Manosphere Theodore "Teddy" Beale / Vox Day / Vox Popoli / Teddy Spaghetti - pretentious self-imporant Ultra-Right Science Fiction writer and publisher, jealous of Jordan Peterson.

[Vorhtbame]

How long before he posts about being gangstalked?

Probably won't, because we're not affiliated with the SFWA.

 

[Jubileus]

I knew that he and Louise Mensch used to be in contact on a relatively cordial basis, but I didn't realize it was such that she's sharing whatever paint she's huffing.

He can't be doing too terribly well lately, given SCAAAAAAAALZI got his Netflix movie adaptation deal and Tor hasn't fallen into a ditch despite Scalzi's own tardiness in producing new content. A few months ago Teddy was also stupidly putting his chips in on the extremely idiotic rumor mill grist that Brandon Sanderson would be late with Oathbringer, which is fucking idiotic given Sanderson's the anti-GRRM and manages to accidentally write too many books just in the course of clearing his head, which Tor dutifully publishes and makes even more money on. Instead Oathbringer came out right on schedule, remarkably nabbed Audible's top slot for the entire year within two weeks of being out, and Tor's doing just fine despite Vox's calls for a boycott and suparsekrit knowledge of the inner workings at MacMillan.

But any day now, guys, any day now...

 

[Terrorist]

Vox Gay's biggest problem is a tin ear that would make joss whedon go "wow, you know people don't actually talk like that, right?". He's decently smart, but for a sci-fi """writer""", he can't actually write for shit. Of course, his writing style is indicative of a bigger problem, that he thinks in terms of whatever schlock he shat out that morning instead of reality, which explains his wacky-ass worldview. Stick to building teepees, Hiawatha.

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

and Tor's doing just fine despite Vox's calls for a boycott

He has a point, to a point, with Tor when speaking about authors they've signed up in the recent past (say the past three or four years). They win the awards SJWs circle jerk each other with, but my understanding is that their books don't sell particularly well. And if an Orson Scott Card, Brandon Sanderson or Robert Jordan landed on their doorstep TODAY, would they publish them? (Hint: HaHaHa. No.) All three are white males, two are Mormons and one was a graduate of a military Academy. If there are any authors Tor has signed like them in the past few years, I've not heard of them.

But Vox being Vox Day he absolutely goes full retard and does not acknowledge (a) that Tor has a massive backlist that includes authors who continue to sell, (b) that science fiction and even adult oriented fantasy don't sell as well as they used to across the board and (c) that Tor is, in any event, a wholly owned subsidiary of MacMillan which in turn is wholly owned by some German publishing megacorp. Meaning they're not going anywhere.

 

[escapegoat]

I am okay with there never being another Robert Jordan.

Really, the insurmountable truth is that the sort of teenaged boys who actually read nerd titles in the 90's, which is the heyday he can remember, all now play hours and hours and hours of vidya games instead. They publish all those icky girl books, because girls read more--they're trying to siphon off that sweet, sweet girl-oriented YA dystopian money. They go where the money is, even if it's not as much money as it used to be. What boring-assed red pill book does he genuinely think is going rip the boys from the gentle bosom of calling strange Koreans cucks on the headset while shooting CGI aliens?

 

[DrJonesHat]

He's got a Messiah complex. He and he alone possesses the knowledge, skills, and charisma to lead the white race back to greatness. Anyone who thinks that they alone can save some group or nation is deluded to some degree and their plans almost always fail, and usually spectacularly. HRC pulled the same routine, and look what happened. No one person can fix things, no one can even agree on what needs fixing, even within the same group. Anyone who claims they're the solution to all your problems is either selling something or an aspiring cult leader, maybe both.

 

[AnOminous]

He can't be doing too terribly well lately, given SCAAAAAAAALZI got his Netflix movie adaptation deal and Tor hasn't fallen into a ditch despite Scalzi's own tardiness in producing new content.

