News

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

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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.

Emerson College: Criticizing China’s totalitarian regime is “hate”

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This is a writing blog, not a blog on the China Worldcon, but I’ve been getting a bump in readership from the Worldcon articles, I’ve been talking about intimidation of China critics with vague claims of “racism,” and I just came upon a new outrage. Emerson College is apparently in the pocket of the Chinese government. It derecognized a chapter of Turning Point USA, a student organization. The organization had distributed stickers with the text “China kinda … sus.” That’s gamer slang for “suspicious.”

Emerson president William Gilligan, who seems like a typical academic tinpot dictator, has smeared the Turning Point chapter with a claim of “anti-China hate.” “Hate” is a wonderfully flexible word; in this case, it means criticism of an authoritarian state. If Gilligan is consistent (which I don’t expect he is), then he ought to regard kneeling during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” as “anti-America hate.” Or maybe he just likes concentration camps.
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Update on Uncle Hugo’s

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File 770 has an update on the effort to bring back Uncle Hugo’s. The bookstore was destroyed by a fire set by an unknown arsonist during last year’s Minneapolis riots. The article says, “Last month [Don Blyly] found three prospective buildings to consider – one would be satisfactory if he can get it for the right price.”

The fundraiser has raised nearly $200,000 and is still active.

China buys 2023 Worldcon 1

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

The 2023 World Science Fiction Convention will be in China, a country notorious for suppressing dissent, persecuting minorities, restricting communication, and monitoring its citizens. Worldcon sites are selected among bidders by members of an earlier Worldcon, as just happened at Discon. It appears that the selection was the result of a large number of votes sent in from China from people who purchased supporting memberships. In other words, China bought the Worldcon.

Science fiction is the realm of speculation, exploration of ideas, and examination of alternatives. The idea of a Worldcon in such a repressive nation is absurd. Hopefully few fans in free countries will have any interest in this charade, and they’ll sit it out.
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Writers threatened with $300K fines

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According to an article by Natylie Baldwin on antiwar.com, the United States Treasury Department has threatened writers with fines of more than $300,000 if they write for the Strategic Culture Foundation, a Russia-based online journal.

The writers, Daniel Lazare and Michael Averko, reportedly got letters from the Treasury Department, delivered by the FBI, claiming they were in violation of sanctions against SCF and could be subject to a “civil monetary penalty of up to the greater of $311,562 or twice the value of the underlying transaction.” They say that other writers have received similar letters.
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This entry was posted in News and tagged books bookstores science fiction on by | Open »

There’s a new update on GoFundMe on Uncle Hugo’s Bookstore. As you may recall, it was destroyed by arson during the Minneapolis protests, most likely by someone taking advantage of the confusion rather than a legitimate protester. But they’re still working on finding a suitable location for a new store. In the meantime, you can buy books from the website.

They’re really going for the long haul. As I’m writing this, Uncle Hugo’s has an event scheduled for July 31, 21021.

I have no association with the store. I’m just a fan supporting other fans.

Dr. Seuss becomes “Doctor Sues” (UPDATED: APPARENT FALSE REPORT)

This entry was posted in Censorship Commentary News and tagged censorship liberty satire on by

Update: It now appears that the alleged legal threat by Dr. Seuss Enterprises was a forgery. A tweet by Seth Dillon claiming receipt of the legal notice is “no longer available.” A Daily Wire post which reported the supposed threat now has the following added at the top:

Seuss Enterprises told The Daily Wire that the legal threat is fake and that Seuss Enterprises never demanded the retraction.

“The purported legal notice is a fake. It did not come from Dr. Seuss Enterprises or anyone associated with the organization,” Seuss Enterprises told The Daily Wire.

This morning (April 20), I can’t find anything on Dillon’s Twitter feed either reaffirming or retracting the statement that they received a notice from the Seuss organization. We can all make mistakes (as the original version of this post shows), but we need to correct them, especially when they make someone look bad.

Sorry about conveying erroneous information. Now I have to go back to all the places where I posted links to this article and post updates.

Original post follows…

In March, I wrote that Dr. Seuss Enterprises faced a difficult situation. It now seems I was wrong. They’re just nuts. They discovered a satirical Babylon Bee article and are now threatening to sue.
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