For those who don’t follow the genre-fiction awards circuit, here’s what’s going on. A shifting contingent of science fiction authors, editors, and fans—led by Larry Correia (author of the Monster Hunters series, among others) and Brad Torgerson (author of “Ray of Light,” “The Chaplain’s Legacy” and other Hugo-nominated novelettes)—has spent the last several years fighting against what they perceive to be an escalating liberal bias in the Hugos. Dubbing themselves the Sad Puppies, this group has engaged in an annual effort to mobilize fans into voting for a specific slate of nominees, usually headlined by authors of a conservative political persuasion. The Hugos are vulnerable to this sort of manipulation because fans purchase the right to nominate works of fiction onto the ballot and vote—anyone who has bought a supporting or attending membership in the World Science Fiction Convention (aka Worldcon) can do it.
Historically, the Sad Puppies have not been successful in their efforts to swarm the Hugos, but this year it worked. Alongside their more extreme counterparts—the Rabid Puppies, led by Castalia House lead editor Theodore Beale, alias Vox Day—they orchestrated a campaign that resulted in the 2015 Hugo nominations being dominated by their selections. Beale himself received two nominations, and eight went to works published by Castalia House. Of these, five were by John C. Wright, who would have broken the record for most Hugo nominations in a single year by a single author if one of his stories hadn’t been disqualified because it was originally published in 2013. In the category “Best Novella,” three of the five nominees were written by Wright, and a fourth was another Castalia House product (Tom Kratman’s “Big Boys Don’t Cry”).
“The Hugo Award process has always been hackable,” says 2014 Hugo winner Kameron Hurley. “There was just never anyone narcissistic enough to hack it.” The Puppies broke no rules, they were simply well-organized.
a list of things that arthur conan doyle did that totally mean that intent is worthless:
made it july on one page and september like two pages later when it’s supposed to be like two nights later
named everyone james and forgot that john’s name wasn’t james
literally forgot when watson was married and when he wasn’t so that if you try to figure out how he could have done all that without getting divorced and remarried to the same woman or not been wrong about dates, watson has like five or six wives
almost named john watson ormond sacker
introduced moriarty literally just to kill holmes off and inexplicably suddenly he was the worst villain in all of london even though holmes had never encountered him, then later retconned in the valley of fear so jk watson had heard of him before the final problem after all those were just. lies.
named four different female characters all violet
seriously. james moriarty. and his brother. james moriarty.
this is why, when people say they want this show to be more like acd, i wonder if they’ve actually read acd or are just being faux-pretentious because
