Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) - Nerds protecting nonces

[Misogenes]

It’s not any “thing” that makes a story, any of those techniques or devices, but people. It’s people that make a story good.

Good Lord, I stopped reading a bit after this part. But sure, when I'm reading words on a page of fiction describing what characters are doing and thinking, I'm somehow psychically connecting to the author and gauging the quality of their work based on their personhood or whatever.

Of course, when your writing skills are lacking, selling a cultivated image of yourself is a natural road to travel.

Spoiler: Sperging a little.

Is it neat if an author has real-world experience that they translate to their stories? Sure. Can author can write great military fiction without having served, or write great fantasy without being a wizard? Absolutely. Can someone with real-world experience with a profession or location be a shit writer? It's more likely than you think. I don't care to have a parasocial relationship with authors I read, personally. I actually kind of hate learning about them, because it turns out a lot of people, including writers, are annoying or awful once you get to know them. So I'd rather not. I'm fine consooming product from a faceless word-slave whose name is merely a brand, and I'll judge those products accordingly.

People of each place and time coming together to collectively decide if a piece of writing is good invariably makes it so.

"iT's gOoD iF wE aLL sAy iT iS." Consensus does not quality make. I have had some absolute slop paraded out to me as "quality" and it physically pains me to see how bad it actually is on even just a technical level.

I should at least try to finish reading the article just to get the full context of what he's yammering on about but goddamn, there are better uses of my time.
Edit: had to fix failcode

 

[JJLiautaud]

Genuinely one of the most vapid understandings of TCfL and like Christianity I've seen, really fucking painful to listen to.

 

[From The Uncanny Valley]

Good Lord, I stopped reading a bit after this part. But sure, when I'm reading words on a page of fiction describing what characters are doing and thinking, I'm somehow psychically connecting to the author and gauging the quality of their work based on their personhood or whatever.

Of course, when your writing skills are lacking, selling a cultivated image of yourself is a natural road to travel.

Spoiler: Sperging a little.

Is it neat if an author has real-world experience that they translate to their stories? Sure. Can author can write great military fiction without having served, or write great fantasy without being a wizard? Absolutely. Can someone with real-world experience with a profession or location be a shit writer? It's more likely than you think. I don't care to have a parasocial relationship with authors I read, personally. I actually kind of hate learning about them, because it turns out a lot of people, including writers, are annoying or awful once you get to know them. So I'd rather not. I'm fine consooming product from a faceless word-slave whose name is merely a brand, and I'll judge those products accordingly.

"iT's gOoD iF wE aLL sAy iT iS." Consensus does not quality make. I have had some absolute slop paraded out to me as "quality" and it physically pains me to see how bad it actually is on even just a technical level.

I should at least try to finish reading the article just to get the full context of what he's yammering on about but goddamn, there are better uses of my time.
Edit: had to fix failcode

Is this why people love Twilight again for some insane reason?

 

[Ser Prize]

iirc he's pretty right winged and that might be why they won't give him any kinda SFWA grandmaster award or anything similar.

I mean, he wrote a book about America turning into a Caliphate. Man's at least a Neocon of some sort if not a full fledged "too schizophrenically based".

Dan Simmons got in a great deal of trouble with the "right people" when he wrote a novel heavily implying climate change was a fraud, that the laws passed to help ameliorate it lead to the ham-stringing and ultimate collapse of the USA economically called Flashback. He unfortunately kind of pussied out when called out about it, but it is still kind of a hoot to read.

I read Flashback on Elwood's accidentally recommendation and I have no doubt Simmons is at least 75% chud. Holy fuck the shit that gets said both quiet and out loud in this book. I'm almost at the end but so far the only things throwing it off from full on chud status are:
Jews are shown as a sacred class of victims who were unjustly abandoned by america and had no hand in anything bad(with the only thing they get blamed for being a lie)
India portrayed as competent.

Off topic but you guys know any good wintery fantasy reads? I tried searching for it but the stuff I got was more female aimed, and I'm not interested in that.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

I read Flashback on Elwood's accidentally recommendation and I have no doubt Simmons is at least 75% chud. Holy fuck the shit that gets said both quiet and out loud in this book. I'm almost at the end but so far the only things throwing it off from full on chud status are:
Jews are shown as a sacred class of victims who were unjustly abandoned by america and had no hand in anything bad(with the only thing they get blamed for being a lie)
India portrayed as competent.

Dan Simmons feels like he's going to get something framed against him someday.

Off topic but you guys know any good wintery fantasy reads? I tried searching for it but the stuff I got was more female aimed, and I'm not interested in that.

Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Poul Anderson's Ys series (and Broken Sword), and anything Jack Vance

 

[Quarterback Rex Grossman]

Genuinely one of the most vapid understandings of TCfL and like Christianity I've seen, really fucking painful to listen to.

