Voting and Open Cultures

I voted yesterday. It's sad how a good chunk of the U.S. population throws away their rights. Back in my day...

Well, people didn't give much of a shit back when I voted in my first election either. It was the Ohio primaries of 1984 if anyone was wondering. But my parents, grandparents, and the older aunts and uncles truly believed in their civic duty. Especially, the great uncles who fought in World War II.

What has changed over the last forty years is the incredible rage and hatred I see in my fellow citizens. Everyone's worried that someone is taking something away from them, or they don't like sharing the costs of things that affect everyone.

Some of the reviews I've received for my books are eye-opening and cruel. Readers especially hated Aisha and Rey from the 888-555-HERO series for not being white or not being manly enough. Yet, Summer from the Seasons of Magick series has been put on recommendation lists for readers who are into non-white interracial romance lists. Even funnier, I don't think some readers have realized the majority of characters in the Justice series are Native American.

That doesn't stop these flash mobs from going after other creators. Ubisoft's head of the Assassins Creed franchise has lost patience with the racist outrage of the latest version of of the game. Color me baffled by this "woke" bullshit being spouted. The Assassins Creed team has used historical figures in the past in its game. Yasuke has hit a nerve with the Neo-Nazi movement in the U.S. though because he was a real person, a former slave who became a samurai in the 16th century.

Japanese culture has celebrated him for years. I backed a Kickstarter for a book and comic to bring his story to life. There's an animated series about him on Netflix. Yasuke is not completely unknown.

So what do the complaints about Assassins Creed come down to? Racism, pure and simple. Black and brown stories are being told, and the Neo-nazis just don't like it.

As the Ubisoft executive said, open cultures are the ones that survive. If we closed the U.S. borders over the years, there's so many awesome things we wouldn't be able to experience. Mainly food. I can't imagine my birthdays without lasagna.

But to the assholes, all I say is "Tough noogies, people." The world is changing, whether the bigots want it or not, And like the original Nazis, the racists will become a footnote in history.

Oh, and if you didn't vote yesterday, I don't want to hear you bitching!

Can RWA Survive 2020?

I'm going to start my thoughts at the end. When both Neil Gaiman and Chuck Tingle call you out publicly, you've fucked up big time.

For the record, I don't know the real person(s) behind the pseudonym of Dr. Chuck Tingle. Nor do I care to know who he is. I'm content to enjoy his cute stories about buckaroos and the things they love. The best compliment I've ever received is an accusation by two people that I am secretly Dr. Tingle. I am not.

I also give major kudos to Chuck because he has never inserted himself into any writer drama. However, he's been dragged into it, and he cleverly jabs at the people doing the dragging. (Google Space Raptor Butt Invasion and Sad Puppies.) And once again, someone is dragging this talented person's behind into a pile of shit not of his making.

Now, back to the beginning--RWA, aka Romance Writers of America.

Again, for the record, I was a member of RWA from 2004 to 2012. I have my own biases towards the organization.

On one hand, it's the only professional author organization that accepts aspiring writers. The local chapters have wonderful classes where newbies can learn a plethora of craft methods and techniques. I truly believe RWA's education programs, local and national, match or surpass most master's-level university creative writing curriculum.

On the other hand, RWA has many of the problems of any large organization, from an entrenched power base to lack of adequate response to a changing world.

Over the last fifteen years, I've watched a conservative clique within RWA suppress or attempt to suppress a number of things:

- Around 2000, erotic romance was attacked because OMG! There's sex in those books!
- After that was an attempt to force a resolution through the executive board defining romance = 1 man + 1 woman ONLY! That was around 2005.
- Then in 2007, if you *gasp* sell to an e-book only/first publisher, you're not a real writer.
- In 2010, if you self-publish/indie-publish, you're not a real writer!
- Shortly after that was "okay, we'll accept SP/IP writers as long at they make five times what a trad-published writer makes." (Note: This criteria has since changed.)

To be totally frank, underneath everything at RWA was a nasty current of racism, but all the blame cannot be laid at RWA's feet. Most trad publishers refused to buy any romance book where the lead characters were non-white. They claimed those books wouldn't sell. If People Of Color ("POC") characters managed to slip past the acquiring editor, the marketing team refused to put any POC on the cover.

The indie publishing movement has helped open up stories about and by POC. And unfortunately, we're discovering just how racist readers can be. Plus, there's a certain coterie of writers who cater to that slice of the reading public.

*sigh* So among all this shit, a Twitter flamewar started between a white writer and a POC writer last summer over the contents of the white writer's books. The tiff probably would have passed unnoticed if the white writer hadn't weaponized the RWA ethics by-laws to attack the POC writer.

If you want to wade through a decent summary of the situation complete with links, Claire Ryan has one on her blog. Many thanks to Claire for putting this all together.

