Posted on 02/05/2025 12:57:25 PM PST by Angelino97
Our Core Values
Here at the SPSFC, we believe diversity, equity and inclusion are positive things, as are all other forms of racial, cultural, gender and sexual orientation acceptance.
If you think these aspects of humanity are a net negative to our progress and prosperity, this may not be a community you want to be a part of. And the feeling is probably mutual.
This does not mean we included minority-sourced books regardless of quality just to “fill a quota,” to the exclusion of other groups who may have historically enjoyed a more exclusive seat at the table. It means we include everybody, and all of our contestants’ books are judged by their own merit.
The table is functionally infinite. Everyone gets a seat. If you don’t like it, cry about it in your Substack or whatever.
Nobody, ultimately, passes the purity test. Nobody’s opinions are perfect, and in almost every case it will be possible for one person to hold an opinion that another person finds intolerable.
Our goal is not to eradicate these “bad” opinions or to ignore the person upset by them, because that will end with every single member of the SPSFC being removed from the competition and the last one switching the lights out as they leave.
However, we will not ignore the utterances of bigots and hatemongers in our community — while we are not here to police people’s opinions, we will not tolerate hate speech and other backwards attitudes in SPSFC channels such as Discord, X/Twitter and other social media.
Our goal is to:
* Ensure that everybody in the SPSFC community has a voice
* Ensure that all members of the SPSFC community feel save to live their lives and express their beliefs
* Minimize and contain clashes of ideology
Our Mission
Our mission at the SPSFC is to boost the voices of independent authors and bring attention to great indie sci-fi that might otherwise wallow in obscurity.
Through our judging process, we aim to uncover hidden gems and bring them to the light of day where they can find readers.
Although the process of selecting a winner is brutal, and the trophy is very shiny, the aim of the SPSFC is to provide feedback and eyeballs to all of the books in the competition, bringing some value and a positive experience to all the authors who apply.
Since a positive experience is as dependent on the attitude the author brings to the competition as it is on the judges who read and review their books, it is important for all of us to abide by the values written here.
Open Communication is Key
The SPSFC takes a hard line against oppression and bigotry, within the limitations of its extremely loose community structure and volunteer leadership.
In cases of disagreements and clashes of opinion and ideology, it is vital to maintain clear and open channels of communication.
Nothing useful is achieved by dogpiling, and none of us have time to actively and constantly police all the different channels the SPSFC operates in. We will continue to do our best, and expect everybody in the community to do their part.
Looks like they are closed for entries this year.
Some of the self-published stuff is at the highest level of “traditional” science fiction.
A breakout trilogy of this sort is Hugh Howey’s “Silo” series, begin with “Wool”, 2013, available on Amazon Kindle. A unique post-apocalyptic concept. Nice and paranoid.
And of course Andy Weir self published “The Martian” in 2011 to great success.
The field of science fiction has been strongly dominated by DEI values for many years now.
Overpraising Ursula K. LeGuin, Octavia Butler and Samuel R. Delany. Pushing gay themes and characters and making sure their authors won awards. Attacking Robert Heinlein, Jerry Pournelle and Poul Anderson types for pro-US and pro-military attitudes.
I couldn't finish Haldeman's sequel, Forever Peace (1998). Its DEI was very blatant and off-putting.
Oh, man. I hated that book with a fiery passion. Just awful.
I liked both, but prefer Forever War. As you probably know, it was inspired by Haldeman's Vietnam War service.
Haldeman was a Viet Nam veteran and wrote War Year (low sales) but his antiwar stance in fiction later on made him more popular after The Forever War and others.
IN Military.com he said he didn’t want to be drafted but would never consider becoming a draft dodger as many others.
“...in the aftermath of the 1968 Tet Offensive, he and other members of his platoon were hit by a booby-trapped munitions cache. The wounded Haldeman would receive a Purple Heart and a ticket home for the incident.”
Then he took up writing.
//////////////////////
From interview with Andrew Liptak.
How did you experience the war?
JH: I sort of passed through it like a very realistic nightmare. Badly injured, I stayed in Vietnam, rather than returning stateside, because of a clerical error (though I was mostly out of combat those five months – only three enemy attacks).
What can you tell me about your injuries?
JH: One big bullet wound in the upper thigh, a .51 caliber machine-gun round that was part of a booby trap. At the same time I absorbed about twenty large shrapnel wounds and perhaps a hundred smaller ones. Five of those impacted my testicles, and gave me as much trouble as the bullet.
Oh, you left out all the good stuff! They came out with a “Code of Conduct” a couple of days ago, then the next day, they stated that Devon Erikson was being was being kicked out of the contest for violating it (without stating what he did to violate their “code”, which was nothing).
Many of the authors who were in consideration for this “prestigious prize” subsequently withdrew their own books for consideration.
Devon Erikson, who hadn’t even been aware that he was in consideration for this, then proceeded to post an absolutely hilarious commentary on this, in the form of a short story involving a surprise meeting with a goblin. Just look him up on X- it’s worth your time.
Devon Erikson has only finished one book so far, but puts a ton of excellent commentary on X (which is certainly what prompted all of this). I’ve encouraged him to monetize these essays, either by taking X subscriptions, or publishing them in book form.
As you probably know, it was inspired by Haldeman's Vietnam War service.
Yeah, and I saw what he was doing, but I guess I had such a fundamental revulsion to how he seemed to think human beings and relationships work, that I couldn't enjoy it on any level.
I enjoyed Armor, All You Need Is Kill, Old Man's War, and the Live Free or Die series, though.
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