This mess was eminently avoidable, starting with the no-brainer of not hosting the Hugos in a totalitarian, repressive state like the People’s Republic of China:
The 2023 Hugos were mired in controversy from the beginning. It started with a pall being cast over Chengdu’s decisive site selection win over Toronto coming with accusations of ballot stuffing, something that plenty of authors had ideas about…
…Controversy was ignited anew with this week’s long-delayed release of the full nomination statistics. Science fiction and fantasy fans from in both East and West are up in arms over several candidacies being listed as “ineligible” without explanation, and fear for the reputational damage done to the region and Eastern fandom as a result.
Look, I understand that an outside observer might detect the bouquet of grapes past their sell-by date here, and I’ll cop to it. When all is said and done, I belong to the section of science fiction and fantasy fandom* that has been made aware that we are not going to win awards, get book contracts, or otherwise enjoy certain perks that come from being good at words. I would be some kind of saint (I am not) if it didn’t get a rash of irritation over it, at least a little. I will even agree, readily enough, that knowing that you will never win anyway lets you avoid answering or even contemplating the question, What if you weren’t good enough to win?
None of this absolves the people currently running science fiction and fantasy fiction into the ground, though. They all suck at their jobs, and could be profitably replaced by a random selection of the preregistration line for the next Worldcon. And I don’t really care if it’s a hard job and they’re trying their best, either. If only because ‘trying their best’ should be ‘finding somebody competent to do the work.’
Moe Lane
*The rather large section, by the way.
If you’re having an awards ceremony for writers in a country that doesn’t have freedom of speech, I want no part of you and your awards.
They decided a decade ago the ChiComms had a desirable system for promoting fellow-travelers, but the ChiComms themselves were obviously the more experience player at that game.
They deserve each other, and may they continue to fade into historical irrelevance.
I question that bit about reputational damage being done to “Eastern fandom” when the SF fans of South Korea, Taiwan and Japan clearly had nothing to do with this and the previous Worldcon in Tokyo had gone off without anything of this sort happening. Seriously, what is it with China simps and their refusal to acknowledge that there is any Asia outside of China??? 😒
I have my theories, but they all break The Rules™ ’round here.