Scalzi is at least a decent person who can get along with other humans because he isn't completely retarded.

Tor's doing just fine despite Vox's calls for a boycott and suparsekrit knowledge of the inner workings at MacMillan.

Tor has its wonderful little participation trophy factory going that guarantees everything it excretes will get at least one Hugo.

 

[DrJonesHat]

Tor has its wonderful little participation trophy factory going that guarantees everything it excretes will get at least one Hugo.

Plus, Vox has a quite a negative reputation. Given the climate regarding sexism and related things, they probably don't want to publish a dude who has flat out said women are only good for breeding and shouldn't be allowed to vote.

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

I am okay with there never being another Robert Jordan.

Like him or hate him, he sold. Braid tugging and well-turned calves included. As Jemisin and Leckie do not, or such is my take on matters.

Really, the insurmountable truth is that the sort of teenaged boys who actually read nerd titles in the 90's, which is the heyday he can remember, all now play hours and hours and hours of vidya games instead.

No argument from here. When I was in graduate school I used to pick up the school newspaper for old times sake. Remember seeing a notice that the undergraduate science fiction club literally renamed itself the gaming club.

They publish all those icky girl books, because girls read more--they're trying to siphon off that sweet, sweet girl-oriented YA dystopian money. They go where the money is, even if it's not as much money as it used to be.What boring-assed red pill book does he genuinely think is going rip the boys from the gentle bosom of calling strange Koreans cucks on the headset while shooting CGI aliens?

And no argument from me here, either, at least in terms of the general market. I will add a caveat I'm not sure girls are any more interested in reading the sort of tedious political sermons set in fiction pushed by Tor authors than boys are. Cory Doctorow's last book was painful in that regard, though admit I can't think of another recent Tor title I read in 2017. Meaning, yes, young ingenue experiencing her first love with hot bad boy were-seal would doubtless sell some copies, but pushing some incomprehensible intersectional nonbinary agenda along with it ain't gonna help matters.

FWIW, and to get a bit back on topic, I do think Vox's publishing business has the potential to do reasonably well, possibly even be profitable on an on-going basis. There are some surprisingly sharp people involved, and Vox can turn a phrase when it comes to his blog and his non-fiction. Pity his fiction is so mind numbingly awful. I think I made it through three pages of Throne of Bones when it was available as a free download.

 

[escapegoat]

It still warms my heart to reflect upon Chuck Tingle's reaction to all that nonsense.

 

[Vorhtbame]

FWIW, and to get a bit back on topic, I do think Vox's publishing business has the potential to do reasonably well, possibly even be profitable on an on-going basis. There are some surprisingly sharp people involved, and Vox can turn a phrase when it comes to his blog and his non-fiction.

That's the thing. I got to read one of his short stories set in Selenoth, and it was actually rather well done. The narration was first-person, and done in a speech pattern and dialect that was not his own--so he had to pay careful attention to how he phrased things. When he did it that way, it actually was far more engaging than when he's writing from his "high tone". It was no Huck Finn, but it was readable.

But he did once admit that he's not a wordsmith, and would have someone help him if he could trust anyone to do so. That was a few years ago; I'm sure by now he's convinced he's Tolkien reborn.

 

[LetterlandMafia]

Scalzi is at least a decent person who can get along with other humans because he isn't completely exceptional.



Tor has its wonderful little participation trophy factory going that guarantees everything it excretes will get at least one Hugo.

I disagree on Scalzi. If he disagrees with you he’ll patronise the shit out of you.

As for the Hugos, they are so far in Tor’s pocket it hurts. IIRC this year’s Hugos had like 14 Tor nominations in the book categories and another 8 or so were Orbit. The chances you’ve heard of these books is usually slim. They just use big name movies and TV shows in the other categories to disguise the stitch-up with books.