**Fair warning, when I was researching this dumpster fire, I needed a shower afterward.**

The sad part is this seems to be a repeat of the Sad Puppies/Rabid Puppies fiasco within SFWA a few years ago. Part of me hoped RWA as a whole would catch a clue and amend their ways, but alas, they seem to be doubling down on white supremacy instead. Frankly, I don't have much hope for the organization surviving. At least not in a writer-helpful form. And definitely not with the people who could make the needed changes resigning left and right.

All of this leads to--can any writer write "other" without getting lambasted?

The way I see it, we're damned if we do and we're damned if we don't. As a white, cis-gendered, straight woman, if I leave anyone out of my books who aren't exactly like me, I'm guilty of all the "-isms". If I write a variety of characters and make them stereotypes, then again, I'm totally guilty of the "-isms".

Personally, I've already made the stand to have a diverse cast of characters in my books. I try to do my research. If I do something stupid, I hope a reader will call me out on it.

I'm not perfect. I'm sure I've fucked up along the way. I'll probably fuck up again. All I can do is promise to do my best to provide fair and diverse worlds.

I figure if I'm already getting lambasted for being anti-white and writing SJW/feminist propaganda, then I'm probably doing something right. *smile*


**Note: I'll leave comments open for now, but if y'all can't behave, I will shut down comments. Don't bring your fucking racist flamewar here!

Writing the Other

Writing what you know has been a mantra for the nearly twenty-five years I've been writing. However, a speaker at a book event in Texas said something that's been stuck in my head for the last ten or so years, "Write what you can imagine."

To me, that means empathy for and through your characters no matter who or what they are.

But in our society's efforts to be equitable, to get more minority voices heard, there's a question of whether a writer can adequately write about "the other". Even more, should they?

These concepts have become a huge subject among the writers I know. For example, if I'm a white, middle-aged, straight woman, can I accurately write about a teenage African-American boy? Should I even attempt to write about a person who's not exactly like me?

So many authors are afraid to touch "the other" for fear of retaliation. That fear isn't exactly helping the overall problem of ignoring minorities.

The following is my opinion and mine alone:

I think we artists do ourselves and our readers a disservice not to explore other cultures and other peoples. Doing so was the epitome of my first love, science fiction. Writers in that field could explore social issues without to much fear of repercussions because hey, we're talking about aliens here, not real people. Right?

Sometimes though, writers create a blatantly obvious corollary.  People forget how radical Gene Rodenberry was in the '60's. Women didn't serve in the U.S. military at the time. Men of color rarely rose in the ranks despite Truman ordering desegregation of troops. And, oh my god, a Russian serving alongside Americans?!

Star Trek inspired so many people of my generation, of all colors and genders, to enter the scientific fields. What would have happened if Gene and the ST:TOS writers room had only written about straight, white, middle-aged men? What if that were all they were allowed to write?

But how does a writer step into a new realm without committing cultural appropriation? I have mixed feelings about this. Cultures are not static. What we call American culture is a hodgepodge of things from all over the world. But on the other hand, I don't believe it's ethical to use something from another culture without acknowledging its source. For example, I wouldn't put a character of European or Asian decent in dredlocks. At least, not without a damn good reason.

But deep down, I do think representation matters. I want people other than me to identify with my characters regardless of the readers' or the characters' superficial characteristics. It isn't just important for my family and friends to see themselves in a story. It's important for people not like us to see we are just as human as they are. And for us to see them as human as well.

Maybe that's my goal in the end, not just delivering entertainment, but for my readers, to see the human race as a whole instead of its pieces.


**Like Monday's post, I'm leaving comments open, but if you decide to be a shitbird (a term I borrowed from author Joseph Bradshire), I will delete your comment. Remember--company manners, everyone.**

The More Things Change in RWA...

...the more I'm glad I left years ago.

I love romance. I'm a romance writer under the Alter Ego pen name. And if any of you have read my fantasy genre books, you know I have romance subplots.

I left because of the regular dissing of erotic romance and indie publishing and e-books. I was told I would never have a career if I indie-published, or kept writing trash or...pick your poison. The anger from others and myself was affecting me physically. I didn't need to end up in the hospital. Ironically, I quit both my day job and RWA in 2012.

Over the last seven years, I've had friends, old and new, suggest that I come to a meeting again. "Things have changed," they said. "RWA had lots of workshops on indie publishing," they said. "RWA is more open now than ever," they said.

Then the Rita nominees were announced at the end of March.

For those who don't know, the Ritas are the major awards in the romance genre. For romance writers, nabbing a Rita is a big deal.

Except the membership noticed at glaringly bright white problem. Yep, all the nominees for 2019 are white, straight women. And for the whipped cream on that milk pie, all stories nominated involved contained heroines who are ...straight, white women. After all the bullshit with the Oscars, you'd think other entertainment-related organization would learn.

*sigh*

The original brouhaha allegedly happened on RWA's PAN (Published Authors Network) forum. Things got so bad it spilled into other writer forums and the publishing industry at large.

