interesting points, and was written literately. There’s been a lot of debate about what makes something “Hugo-worthy” and where/if to place something on the ballot if it’s good but not great, bad but not worst, etc. I find it vaguely sad to be reviewing short stories that should have been nominated for being “Hugo-worthy” and being impressed simply by it being written in a well put together English.
Marion in Deeds & Words
“The Hugos, 2015, Chapter Five: Big Boys Don’t Cry” – May 31
It’s too long.
I haven’t done an exact word count, but this thing must run about 14,000 words. That is at least 4,000 words too long. A look on the Hugo Awards page tells us that a shorter version of this appeared earlier and this version, which is longer, was published in 2014. If the longer version had provided context it could have been fine. The words here now are like empty calories, and gives a reader too much time to ask too many questions, questions the writer doesn’t answer.
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BTW, since the anthology HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! and Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects was mentioned in comments elsewhere, y’all might be interested in this:
The World’s First CrowdFunded Nation. It reads like a parody, but it isn’t. Well, not a deliberate parody.
ObSF: the International Scientific and Technical Workers’ Republic, from Ken Macleod’s Sky Road.
Speaking of Lethem (though not SF in the least):
Hugoless Pupdom.
Well, I made it. Jet lagged and recovering from a weekend in the Midwestern U.S. I have made it through five posts worth of comments. I now have a long list of stories and books that I am very grateful for and will try to compile into a single reference page.
Also, I’d like to thank Tuomas for changing from quoting comments like everyone else to linking to comments. It makes him very easy to spot and scroll past. My overwhelmed brain is much appreciative.
These are the days when I wish I wasn’t a completionist.
The reappearance of the “Nutty Nuggets” article motivated me to post:
“Space Girl’s Song,” originally written by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger in 1952, but this version is by Eliza Carthy and The Imagined Village from 2010. Run time about 4 minutes.
VD, for all his perceived heresy, is a Christian. Probably a fundamentalist of some stripe based on his expressed views. He was also a staff writer for WND promoter of Christian Dominionism.
Rebekah Golden: I now have a long list of stories and books that I am very grateful for and will try to compile into a single reference page.
You can track your Novels-To-Be-Read list over at Worlds Without End (I’ve started keeping my TBR list there). It appears that there are a number of novellas in their database, as well, and lots of collections/anthologies. So if you have a Short Fiction entry on your list, you can put the book containing it on your TBR list at WWEnd, and add a personal note on that book’s record to specify in which story(ies) in it you’re especially interested.
Since this really is 2.28 am on 2 Jne, I must get some sleep and leave you to do your own time travelling.
I’ve posted quite a bit about people in the US who assume that their country actually constitutes the world, and that Worldcon really is UScon, a claim which is so easily rebutted that it’s farcical. They are wrong.
However, in the interests of fostering communal relationships straddling the pond, I feel that I should point out that in English English the phrase ‘barking mad’ has a very straightforward meaning; so straightforward that it is often used as the abbreviation ‘barking’. This usage arose long before puppydum arrived on the scene, and will continue to exist long after puppydum departs.
If the Sad/Rabids had turned their towering intellects to this side of the pond re Loncon they would have realised that ‘barking mad’ did not bode well for marketing puppydum here, but alas, they overlooked this.
It’s remarkable how many people claim to have towering intellects whilst failing to demonstrate any intelligence…
Call me Noone! I hope you’re not a Cyclops!
Tragedy struck today when Peter Noone, front man for Herman’s Hermits, was crushed by a gigantic one-eyed monster.
Kyra, May Tree,
Wow. Just wow on those filks
David K. M. Klaus way back @3:18 pm–As a long-time (though long-distance) Locus minion, I can assure you that Charles didn’t sit on a throne. He did, however, have some very nice Stickley chairs and sofas.
Going to Maine : Tragedy struck today when Peter Noone, front man for Herman’s Hermits, was crushed by a gigantic one-eyed monster.
Flattered as I am, it’s not THAT big, and I don’t even know the ma- wait.
Oh, I got you now.
You people have all just made my day.
Will: Filkers with poems and fiskers with missives
Brilliant!
Tuomas Vaino: Have you ever offered crisp refutation,
You can officially come up into the treehouse now!
Mike Glyer: Nick Mamatas: The (something) of Whipped Voters could have a future.
The Pimper of Whipped Voters!
May Tree: Out of the noms that cover me
Wow!
Kyra: I met a traveller from an antique con
Wow!
