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Woke SciFi Group Eating Their Own
Mercedes Lackey
To whit, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) this past week turned on one of the most reliably liberal and accepting members, who had just received the prestigious award of Grand Master status at their Nebulas convention, and kicked her, and her husband who wasn’t even present, out of the convention.
Her crime, according to the SWFA was her use of a “racial slur” during a panel discussion. More on that in a minute.
When she was announced as the next Grand Master in 2021, the SWFA had to wring an apology out of her about her advice to aspiring writers that copy-editors are going to force you to choose a set of pronouns for your trans character and force you to stick with it and thus if you truly want to write a fluid character it is better to refer it them by name or title.
From SWFA in 2021:
After we announced Mercedes Lackey as SFWA’s next Grand Master on 11/4, stances that Ms. Lackey had taken on writing trans characters resurfaced online. One was from a reader Q&A conducted in 2003, and another was from a 2017 Quora response on her feelings towards using chosen pronouns at the time.
We recognize that these comments have caused harm to the trans community. Last year, we said, “We have a responsibility to admit our failings and to continually commit to dismantling [..] oppressive and harmful systems, both within this organization and ourselves.”
SFWA cannot apologize on Ms. Lackey’s behalf, but we can acknowledge our contribution to this hurtful situation and stand with those in the trans and nonbinary communities. With that in mind, we asked Ms. Lackey if she would make clear her current feelings on these issues.
and Ms. Lackey’s response:
Before all else: trans women are women, and trans men are men. This is something I fiercely believe, and will always support.
I have made awkward statements that have caused pain or distress. My desire is, and has always been, to support the trans community and be the best ally I can. I regret that I communicated poorly and fell short of the mark.
I’m affirming here that I do, and always will, support trans rights and trans people. An individual’s pronouns are every bit as valid — and far more important — than the dictates of copy-editors in the commercial publishing industry. I wish I’d listened to you and fought for those pronouns when copy editors changed them.
I have never felt that I had the ability to write trans point-of-view characters well, and I expressed that badly in the past. Trans characters in fiction are more than just their gender, and their stories should show the richness of their whole lives in full. I am grateful for the many authors who are doing that well today. They are inspiring.
I will do everything in my power to continue to grow and learn, as I feel we all should. I have learned a lot from patient friends and fans. I apologize for hurting people.
Samuel R Delaney
I mean this apology has it all. She abases herself before the mob. She admits that she caused distress and could have done better. That she was ignorant of the proper way of dealing with the topic, even though that “proper” way wasn’t around when she made some of the statements. She even admits that in attempting to write trans characters she was causing pain to trans people because she can never truly understand them. Mao would have been proud of this struggle session.
One would think that after abasing oneself before the work mob that one would be fine…but one would be wrong. Fast Forward to the Nebulas and Ms. Lackey is on a panel called “Romancing Sci-Fi & Fantasy”. They are discussing the work of Samuel R Delany,
During this conversation about Mr. Delaney’s books, full disclosure I have never read any of them so I cannot say anything about their content or quality (though I am assured it is high), Ms. Lackey referred to him as a “colored person” while praising his body of work. The SWFA has graciously removed the video of the panel from their website so great is the shame of this racial slur.
This was absolutely terrifying to another author on the panel. Jen Brown, who has to her writing credits: a novelette; short story; two podcast episodes; and two “flash” (not sure what that is), but she is Black and Queer and she/her are her pronouns so she is obviously an authority that should be listened to. She didn’t say anything during the panel, because…well, you can read her Twitter thread.
So. The "Romancing Sci-Fi & Fantasy" panel wrapped. Instead of celebrating, I'm here–holding grief & frustration–over what happens when language is misused (regardless of intent).
— Jen Brown 👀✨🌈 (@jeninthelib) May 22, 2022
The “silence might be suffocating”, by which she means that she didn’t say anything about the racial slur of calling a Black man “colored”.
As to why the SWFA immediately kicked out Larry Dixon (spouse of Mercedes Lackey) who was not at the panel, nor did he say anything on the subject…well, you could ask them, but I doubt they will respond. Guilt by association one supposes because they don’t even mention that in their statement:
Dear Nebula Conference Participants and SFWA Members,
We learned yesterday that while participating in the “Romancing Sci-Fi & Fantasy” panel, Mercedes Lackey used a racial slur. First, we apologize to our attendees and the other panelists who were subjected to that slur. We’ve disabled access to the panel to avoid any additional harm being caused.
Second, we are immediately removing Mercedes Lackey from the conference and the additional panels she was scheduled for, in accordance with SFWA’s Moderation Policy. The use of a racial slur violates the instruction to “Respect all cultures and communities. Do not make derogatory or offensive statements even as a joke.” That applies to everyone in a SFWA space, at all levels of their career
The NAACP could not be reached for comment, though sources say that Mr. Delaney did not take offense.
Published in Entertainment
Well, they used “conjure” in the series “Firefly” and the follow-up movie “Serenity,” how about that? :-)
Space: 1999 had an alien race that “hypnotized” people into believing they were human(oid) and likeable.
Futurama had “brain slugs” that took control of people. And of course the Hyno-Toad that was ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNO-TOAD!!!
Not really ahead, that was predicted in what I quoted. I got that at least a few years ago now, not sure how long.
I think I’ve read one Hugo nominated book in the last decade. It won’t be remembered.
I have new favorite authors in the kindle book world, and centuries of treasures to discover.
