Worldcon 2023 in Chengtu, China, is embroiled in yet another controversy over the Hugo Awards, with several authors and works getting removed from their balloting under the pretext of being “ineligible” by the local convention committee. This includes a Sandman episode of the show adapted from Neil Gaiman’s comic, which has made the author launch at the convention committee on Facebook. Another work, written by an Asian woman, was replaced by a novella by woke activist John Scalzi to further uproar.
The World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, has been no stranger to controversy over its lifetime. Rumors of child abuse and “groom rooms” at the convention have been circulating for decades after Walter Breen was banned from a convention following his conviction. In 2018, authors like Patrick S. Tomlinson took charge to counter-protest against an anti-pedophilia group outside.
But no controversy has struck Worldcon and the Hugo Awards like the Sad Puppies incident, where Larry Correia unsuccessfully banded several authors together to try to win Correia an award. Several woke activists involved in the convention then branded those supporting Correia as “Nazis.” Eventually, the Sad Puppies was usurped by The Rabid Puppies, led by Vox Day, which triumphed by destroying the credibility of Worldcon’s awards forever, showing that it’s a rigged farce of identity politics.
Now, with several works being declared ineligible by the Chinese committee, Worldcon finds itself embroiled in new controversy with polyamory fetishist Neil Gaiman questioning why an episode of Sandman is no longer eligible.
Neil Gaiman wrote to Facebook, “Is there anyone who could actually explain WHY Sandman episode 6 was ineligible? I don’t recall any politics in the episode. It was “SF or Fantasy” and had not been previously released. And if Sandman 6 was ineligible then why didn’t that reinstate Sandman as a whole series, given that it was ineligible as there were too many individual episodes.”
A convention representative replied, “It was a judgment call on my part whether to list both the same way or note that per the WSFS [Worldcon] constitution, only one could be considered. I thought it more appropriate to do it the way it appears. The only statement from the administration team that I can share I already have, after we reviewed the constitution and rules we must follow, we determined the work was not eligible.”
Neil Gaiman further replied, stating it makes the entire Hugo Award voting process “appear illegitimate,” not seeming to recall how Worldcon already changed its rules in 2017 just to force out people they didn’t like getting award nominations.
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After another interchange, Neil Gaiman bragged about his Hugo Award wins, claiming the Sad Puppies process was “transparent” in rigging the awards. However, he called this “obfuscatory” now that his work was removed via perceived rigging. The post implied the current Hugo Award process is unfair, with Worldcon to blame.
Other than Neil Gaiman, author R.F. Kuang had her “Babel” removed, and what transpired was even more head-scratching as Chengdu Worldcon moved to place a novella by John Scalzi on the ballot instead. An uproar of the woke occurred, pointing out that it’s ridiculous an Asian woman was removed for a white man.
Prometheus Award winner, Travis J.I. Corcoran, better known as Morlock online, found the situation amusing. “an Asian woman was kicked off the Hugo ballot, and Scalzi ends up filling the open slot. God has a supreme sense of humor,” he tweeted.
With Neil Gaiman riling up the establishment against Worldcon and their Hugo Award process, convention volunteers scramble to devise a solution to appease the mob they created. Ironically, several of these authors were wholly for blacklisting authors like Vox Day from awards nominations, but now that it’s come to their political team, they’re outraged.
What do you think of the Worldcon Hugo Award Controversy and Neil Gaiman’s whining? Leave a comment and let us know.
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Scalzi didn’t fill the open slot. Silvia Moreno-Garcia did. Scalzi’s book was the lowest ranked nominee that made it onto the ballet normally.
The entire description of the Sad Puppies episode is false.
Either the writer is incompetent or dishonest.
Jon Del Arroz…which is it?
I’d say larry is both incompetent and dishonest.
What kind of deranged maniac protests to SUPPORT child rape?
The same ones that only want to act as if Larry Correia can do no wrong. The same ones who fundamentally agree with the ADL.
A certain sliver of land in the mid east has a massive pedo problem and it ain’t Arab.