Cat: Brad Torgersen is yearning for the fiction of his youth
Nice!
CPaca: “When the stench hits your nose,
Not too shabby either!
Adding to the Meta-Roundup!
The Whimper of Whippet Pups
Lois Tilton at 9:34 am:
“That assumes Freer sees File 770 as neutral space, which a lot of Puppies don’t.”
Last time I noticed, VD was claiming File 770 as a neutral space.
I suspect people may have conflicting definitions of that term. Didn’t VD spend time here so long as people were willing to engage him on substantive points and depart after he decided there was no substance? I didn’t get the impression that he minds much whether his partners-in-dialectic choose to insult him or not.
Oh and has there ever been a zine called The Neutral Zone? If not I’m claiming it right now.
Chris Hensley at 6:25 pm:
VD, for all his perceived heresy, is a Christian. Probably a fundamentalist of some stripe based on his expressed views. He was also a staff writer for WND promoter of Christian Dominionism.
I also wondered whether it is relevant that he lives in Italy, where saying men and women have different places in society and so forth might be considered relatively mainstream compared with the US, and some have turned uttering fascist-ish statements that are not really fascist when you look at them closely into a spectator sport.
This has been a fabulous thread for filking. Kudos to too many to rattle off. I hope some SMsOF are adding these to their binders.
JJ: The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley. It may have been the first book I ever read with a true female hero – I was nine when it came out, and I own a first edition paperback, so I suspect it was truly formative. Ever since, I have actively sought books with female heroes, cuz yo, I’m a chick and it turns out that matters.
Robin McKinley still holds a special place in my heart; I read all of her books, and even though not all of them work for me, she sent me on a journey that included so many other authors and books, and so enriched me, even saved me during dark times, that I can truly say I owe my life to Harry Crewe. When things are truly black, I pick up one of my (many, now) copies, one of the less worn, and reread.
I also really love The Hero and The Crown, but I’m a military brat, so Harry’s sense of isolation in a close community still resonates with me.
Other books that blew me away? Middlesex, A Wizard of Earthsea, Richard III (okay, that’s a play, but WHOA), Bridge to Terabithia, The Girl on the Road, The Belgariad, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Ammonite, Octavia Butler, Dreamsnake, Melissa Scott, Darkover, Pern, Crystal Singer, The Rivercourse Way by Alan Watts, The Tao of Pooh, Archie and Mehitabel, Howl, The Dharma Bums, Siddhartha… it never ends.
I will die with a stack of unread books on my left and a stack of finished and partially read books on my right, and a cat on my feet. The best and worst of all possible worlds.
& Wow, sorry, that went long. Break time!
Coming out of lurking to note a WHOA moment — a short story called “Forgetfulness” by Don A. Stuart.
Okay, two more: Dragonflight, the novella first (in my way-back youth, it was like rain in the desert to find a character like Lessa). And Witches of Karres for the sheer heady joy of it.
@JJ – I’ve been using http://www.goodreads.com for the past few years. I can see why you recommend http://www.worldswithoutend.com though as it appears to do a lot of the work of tracking what’s out in SF/F for me.
Brian Z: I also wondered whether it is relevant that he lives in Italy
Who says he’s still in Italy?
Mintwitch: I will die with a stack of unread books on my left and a stack of finished and partially read books on my right, and a cat on my feet.
You should probably consider the possibility that you will die UNDER a stack of unread books, with a furious and squashed cat clawing at your feet trying to get out.
@ Kyra – Bravo!
@ Paul Weimer – You get a virtual fistbump just for mentioning TEMPLE OF APSHAI
@ mintwitch – Mine was “Hero & the Crown” but yeah. I still buy McKinley the minute it comes out, even if they aren’t all speaking to me, because when they do, they work HARD. (I think I was part of a minority who loved “Chalice.”)
Glenn Hauman,
Brian Z: I also wondered whether it is relevant that he lives in Italy
Who says he’s still in Italy?
Oh, did he move? I don’t know. But anyway my impression was that some of the stuff that he says is pretty widely tolerated in Europe. Note, for example, that his entire blog archive is mirrored in Finland, which has pretty strict laws against inciting hatred that his web guys there are presumably well aware of.
“is pretty widely tolerated in Europe” – I should rephrase that – “has been tolerated in Europe in the past”
Mintwitch:JJ: The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley. It may have been the first book I ever read with a true female hero – I was nine when it came out, and I own a first edition paperback, so I suspect it was truly formative. Ever since, I have actively sought books with female heroes, cuz yo, I’m a chick and it turns out that matters.
