Aug
22nd
2018
And? · 7:42pm Aug 22nd, 2018
Okay, so the Hugo Award winners were announced, and there’ve been a few questions of what I’d have to say about it. So here we go. My response?
And?
Yeah, that’s pretty much it. There seem to be a lot of news outlets saying how shocked and surprised they are that Jemisin took the first ever triple-crown … but she said she was going to do that three years ago when her first book won. As did her publisher, and her friends … In fact, most of the comments I saw from last years Hugo Awards were of the vein of ‘something else better not win, because Jemisin deserves this!’ Same for this year, though it was more of a ‘How could anything else win? Jemisin is going to have the triple!’
So my response to this year’s winners is “And?” Or maybe “So?”
And the trash fire just keeps on burning!
But seriously, I'm waiting for the moment that the various HA tools realize the axiom that is already filtering--albeit slowly--through other forms of entertainment such as movies, comic books, and video games in particular; "Go woke, go broke." When they see that their exclusive recognition circlejerk doesn't translate into actual hard sales, what will their reaction be?
4924126
Well, to a degree it can mean hard sales. Jemisin's work is surely selling well right now, as all these major news outlets are reporting her victory.
The catch is will the people that read it based on those reports feel stung if they don't like it? And who will they blame? Sales now, sure. But it can be a short-lived flame.
4924126
Not-unrelated slap-fight found on Twitter:
Not just "on Amazon", best selling period in SF ebooks:
authorearnings.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Slide35.jpg
And the big publishers don't want to sell it, so everybody's doing the Fry "shut up and take my money" thing at the indies:
authorearnings.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Slide37.jpg
4924167
For all that talk of "trying to see the flaws of your own culture from the outside" that comment seems pretty blind to their own misgivings and shortsightedness.
So ... par for the course with the "woke" crowd, then.
4924167
Interesting to see that books classed solely as "LGBT" are almost at the very bottom for sales. I'm willing to wager that those books have little to nothing by way of content beyond identity platforming.
And yes, I happen to like big guns in space very much myself. David Weber's most notable series has been a long-running personal favorite, among many others.
What I'm getting from all this (the blog post, etc.) is that we've already won, and Worldcon is lamely trying to proclaim its relevance to a public rendered apathetic to its self-engineered plight.
Heh.
It's almost like people who think writing only exists to convey The Message and has no responsibility to be, well, readable don't have a clear idea of how people work. It's the darndest thing.
4924167
What an interesting chart.
While military SF isn't quite my favorite, it sure does hold a special place in my heart. (See my Ciaphas Cain collection.) Space Opera is probably my favorite SF subgenre, since I love seeing relationships in bizarre situations as well as alien perspectives.
4924217
Actually, I'd call it Worldcon won. They got exactly what they wanted: to be left alone.
The problem is, they didn't realize people would actually do that. As a friend of mine put it: “You can’t be independent of everyone, and then claim to be relevant to everyone. Either you effect each other or you don’t.”
Worldcon wanted to be independent of everyone. No voters but those that were "approved" or "proper." No plebeians or folks without enough money to attend in person each year for several years running to cultivate the "proper" mindset. And so that's what they got. They did win. They got the prize of being unimportant to everyone else and being left to their own devices.
Have fun! Just don't be surprised when all those "plebeians" no longer pay you any attention because that's what you demanded, quite loudly, that they do.
4924234
Expecting the in-crowd to go something akin to "Take that, alt-right/racist/homophobe/[Insert_Provocative_Label_Here]!", trying to garner some outrage. Some cherry-picked tweets (probably from trolls) and they get their journo buddies to write a counter-outrage article demeaning the non-woke.
Meanwhile the those outside the echo chamber are watching the meltdown munching on popcorn.
Fully expecting low sales to be met with blaming the Puppies (and GG) regardless, because those groups have become the boogeymen.
Didn't know the vote count dropped that drastically. But good grief Ursula Le Guin almost got beaten out of her category.
4924527
Oh, they already have. Jemisin's acceptance speech, judging from the news, was entirely dedicated to this. Including a statement that she was holding up her rocket trophy like a 'shining middle-finger to [everyone who says her opinions are wrong.]' And it had the usual SJW buzzwords, etc etc.
Then again, it's not surprising. The second book in her trilogy apparently has second-person bits that go on rants telling the reader what a horrible, racist, sexist individual they are, so ...
Damage control from File 770: Dr Who monopolizes Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form, and these few people monopolize the editor, magazine, artist, and fan categories, so it's totally not weird for Jemisin to go 3 for 3 in Best Novel.
Sure, guys. Keep telling yourselves that.