The down side there is that I think only younger/more-naive people can appreciate reading Asimov now, he was rather a Luddite himself and that’s far more obvious now than it was reading his “new” stuff in the 50s and 60s.
Pay attention to the treads on that treadmill.
retarded -> cognitively challenged -> intellectually disabled -> progressive -> retarded -> cognitively …
It’s was changed to “Developmental Disability” in 2005, apparently.
He always believed in technocrats, too.
I went and dug up Dick’s Total Recall. That’s … not it.
Awesome episode of Rick and Morty though.
I thought of this, but didn’t know the term yet, when I was told People of Color had retooled Colored People. After a certain point you have to start retreading older discarded terms. At the time I believe the Afro-American was the leading and oldest Black newspaper in the country. I understand it’s still read by many African-Americans.
I’ll go even farther: when I see something has won any kind of award, I assume it’s woke trash. Unless I know for certain that the organization giving the award is anti-woke, I’ll just assume it’s all woke.
It is so hard to stay up-to-date on the
correctacceptableapproved language these days.But it’s so funny, how even what the Left said themselves last week, gets them cancelled this week.
Um, you want it back?
I had a large volume of Hugo winners from like the 70s I think, was still brand new, a Book Club edition. I donated it to the community library. Kids today need SOMETHING good to read!
Do not miss Sarah Hoyt’s post about her experiences with the SFWA.
It’s a power trip for them. They get to choose what terms will get you canned, and you just have to accept it without question. Even though there’s no way to rationally justify it. Why is “oriental” off limits but not “Asian” … when they’re synonyms? Answer: Because they say so. They really get off on this. Such disgusting people.
I have found that nearly all the Sci-Fi I have read that was written in the last few years is focused on trans or other sexual deviance.
I think you need to avoid the publishers (go indie) to find anything that doesn’t parrot the rainbow world view.
It was redacted from existence while you weren’t watching.
Thanks for bringing this absurd event up for discussion here. It had been all over two of my FB groups (Write of Center Authors and the Monster Hunters International fan group run by Jack Wylder for Larry Corriea) since Sunday evening. The “woke”-corruption of SF has been going on for a while as several here have pointed out. Baen seems to be the only sane publishing house left. Buy Baen books.
Did you mean the brain slugs that took over the Rastafarianesque character or the brain worms that Frye got from the space truckstop burrito?
According to Hoyt and MadGeniusClub are both worth reading regularly.
They didn’t just take over Hermes, at one point I think they had everyone but Fry. (Fry’s died of starvation, I think: the old joke, no brain/thoughts to feed on.)
The “fast food” beings were called Poplars, as I recall.
Somewhere I have a paperback copy of a collection of short stories by J. G. Ballard with a preface by Anthony Burgess. It seemed that they both had a dislike for the term “science fiction” and preferred instead “speculative fiction”, the fiction of untrammeled imagination, or of the pushing of a scientific datum to its theoretical limits. If one is speculating, one is entitled to be wrong. What, after all, is one to make of a story entitled The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered As A Downhill Motor Race?
It is interesting how the people who insist they are the most marginalized, constantly beset by the oppressive forces of society, somehow muster the power over and over to banish people who offend them.
I can understand why. Burgess’ spec-fic wants nothing to do with the genre; it’s apart, on its own, wanting to be read as literature instead of something that might be lumped in with rocket-ship pulp. Although he’d have to admit that part of The End of the World News is straight sci-fi, since he’s just novelizing a script for a failed remake of When Worlds Collide, if memory serves.
Clockwork didn’t come true. 1985‘s vision of a Britain brought low by unions didn’t pan out. But have a gander at the summary of The Wanting Seed, and ask yourself if we’re not in Interphase right now.
Interesting book; not his best. But the idea that government swings between Pelagian and Augustinian ideas always stuck with me, as did the government posters discouraging fertility to solve scarcity and overpopulation. It’s sapiens to be homo!
No kidding. Tell me again how y’all are the poor, helpless, oppressed and downtrodden minority as you burn down your own house which I helped pay for by purchasing your books, you bleeding gits!
> Pelagian and Augustinian ideas
I had no idea what that meant so I entered “Pelagian vs ” and got no further. Duckduck.go filled in the rest. I guess that’s a common search string. I read it and will re-read it tomorrow when I’ve had some caffeine and will be awake.
Augustines Vs. Pelagius, and Why it Matters Today! – William P. Farley, Author (williampfarley.com) for anyone else who was equally uniformed.
If you just ‘like’ the comment, people will think you knew all about it.
I’m holding grief and frustration, too, but also a pair of nines.
I just get kind of sad picturing this woman getting excited about this convention, never suspecting that she was going to get pilloried over her choice of words. Did anyone there seriously believe that she was a racist? What a nightmare. Will it end up being like a DEI training, with those who can staying away, and those who attend clamming up, or sounding like a tourist reading from a phrasebook?
I remember Dahlgren , but even reading it as a teenager I found it a bit mannered; maybe Delaney wrote it as a very young man. Even Herbert had to get though Destination Void before he could settle down to relatable writing. I’ve been thinking about re-reading “Case and the Dreamer “ (Sturgeon) but I’m a little afraid it’ll now look like an old Kolchak episode, a cardboard monster with a laughable recorded roar. Now, the Caves of Steel trilogy, that may have an early-sixties vibe but I just re-read them and found something I missed as a teenager: the message Do What Scares You. Can we rebuild a do-what scares-you world?
What’d this woman write? Maybe I should buy one, a gesture on behalf of those who mean well.