That’s part of my answer too, with the other half being Mercedes Lackey’s Last Herald-Mage for doing the same thing for gay characters. That series was a godsend during a very difficult time.
Since I’ve joined a discussion of Vox Day’s views, I feel I should note that not too long after I called him out as a cryto-SJW, he said that participating in Stalinist ritual denunciation (however tongue-in-cheek I thought I was being at the time) makes me one too. I take the point, and I’ve commented on his post as follows:
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2015/05/sad-puppies-cant-be-wrong.html#c2057956607322181471
The Three Doggie Problem.
One of us. One of us.
mintwitch: Other books that blew me away… Pern
Yeah, as I posted elsewhere: the first time I read the Pern books and I hit the reference by the Ancients to “agenothree”, it was definitely a “WHOA!” moment for me.
Likewise, at the very end of Iain M. Banks’ The Algebraist: “WHOA!”
I’ve read Connie Willis’ Doomsday Book twice. And each time, I ended up overwhelmed at the end, at that “WHOA!” moment. Because ng gur raq, rirelbar ohg gur crefba sebz gur shgher vf qrnq. Gurl ner nyy tbar, naq abar bs gur crbcyr sebz guvf ivyyntr jrer, uvfgbevpnyyl, vzcbegnag. Ohg gurl unir arireguryrff yrsg na vaqryvoyr znex ba gur gvzr geniryyre. Juvpu ernyyl qebir ubzr gb zr — yvxr n thg chapu — gur snpg gung zbfg bs hf jvyy abg or erzrzorerq va uvfgbel, gung uhaqerqf bs lrnef sebz abj, ab bar jvyy xabj jr rkvfgrq. Naq lrg, sbe gur gvzr gung jr yvirq, jr jrer vzcbegnag gb gur crbcyr nebhaq hf. Rira qrfcvgr bhe vafvtavsvpnapr, rnpu bs hf fgvyy znggref.
I know that I have more of these, I just can’t think of any more at the moment.
I feel a bit overshadowed at this point by the awesome poetry filks, but nevertheless:
==============================
We rant on the blog John C
League of Evil and me
About sci-fi’s wrongs we did foam
Hating all night
Got into a fight
Well, I feel so broke up
I want a Hugo
So raise up the John C’s wail
See how all fandom frets
Call for the Puppies galore
Get a Hugo
Get a Hugo
I wanna Hugo, yeah yeah
Well, I feel so broke up
I wanna Hugo
Bold women are all skunks
Men shouldn’t play with their junk
Then liberals had to come and all have their say
Sheriff S. J.
Why don’t you just go away? Yeah, yeah
Well, I feel so broke up
I wanna Hugo
So raise up the John C’s wail
See how all fandom frets
Call for the Puppies galore
Get a Hugo
Get a Hugo
I wanna Hugo
Get a Hugo
Why can’t I get a Hugo?
(Raise up the John C’s wail)
Raise up the John C
Well, I feel so broke up
I wanna Hugo
Get a Hugo
Then Vox Day he threw a fit
Said Pink SF was all shit
And then he put all of our works onto his slate
Get a Hugo
Why can’t I get a Hugo?
These are the worst works
I’ve ever read on
So raise up the John C’s wail
See how all fandom frets
Call for the Puppies galore
Get a Hugo
Get a Hugo
I wanna Hugo
Get a Hugo
Why can’t I get a Hugo?
Bravo.
Owlmirror, that’s splendid.
Wow, some of you guys are talented 🙂
@owlmirror Had me laughing from the first line.
Donotlink for that Vox Popoli comment:
http://www.donotlink.com/fdlt
And oh wow, Vox Day of all people is calling Mercedes Lackey the worst fantasy author ever.
I can guarantee that Mercedes Lackey’s fiction has saved more lives than Ted Beale’s, as if the latter ever had any serious claim to doing so much good for others.
To Your Scattered Doggies Go?
The Paw of Oberon?
Fafhrd and the Grey Ratter?
Back, with wine. 🙂
Connie Willis, and especially her Domesday Book, are great, but I rank her slightly below Margaret Atwood. I realize Ms Atwood is problematic for the SFF community, and I totally get that, but between The Handmaids Tale, Surfacing, The Circle Game (poetry) and The Edible Woman, I feel that Atwood at her height was truly awesome.
