Personal

Our place

I’m angry today and I don’t have time to be angry. So I’ll blog about it and hope that will blow off some of the steam. Or blog off some of the steam. Whatever.

It’s 2013. And people are still trying to put women, and in particular to the points of this blog post, SF writers, in their place. Wherever that may be.

Item #1: prolific, talented fantasy and SF writer Seanan McGuire recently broke the record for the most Hugo nominations in one year. The woman has five. FIVE. Best Novel and Best Novella (under her psudonymn Mira Grant), Best Novelette (twice), and Best Fancast (the Squeecast, which won last year.)

I believe she also is the first person to get nominated for a self-published work, as one of her novelettes is from her blog.

So of course people are speculating about her skill, and whether she’s “really that good” and how she must have leveraged her fan base or self-promoted too much. The undercurrent is there is no way she earned all of those nominations, and she needs to be brought down to her place. I don’t even know how she is dealing with it (well, she blogged about it, but you know what I mean) – last year I was a gibbering mess whenever I saw a blog post stating how I was unworthy of the Campbell nomination. The thing is, I saw a lot of people, all of them men, doing lots of promotion for a Hugo nod. I did not see Seanan do that. But she is the one getting the shit.

I haven’t read her fantasy, but her SF is engrossing and fascinating and I’ve loved everything I’ve read by her. She’s got serious talent (she won the Campbell in ’11), and she’s prolific as hell.

And if you think just having a huge number of online fans is the clear track to awards, tell me why BoingBoing blogger Cory Doctorow hasn’t won a Hugo, or John Scalzi hasn’t been nominated for every book he’s written? Hell, I’ve got a larger online following than a lot of beginning writers and I came in 4th for the Campbell last year. So sure, Seanan has a lot of fans, but one needs more than that for awards.

(For the record, I think Cory and John are talented as hell, just saying that there’s a lot more to winning these things that just “lots of online fans.”)

Item #2: self-publishing sensation Hugh Howey recently had a blog post called “The Bitch from WorldCon.” (no, I’m not linking it.) This is a fascinating and bizarre blog post, seeing as how WorldCon was EIGHT MONTHS AGO. He tells a story about how a woman was rude to him when he said he self published. And I’ll agree, if the events happened the way he said, she was really rude. But his blog post is written so offensively that he ends up looking like the bad guy by the end. He uses misogynistic charged words like “bitch” and dreams of his Hugo speech where he tells the story of her rudeness, grabs his crotch, and ends the post with “suck it, bitch.”

Then he complains about the “PC Police” in the comments and claims he isn’t a sexist.

If you use these words to describe women, you are doing it to put yourself above them, imply their opinions and/or anger are irrelevant  and to put them back in their place (which his blog post was dedicated to, essentially saying how awesome and successful he was and how stupid she was for a) thinking self-pub was pointless, and b) not knowing who he was).

The amazing thing was, he started out as the sympathetic person here! He did encounter a rude person at WorldCon! He did get dismissed by her when she found out he self-published! And yet, by bringing in her looks, calling her a bitch, and the obviously sexually degrading crotch grab fantasy and “suck it, bitch” comments at the end, he has presented himself as so much worse than she was.

The blog post went out on the 3rd, but today is when it exploded.

 

 

UPDATE: So, in the middle of me writing this, apparently he has apologized. Some think it’s good. Some think it’s bad. Me, I can’t read it because his site has crashed.

 

 

 

All of this shows how deeply sexism is ingrained. No man stood up and said, “Seanan McGuire is too uppity, she needs to be taken down a peg like a proper woman,” or “I’m going to call that woman who bothered me eight months ago a bitch just so I can make myself feel good” – well, I am betting the second thing happened. But the language here, the commentary, the fury in how dare she get five nominations/speak rudely to me? It needs to stop.

Women are here and we’re writing and we’re getting nominated for awards and we’re going to keep doing outrageous things like building fan bases and having opinions and perhaps even being rude at conventions or even WINNING awards. The thing to do when you’re angry? Call someone out on their rudeness, right there. Don’t nominate or vote for the works you don’t think are worthy. It’s that fucking simple.

