The world of writing

New York Times: Imagine books without their authors

This entry was posted in Commentary Writing and tagged writing on by

“All you want is production without men who’re able to produce, isn’t it?”

In Atlas Shrugged, Henry Rearden asks this of a gang of politicians and bureaucrats trying to foist an insane scheme on him. Some people say Rand created a caricature. But recently, the New York Times made the erasure of creators explicit with an ad presenting “imagining Harry Potter without its creator” in a positive light. Perhaps the Times people think books are created by a “Fiat Librum” spell requiring no work. (“Fiat Librum” is probably bad Latin. Wizarding Word magic is built on bad Latin.) It’s magical thinking.

The suggestion is reminiscent of Barack Obama’s “You didn’t built that.” Denying credit to creators relieves the beneficiaries of any sense that they owe them anything, even acknowledgement.
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SFWA makes the right decision 1

This entry was posted in Commentary Writing and tagged fandom Russia science fiction Ukraine on by

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has declined to cut off ties with the Russian speculative fiction community. This has prompted an outraged post by Borys Sydiuk, a Ukrainian fan. SFWA’s position, as quoted in the post, is:

The SFWA Board of Directors met this last week to discuss and carefully review your missive. SFWA’s mission is to support, advocate for, and educate creators in the science fiction and fantasy genres across the world. We do this regardless of the actions of their governments. Because our mission is tied to our incorporation and status as a charitable organization, we cannot participate or support any kind of boycott.

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Sergey Lukianenko and the Chengdu Worldcon

This entry was posted in Commentary News and tagged China fandom Russia science fiction Ukraine on by

One of the guests at the 2023 Chengdu World Science Fiction Convention, Sergey Lukianenko, has attracted negative attention for his public support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He is echoing the Putin line, smearing Ukrainians as “Nazis.” There have been calls to rescind his invitation.

From what I can tell, Lukianenko is a despicable person. His activity goes far beyond Cixin Liu’s excuses for China’s treatment of the Uyghurs. Cixin was just answering a question; Lukianenko is actively praising Putin’s brutal actions.

However, I don’t like the idea of withdrawing speakers’ invitations when their views are unpopular. I’d rather view his presence on the guest list as a symptom, a concrete example of what holding a Worldcon in China means. At a convention in any semi-free country, it would be great fun to have him speak before an audience and face merciless question after question about the invasion of Ukraine. I absolutely wouldn’t want him shouted down; that’s a confession of fear that people will hear what the speaker has to say. But having him face a fannish inquisition in the Q&A — I relish the thought.
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Authors condemn China as host of Worldcon

This entry was posted in News and tagged China science fiction on by

Over 80 speculative fiction authors have signed an open letter opposing China’s hosting of the 2023 World Science Fiction Convention in Chengdu. Prominent authors include Angie Thomas, N.K. Jemisin, G. Willow Wilson, S.A. Chakraborty, Zoraida Córdova, Tochi Onyebuchi, Ausma Zehanat Khan, Jeannette Ng, Tracy Deonn, Roseanne Brown, Usman T. Malik, and Tahir Hamut Izgil. The letter was spearheaded by Muslim writers concerned about the Chinese government’s treatment of Uyghurs. Sarah Mughal Rana, one of the people who created the letter, is quoted as saying, “At the very least, I hope for a boycott and for people to be educated on these matters so they do not gaslight and shutdown Muslim voices again. The last discussion about Chengdu’s bid, Muslims were gaslit and accused of being racist, and Western-centric.”

To gaslight is to manipulate people to make them doubt their sanity. I don’t know what the gaslighting consists of, but I’ve discussed the bogus accusations of racism in previous posts.

Read an Ebook Week Sale: The Magic Battery

This entry was posted in My writing and tagged books fantasy fiction magic battery on by

Magic Battery coverThis week I’m participating in Smashwords’ Read an Ebook Week Sale, with 50% off the price of The Magic Battery. Many Smashwords authors are participating in this sale, so you’ll be able to stock up on other interesting books while you’re they’re. The sale runs from March 6 through 12, ending at 11:59 PM Pacific time. The discount applies only if you buy through Smashwords. While Smashwords isn’t as well-known as Kindle, it treats its authors and customers well, and it’s been my preferred publishing gateway for years.

You don’t need any coupons. You should be able to go there and get the $1.49 price. If you run into any problems, please let me know in the comments.

Writing about Ukraine

This entry was posted in Writer ethics Writing and tagged Russia Ukraine writing on by

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has us all very concerned, and anyone who writes about it for publication needs to write responsibly. Here are a few thoughts on the subject. I’m addressing writers in the USA; most of it applies everywhere, but I’m writing with Americans in mind.

Beyond assuming that you agree the invasion is outrageous, I’m not saying what position you should take. (If you don’t think it’s outrageous, you aren’t in my target audience.) These are general points regardless of what you think people should do.
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Words banned from Wordle

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged censorship vocabulary on by

When Wordle moved to the New York Times’ website, I stopped playing it. I’m glad the creator got a big chunk of money, but having it under the auspices of a media company which has fallen so far from its best days took something away from it. An article I came across said that the Times made a few changes, including removing some unpleasant words from its vocabulary. The article mentioned “slave” and “lynch.” It’s not a huge deal, but it smacks of the notion that you can make bad things go away by erasing their names.

Wondering what other words the Times might have excluded, I made a list of others to try. By the Wordle rules, they all have to be five letters. My criterion was not just that the words refer to bad things, but that their mention can make you cringe. This is very subjective, of course. I confirmed that “slave” and “lynch” weren’t recognized, and neither was “COVID.” But it recognized “bigot,” “hates,” “kills,” “raped,” “stabs,” and “thief.”
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Kyiv or Kiev?

This entry was posted in Writing and tagged language usage on by

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine (not “the Ukraine”) dominating the news, many of us have noticed for the first time that most reports now call its capital Kyiv rather than Kiev. I wondered when this shift happened and why, and exactly how the name should be pronounced.

Ukraine flagKiev comes from the Russian name for the city, Kyiv from its Ukrainian name. Both Russian and Ukrainian use the Cyrillic alphabet, so any version of the name in the Roman alphabet is a transliteration. With the current situation, using “Kyiv” is especially satisfying, since it rejects Russia’s claim to the nation. (So far, thankfully, I haven’t seen any claims that criticizing Russia is “red scare racist.”) We can safely say it’s the new standard spelling. For similar reasons, we now talk about “Ukraine” rather than “the Ukraine.” The latter suggests a region rather than a nation. A few other countries have a definite article in front of their names, but they’re ones where the name is a phrase (e.g., “the Netherlands,” “the United States”).
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Writers: Know the tools of your trade

This entry was posted in Techniques Writing and tagged grammar writing on by

No one would try to be a carpenter without knowing how to use a hammer and saw. No one would claim to be a software developer without the ability to write syntactically correct code that (usually) does what it’s supposed to. But it’s astonishing how many people on writers’ forums show a basic lack of ability to use their language.

As a writer, you should understand spelling, verb tenses, sentence structure, agreement, and so on. You should have a good vocabulary and know what the right word is. You can break the rules when it’s appropriate, but you should know when you’re breaking them and why. You should know the difference between “rein” and “reign,” between “lose” and “loose.”

Grammar checkers won’t save a bad writer. The best of them are excessively nitpicking, ridiculously permissive, or both in turns. They’re valuable for catching mistakes, but you have to know which of their recommendations are valid.
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