Poems that slayed me by Ms Atwood:
You fit into me
like a hook into an eye
a fish hook
an open eye
And #2, which still kills me:
They eat out By Margaret Atwood
In restaurants we argue
over which of us will pay for your funeral
though the real question is
whether or not I will make you immortal.
At the moment only I
can do it and so
I raise the magic fork
over the plate of beef fried rice
and plunge it into your heart.
There is a faint pop, a sizzle
and through your own split head
you rise up glowing;
the ceiling opens
a voice sings Love Is A Many
Splendoured Thing
you hang suspended above the city
in blue tights and a red cape,
your eyes flashing in unison.
The other diners regard you
some with awe, some only with bordom:
they cannot decide if you are a new weapon
or only a new advertisement.
As for me, I continue eating;
I liked you better the way you were,
but you were always ambitious.
–sorry for the weird formatting, I cannot fix it…
Fafhrd and the Grey Ratter?
Fido and the Grey Rottweiler?
Fido and the Grey Rottweiler?
Ooh. I still prefer ratter as a parallel to mouser, but Fido’s a definite improvement.
Fido and the Grey Ratter?
My first WHOA moment was my introduction to SF (where the S meant ‘speculative’) reading “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury. It blew my young socks off ’cause I never realized until then that a story could step ahead or aside of current reality to make a comment on current reality. I really related to the feeling of alienation felt by the protaganist at everyone else conforming to societiy’s standards and feeling like the only one on the outside looking in and wondering ‘why?’.
I ran to the library to find everything written by Bradbury and found Heinlein and Asimov and Norton and…It’s been a lot of WHOA ever since. :^]
Fido and the Grey Ratter?
Ah you’re right, I was going with the sound and not the original title as I should have.
Sure, I like Fido and the Grey Ratter!
I sometimes think Ray Bradbury is the most under-rated of the “Golden Age” SFF writers. Yes, everyone knows and loves him, but he’s never quite in the Top Three Off My Head. Even though when I give the subject more thought, for me, Mr Bradbury is more influential than any other single author. He was just a little bit more weird than his contemporaries, IMO, it puts him right on the line. Mr Bradbury is a quiet storm, maybe. Every time I give the subject of great SFF a second thought, he’s there, and I wonder why he wasn’t a first thought. Hm.
Here’s to the pup who makes a slate and promises another.
Here’s to the pup who makes a slate and promises another.
He’s a foolish foolish thing,
He’s a foolish foolish thing,
He’s a foolish foolish thing,
And he’ll still be a bother.
Sasquon, fill the doggie dish until it doth run over!
XS: And oh wow, Vox Day of all people is calling Mercedes Lackey the worst fantasy author ever.
I’m sure she’s sobbing quietly to herself as she whips out yet another solidly selling series every long weekend.
Sasquon, fill the doggie dish until it doth run over!
Sasquon, fill the doggie dish until it doth run over!
For tonight pups merry be,
For tonight pups merry be,
For tonight pups merry be…
…tomorrow they’ll be neutered.
Reading all those comments on VD’s site reminded me why the puppies make me feel sad and tired. There were so many people talking about MRK and her offer to sponsor people without applying any kind of ideological test, but they were all getting it wrong.
They assumed that she was trying to buy votes and were against it, except for a few who could aspire to being half-witted, who realized that anyone could apply for the sponsorships. They were crowing about this as if they had discovered a weakness in her plan.
Absolutely none of them realized that this was the point of her offer in the first place and that she did not intend it to be an attack on the puppies or an attempt to get Hugo awards for her or her friends. They just aren’t able to model her thinking well enough to understand where she is coming from. I suppose this explains why they have so much trouble with both projection and understanding the motives of others. 🙁
>> …tomorrow they’ll be neutered. >>
WHUT.
Here’s to the pup who reads a slate and goes to bed quite rabid,
Here’s to the pup who reads a slate and goes to bed quite rabid,
He reads as he wants to read,
He reads as he wants to read,
He reads as he wants to read…
…and tanks the next Worldcon bid.
Here’s to the fan who reads SF and goes to bed bedazzled
Here’s to the fan who reads SF and goes to bed bedazzled
He votes as his heart instructs
She votes as his heart instructs
They vote as their heart instructs
They’ll find delight eternal! Ha! Ha! Ha
Here’s to the pup sees cover art and rages at the stories
Here’s to the pup sees cover art and rages at the stories
He votes as the slate instructs
He votes as the slate instructs
He votes as the slate instructs
He wants naught but old glories! Ho! Ho! Ho
Kurt, neutered as a fish? 🙂