And if that’s not really the problem, if the problem is that you truly think that women should know their place in SF, then, well, fuck it. I don’t have time for you.

Courtesy of The Oatmeal. It just makes me so happy. And I need a happy.
Personal

Two-Ply

I’ve been doing that hiding thing again. I need to take some time off from blogging and podcasting because Ghost Train to New Orleans is due this month. [Insert HERE all clever remarks about how I have to hold off on I Should Be Writing, because I should be writing. Go ahead. I’ll wait.] And then lots of stuff happens in SF and I feel I should write/podcast about it. But the SHOULD takes a lot of mental weight and I just get tired and say nothing. Damn.

Included here because of awesome.
Included here because of awesome.

Anyway. In short: I’m writing a book. I got nominated for the Campbell award. The Hugo Award nominees were also announced, and people got real mad. Nightshade Books is in trouble and people are freaking out about it. Roger Ebert died. Iain Banks is dying. Leviathan Chronicles Season 2 was released with a lot of my content. The Torment Kickstarter ended, setting a record. The Shambling Guide to NYC started getting mainstream reviews. Last week it sleeted in NC, and now highs are in the 80’s. But what’s the stupidest thing in the world is the fact that what got me blogging again after a hiatus was toilet paper.

Baby, you should know I am really quite a sweet guy
When I buy you bathroom tissue, I always get the 2-ply
~Weird Al Yankovic

In a frugal attempt to save money, and I also think I was in a hurry, I grabbed some cheap toilet paper at the store. I didn’t think much about it, or how thin it was when I put it on the roll. Then when it came time to use the tool for which I purchased it, I was astonished that I could see through it, and then realized I’d need more than I had originally thought. (Hence the money saved is wasted on having to use more to do the job.) Then there was the texture. THE TEXTURE ON MY TENDER BITS. Seriously, you don’t think about this shit until it HAPPENS TO YOU. 2-ply is important. It’s vital. Without it, civilization can crumble, man. CRUMBLE.

I bought some 2-ply right away, crying to the toilet paper gods that I will never go back. Now the evil 1-ply sits as an emergency, “we’re out of TP” backup. It watches me. It KNOWS.

I was at someone else’s house when I discovered that they, too, had 1-ply. I was immediately torn. You don’t complain about your friend’s TP. But I wondered about the etiquette of carrying around your own roll for times like this. I remembered sharing a beach house with a bunch of friends, and when we discussed who was bringing what to stock the house, this friend always wanted to be in charge of the paper products (napkins, paper towels, and TP) because they insisted on “their” brand of TP. I thought it was a bit strange, but the honor of supplying the tribe with recently slaughtered paper products is not something I particularly covet, so they took that duty.

Heh. “Duty.”

Sorry.

But now I understand, and for a brief moment considered traveling with my own TP. The reality here is I can’t remember to pack my daughter a fucking coat, so I would likely fail at remembering the travel TP. And if I remembered the TP and still forgot her coat, then I might as well turn in my Mom badge and my gun. (Yeah, that joke isn’t funny anymore. It’s a metaphorical gun. That shoots guilt. And bees.) Also it seems downright rude or awkward to head to the bathroom carting my own roll.

Oh, it’s not you, it’s me. Polyps. You know.

And hell, it’s really not that important. Just so you know I’m not freaky about this. But it did get me thinking about characterization. This is a tiny bit of my life, the middle class white whine about 1-ply toilet paper. But in fiction, this is the kind of thing that can define characters. Insisting on, eg, 2-ply, or brand name products, or the newest gadget when the old one works fine, can say things about a character without you having to say “Kevin was an upper middle class American.” Instead, maybe, “The first time Kevin felt 2-ply TP, he knew there was no going back. He’d go so far as clean adult book stores for the financial right to wipe his ass in comfort.” Not to mention a character always carrying her own special TP to the bathroom with her can say a lot about her view of the world, and her desperate need to control.

When you’re thinking about “how would your character have reacted to Kennedy being shot?” or “The waiter spills water down your character’s back, how does she react?” you can think, “what kind of TP do they buy? Are they a coffee snob? Generic or brand name? Boy shorts or bikinis? Target, Wal-Mart, or Belk?”

