- Joined
- Jun 24, 2020
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, aka Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to "promoting, advancing, and supporting" science fiction and fantasy writing in America and beyond.
It was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight, an author most famous for writing the Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man", in an effort to ensure that J.R.R. Tolkien was fairly compensated for bootleg copies of Lord of the Rings being sold in the U.S.
Some very big names in fiction (whose reputations are otherwise clean) are members, such as Orson Scott Card, Michael Moorcock, George R.R. Martin, and Brandon Sanderson.
Okay, that's good. So why make a thread?
Well, it turns out that SFWA has a long and sordid history of members being pedophiles, child abusers, and all-around sex pests.
The Gruesome Twosome: Walter Breen and Marion Zimmer Bradley
Walter Breen (1928-1993) was a writer and one of the most prominent and authoritative numismatists (coin collectors) of his day. One of his most famous works is Greek Love, published in 1964, which celebrates pederasty. He was also an outspoken LGBT and NAMBLA activist.
He was arrested for sex crimes against children on several occasions; first in Atlantic City in 1954, which resulted in a probationary sentence. His reputation as a chomo led to an intense debate over whether to ban him from a convention called Pacificon in 1963, known as the "Breendoggle".
He was later charged in 1990 and 1991, catching eight counts of molesting a 13-year-old boy. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but died of liver cancer in 1993.
Thus saith Walter:
Breen was married to Marion Zimmer Bradley (1930-1999), a celebrated feminist and LGBT author known for works such as The Mists of Avalon and Darkover. She served as SFWA's vice president from 1978-1980.
Bradley knew of Breen's taste for little boys when she married him, and was not only cool with it, but enabled and committed it on their own children. She also personally prevented any investigation or notifying the authorities.
In 2014, their daughter, Moira Greyland, now an accomplished harpist and singer, wrote The Last Closet, a memoir of the abuse she suffered at the hands of Breen and Bradley. She revealed that she was the one who got Breen arrested.
She claims that Breen would fly off the handle when she interrupted the "alone time" he would have with little boys, and that he would wander around the house exposing himself and zooted out of his mind. She also alleges that several of her father's victims subsequently died by suicide.
Bradley, meanwhile, would beat her, force her to perform lewd acts with Bradley's lesbian partner, and even tried to drown her on one occasion.
This was also recounted in podcast interviews with Justin Drown of Obscura, and with SomervilleDan (a notorious ween for lolcow and SFWA member Patrick Tomlinson).
Though SFWA bigwigs such as John Scalzi nominally condemned these two once the truth came to light, it was too little, too late. In her interview with Obscura, Greyland said that sci-fi and fantasy is all rooted in "weird sex".
Lo and behold, these two were far from the only abusers that SFWA has circled the wagons around.
Ed Kramer
Edward Eliot Kramer (born 1961) is a prominent editor for SFWA authors and the founder of Dragon*Con, a convention surrounding scifi, fantasy, comics, and gaming.
His first arrest happened in 2000, when he was accused of molesting three teenage boys. Before this, he had a reputation for inappropriate relationships and always hanging around young boys.
He was put on house arrest while awaiting trial, but this only lasted a week once a teenage boy made a visit, which got him sent to jail. He was released back to house arrest in 2001 after an "injury" in custody.
This pre-trial detention dragged on for over a decade. During this time, numerous SFWA members rushed to his defense, and even started a legal defense fund for him. Harlan Ellison went so far as to compare the Gwinnett County Sheriff's office to the Spanish Inquisition, while Anne McCafferey and Darrell Schweitzer chalked it up to bigotry and anti-Semitism (this was in Georgia, so the only reason anyone there would have a problem with kidfucking is that they're unenlightened redneck bigots).
He took an Alford plea (essentially No Contest) on this charge in 2013.
His other offenses happened in 2011 when he met up with a 14-year-old boy in a Connecticut motel, which violated his probation; in 2017, when he was taking pictures of boys in a doctor's office; and in 2019, when he tried to hack a courthouse computer and police found CP on his personal computer.
Blogger and former member Vox Day claimed that SFWA president Mary Robinette Kowal was present at Kramer's sentencing, but never revoked his membership and even kept him on the board.
