Jack of Harts

Many of you have heard by now that Origins disinvited a guest of honor because he held beliefs not welcome in their little convention. His name is Larry Correia. He authored the popular Monster Hunter International and Grimnoir Chronicles series, both of which I have read and loved. He also started the Sad Puppies campaign at Worldcon to promote stories he thought were deserving of awards but were being ignored in favor of more socially progressive stories. Most of you have heard of the Noawards that Worldcon gleefully awarded when his suggestions actually made it through.

Well, a few days ago, Origins disinvited him as a guest of honor after learning of all his sins, including the general number of isms and ists that are the usual calling card of socially progressive types. It turns out that the individual who started the campaign to get him removed is the significant other of an individual who wrote an article about Gencon some four years ago, labeling it with numerous ists and isms and the like. Larry did a point-by-point rebuttal on that article, in public, and published it to his blog.

John Ringo was recently disinvited as a guest of honor from ConCarolinas after a similar ist and ism campaign. He authors…well…a lot of fiction. He’s rather scatterbrained at times, and you never know what he’s coming out with next. There’s the March to the Sea science fiction series, the Posleen alien invasion series, the Special Circumstances urban fantasy series, the There Be Dragons future fantasy series, the “special” Ghost series, and many more. I’ve read nearly every book he’s published, and while they sometimes make me a mite uncomfortable, I find them very enjoyable. And educational. ConCarolinas did not entirely throw Ringo under the bus when they announced their disinvitation. They claimed they could not provide sufficient security for him against the numerous threats made against John Ringo, and he chose to walk away without any further drama. Since he doesn’t really like drama.

And not long before that, another author named Jon Del Arroz was banned from Worldcon for planning to violate the rules of the convention. Namely, he said he would probably wear a body camera to the convention after receiving threats from other con goers about how he was an ist and practiced ism and was a very bad person. There was no rule against body cameras at the time, but this is Worldcon we are talking about.

I and many others see this as an expanding campaign to ban anyone who is not socially progressive from the science fiction and fantasy convention circuit. They started with the mouthy one they didn’t think most people would stand up and defend. I’m sure Jon will agree that he can be annoying, and he’s certainly loud about his politics. His detractors I’m certain saw him as an easy target that would be difficult for others to defend. And they were right. Very few people truly defended him.

John Ringo is problematic in other ways. He’s written rather stark and complete, for science fiction, rape scenes. Though that particular series was not science fiction. Still, combine that with the fact that he is obviously conservative, a man, and generally white, leaves him an easy target. And he didn’t want to bother with it. So most people walked away and let ConCarolinas off the hook easily, because he was.

Now Larry Correia has been charged with being a very bad man in the past. That four-year old article for instance. The charges were so bad in the past that his wife was contacted by long-lost friends and asked if she was safe with that very bad man. I think she laughed. Well, this time, when Origins disinvited him for being a very bad man, she had had enough. She posted something on her social media that could be described as a “salt the earth” request. And Larry’s fans gleefully jumped into the fray. Because when Origins attacked Larry, they attacked his fans too.

Origins is now deep into a one-week-long campaign to delete just about every comment on their social media posts. Social media blockages are being reported as well. Some exhibiters have pulled out, and Origins has released numerous room blocks to the general public.

And authors like John Ringo and David Weber have joined the fray as well. They are calling on authors who are not socially progressive to include cancellation penalties in the contract whenever they are invited to a convention. And that they put conventions who invite and then disinvite authors due to spurious campaigns like this on a little black list. The list of conventions that they will not go to again in the future.

Let this be my formal announcement that I, Medron Pryde an author in good standing of the SFWA, will be following their lead.

I do have a list, and yes I will be checking it twice.

Tootles.

Medron Pryde