One aspect of Sci-Fi is the idea of exploring different ways of thinking and looking at the universe, or even looking at each other. It’s always been tough to convincingly write utterly alien brains or societies, and most merely reflect common aspects of humans. Star Trek’s Vulcans are nothing more than smart and logical humans, Klingons the emotional and savage warrior (human), Romulans just the Machiavellian manipulator (again, human). Few writers have really good and totally alien minds/cultures.

It occurs to me that for the SJW SF writer, they seem to have a singular failure of imagination. Right before them they have a real, live, interactive “other” way of thinking and not only do they not investigate it with curiosity and honestly try to understand it, they seem to deny its existence and project themselves upon it. To what do I refer? The puppies. Rabid and Sad. The “normal” non-SJW world.

We keep saying we don’t want awards, we want good stories. But no mater what we do or say, the SJW insiders of the Hugos refuse to believe our words, thinking that we are doing what they would do, which is covet and connive to attain trophies as if they were Sauron’s One Ring. Er… no. We want good stories. I’d have never written mine if the store shelves were overflowing with good stuff I liked to read, but they were not. Reading is a LOT less work than writing. The Hugo insiders simply cannot conceive that Vox and Corriea and the rest would be fine never getting an award, if only their works would be seriously considered and the insiders not use their position to attempt to act as gatekeepers and lock them out from public view, where the buying public can make their own choice.

I thought the Campbell nomination was funny. I would say amusing, but Vox uses that too much :-). My story would be no different, and I’d sell no more books, either way.  But it did give me a small window into the minds of those that DO covet the awards.  I’d like to see the award mean something to me again, but at the same time I understand those that are calling for burning it all down.

If the SJWs want to burn it all down to keep us uncouth barbarians from getting our filthy hands on their trophies, well… the opening line from an acceptance speech might start:

Hugo Dalenda Est. Burn it all. Scatter the stones. Salt the earth.

And it is not my aim to do so. But if that’s the way the battle goes, well… Pitched battle  can be rather exhilarating.