Larry Correia did NOT “unsuccessfully band several authors together to try to win Correia an award.”
Read the history of Sad Puppies. Correia et al wanted to demonstrate that the process was rigged, and they did that successfully. Larry doesn’t care about winning a Hugo. He’s happy with his collection of Dragon Awards displayed in his mansion on top of his private mountain, all purchased with royalties from books that the Hugo committee rejected.
I was there. Larry did literally that. He cared a lot. Rabid Puppies took over and fought the good fight.
Riiight.
Kewl story, bro. However, we know the truth. So quit whining about making less money in a decade than Larry does for each book. It’s unbecoming.
But he isn’t whining and Larry did everything described.
Nowhere at all did money come into any of these discussions.
You’re either lying or too stupid to realize that you’re part of Correia’s Cult.
The fact that it is always about money or fame tells me how bad/desperate the situations of Larry’s hangers on are.
I’d be concerned if I was Larry. With guys like Nathan Stewart as your sycophants, you should be, because they sound like the types who will betray Larry for money or clout.
Many such cases, regardless of politics.
100%.
Rabids never attacked their own, Rabids never compromised, and Rabids won the day.
Don’t need to read the history. I participated in Sad Puppies. It was about Larry gaming the system to get an award, after noticing that is how it is done.
Turned Rabid and fought on, because Sad was shortsighted and strategically useless.
PREACH.
Watching the Woke eat each other is always “Must Watch Television”. The longer the retards at Worldcon obfuscate the processes, as well as the discussions regarding both processes and decisions, the more static will be introduced into the already-explosive system.
Pop more corn!
The Sad Puppies episode is the reason I will never read anything by Jemisin.
ive tried several times, NKJ is the reason not to.
Interesting revisionism there, claiming that Sad Puppies was about getting Larry Correia an award. Sad puppies was always about Identity Politics usurping fair consideration of works from “Non Socially Compliant” authors, and you damn well know it.
It wasn’t. They didn’t care about that and took their ball and went home and tried to nope out of the culture war afterward. This is why the Rabid Puppies fought.
Just more bullshit revisionism.
Jon, you’re a pathetic narcissist who had absolutely nothing to do with SP/SP2 and only began your tirade against anything Larry because you had crossed many lines that any normal person would have found abhorrent.
I normally let you rant like you always do, but stop it with your bullshit attempts at inserting yourself to gain some glimmer of importance in someone’s eyes–to be frank, nobody cares about who you are and what you do. You’ve shown yourself to be a scumbag wrapped in the cloak of self-righteous religiosity.
Spare us all and lose the keys to the internet, you’re just embarrassing yourself.
Didn’t expect to see the JIDF to get involved.
Isn’t there a war you’re losing in Gaza you should consider caring about instead?
All I see are accusations and attempts at dishonest self-righteous religiosity from you, Rothman.
I mean, shouldn’t you be keeping your mouth shut, knowing that Jon is a friend of the Jews?
To say nothing about how you’ve lied about the atrocities happening to Palestinians, as if the current politicos running Israel weren’t capable of screwing over both Israelis and Palestinians.
It’s comical to see you seethe. Just like how you failed to gatekeep Righwting authors. ;^)
Absolutely
I can never understand these Confused Commisars of Comrade Correia. They’re absolutely willing to outright lie and make of themselves hypocrites if it means attacking people they disagree with for just 1% of things.
It’s baffling and ironic how they love to claim to be against Russian Tyranny or the Communist Party of China, when they act twice as Totalitarian as those two entities (and three times less successful to boot) 😉
The awards were already scrap metal more than a decade ago. Who cares who gets them at this point?
Seems to me that scifi and fantasy should tell the woke mob to stuff it. Dealing with genres that are, at their most elemental, based on things that are not real should mean that anything goes. Do we have to have black elves (or can they all be green), bisexual orcs? Nonsense.
I love how the Commisars Crew of Drew and Roth think there’s a conspiracy of Jon making socks to respond to comments.
No sons. 90% of everyone that’s dealt with you is just sick of your sycophanting shit.