I just wrote 800+ words on middle class whining and toilet paper. I think I should probably stop and get to writing or something…

Also, I do realize what I am saying about MYSELF that I thought this much about toilet paper, and I blame book stress.

Personal

Campbell Award Nomination #2!

I was going to blog about this tomorrow, but since it will be April 1, I figured a) everyone is busy being distracted by the Internet’s funny, and b) some people might not take me seriously. So I have to get this in on March 31:

I got nominated for the Campbell again!

The John W. Campbell Award is given to the “Best New Writer” – meaning someone who has had their first pro sale in the last 2 years. So with my sale to Cabinet of Curiosities, I became eligible for the award, and my “Campbell clock” started to tick in 2011. So I got nominated in 2012 (lost, obviously) and now I’m nominated again in 2013, my last eligible year! Next year I’m not new anymore, so this is the last chance I have!

(Note, the Campbell is not a Hugo. Although it’s announced at the same time. And given at the same ceremony. Don’t get me started.)

I’m up against some extremely talented folks: Stina Leicht, Max Gladstone, Zen Cho and Chuck Wendig. Stina and Chuck are friends of mine, and I hope I get to meet Zen and Max at WorldCon this year.

Chuck thinks I am going to shank him in the kidney. I am not going to shank him in the kidney. On Twitter, Matt Wallace gave Chuck advice on how to stop my murderous rampage. Matt is now dead to me.

I’d love to put my new book on the Hugo Packet, but it has to be work published in 2012 or 2011. That’s not a ton of stuff, but I’ll put what I can in there, and point people to all sorts of other work. 🙂

I have several friends nominated for Hugo awards, and I’m thrilled for them all. But I have to say a special shoutout to my ISBW producer, Patrick Hester, who is nominated for two Hugos as podcaster with SF Signal podcast, and blogger with the SF Signal site (Best Fanzine nominee.) Go Patrick! Otherwise I won’t show favoritism; I’m too excited for everyone below to choose favorites at this time.

Best Novel (1,113 ballots)

  • 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)
  • Blackout by Mira Grant (Orbit)
  • Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
  • Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas by John Scalzi (Tor)
  • Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed (DAW)

Best Novella (587 ballots)

  • After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress (Tachyon Publications)
  • The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon Publications)
  • On a Red Station, Drifting by Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
  • San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats by Mira Grant (Orbit)
  • “The Stars Do Not Lie” by Jay Lake (Asimov’s, Oct-Nov 2012)

Best Novelette (616 ballots)

  • “The Boy Who Cast No Shadow” by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Postscripts: Unfit For Eden, PS Publications)
  • “Fade To White” by Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld, August 2012)
  • “The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi” by Pat Cadigan (Edge of Infinity, Solaris)
  • “In Sea-Salt Tears” by Seanan McGuire (Self-published)
  • “Rat-Catcher” by Seanan McGuire (A Fantasy Medley 2, Subterranean)

Best Short Story (662 ballots)

  • “Immersion” by Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld, June 2012)
  • “Mantis Wives” by Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld, August 2012)
  • “Mono no Aware” by Ken Liu (The Future is Japanese, VIZ Media LLC)

Note: category has 3 nominees due to a 5% requirement under Section 3.8.5 of the WSFS constitution.

Best Related Work (584 ballots)

  • The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature Edited by Edward James & Farah Mendlesohn (Cambridge UP)
  • Chicks Dig Comics: A Celebration of Comic Books by the Women Who Love Them Edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Sigrid Ellis (Mad Norwegian Press)
  • Chicks Unravel Time: Women Journey Through Every Season of Doctor Who Edited by Deborah Stanish & L.M. Myles (Mad Norwegian Press)
  • I Have an Idea for a Book… The Bibliography of Martin H. Greenberg Compiled by Martin H. Greenberg, edited by John Helfers (The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box)
  • Writing Excuses Season Seven by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler and Jordan Sanderson

Best Graphic Story (427 ballots)

