Posted on 12/28/2023 2:07:48 PM PST by Angelino97
VISION
SFWA recognizes that inclusion and equality are ongoing processes that require active effort, as well as acknowledgement of existing inequities, including those rooted in imperialism, colonialism and white supremacy.
This committee will seek to address power imbalances that have historically marginalized people by re-centering marginalized voices and stories.
Our commitment to creating a more equitable organization includes, but is not limited to, increasing awareness of and sensitivity to the intersections of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, class, age, ethnicity, and perspective; redressing the the legacies of imperialism in an international context; questioning institutional biases and “the way things have always been,” especially when those “traditions” and entrenched systems marginalize historically underrepresented voices; and generally serving as an advocate for marginalized and underrepresented voices both within SFWA and in the SF/F community as a whole.
We are fully aware of the paradox of tolerance, and exclusionary, bigoted or hate speech, open or covert, will not be tolerated by SFWA as a whole or the DEI committee in particular.
MISSION
A) Provide guidance internally within SFWA on matters of diversity, equity and inclusion, regarding membership policies, outreach, etc.
B) Provide guidance to external partners to break outmoded thinking/practices and provide safer spaces for the historically marginalized.
C) Gather incident reports/complaints related to the committee’s scope for discussion and where necessary, action.
REPORTING
Diversity, equity and inclusion is a community endeavor and, as such, we in SFWA’s DEI Committee rely on the community.
If you see, hear about, or experience exclusionary, bigoted, hateful, or otherwise intolerant behavior in SF/F, publishing, and other related communities, organizations, events, and spaces, please report it
(Excerpt) Read more at sfwa.org ...
I did like Rendezvous With Rama, though the three sequels were progressively worse (and rather woke). But I'd heard that he didn't really write the sequels; just lent his name, copyright, and some ideas.
LOL...I watched the first one when it came out and then stopped paying any attention!
https://www.zippia.com/advice/us-book-industry-statistics/
Per the above, the number of books sold is decreasing.
Gee, I wonder why.
Thank God for backlists...
I was just going from the list of dead past presidents of SFWA, to answer the question of, “Who died and left these lunatics in charge?” There were plenty of great female SF writers. Up until Jane Yolen, though, (who thankfully is still alive) they seemed to be more interested in complaining about how the organization was run than in pitching in to help run it.
Clarke was gay, yes, but he was never in your face about it. Try to imagine what 2001: A Space Odyssey would have been like if he’d decided to forget about the monoliths and HAL and all that and instead had concentrated on the homoerotic tension between Dave Bowman and Frank Poole during that long and lonely voyage to Jupiter.
As for other famous SF writers who were gay: there were plenty, and some would surprise you. But it’s not my place to out them.
The lead up to that makes me laugh. Every time. “Isn’t that true?”
My first contact w/scifi was all the way back to the “Barnhouse Effect” (or, Report there on, by the up and comer Kurt Whatsisname), my creds are well known all the way to Titan, so I can tell you, with absolute certainty, to date, there has not been a single person found who has read any installment of the DUNE Saga beyond the third. Nobody knows who buys them. Of those who have read the second and third books all that any reader could recall was the word “WORM”...(THEY THOUGHT).
WHAT A SHAME. WHAT A UNIVERSE DUNE CREATED! WE DROOLED FOR THE NEXT CHAPTERS...AND THEY NEVER CAME. THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE DISSOLVED INTO INCOHERENT MADNESS. HERBERT’S ENTIRE CAREER WAS FOUNDED ON THE SINGLE WORD AND UNFULFILLED HOPE OF “DUNE”.
Only the first novel existed, “DUNE”, full of promises and chess pieces, and we all wanted to see MORE!
In the end it was nothing more than Errol Flynn’s “Robin Hood”, with the promise of more to come, that never did.
Too Bad. He should have consumed MORE, or LESS, ACID
Then came “CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR”...AGAIN, the FIRST, A HIT WITH GREAT PROMISE, THEN TWO DUMB DUDS, AND GONE.
THEN THERE’S R.U.R. Read it first when I was about 15, then again after 9-11. Same book (play), different worlds, different readers, different take-aways.
I suppose that’s why Jews read the Torah year after year.
Same book, same words every year, but always new, always different, because every year the reader is always different.
THANKS FOR THE STIMULANT.
G-D BLESS YOU AND YOURS IN THE NEW YEAR.
There is more than ample non woke SF about. Heinlein, Clark, Asimov and Vance may be dead but their writing lives on.
“What’s a Nubian?”
"A Nubian prize, taken on one of your raids of Conquest?"
From the book's description, it sounds as if the Bolsheviks, particularly Trotsky, are heroes whose primary motivation is to fight tsarist anti-Semitism.
Portraying Bolshevism in any positive light is a complete turn off for me.
As I said, I do like Clarke's work. But in retrospect, his homosexuality is evident in his books. His characters are asexual ciphers without personal lives. All they do is talk about science.
I think he was unable to write about close heterosexual relationships, and the market didn't allow for him to write about close gay relationships.
Had he been writing today, his characters might have been openly gay, with their personal lives forming a greater part of the stories.
“If you see, hear about, or experience exclusionary, bigoted, hateful, or otherwise intolerant behavior in SF/F, publishing, and other related communities, organizations, events, and spaces, please report it to dei@sfwa.org.”
That is 99% of my SF library—and that is why I get physical copies of books—these folks will be working on banning/”cleansing” electronic texts.
I saw this coming many years ago—because I read great science fiction—and knew the crazies were always just one generation from their fascist rule.
“wants to make the industry better and more inclusive for everyone”
except straight white males.
“Tanya DePass”
Her picture reminds me of that George Orwell classic:
“Animal Farm”.
:-)
I take if you've not read any of the Dune books written by authors other than Herbert?
I really hate that publishing practice. Having other writers write endless sequels to the original authors's work.
They've done it to Herbert, Clarke, Asimov, A.C. Andrews, Tom Clancy, and I expect to many others. Someone inherits the literary estate, then licenses the author's creation, sometimes just the author's name, and then publishers create woke franchises that bear little resemblance to the original work.
Her picture reminds me of that George Orwell classic: “Animal Farm”.
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