Worldcon Recap: The Nonsensical Version

I got back from Worldcon yesterday night.  Things are still a bit of a blur.  My mind has been dragged every which way by so many good feelings.  Truly.  Honestly.  So what follows is a recap of things I can remember right now, in a completely random and nonsensical order.  If I forgot you for some reason, please smack me in the comments.

Friends!
I went to Worldcon with my besterestestest friend ever!  On top of that, I met a lot of folks I consider to be friends, but whom I have not met in person.  Friendship is wonderful!

Yay!

General Reaction
I've never been to Worldcon (or any straight SF/F convention), so I didn't really know what to expect (I suspect the same is true for Jen, who came with me, but I can't speak for her).  Sure, a few folks offered a lot of opinions about it, but since we're all a little different, I didn't know exactly what to make of it all.  There were also those worrisome bits involving The Song of the South and what not prior to the actual event.

That said, I had an absolute blast.  I've been to anime conventions before, but since I've never been embedded into the anime world, I always felt a little like an outsider at such places.  At

Talking About Wonder Woman and Her "Problems"...Again

Some time back, I talked about the path I hope the studios will take for a film adaptation of the Justice.  Since such an adaptation will naturally include popular characters like Wonder Woman and Flash, I felt compelled to talk about why the studios had to approach the whole venture carefully to avoid the pitfalls of camp that continue to plague the characters.  Now, I feel compelled to talk a little bit more about Wonder Woman, and it's all Tansy Rayner Roberts' fault.

Last month, Tansy Rayner Roberts took a stab at the reasons why people think Wonder Woman won't work in film.  I agree with Roberts that most, if not all, of the reasons are pretty dumb, especially the argument that movies with female superheroes are stupid.  Nope.  Nope nope nope nope nope.  There are certainly bad movies which include female superheroes, but those movies suck because they are bad movies, not because you're being asked to root for the ladies.  Not surprisingly, people do actually go to movies involving female superheroes.  Shocking, I know.  I mean, how the frak is that even possible?  It must be witchcraft...or a Kenyan government conspiracy involving the IRS.

Anywhoodles.

Roberts' rightly points out, in agreement with Shoshana Kessock on Tor.com, that one of the major "problems" with Wonder Woman concerns her explicit feminist nature:

Month of Joy: "Growing Up w/ Genre and Singaporean SF/F" by Joyce Chng -- @jolantru

I grew up with genre. No, seriously, I did.

It all began with a book of children’s stories complete with shape-shifting and transformation. The girl turned into a fluffy plush-tailed cat… and I was hooked. And it just kept on coming: Star Blazers (Battleship Yamato), Battle of the Planets (or G-Force), Robotech (Macross – Southern Cross – Mospeada), Star Trek and the list continued. I fell in love with science fiction and it opened

Week of Joy (Day Seven): "The Wonders of Whimsy" by Adam Callaway

Whimsy is important to me. Most everything I love about art -- music, movies, books -- comes down to one aspect:  whimsy. I appreciate technical masterpieces like a Rachmaninoff concerto or a Joycean short story. I enjoy gritty realism like Law and Order or Lord of the Flies. However, my love lies with those pieces that make you wonder and smile, that turns the mundane into the fantastic with a turn of phrase or a splash of color.

Whimsy is one of the most difficult aspects of art to quantify. It's one of those "you know it when

Week of Joy (Day Seven): "The Genre Books That Influenced & Inspired Me to Read & Write" by Stina Leicht

It's funny. While I've always loved books, I don't remember the moment when I decided I wanted to be a writer -- not any longer. You see, originally I wanted to be an artist, but during seventh grade I decided that writing was what I wanted to do more than anything else. From the moment I forced myself through the process of learning to read[1] I loved books. Books were safe. Books were also adventure. So, I quickly found favorites. Zilpha Keatley Snyder was the first author that I actively tracked down in my local library. I read everything I could find: The Changeling, Season of Ponies, The Witches of Worm, The Headless Cupid, The Velvet Room, The Eyes in the Fishbowl -- most are out of print now. Some were Newbery Honor Winners. I think she was the author

