What SFWA did to Mercedes Lackey is unforgiveable. It wasn't an award, it was an ambush; the luring of prizes and adulation replaced with public shaming. The social savaging of Mercedes Lackey was not inclusion - it was destruction.
The SFWA is now no more than a ravening gang and the Nebula Award no more than a tag to mark territory.
Make no alliances with vicious mobs, no matter how tempting... the claws with which they rip others will also slash you.
I have a hard time sympathizing with Ms. Lackey, though, since she would cheer on any of us getting shut down, banned, or far, far worse right along with the same mob that turned on her.
You are probably and unfortunately correct. But wrong is still wrong regardless of circumstance; I have abhorred the cancellations of other authors, and will abhor this action as well. If my love of the First Amendment extends only to myself and others like me it's not Free Speech - it's Me Speech.
You are a better person than me. I'm done extending the benefit of the doubt to people who hate me and would never offer me the same courtesy. Until the other side agrees to abide by Free Speech, it's Me Speech for me and mine.
Oh. My. God. RWA (Romance Writers of America) used to be an inclusive, welcoming group for both published and aspiring writers. You didn't have to be published to join, as long as you showed intent (by sending them a novel which someone actually read) and continued working towards publication. Indie was okay. At it's peak, RWA had about 15,000 members worldwide. They had a strong educational/mentor component, best seen in the numerous local chapters.
Anyway. Over the last decade, they've been slowly being taken over by crazies. Established writers (like Nora Roberts) slowly left the fold. More and more complaints about not being diverse enough, inclusive enough, ....
Towards the end of 2019, controversy exploded over a 20-year-old novel. The best, most even-handed summation I've found was a lengthy Quilllette piece called Romance and Retribution by Jamie Palmer, published 31 March 2020.
RWA's board didn't follow their own procedures, the special investigators denied their own statements, the new president (Damon Suede) turned out to not be eligible AND he apparently had a blood feud going on with Courtney Milan (the main instigator for the complaint over the 20-year-old novel). The forums exploded in accusations.
Two years later, RWA has hemorrhaged into a shadow of its former self. It's lost probably 90% of the members. Headquarters was sold. Fulltime staff fired. The magazine (pretty good in terms of marketing and writing improvement) went entirely digital. Local chapters folded right and left (including my own). Bigger chapters took their treasuries and went it alone. Small groups like us didn't have lawyer members who could take on RWA had their treasuries eaten which is the only thing paying the bills. Conferences were canceled.
RWA continues to shoot itself not just in the foot but in body blows. The newly renamed Rita awards (they became Vivians) in 2021 is a case in point.
RWA was destroyed from within. It will never recover.
I highly recommend you read the Quillette article. It's the iceberg that sank RWA and then the woke membership kept finding new icebergs with which to destroy what was left.
I was suspicious of SFWA when I heard they used a LARGE amount of donations and member fees to pay a frivolous lawsuit because one of their authors (no longer it seems) lost an online argument with a comedy forum. Petty stuff. They also have quite the alumni with many sexual offense charges and refuse to denounce them (hence one of the reasons they tried suing said forum!)
Good to know you are up and running! Any plans to set the old URL up to be a referrer page to the Substack. No sense letting it tempt China Mike into embarrassing his bots again.
What SFWA did to Mercedes Lackey is unforgiveable. It wasn't an award, it was an ambush; the luring of prizes and adulation replaced with public shaming. The social savaging of Mercedes Lackey was not inclusion - it was destruction.
The SFWA is now no more than a ravening gang and the Nebula Award no more than a tag to mark territory.
Make no alliances with vicious mobs, no matter how tempting... the claws with which they rip others will also slash you.
Well said. This happening just after their member data was leaked is going to really damage their remaining reputation, perhaps irreparably,
I have a hard time sympathizing with Ms. Lackey, though, since she would cheer on any of us getting shut down, banned, or far, far worse right along with the same mob that turned on her.
You are probably and unfortunately correct. But wrong is still wrong regardless of circumstance; I have abhorred the cancellations of other authors, and will abhor this action as well. If my love of the First Amendment extends only to myself and others like me it's not Free Speech - it's Me Speech.
You are a better person than me. I'm done extending the benefit of the doubt to people who hate me and would never offer me the same courtesy. Until the other side agrees to abide by Free Speech, it's Me Speech for me and mine.
Thank you for supporting Mercedes
SWFA will go the way of RWA, destroyed by people who claim to love it but really don't.
What happened with the RWA?
Oh. My. God. RWA (Romance Writers of America) used to be an inclusive, welcoming group for both published and aspiring writers. You didn't have to be published to join, as long as you showed intent (by sending them a novel which someone actually read) and continued working towards publication. Indie was okay. At it's peak, RWA had about 15,000 members worldwide. They had a strong educational/mentor component, best seen in the numerous local chapters.
Anyway. Over the last decade, they've been slowly being taken over by crazies. Established writers (like Nora Roberts) slowly left the fold. More and more complaints about not being diverse enough, inclusive enough, ....
Towards the end of 2019, controversy exploded over a 20-year-old novel. The best, most even-handed summation I've found was a lengthy Quilllette piece called Romance and Retribution by Jamie Palmer, published 31 March 2020.
RWA's board didn't follow their own procedures, the special investigators denied their own statements, the new president (Damon Suede) turned out to not be eligible AND he apparently had a blood feud going on with Courtney Milan (the main instigator for the complaint over the 20-year-old novel). The forums exploded in accusations.
Two years later, RWA has hemorrhaged into a shadow of its former self. It's lost probably 90% of the members. Headquarters was sold. Fulltime staff fired. The magazine (pretty good in terms of marketing and writing improvement) went entirely digital. Local chapters folded right and left (including my own). Bigger chapters took their treasuries and went it alone. Small groups like us didn't have lawyer members who could take on RWA had their treasuries eaten which is the only thing paying the bills. Conferences were canceled.
RWA continues to shoot itself not just in the foot but in body blows. The newly renamed Rita awards (they became Vivians) in 2021 is a case in point.
RWA was destroyed from within. It will never recover.
I highly recommend you read the Quillette article. It's the iceberg that sank RWA and then the woke membership kept finding new icebergs with which to destroy what was left.
It's a terrible shame.
Thank you for telling us! It's a shame, it seems like orgs inevitably do this once they get to a certain size. Hope you've since found better company!
I was suspicious of SFWA when I heard they used a LARGE amount of donations and member fees to pay a frivolous lawsuit because one of their authors (no longer it seems) lost an online argument with a comedy forum. Petty stuff. They also have quite the alumni with many sexual offense charges and refuse to denounce them (hence one of the reasons they tried suing said forum!)
Good to know you are up and running! Any plans to set the old URL up to be a referrer page to the Substack. No sense letting it tempt China Mike into embarrassing his bots again.
The site has been taken down and already has a redirect built in.
Unfortunately, right now, most browsers have it blacklisted as being full of malware, so unless you hit "continue anyway" no one will be redirected.