  • Grandville Bête Noire written and illustrated by Bryan Talbot (Dark Horse Comics, Jonathan Cape)
  • Locke & Key Volume 5: Clockworks written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)
  • Saga, Volume One written by Brian K. Vaughn, illustrated by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)
  • Schlock Mercenary: Random Access Memorabilia by Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton (Hypernode Media)
  • Saucer Country, Volume 1: Run written by Paul Cornell, illustrated by Ryan Kelly, Jimmy Broxton and Goran Sudžuka (Vertigo)

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) (787 ballots)

  • The Avengers Screenplay & Directed by Joss Whedon (Marvel Studios, Disney, Paramount)
  • The Cabin in the Woods Screenplay by Drew Goddard & Joss Whedon; Directed by Drew Goddard (Mutant Enemy, Lionsgate)
  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro, Directed by Peter Jackson (WingNut Films, New Line Cinema, MGM, Warner Bros)
  • The Hunger Games Screenplay by Gary Ross & Suzanne Collins, Directed by Gary Ross (Lionsgate, Color Force)
  • Looper Screenplay and Directed by Rian Johnson (FilmDistrict, EndGame Entertainment)

Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) (597 ballots)

  • Doctor Who:“The Angels Take Manhattan” Written by Steven Moffat, Directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Wales)
  • Doctor Who:“Asylum of the Daleks” Written by Steven Moffat; Directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Wales)
  • Doctor Who:“The Snowmen” Written by Steven Moffat, Directed by Saul Metzstein (BBC Wales)
  • Fringe:“Letters of Transit” Written by J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Akiva Goldsman, J.H.Wyman, Jeff Pinkner. Directed by Joe Chappelle (Fox)
  • Game of Thrones:“Blackwater” Written by George R.R. Martin, Directed by Neil Marshall. Created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (HBO)

Best Editor – Short Form (526 ballots)

  • John Joseph Adams
  • Neil Clarke
  • Stanley Schmidt
  • Jonathan Strahan
  • Sheila Williams

Best Editor – Long Form (408 ballots)

  • Lou Anders
  • Sheila Gilbert
  • Liz Gorinsky
  • Patrick Nielsen Hayden
  • Toni Weisskopf

Best Professional Artist (519 ballots)

  • Vincent Chong
  • Julie Dillon
  • Dan Dos Santos
  • Chris McGrath
  • John Picacio

Best Semiprozine (404 ballots)

  • Apex Magazine edited by Lynne M. Thomas, Jason Sizemore and Michael Damian Thomas
  • Beneath Ceaseless Skies edited by Scott H. Andrews
  • Clarkesworld edited by Neil Clarke, Jason Heller, Sean Wallace and Kate Baker
  • Lightspeed edited by John Joseph Adams and Stefan Rudnicki
  • Strange Horizons edited by Niall Harrison, Jed Hartman, Brit Mandelo, An Owomoyela, Julia Rios, Abigail Nussbaum, Sonya Taaffe, Dave Nagdeman and Rebecca Cross

Best Fanzine (370 ballots)

  • Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
  • The Drink Tank edited by Chris Garcia and James Bacon
  • Elitist Book Reviews edited by Steven Diamond
  • Journey Planet edited by James Bacon, Chris Garcia, Emma J. King, Helen J. Montgomery and Pete Young
  • SF Signal edited by John DeNardo, JP Frantz, and Patrick Hester

Best Fancast (346 ballots)

  • The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
  • Galactic Suburbia Podcast, Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Presenters) and Andrew Finch (Producer)
  • SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester, John DeNardo, and JP Frantz
  • SF Squeecast, Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Seanan McGuire, Lynne M. Thomas, Catherynne M. Valente (Presenters) and David McHone-Chase (Technical Producer)
  • StarShipSofa, Tony C. Smith

Best Fan Writer (485 ballots)

  • James Bacon
  • Christopher J Garcia
  • Mark Oshiro
  • Tansy Rayner Roberts
  • Steven H Silver

Best Fan Artist (293 ballots)

  • Galen Dara
  • Brad W. Foster
  • Spring Schoenhuth
  • Maurine Starkey
  • Steve Stiles

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (476 ballots)

Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2011 or 2012, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo Award).

  • Zen Cho *
  • Max Gladstone
  • Mur Lafferty *
  • Stina Leicht *
  • Chuck Wendig *

* Finalists in their 2nd year of eligibility.