 

[Done]

I don't know if Vox Day's AltHero endeavor is covered here, but here it is being rebuked by a well-respected Republican comics pro:

 

[Emperor Julian]

Yeah I get the impression he doesnt object to the politicization of media he objects to it not being his weird backward beliefs in media.

Because finding nick spencers work a fucking chore to read means you want it to be medieval europe again.

Has anyone actually read any of his shit?

 

[TheImportantFart]

Has anyone actually read any of his shit?

I haven't read any of his comics or books, but I wrote an essay at university where I commented on the Narnia books and one of the secondary texts I used included an essay by Vox Day. I didn't realise this until years later when I discovered Vox through this website and then saw the book I'd used listed among his contributions on his Wikipedia page. I hadn't referenced Vox's essay, so out of curiosity I went back and started reading it. I got bored pretty quickly - the only thing I remember is him dissing Ian McKellen's portrayal of Gandalf.

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

Has anyone actually read any of his shit?

When I had a Kindle Unlimited membership I borrowed and read SJWs Always Lie. Actually not bad for a polemic, though the illustrations were amateur-ish and the Kindle formatting was a bit wonky. In essence it read like an extended newspaper column opinion piece rather than anything even pretending to scholarship. I'm guessing this kind of thing is probably where Day's writing is its strongest.

Throne of Bones on the other hand? Holy fuck. I couldn't make it ten pages into that turkey. Which is kind of a pity, since the concept behind it is fairly interesting; a sort of George RR Martin-esque type novel with a setting in a pseudo-late Roman Empire. But everything about the novel's execution was bad, though it was the dialog in particular that sent me running for the exit.

 

[Done]

X-posting from the Comicsgate thread:

Alright, so it seems to me that Vox Day is going to be the 1st person to be kicked out of the #Comicsgate movement, Ethan van Sciver rebuked him a couple of days ago, D&C called his AltHero project "r.etarded".

And now Capt Cummings has a video out on him as well:

So is Vox Day the Vordrak of #Comicsgate ?

 

[MidUSA]

Vox just did an hour and a half interview with DC artist Ethan van Sciver about Vox' comic projects. Seems like they got on pretty well despite taking some shots at each other in the days before.

I've not listened to the first half but from what I cought I didn't find Vox to be at all Lolcow-y here. He does have quite the ego and seem to think highly of himself to the point of eccentricity which I can see rubbing people the wrong way ("I'm a better writer of literature than Neal Gaiman"). But it seems he put his money where his mouth is and have at least a modicum of self-awareness.

 

[Vorhtbame]

While everyone else celebrates the great body of work that Norman Borlaug did to feed the hungry, to relieve the suffering of literal billions, to help move the world in a holier and more compassionate direction...Vox Day takes the oh so Christian position that doing so is a tremendous evil:

It's somehow fitting that the Destroyer should take the form of a nice Midwestern son of immigrants from Scandinavia. Gail Heriot hasn't quite figured out that Norman Borlaug is perhaps the quintessential example of the road to Hell being paved with good intentions.

HAPPY 104TH BIRTHDAY, NORMAN BORLAUG: If you don’t know who Norman Borlaug was, it’s high time you learned. His claim to fame: Saving over a billion people from starvation. Yes, that’s a “b” for “billion,” but even if it were an “m” for “million,” it would be a staggering achievement. When others are teaching their children and grandchildren to act like a ruthless killer (“Be like Che”), teach yours to “Be like Norman.” Make his memory eternal.

Oh, I think his legacy will be remembered, all right. Not even Mao and Pol Pot managed to lay the foundation for a bloodbath of the sort that will one day be known as having taken place on a Borlaugian scale. Let's just say I very much doubt the world will ever see 3 billion sub-Saharan Africans, let alone 4 billion.

And no, I have no idea what this "bloodbath" is he's sperging about.

 

[escapegoat]

The coming geopolitical clash of civilizations, I am guessing.

The race war Charles Manson died waiting for, but bigger! And with fancier words!