06-09-2013, 09:09 AM | #91 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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They do some good meaningful work on behalf of authors (unlike the "Authors' Guild")--like their flagging of the contracts at Random House's Predatory Press Hydra--but they are clearly a bit backwards in their worldview (which doesn't help their credibility, long-term, in a genre that requires open minds to read and write) in focusing almost exclusively on the ways and venues of traditional publishing (once Hydra tweaked their predatory contracts to more closely ressemble traditional contracts, they shut up--the fact that the terms remained predatory doesn't bother them). Where other genre author associations are giving indie published authors consideration for membership (they constitute 30-50% of recent genre works for romance and SF, after all) the SFWA is still hung up on "validation via contract" and last century practices. So it's not just their sensitivity to members' sensitivities that needs work. Perhaps the incoming leadership can blow off some of the barnacles before ossification sets in. (Fingers and assorted limbs crossed.) |
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06-09-2013, 10:13 AM | #92 |
Wizard
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Given the ages of the two offenders, I think we'll see attitudes change as the older generation dies off.
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06-09-2013, 01:31 PM | #93 |
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All I know is that Jean Rabe is a tremendously talented, kind-hearted generous person who has given her all to help writers over the decades I have known her.
The cover is...tame. Annoying is you really have nothing better to get worked up about, but tame...certainly less offensive than a lot of romance covers. Oh, but there's no uprising about beefcake covers. Seen plenty of Conan covers where the Barbarian is one mis-step away from terrible embarrassment. The articles are undoubtedly sexist...fine, write, criticise, have a party. The wonderful thing about freedom of speech is letting small-minded people sound their ignorances in public for the whole world to see and then mocking them for it. Everyone has grievances, especially in this day and age where it is trivial to round up the Internet lynch mob and try to silence a very politically incorrect voice. I think Orson Scott Card is a total dink for his position on homosexuality and gay marriage but I wouldn't dream of saying he should be prevented from showing the whole world he is a bigot. Creating such a tempest in a brazier* that Jean feels forced to resign is just shameful. * Yes, that's intentional Last edited by BillSmithBooks; 06-09-2013 at 01:38 PM. |
06-09-2013, 01:44 PM | #94 | |
Maria Schneider
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I think they will lose authors too because some of them who have only been trad published are going to start spending more time going indie. If the attitude in the organization "shuts them out" they will leave. They will have less to say and less they are willing and able to contribute simply because of the attitude. |
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06-09-2013, 01:51 PM | #95 | |
Maria Schneider
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Just a lot of routes that could have been. It is a shame the editor felt she had to resign. |
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06-09-2013, 04:13 PM | #96 | |
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The core of the objectification debate is about power; in the olden days, people irritated, annoyed, or offended by it were powerless to even voice an opinion. Which is why the response sent so many ballistic and ended with the "lady editor" resigning: either she had the power to keep it from spiraling into a mess but saw nothing wrong until it was too late or she saw a problem but was powerless to prevent it. Either way, moving on was probably her best hope to cool the overheated debate. |
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06-09-2013, 05:02 PM | #97 | |
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Although I'd make a case that G.I.Joe has more of an impact, since that's a show actually pointed at boys. Or maybe Spongebob? |
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06-09-2013, 05:17 PM | #98 | |
Maria Schneider
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Which has been my issue all along. Instead of tackling the issue as if it might be a real issue, it was all dodge and muster and finger pointing at something else rather than giving it any serious thought. |
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06-09-2013, 05:21 PM | #99 |
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One of the reasons I love my kindle is that I don't have to put up with shirtless dudes on the cover.
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06-09-2013, 05:54 PM | #100 | |
Maria Schneider
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It was bad enough when romance was going down the hysterically funny "Fabian" route where every guy had huge muscles, torn or half buttoned shirt and a swooning woman fluttering helplessly about. Nowadays ... oh never mind. Let's just say I don't even bother to buy the stuff. I wonder if that is part of the reason I don't read romance anymore. I've never really thought about it. But I don't shop for it anymore. Most romance I read these days is because it's a side plot to a mystery or UF. |
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06-09-2013, 06:07 PM | #101 | |
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However, the same approach to the latest Bujold Cover doesn't bother me at all. Mostly because the cover reflects both the tone of the book and an actual scene from the book. Context matters, I guess. Last edited by fjtorres; 06-09-2013 at 06:11 PM. |
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06-09-2013, 07:40 PM | #102 | |
Maria Schneider
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On top of that, they're ugly. That is the one book I remember leaving at home for a trip. I had been so looking forward to reading it, and I honestly don't care what people see me reading, but I had no intention of carting that thing around and reading it on a plane. Ugly. Such covers don't do her work justice. I love to tout her work and tell everyone I know what a great author she is, but if I didn't already know that, I probably never would have read that series. The cover doesn't make me think of a great mystery or a well-plotted and carefully detailed urban fantasy. I'd have never picked that book up off the B&N shelf while browsing and purchased it. Luckily I'd read enough of her work to already love her writing style. |
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06-09-2013, 07:44 PM | #103 | |
Maria Schneider
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06-09-2013, 07:54 PM | #104 |
Wizard
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And it's such a shame, too, because Lois Bujold is anything but tasteless. I love just about everything that she's written (well, the Hallowed Hunt took some getting used to, and I'm still not sure about that dogleg in the plot that happens about 2/3 of the way through, but it's growing on me.)
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06-09-2013, 08:03 PM | #105 | |
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But it often turns out that "some content is more equal than others." Once certain types of speech become "intolerable" it is a slippery slope towards banning anything that the decision makers don't like. That's not a good society to be in. I guess perhaps I am keenly sensitive to this because as a kid, the things I loved most -- D&D, comic books, rock & roll, etc. -- were criticized as evil, corrupting, "tools of the devil" and there were lots of efforts to ban, remove, eliminate and demonize the fans of these products. Eventually I came to realize that the people saying these things were Full of Crap (tm). The people pushing sexist stereotypes are also Full of Crap(tm) in their own way. But it's a free world and people are allowed to be foolish and ignorant. Let them...and show the rest of the world a better way to be and live. I wish we lived in a world where no one felt harmed or shamed or felt anything else negative by a fantasy book cover. I'm a flabby guy who isn't offended by Conan types because I am who I am and I am proud of it; I am comfortable in my (oversized) skin. I enjoy "Redneck" jokes as much as the next guy even though, demographically I am one (and there's a bit of truth in many of them). I am part of Geek Nation and damned proud of it...and yet Shatner's "Have You Ever Kissed a Girl" skit is hysterical -- be yourself and show the world that the some people are full of it. We can't control what the world puts out there. We can only control how we emotionally respond to the things we encounter. |
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