She's pretty cute. I might watch this later on mute if you know what I mean.

 

[JJLiautaud]

The channel Feral Historian is good place to get SF reads

 

[Ser Prize]

Dan Simmons feels like he's going to get something framed against him someday.

Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Poul Anderson's Ys series (and Broken Sword), and anything Jack Vance

The best part of Flashback's chuddery so far, imo, is when the liberal democratic old father-in-law POV who doesn't know where it all went wrong Is revealed to secretly be a seething jew who, despite his liberal beliefs, thinks people who abandoned Israel should all be killed.


I've never checked out Fafhrd and Grey Mouser but I did read Broken Sword and Lyonesse. I liked them well enough but I wouldn't call them what I'm looking for. I also found Broken Sword really depressing and am a massive bitch about that shit.

Extremely gay way to express it but I was looking for something that gives these sort of vibes, if that at all makes sense:

 

[Alexander Thaut]

The best part of Flashback's chuddery so far, imo, is when the liberal democratic old father-in-law POV who doesn't know where it all went wrong Is revealed to secretly be a seething jew who, despite his liberal beliefs, thinks people who abandoned Israel should all be killed.


I've never checked out Fafhrd and Grey Mouser but I did read Broken Sword and Lyonesse. I liked them well enough but I wouldn't call them what I'm looking for. I also found Broken Sword really depressing and am a massive bitch about that shit.

Extremely gay way to express it but I was looking for something that gives these sort of vibes, if that at all makes sense: View attachment 6764181

Bleak. . . wintery. . . low-ish magic?

Maybe, like, The Black Company? Elric almost fits except his sword does a lot of the work. It's bleak otherwise. I'm not too deeply versed in fantasy. I'd rec Howard's Conan since he does have a few wintery tales too.

 

[AprilRains]

Bleak. . . wintery. . . low-ish magic?

Maybe Steven Brust's Taltos series? The first four books, anyway.

 

[Ser Prize]

Bleak. . . wintery. . . low-ish magic?

Maybe, like, The Black Company? Elric almost fits except his sword does a lot of the work. It's bleak otherwise. I'm not too deeply versed in fantasy. I'd rec Howard's Conan since he does have a few wintery tales too.

Maybe Steven Brust's Taltos series? The first four books, anyway.

Not really bleak, but like...distant. Maybe a bit lonely? Like that picture is of two rangers in LoTR, and a book like that set in a wintery setting sounds perfect to me. Like the walk home in the cold, but also coming into a warm house at the end.

 

[TurboNAS]

When we write about an experience from a person who cannot possibly have had that experience, the suspension of disbelief is that much greater, affecting how the writing is received by the reader.

I’m so glad that a young, orphaned wizard boy wrote about his experiences going to wizard school in England in the 90s. Without those immutable characteristics he’d never be able to tell the story of his fight against evil and the power of friendship.

Does the identity of the writer not matter here, then? Even in fictitious suffering? How trustworthy would an account from the latter be? This is not to say that writing cannot reflect experiences that the writer has not had. However, it does matter what they have; it does affect the writing and work.

Wait, who the hell is JoAnn Rowling? She wrote *WHAT??* But that’s impossible!

Next you’ll say that the writer of Frankenstein isn’t a white male scientist. That would be absurd!

Clearly the lived experiences of being a murderer and Belgian detective allowed Agatha Christie to write the Poirot novels. She couldn’t just think things up with her silly little brain.


ODE is using a lot of words to drive home his main point of “buy my shitty stories and anthologies of other people’s work I bravely put my name on as co-editor.”

Like has been said before, the less we know about the author the better. Only the story matters. Especially with anything produced by the SFWA. Definitely don’t want to know more about them.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

I’m so glad that a young, orphaned wizard boy wrote about his experiences going to wizard school in England in the 90s. Without those immutable characteristics he’d never be able to tell the story of his fight against evil and the power of friendship.



Wait, who the hell is JoAnn Rowling? She wrote *WHAT??* But that’s impossible!

Next you’ll say that the writer of Frankenstein isn’t a white male scientist. That would be absurd!

Clearly the lived experiences of being a murderer and Belgian detective allowed Agatha Christie to write the Poirot novels. She couldn’t just think things up with her silly little brain.


ODE is using a lot of words to drive home his main point of “buy my shitty stories and anthologies of other people’s work I bravely put my name on as co-editor.”

Like has been said before, the less we know about the author the better. Only the story matters. Especially with anything produced by the SFWA. Definitely don’t want to know more about them.

the only good thing the SFWA name is published on are the 3 volume Grandmaster collections edited by Frederick Pohl.

and those fucking things have half their short stories easily findable in other anthologies, but they're also the only worthwhile SFWA thing I can think of that's been published.