8 SF/F Writers Who Changed My Life (#WeekofJoy)

Books change lives, right?  Well, they certainly changed mine.  Books have been a part of my life since I was a kid, though I honestly didn't understand their true value until much later in life.  They were entertainment in my younger years.  I read Goosebumps and Hardy Boys because they provided quick, fun narratives (and some of the former were actually kinda scary at times -- they seem ridiculous today, of course).  I even read comic books as a kid, for the same reasons everyone read comics in their youth:  fun!  But I wasn't a literature nut in my younger years.  I wanted to play video games or do stupid things on my bike -- I honestly don't know how I survived childhood, because I used to do some monumentally stupid things on my bike.

Despite all of that, books eventually smacked me upside the head and changed the way I viewed them and the way I viewed life in general.  I read or discovered these books during what I would consider to be pivotal moments of my life.  Some of those moments were dark times; others were quite happy and exciting.  But none of them were exactly same.

In chronological order, here are the eight science fiction and fantasy writers who changed my life:

Genre Books for Non-Genre People: Still Missing the Point, Folks!

The other day, Damien G. Walter posted the following on his Google+ account:

Now that Fantasy / SF is taking over the mainstream, which books do you recommend to people who have not read it before?

Thus far, two people have responded with posts of their own:  my friend and podcast co-host Paul Weimer and John Stevens.  Each list has a particular perspective for the textual choices, and each is valid in its own way.  But they are also effectively useless lists without a pre-defined "non-genre person."  Whenever lists like this come out, that perspective is almost always ignored.  Nobody seems willing to address the fact that non-genre readers are not a homogeneous group.

Paul's list, for example, includes the following:

SFWA, Sexism, and Progress (A Response to Jason Sanford)

(Note:  I originally intended this as a short comment on this recent post by Jason Sanford.  In his post, he basically suggests that the men in our field need to stand up and say "no" to sexism; his post is, I think quite obviously, a response to the SFWA Bulletin kerfluffle from this weekend, which he also wrote about here.  Both of his posts are worth reading.  In any case, my response will maintain its original format, so assume the "you" refers to Sanford.)

I've found it rather frustrating to hear people defend some of these sexists (or people engaging in sexist activity) against attack (I'm not using any particular individual in this comment, even though I think it's obvious that your post is in response to the SFWA Bulletin thing).  They often say things like "attacking the person is wrong" or "they are really nice people" and so on and so forth.  I don't doubt that a lot of people who say or do sexist things don't realize that what they're

The Black Guy is Ruining the Fantastic Four Reboot!

Oh, what?  He isn't?  Are you sure?  I mean.  He's black.  That means, like, Sue has to be black, right?  She doesn't?  Johnny or Sue could be adopted?  Or they could be children of different mothers or fathers or maybe they're interracial or something?  But I thought if you're half black and half white you just look almost white?  That's not true?  Really?  Well, the original Johnny was a white guy, so he has to stay white.  What about Idris Elba?  Oh, yeah, he was cool in Thor?  The original character wasn't a black guy?  Oh, well, then that's OK because he's not a major character.  Besides, this doesn't have anything to do about race.  I know I keep talking about it.  But just because I talk about race doesn't mean what we're talking about is actually about race, even if the only reason we're talking about it is because a black guy might be the Human Torch.  It's just not about race, OK?

That pretty much sums up the stupidity you'll find online about the rumor of Michael B. Jordan's (of Chronicle fame) possible casting as the Human Torch in the reboot of The Fantastic Four.