Personal

Awesome video about dealing with negative comments

I admit it. Unlike the very brave and self assured Vi Hart, I’m a fragile flower when it comes to comments, whether about my blog or books or whatever. So this email really struck home, and it’s funny as well (esp. when the video kinda goes off topic – WAX!) I love her style, and her advice is spot on.

My problem? Existential angst. Every damn time.

Meta

Email problems

I’ve heard from a few sources that email to mur.lafferty at gmail.com is bouncing. And since I have the account forwarded to another account, I haven’t accessed it in a while so I’m having trouble getting in.

So if you need to email me, PLEASE mail mightymur at gmail.com for the forseeable future. Thanks.

Update- this is fixed.

Meta

GUEST POST: Finding a writing group

Brad Parks writes from Brooklyn, NY: pharmaceutical copywriting by day, fantasy and science fiction the rest of the time. Out of desperation, he founded the now fabulously successful critique group Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers (we’re on the list) through Meetup.com. Brad blogs at bradzooks.com.

Finding A Speculative Fiction Writing Group

The value of having a group of your peers to critique your work cannot be overstated. But finding a group that meets your particular needs can be daunting. I know. My own search led me to create the group that works for me.

Your group may already be out there, so I’ve assembled this quick guide to finding it or starting it yourself.

Websites for writing groups
Meetup.com is a fantastic place to start your search for a writing group to help you hone your speculative fiction writing skills. Below is just a selection of successful groups, which for his purpose I’ve defined as more than 100 members and/or meeting on a regular basis.

Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers (BSFW) (also on Facebook and at bsfwriters.com)

NYC Shared World Sci-Fi Fantasy Meetup Group

North Seattle SciFi and Fantasy Writers

Milwaukee Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop

The Lawrenceville Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Group

Orlando Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers

Obviously, Meetup is a great place to look for an active group in your area, or if none exists, do what I did and create your own. Feel free to reach out to the organizers of BSFW for advice on starting and running a critique group like ours.

Other writing groups exist outside Meetup, and can be found with a simple online search, for example:

The Toronto Speculative Fiction Writers Group – Toronto, Canada (http://tosfwriters.megancrewe.com)

Writers of the Weird and the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County – NJ (https://sites.google.com/site/thewritersoftheweird/home)

Write or Die – Pittsburgh, PA (word.pghfree.net)

A list of lists
The Science Fiction Writers of America has a few lists of their own, which haven’t been updated in a while, though, like many of their other resources, are still worth checking out:
http://www.sfwa.org/tag/critique-groups/
http://www.sfwa.org/category/workshops-and-critique-groups/

Online writing workshops
For those who either can’t find a good group nearby or who live in remote areas where creating a group of your own isn’t practical, consider one of these excellent online writing workshops (thanks to Angie Smibert (www.angiesmibert.com/blog/?p=262) for the list)). Check each site for their requirements for participation in the community, which usually means you need to critique other writers in order to get your work critiqued.

Critters (www.critters.org)

Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror (http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com) [Mur Notes- I was heavily active here once and found a lot of good help!]

Other Worlds Writers’ Workshop (www.otherworlds.net)

Hatrack River (www.hatrack.com/writers)

Professional groups
These are generally not open to new members, as all the members are professional writers. But they frequently keep blogs dripping with useful advice from writers who’ve been there, and it’s a great place to keep up with your favorite writers.

Wyrdsmiths (www.wyrdsmiths.com) (blog at: www.wyrdsmiths.blogspot.com)
This Minneapolis-St. Paul area group features such outstanding authors as Lyda Morehouse, Kelly McCollough and Naomi Kritzer, and their blog is a balanced blend of news and advice.

Altered Fluid (www.alteredfluid.com)
A group composed of such luminaries as Saladin Ahmed, N. K. Jemisin, Alaya Dawn Johnson and Rajan Khanna.

Codex (www.codexwriters.com)
A dual-purpose workshopping and discussion group for writers who have met their definition of professional status.

As you can see, your next writing group may be just an online search away, or may even be one of the ones listed above. If you have a group to add to the list, please do so in the comments of this post.