Steelmanning the pro-aborts

Remember when the wrongfun brigade screamed and shouted and gnashed their teeth that the Sad Puppies were cheating the Hugo Awards through “slate voting,” or whatever the hell they called it? That we were somehow gaming the system to put our racist, sexist, misogynistic, fascist authors (many of whom were non-white, female, and/or flaming libertarians)… Continue reading Steelmanning the pro-aborts

Fisking Hysteria

So a couple of days ago, I finished revising “The Freedom of Second Chances” and started looking for places to submit it. That was how I found this anthology call, for a pro-abortion anthology titled Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic: An Anthology of Hysteria Fiction. The guidelines were so unbelievable that I just have to fisk… Continue reading Fisking Hysteria

Trope Tuesday: Manic Pixie Dream Girl

Oh dear. I’m probably going to take some heat for this one, especially if it gets picked up by File 770. What is a “manic pixie dream girl”? Tvtropes puts it this way: An upbeat young woman whose love gives the brooding male hero a new lease on life. Wikipedia puts it this way: …the… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Manic Pixie Dream Girl

Further thoughts on the drama in the SF&F community and a rescinding of some previous thoughts

About a year ago, there was a big discussion in the science fiction & fantasy community about sexual harassment and sci-fi conventions. As a result of that discussion, allegations were thrown out about a certain senior editor at Tor, rumors began to fly, and through what some might characterize as popular justice and others might… Continue reading Further thoughts on the drama in the SF&F community and a rescinding of some previous thoughts

Thoughts on the recent drama in the SF&F community

NOTE: I’ve since changed my views and retracted many of the things I said in this blog post. You can find a link to the retraction here. Oh, boy, has there been a lot of drama in the science fiction & fantasy community recently.  From the trouble with the SFWA bulletin to the revelation of… Continue reading Thoughts on the recent drama in the SF&F community

Sorry, no Trope Tuesday (again)

Yeah, sorry, no Trope Tuesday this week.  Third week missed in a row!  Not so good.  Thing is, I’m really focused on finishing Star Wanderers: Reproach (Part VII) right now, with a self-imposed deadline of May 31st. I figure that’s more important, and I really don’t want to break my momentum. I’ve been vacillating a… Continue reading Sorry, no Trope Tuesday (again)

Trope Tuesday: Rebellious Princess

You know that innocent and beautiful fairy tale princess, with the tricked out dress and the power to summon woodland creatures?  The one with a tendency to get kidnapped, but who always ends up happily ever after with her prince charming? Yeah, that’s not this princess. A rebellious princess would just as soon puke if she… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Rebellious Princess

Trope Tuesday: The Bechdel Test

The Bechdel Test is a way to measure how prominently women figure in a story.  It mostly comes up in discussions of TV and film, but can also be applied to works of literature.  To pass the test, the story must have at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: The Bechdel Test