Literary Explorations: Gender Normativity, Genre Fiction, and Other Such Nonsense

In a past episode of The Skiffy and Fanty Show, we (Paul, Liz Bourke, and myself) discussed, however briefly, the paucity of women among published science fiction authors in the UK.  Specifically, we were talking about their minority status in the present while acknowledging the existence of a long string of incredible female SF writers in UK SF history.  Though I am not an expert on the UK SF scene, my impression as an American peeking in has confirmed the notion that there is a great deal of sexism within the broader fanbase, and a systemic gender-bias problem in the publishing sphere.  The latter has been attributed to sexism (today); I am not convinced that this is necessarily true -- at least, not in the sense of a deliberate action.  The former is probably a reflection of who speaks as opposed to a true assessment of UK fandom as a whole, and it is certainly true that this perception is changing.  Perception, of course, is not everything.

I say all of this not because I want to talk specifically about the UK scene, but rather because the recent discussions surrounding the Clarke Award's all-male finalist list offers one of many

To the Hugo Defenders: Check Your Financial Privilege at the Door

If you have been following the Hugo Awards discussion, then you'll be familiar with the various forms of this argument:  if you don't show up and do the work, then you should stop complaining.  In the Hugo discussion, it translates to the following:  you don't like how the awards work, but you don't bother to show up to the meetings, so your opinion is really irrelevant; if you don't like it, show up and change it...or STFU.

To illustrate, I present you some actual examples:

Hugo Awards Finalists (Plus Preliminary Commentary)

I'm too lazy to offer a proper introduction, so I'm just going to dive in (give me a break; I walked over five miles today).  The only thing I will say is that most of these are preliminary, most-likely-haven't-read-it thoughts.  For the most part, I will have nothing to say about a work except why I didn't pick it up during hte year.  The sad truth is that most of the stuff I nominated this year (my first nominating year) didn't make it.

Here goes (Hugos):

Tolkien and Martin Don't Have Much to Answer For (Or, Hey, Bad Arguments About Fantasy)

Apparently A.J. Dalton doesn't care for J.R.R. Tolkien or George R.R. Martin.  Here's the moment when I stopped reading:

They have both come to dominate the genre in which I write, that’s what. All fantasy gets compared to them. They are the standard. They are the definition of fantasy. Anything too different to them doesn’t get recognised as fantasy, as it doesn’t contain enough of the required motifs and conventions.

Anyone who can make that argument with any seriousness has no idea what they are talking about.  Really?  Anything that doesn't look like Martin or Tolkien isn't considered fantasy anymore?  Really?  So apparently N.K. Jemisin doesn't write fantasy.  Good to know.  Diana

Hugo Award: What I Nominated

First, I'd like to request that nobody shoot me for this list.  I know I left some stuff out.  I know I missed things.  Some of that is my fault, but I also blame it on a ridiculous work schedule (teaching five classes is insane).  So, you know, don't shoot me -- do leave a comment, if you are so inclined.

And on that note, here's the finalized list:

Literary Explorations: Epic Fantasy = Crushingly Conservative? (A Sorta Response to Liz Bourke)

First, read this.

Have you read it now?  Good.  I want to start by briefly talking about two of the central problems that Ms. Bourke rightly struggles with throughout her post (and which many readers had issues developing or agreeing to on their own) -- definitions and the perception of their application.  For the sake of space and time -- you should read the actual thread anyway -- I'm going break this down into little, methodical sections.

I.  Definitions

The two main terms at work here are "conservative" and "epic fantasy."  The latter is somewhat impossible to define, in part because subgenres are, in effect, convenient marketing categories.  There might be something called "epic fantasy," but I don't think anyone can approach a satisfactory definition.  I tend to imagine "epic fantasy" as a matter of scale.  In most works in this class, what is at stake is not the individual so much as the entire world (or the world as the characters know it).  Thus, any actions the heroes take is in an attempt to save the world from destruction, whether literally through some kind of magic or figuratively through some

Rethinking Superhero Ethics and Myke Cole's Shadow Ops Series

On the recent Skiffy and Fanty Show podcast, my friend Jen and I interviewed author Myke Cole about Shadow Ops:  Fortress Frontier, the sequel to his 2012 hit, Shadow Ops:  Control Point (which we interviewed him about here).  During the discussion, we (Jen and I) sidetracked from asking Myke direct questions to actually considering the world he had actually created -- specifically, the ethics of that world and how it might actually happen in the real world.  I'd like to continue some of that discussion here (on top of this post by Myke on a similar subject).

