Adam-Troy Castro

Writer of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Stories About Yams.

 

Conniption Fodder

Posted on May 28th, 2015 by Adam-Troy Castro

Any political differences I might have with the Puppies, any feelings of dismay I might have about the racism and homophobia and sheer unpleasantness displayed by some of them, are secondary.

What really infuriates me most is eighty years — eighty goddamned years — of SF writers and fans trying to persuade a skeptical and often contemptuous world that this is not a field of crap, jumped-up “Buck Rogers stuff,” as it’s so often been called, but a field of literature, material that was stylistically and thematically and conceptually ignored at the world’s tremendous loss, a fight that was led on the page by Campbell, for God’s sake, by Bradbury, for God’s sake, by Heinlein, for God’s sake, by Pohl for God’s sake, even from time to time by Harry Harrison for God’s sake, and in popular culture by Serling and Roddenberry for God’s sake, all that before we got to the likes of Vonnegut and Ellison and LeGuin and Silverberg and Russ and Malzberg and Tiptree and Brunner and Delany, with the occasional cruelly overlooked master like Kit Reed, and others, for God’s sake, all of them hammering hard at the limits of what this field was allowed to do, and what it was allowed to say, all of them breaking barriers and shattering ceilings, often in the face of tremendous opposition, while permitting the grand old adventure stuff to continue to flourish, until we have room for both Neal Stephenson and Neil Gaiman, for everything from Kim Stanley Robinson to China Mieville, for Nalo Hopkinson and N.K. Jemisin, all those good folks, after which we not only enter the zeitgeist but take it over, decades later, whereupon the Puppies come along and say, “NO! IT WAS NEVER ANY OF THAT GOOD STUFF! IT WAS ALWAYS *JUST* ROCKETSHIPS AND DRAGONS! IT WAS NEVER ANYTHING BUT PLAIN FICTION FOR PLAIN FOLKS! ANY PRETENSIONS OF ANYTHING ELSE ARE JUST AN ABERRATION OF THE LAST FEW YEARS!”

*That* is conniption fodder.

Tags: , | Category Books, Life Wisdom, Science Fiction, Writing

The Saga of Bitter Bob

Posted on May 27th, 2015 by Adam-Troy Castro

A bunch of years ago I was informed about the existence of a human being whose name I have forgotten, a wannabe writer who I will call Bitter Bob.

I know next to nothing about Bitter Bob. I understand that he never had success in his writing ambitions. I have no way of knowing whether he actually ever wrote anything or whether he just talked about it, as some do. Both are equally possible. I do know, however, that he eventually decided that the game was rigged and that the only people published by the great New York Publishing Conspiracy are those with connections and those who kiss its ass. I also know that my name came up, in the context of advice.

Eventually, Bitter Bob decided that I was the face of the problem. His rants became easy to start up. All somebody had to do was mention my name. He would fulminate about my completely untalented ass for hours, if you let him. I do not know whether he ever actually read my stuff and thus came to this critical conclusion honestly or if he just decided that I could not possibly be any good if he languished in obscurity. I do know that my name became a rage cue. I also know that if you started him off on how his writing was going, it would inevitably become an extended, profane and embittered rant about me.

I have absolutely no idea how I became the target of this, instead of somebody like George RR Martin or Neil Gaiman who was setting the world on fire. But I was.

I am glad that I did not know about him while this was happening, as I might have worried about the crazy man might have thought to track me down.

Instead, he died suddenly, of a stress-related condition, at age 50.

I was told afterward and have never celebrated it. I still don’t. The man had problems.

Still, there is something to be said about living rent-free in the heads of your enemies, whether you know about them or not.

Tags: , | Category Humor, Life Wisdom, Writing

On claims that “Obama is the Worst President on Race Ever”

Posted on May 24th, 2015 by Adam-Troy Castro

These two arguments, often made sentences apart by the same people, are mutually exclusive:

1) The election of President Obama means that racism in the US is effectively over and Black People have no basis for complaining about anything ever ever again,

2) It was Obama’s job on election to improve racial relations and at that he has completely failed.

They can’t both be true.

Partisans of argument #2 position things so that there is no — or almost no — angle by which it is even theoretically possible to give the President credit even for trying. When he presides without reference to race, which is kind of difficult to do when his race is blamed for every perceived failing, he is “ignoring the problem.” When he addresses race, as he is sometimes obliged to do in answer to direct questions, and often in answer to direct attacks, the response is naturally that he is “trading on race.” He should “shut up” on race.

When he speaks about the causes of racism, which include the historical context and the economic divide, he is “attacking white people” and “playing the race card.”

The argument that he is still making things worse gets special emphasis every time he speaks to White America from the perspective of an accomplished Black Person. How dare he? The implication, the wish, is that he should speak to Black People and get them to quit it — whatever “it” happens to be at the moment. What those who complain really want is for him to do ONLY what Bill Cosby did and tell Black people to stay in school, to get jobs, to pull their goddamned pants up, to speak literate English, and to stop blaming Whites for everything. These are not bad messages; they’re motivational, they’re arguments against despair. They’ve been fine reminders to the Black people since Frederick Douglas. But they are only half the message. They do no good whatsoever if the offenses against them still exist, if they can be harassed for simply going about their business.

And it’s certainly a sign of racism to think that Obama’s pronouncements on race, should he be allowed to make any at all, need to be limited to telling black people what they’re doing wrong. White people need to take their medicine too and they need to stop yelling racism whenever they’re asked to.

Tags: , | Category Commentary, Politics

 
 
 

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