Quote:
Originally Posted by hildea
pwalker8, I'm curious: Exactly what do you think Tor is doing? And how are they doing it?
Are they paying for lots of Worldcon memberships, under the condition that the recipients nominate and vote for Tor books? And have they managed to do this secretly, for years, without a single bribed voter spilling the beans about what's going on?
(And if that's what you're thinking, have you considered writing speculative fiction?)
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Of course not, that's not the way cliques work. I went to the WorldCon way back when, when it was in Atlanta. For some strange reason, no one mentioned being able to vote in the Hugos or anything like that. It's one of those, those who know, know. Those who don't won't things (very obscure movie quote). If you make friends with someone in the clique and fit in, then you get invited in. If you don't, you just kind of drift around and wonder why people come to these things.
It's a lot more like if Baen fans had taken over and voted their favorite Baen books every year (which is what sad puppies was kind of about). It doesn't require a conspiracy. Just a lot of group think and a tendency to close the circle rather than open it. That's a reference to what happens in parties sometime when someone walks up to a group talking. Some groups will kind of turn their backs on the newcomer, other groups will shuffle aside to let the newcomer in. The Hugo cliques idea isn't unique to me, it's been around for a long time. Usually, where there is smoke, there is a certain amount of fire. I think there is a fair amount of evidence that there is a fire.