OK… Vox is correct. SJW always lie.

And it is now fairly obvious that this is so. Example one: the latest Hugos. The congratulations on Stross’s site are worth reading. They won the vote. But they miss the point. By no voting “poor quality” work they demonstrate that the award is not about the fans. Because SF is as much about ideas as the quality of the writing.

>People have asked me if I’m disappointed in the results. Yes. But maybe not in the way you might expect. I’ll talk about the slap in the face to specific nominees in a minute, but I can’t say I’m surprised by what happened, when it was just an extreme example of what I predicted would happen three years ago when I started all this.

I said the Hugos no longer represented all of Fandom, instead they only represents tiny, insular, politically motivated cliques taking turns giving their friends awards. If you wanted to be considered, you needed to belong to, or suck up to those voting cliques. I was called a liar.

I said that most of the voters cared far more about the author’s identity and politics than they did the quality of the work, and in fact, the quality of the work would be completely ignored if the creator had the wrong politics. I was called a liar.

I said that if somebody with the wrong politics got a nomination, they would be actively campaigned against, slandered, and attacked, not for the quality of their work, but because of politics. I was called a liar.

That’s how the Sad Puppies campaign started. You can see the results. They freaked out and did what I said they would do. This year others took over, in the hopes of getting worthy, quality works nominated who would normally be ignored. It got worse. They freaked out so much that even I was surprised.

Each year it got a little bigger, and the resulting backlash got a little louder and nastier, culminating in this year’s continual international media slander campaign. Most of the media latched onto a narrative about the campaign being sexist white males trying to keep women and minorities out of publishing. That narrative is so ridiculous that a few minutes of cursory research shows that if that was our secret goal, then we must be really bad at it, considering not just who we nominated, but who our organizers and supporters are, but hey… Like I said, it is all about politics, and if it isn’t, they’re going to make it that way. You repeat a lie often enough, and people will believe it.

It isn’t about truth. It is about turf.

The other part of the sad puppies data is that the main editor at Baen, who edited the early Bujold, got Ringo and Flint and Kratman going… did not get an award and was mocked. It is enough to mobilize one.

What the left has done is:

1. drive a number of us into wanting to vote when before we did not care
2. ensured that I won’t by a TOR book for a good long while — unless second-hand (Charles Stross and L. Jagi Lamplighter, change your publisher. Amazon does sell your stuff second-hand)
3. entrenched party political voting at de Hugos
4. confirmed in my mind that the books that won Hugos this century are unreadable (with three exceptions — Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, American Gods and Paladin of Souls)

And there will be consequences.

This year, I voted my conscience. Worse, my brain was saying vote some of the non-Puppy works below No Award for strategic reasons. I didn’t do it. I looked at Vox’s and other’s recommendations and, regardless, I did what I thought was right and voted nos. 1-5, and avoided No Award in its entirety. I voted as a fan should, not an agenda driven pathetic “trufen” trying to protect their imagined turf.

I won’t do that again. I tried reason and I tried understanding (even if we disagreed). I tried honest discussion. At the end, they showed exactly what they are. And if they won’t play it straight, it’s time to tear it down.

To those who voted Butcher and Weisskopf, etc. below No Award, you are pathetic, miserable, malicious, stupid human beings. I’m sorry for you. Despite my pity, I won’t give you an ounce of consideration in the future.

On the issue of slates violating the unspoken conventions of “trufen”, that’s BS. It was a made up after the fact excuse. Read File 770. It was days, if not longer, before they brought up the issue of unspoken rules (which is in itself a crap argument).

What’s more, the Puppy “slate” had no coercive ability. It was a recommendation list. Some voted zealously. Some did not. The only real “slate” was No Award.

I’m not Rabid, but I am pissed. Slate away next year. Please. I’ll support you as I would love to stick them once or twice (or more). It will be 100% tactical next year; the time for compassion, debate and understanding has passed.

…

Last night was chilling. The cheers from the people who voted as a bloc to shut out the people nominated by fans, because those nominations were from WrongFans. The asterisks. One of the few people in this industry I treasure and respect, walking out of the ceremonies because they were slapping her in the face with the derision.

I can never again go to a ‘literary’ con and feel safe. These are the people who have spent months dragging people I know and respect through the mud, and my name with them. Calling me a token woman, and the other women who were on the ballot with me. Because we didn’t fit their narrative. I have no power, they have it all, and they revel in it. They have no qualms about punching down, making sure unwanted fans don’t get their noses into the establishment.

Today, they dance and celebrate, because they won. They won by voting no award as a bloc, while accusing the Sad Puppies of having done so.

Well, the question is what to do. The Sad puppies will become more disciplined and vote much more akin to a bloc, as will the minions of the Troll of TOR. And the Rabids will use the Kansas City as a means to practice 4GW tactics in real life. From across the pacific, is supporting worth it? Fifty dollars buys a fair number of e books from authors I like or a similar number of second-hand books from authors I like but who publish using the Troll’s empire.

But be aware of this: publishing houses survive, at this time, by goodwill. No one forces you to read a book. (Yet). And no one forces you to buy that book via an approved channel. The most powerful means of voting is with one’s wallet. So, in the meantime, I suggest you all read some Cedar Sanderson. She’s the author who the Troll’s minions distressed: and while you are at it read some works by John Wright and (as soon as she is out from under TOR) L. Jagi Lamplighter, who was foully abused by the chief editor of the publishing house that pays her royalties.