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.
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.