For those that are unfamiliar with Myke's work, you'll need to know that Shadow Ops takes place in an alternate present where "magic powers" (a.k.a. superhero powers) are monitored and "controlled" by the various world governments.  In the case of the U.S., they have sought to control these powers and the people who have them by banning their use in the general populace and forcing people who discover that they are "latent" to join the military (or some related agency, depending on the need).  Much of the "forcing" isn't publicly acknowledged, which becomes apparent in this brilliant book trailer for Fortress Frontier:

Distracting the Internet with Frankenstein, Dionne Brand, and Belated MLK Day!

Wouldn't it make the world a better place if we all randomly searched through our grandparents' stuff and one day discovered some super important antique book signed by the author?  We could all share our magic book stories with one another, hold hands, and frolic in fields of emerald grass...

Or we could just sell them to one another and make hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is what this guy did when he discovered a copy of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in his grandfather's house (one of two inscribed by the author to have survived the evils of time).  We don't know how

"Best Of" Lists: A Game of Gap-ology?

If you head on over to The OF Blog, you'll find this post containing links to over a dozen "Best of 2012" lists.  Larry wants us to look at them and take note of the commonalities and the differences.  Some of those lists are varied, unique, and fascinating; I found a lot of new reads through them.  Others?  Let's just say that Larry is right to identify a lot of similarities.

What many of these lists show is a serious lack of depth in reading interest.  Whether that is an intentional choice -- i.e., that someone does not want to read outside of their comfort zone -- or otherwise is impossible to say.  But when you look over the lists, you'll find the same novels repeating over and over.  I don't doubt that these works are good (some of them are my favorites this year); the problem seems to be that they are themselves repetitions.  Epic fantasy, urban fantasy, epic fantasy, urban fantasy, big name science fiction novel, and so on.  Many of them are painfully safe, too.  Where is the variety?  Where are the challenging works?

Maybe I've simply become a pretentious genre reader, but I really thought there would be more variety in terms of content among these lists.  It makes me wonder whether I've simply been blind to all of this over the years, or if something has changed with the way I view literature.  Am I more willing to challenge myself as a reader?  Or do I find books in different ways from others?

What do you think?

This Post is About Asian Americans (or, I Have No Proper Title)

I am currently taking a graduate-level course on Asian-American literature, which includes a considerable amount of theory, criticism, historical documents, and so on.  While reading the preface to Aiiieeeee!, an anthology of Asian-American writers edited by Frank Chin, Jeffery Paul Chan, Lawson Fusao Inada, and Shawn Hsu Wong, I came across the following quote:

Hugo Awards Stream Shut Down / Worldcon Banned (or, Dear #Ustream: Fuck you, Signed Fandom)

If you haven't heard already, Ustream, the serviced used by Worldcon to live stream the Hugo Awards ceremony, pulled the stream and banned Worldcon from its site for terms of service violation.  What violation would that be?  Apparently an awards ceremony is not allowed to play short clips (a la fair use policy) from nominees in film categories.  Doing so in the middle of your ceremony will result in a mid-sentence suspension of the feed and an apparent permanent ban (as of writing this, the folks at Chicon have indicated the Ustream will not bring back the feed, despite mounting public pressure).

One would think pissing off a sea of geeks would be pretty low on one's list.  Not for Ustream.  Apparently it's right at the top of their list of "Things To Do When We're Bored," which is to say they secretly desire what all slightly deranged institutions desire:  a slow, painful death (by crap PR).  And they've got it.  Twitter users have been Tweeting on and off since the take-down of the Worldcon Hugo Awards live stream about the service's pathetic performance (using the #ustream