 

[Meriasek]

The channel Feral Historian is good place to get SF reads

He recently got recommended to me, I enjoy his videos. Informative, laid back style, some nice, dry humor.

 

[Dick Johnson]

There's a small Youtube channel that I watch from time to time called Vintage SF, and as the name suggests it's a lot of older SF books. Plenty of them are classics that you're likely to have read, but there are also quite a few hidden gems (and sometimes, non-gems) that you might be able to find at a used book store.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

There's a small Youtube channel that I watch from time to time called Vintage SF, and as the name suggests it's a lot of older SF books. Plenty of them are classics that you're likely to have read, but there are also quite a few hidden gems (and sometimes, non-gems) that you might be able to find at a used book store.

yeah, I also watch Outlaw Bookseller (who's a big New Wave fan and his constant talking about Malzberg's affected the availability of Malzberg books online), Bookpilled (the only non-old guy. Also seems to be a big New Wave fan too), and Vintage SF's just a nice one in general even if he does try to sound like a radio host.

I do wish we had a youtuber that covered Golden Age SF more.

 

[Smoke Manmuscle]

Did the internet ever figure out who Camestros Felapton was? I search the forum but never saw anything concrete.

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

Did the internet ever figure out who Camestros Felapton was? I search the forum but never saw anything concrete.

AFAIK, nope. A rare bird among these SJW sorts, who typically thirst for attention. He (I assume it is a he, females being pathologically incapable of anonymity) certainly wound up the boomers who hang around the comment section of Sarah Hoyt's blog, so I must give credit where it was due. Nice bit of trolling.

In other news, the SFWA board issued this bizarre pronunciamento leaving me wondering which writers exactly are being " as our colleagues and readers—present and future—are killed, injured, or driven from their homes."

Statement from the SFWA Board: Writers in Crisis / Archive

Statement from the SFWA Board: Writers in Crisis​

While many stories are born of conflict, sorrow, and tragedy, the act of storytelling requires some measure of peace. Writers must have homes, they must have food, and they must have the freedom to express themselves without fear.
In too many places around the world, writers do not know this peace.
We have members who live in, bear citizenship of, and travel to countries whose governments increasingly scrutinize personal speech and professional membership. Further, we have members and friends who are living and dying in conflicted areas and war zones. Their stories are powerful, they are many, and we must hear them.
As writers, our values shine forth in our writing; speculative fiction has a unique ability to undermine prejudices and upturn assumptions. We also have the power to challenge fascism and imagine better futures. Our voices reverberate around the world and throughout time, and we must use them.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in education, SFWA is restricted from political campaign intervention in particular forms. At the same time, our mission is to inform, support, promote, defend, and advocate for writers of science fiction, fantasy, and related genres.
We must not look away as our colleagues and readers—present and future—are killed, injured, or driven from their homes.
With that in mind, SFWA will continue to actively support speculative fiction writers under threat and in crisis.
Direct actions SFWA will take from this point forward include:

• SFWA will continue to provide Emergency Medical Fund and Legal Fund support to all qualifying authors, including those impacted authors in conflict zones.
• SFWA will provide free Virtual Nebula access for any author impacted by war or conflict.
• SFWA will waive membership fees for authors living in or displaced from areas impacted by war or conflict.

In addition, SFWA Givers Fund grants are available to:

• revitalize recovering science fiction and fantasy communities,
• fund writing scholarships targeted at affected authors,
• help to rebuild lost and destroyed SFF and related genre collections in affected libraries or educational institutions, and
• assist in the creation of safe writing spaces.

We are also here to support our community by pointing writers toward resources and opportunities they need. It is our mission to support writers, and we will not lose sight of those impacted by crises. If you or another writer need support, please contact crisis@sfwa.org.
Signed,
The SFWA Board of Directors

December 20, 2024

SFWA will continue to provide Emergency Medical Fund and Legal Fund support to all qualifying authors, including those impacted authors in conflict zones.

LOL, LMAO, even. They spent around $8,000 on two grants for medical in 2022 and spent multiples more paying for Fatrick's lawsuit, which they lost. (2022 is the last year available.)

 

[Mikoyan]

LOL, LMAO, even. They spent around $8,000 on two grants for medical in 2022 and spent multiples more paying for Fatrick's lawsuit, which they lost. (2022 is the last year available.)

"Impacted authors in conflict zones", Waiting for the SFWA sponsored crusie missiles in Ukraine.

Wonder if they did anything to help Uncle Hugo's in Minneapolis get back on their feet after the riots torched them, or if 'that's juss reperashuns'.

 

[teriyakiburns]

In other news, the SFWA board issued this bizarre pronunciamento leaving me wondering which writers exactly are being " as our colleagues and readers—present and future—are killed, injured, or driven from their homes."

This is them trying to "well akshually" their way out of the whole cucking to chinese censorship thing.