My “nerdiness” is due to my older brother who had a ton of golden age Sci fi books that I would read (first being the new hope novelization). He now has three girls (two teens) so he has been out of the loop. He said he recently bought some new sci fi book and said it was woke garbage. I told him about what has happened to mainstream sci-fi/fantasy publishing and a brief overview of the sad puppies thing.
I told him to avoid any book that has won the Hugo, nebula, etc in the past few years because all it takes is that you need to be a woman who hates white men.
Anyway, he asked me if there are any videos or articles that breaks down what happened to sci-fi. Can y’all recommend any? Thanks.
Or the planet where two women can have children
Was that the most recent mass effect
Wow. No agenda there. I was actually going to start the first game. So it’s not worth it?
Who ever reads the fanfiction?
First two games had their fare share of wokeness creeping in, which will be even more noticeable in current year, but they also had some pretty based stuff too. Fake news, lying corrupt politicians, meritocracy, that krogan plotline is actually good in the first two games, I know nothing about either of the issues just described.
The third games has an ending that is a pile of flaming trash and retroactively ruins the entire series. I have no idea why anyone would care to read the fanfiction books after that.
If he reads or watches up about the Sad Puppies controversy he'll be mostly caught up. It was a conservative movement to de-woke-ify the Hugo Awards, due to the increasing amount and incentivisation of wokeshit in sci fi.
I haven't listened to this breakdown of the events myself, but it features Larry Correia who was directly involved, so it should include everything.
Thanks!
The sad puppies/rabid puppies debacle is probably a good starting point. See if you can find an article that explains clearly why "Space Raptors: Butt Invasion" got nominated for a Hugo.
As for actual sci-fi and fantasy, I'd say to look up books written by people who happened to write books, but aren't initially focused on "books" as an occupation. Reading something because the author is famous for being an author, is like watching a celebrity who is famous because they're a celebrity, it's a tautology that tells you that they don't have anything of substance to offer you. Why are they famous? Because they're famous. Counterpoints: Shad of Shadiversity writes fantasy with "hard" historical rules and setups because he's a historic weapons nerd. Correia writes Monster Hunter International as an accountant/gun store owner (and firearms trainer), and his knowledge of combat really shines through. They have things outside of "I write stuff" to draw upon and make their works more alive, more engaging.
I know it sucks needing to research an author before buying their book, but it's equivalent to looking up a manufacturer before buying their products.
Thanks. With books I just have a rule to read stuff from 14 or prior
Agreed. Heinlein is my favorite
I can't really recommend any single direct articles, because the whole blow-up and subsequent meltdown of the Hugo awards happened over the course of a few years and there was a lot of flak flying back and forth from both sides of it. Larry Correia's' blogs from the time period of the Sad Puppies give a good running history of the shit that went down, but weeding though his posts to find the relevant ones may be a bit of a chore. If he's up for reading some highlights, I'd point your friend at monsterhunternation.com and tell him to hit up the "Best of" section for Larry's blog highlights, and to read the Fisking section, where Larry picks apart the wokeness in the publishing and fandom world.
Your recommendation to generally avoid any Hugo/Nebula/mainstream sci-fi award-winners from the last several years is pretty solid. I'd suggest that any book that was nominated or won from 2009 or before is a safe read, provided you warn him off of some of the woke hacks like Doctorow or Scalzi, and advise him to take anything Gaiman wrote with a huge grain of salt. Stuff published by Baen is usually pretty free from wokeness, and there are a few decent modern authors (Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series avoids wokeness infection fairly well, and while Terry Pratchett's stuff is being co-opted by the wokies pulling a "death of the author" his older stuff still stands as excellent fantasy satire), but beyond that I've started using the rule of thumb that if it is from a female writer or has a female protagonist, I avoid it until I see a decent plot synopsis. If it leads with a focus on gender, sexual orientation, or even remotely implies that the protag is a Mary Sue, I drop it like a hot rock.
Thanks! Good rules of thumb.
Unless I'm misunderstanding you, you should probably say "solo" or "primary" female protagonist. Books with an active love interest or an ensemble cast that happens to have a singular woman in that set of multiple protagonists don't usually seem particularly more "woke" than the normal. The trio trope of two men and one woman as protagonists exists for a reason.
Modern books with a solo/primary female protag are pretty much a given to be woke as hell or a Mary-Sue fest, but you're right, I probably should have clarified. That being said, you have to watch out for ensemble casts, because even with the common "two guys, a girl, and a robot sidekick" setup, there's a less-than-zero chance these days (especially if it's a relatively new female author) that the guys will be simps/incompetent when it matters the most and it'll be the woman who has to step in and save them all. The Nu-Sci-Fi authors can't help themselves.
Rags has a new video about the whole "orcs=black people" thing. Kinda related.
Rags? Not familiar with him. I’ll check it out. Yea the orcs=black ppl thing says more about these SJWs who say it
Rags from MauLer's EFAP. Here's the link.
Thanks! Mauler is good.
The Castalia House and other related blogs cover things like this frequently.
Awesome! Just found it. Thanks!!!
Same thing that happened to all media and institutions. Leftists infiltrated, brainwashed, gatekeeping. Vox Day's blog probably has some stuff on it.
I used to read him a while back. I’ll check again.
The Death of Science Fiction Literature How Political Correctness and Mainstream Conformity Have Wrecked An Eccentric Genre of Literary Fine Art by James May Part One https://archive.is/y0RDx
Part Two https://archive.is/aqceS
Thanks!
It's probably not the best read for normies, and I'd forgotten how long it was, but still a good catalog.
Greatly appreciated
If we are just recommending Scifi from before it went woke:
The Skylark of Space series, and the Lensman series by Doc E. E. Smith.
Skylark had a huge influence on original Star Trek, and Lensman was basically the first (and still one of the best) Space Operas. Also likely had a significant influence over the Green Lantern mythos, some strong parallels with the Guardians and origin of the Lanterns, and creation of the Lantern Corp.
They call him the grandfather of Scifi for a reason.
Europa the last battle sounds good
Fantasy alright.