Samuel Delany
Samuel Delany (born 1942) is a SFWA Grand Master. His literary works are known for "graphic descriptions of murder, child molestation, incest, coprophilia, coprophagia, urolagnia, anal-oral contact, necrophilia and rape." His most famous book, Hogg, is about an 11-year-old boy named Cocksucker being tortured and raped by a man named Hogg. Some excerpts:
“They call me Hogg because a hog lives dirty. I don’t wash none. And when I get hungry, I eat my own snot. I been wearin’ these clothes since winter. I don’t even take my dick out my pants to piss most times, unless it’s in some cunt’s face. Or all over a cocksucker like you. What I usually do is park the truck in the sun with the light comin’ in and piss my pants up somethin’ terrible.” The truck turned another corner; he dropped one hand from the carpeted wheel between his legs, hefted his meat around some – but I couldn’t tell if he was doing it or thinking about it. “Yeah, boy, all that nice hot stuff, running down my leg, and squirmin’ my ass around in it…I got worms, boy – had ’em ever since I was a kid. But I won’t get rid of ’em cause I like the way they make my asshole itch. I gotta drink a lot of beer and eat a lot of pizza pies and French fried potatoes to keep a gut like this and all them little fuckers fed. I got a hairy ass and it sure cakes up crusty. But I just don’t believe in wipin’ when I got a freaky little son of a bitch like you to eat it out for me. Now, how do you like that?”
He is also a regular reader of NAMBLA's newsletter.
His appointment to Grand Master was met with hosannas and praise by the scifi community.
Jo Walton, World Fantasy Award Winner:
Cat Rambo, former President of SFWA:
Rachel Swirsky, Hugo Award winner:
Cat Rambo
Cat Rambo (born 1963) served as SFWA's president from 2015-2019, followed by one year as its vice president. In addition to being one of the oldest enby dangerhairs on the planet, her response to MZB being outed as a child abuser was whataboutism over Trump and Roy Moore.
Patrick Tomlinson and funding frivolous lolsuits
SFWA loaned $100,000 from its charity funds to lolcow Patrick Tomlinson, who sued Cloudflare for dox on users of both Kiwi Farms and the Opie and Anthony Forums. Why'd he sue? Because they were calling him fat online, and they've been trolling him ever since he had a hand in getting them kicked off of Reddit.
He lost in the most lulzy way, now owing the site owner Quasi tens of thousands of dollars.
When Obscura revealed they were doing an episode on SFWA's crimes, Pat got curiously defensive.
Patrick has his own thread, so you can read all about him there.
David Asimov
The son of renowned sci-fi author Isaac Asimov (who was himself rumored to get handsy with women). In 1998, police raided his home in Santa Rosa, CA, and found a vast CP collection.
Arthur C. Clarke
— as quoted in the Sunday Mirror, 1998.
SFWA's refusal to distance themselves from these monsters shows that they are a-okay with their behavior.
Moira Greyland says that she was paraded around to perform her music as "Marion Zimmer Bradley's daughter", but that all stopped when she came forward about the abuse she suffered at the hands of their bigwigs. She also blamed the social fallacies of geek culture, that outcasts, nerds, and rejects shouldn't be turned away again.
SFWA has decided, on multiple occasions, that their buddies and their shitty books were more important than the safety and dignity of children.
— John Scalzi, former President of SFWA
Special thanks to:
- Thomas Apostle and the Rascals at Opie and Anthony forums, for their brilliant detective work
- Moira Greyland, for her courage to speak out and powerful story of seeking healing
- Dan Mullen and Justin Drown, for their respective interviews with Moira
- "Daniel" of Castalia House
- Vox Day and Jon del Arroz, who were excommunicated from SFWA for being shitlords and bringing some attention to their misdeeds
Further Reading/Listening:
- Safe Space as Rape Room by "Daniel"
- The Last Closet: The Dark Side of Avalon by Greyland
- Thomas Apostle Investigation
- Greyland Interview on Nice Podcast, Stupid
- Avalon Lost on Obscura True Crime
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