Donna S. Frelick talked about the lack of criteria for judging  and lack of training allows personal bias to get in the way. Laurie A. Green pointed out the racism and homophobia weren't the only biases when it came to the Ritas. The controversy grew so widespread a UK paper, The Guardian, had a pretty extensive article about race and RWA.

Instead of hiding under rock or sic the RWA attorney on members (I've seen both happen the eight years I was an RWA member), RWA's current president HelenKay Dimon has pledged to find a solution to the biases within the organization. Frankly, I hope Ms. Dimon and her board find a solution.

However, it isn't just writers and publishers who are the problem. How we deal with reader biases?

Anyone who's written a series, regardless of the  genre, can tell you how the sales numbers go down for each volume. For example (and these are hypothetical numbers):

Book #1 sells 100 copies.
Book #2 sells 50 copies.
Book #3 sells 35 copies.
Book #4 sells 20 copies, and so on.

Alter Ego's first series contained four books. The heroine of the third book was African-American. (I'll get into writing the other in Wednesday's blog post.) I bought a photo of a lovely dark-skinned black woman I used as the cover of Book #3.

If I posted my sales spreadsheets for this series, you would see that sales for Book #3 went way behind the normal drop off after Book #2. In fact, Book #4 with a white heroine on the cover outsells Book #3 roughly 3 to 1.

Recently, I redid all the covers for this series because the male model I used in the original covers decided to be, using my friend Jo's favorite term, a shitbird on Facebook. It'll be interesting if the sales ratios start to shift for Book #3 now that I'm using generic high-heeled shoes for all the covers.

So what's the perfect answer? I don't know, but this is a conversation our society needs to have.


**I'm going to leave comments open as long as everyone uses their company manners. If you get personal or nasty, your comment will get File 13'd.**

Hatred on the Internet

Invariably, someone will feel they need to argue, so I'm going to close comments on this post. The fact I feel the need to close comments says how bad the problem has become.

The hate is strong in the world these days. It's not just things like the burning of African-American churches across the U.S. or slut shaming of underage rape victims or harassment of members of the LGBT community. It's gotten to the point I don't read comments on my favorite sites. It's gotten to the point I've blocked several friends on FB. It's gotten to the point I don't even get on Twitter anymore.

There is very little compassion or empathy on the internet. There's been several studies including one published in Psychology Today. And if you look at the comments, well, the trolls kind of proved the author's point.

There's irony inherent in a system that can bring people together from around the world can also be used to divide us. People like Dylann Roof allegedly not only told friends about his intentions to kill blacks, but proclaimed his intentions on his Facebook page and his own website. What makes his threats valid and another person's nothing more than blowing off steam online, other than the fact Dylann allegedly carried out his plan?

I think the fact we don't know which is which online makes the problem more troubling. A friend shared a post online about rape vs. consent only to have a male she considered a friend PM her with a sexist joke. When she called him on it, he didn't apologize. Instead, he doubled-down, claimed she was being too sensitive, women like being sexually harassed if the harassee is good-looking, etc.

So how do we as a multi-cultural world deal with someone else's anger? How do we help these people to change their behavior into something positive?

The problem is we can't. Sometimes the beliefs are so hardcore, so ingrained, that to give these people an alternative sends them into an emotional tailspin.

Then there are the trolls who enjoy inflicting pain.

So how do you respond when you're not sure which party you're dealing with? I wish I had the answer to that.

If you respond to a troll, you're only helping him jack off. If you allow the hatred to permeate without a response, then folks on the edge start to think this behavior is acceptable.

The best thing that can happen is that the owner of the site monitors comments. That the owner explicitly states the comment policy. By having a website open to public comment, we are responsible for the level of discourse.

I've had people get mad about some of the things I post here. I've had people get mad when I've called them out for some of the things they've said in comments. I've had people get pissed because I deleted their comment. So be it.

The comment policy here is that you need to be civil, and yes, since WWW is under my control, then my judgment on what is civil rules.

This isn't a First Amendment issue. This is what my parents and grandparents called "using your company manners." If you can't behave in any public venue, maybe you shouldn't venture into that space.

Parodies That Make Me Proud

On Monday, I talked about the racist response to the Cheerios commmercial that had a mixed race family. Well, Kenji America posted this fabulous parody that tells the haters to "Eat it!"

Sometimes I Weep for the Future...

Unles you've been living under a rock for the last few days, you've probably heard about the racist bullshit involving a Cheerios commercial showing a white woman in a family relationship with a black man. Frankly, the whole stupidity makes me want to cry. Which is why I LOVE this meme:

But other writers give me hope. Go read N.K. Jemisin's Guest of Honor speech she gave at the Continuum SF convention in Australia.

I think what bothers me most is that Nora shouldn't have to send out a call to action for equality. Too many people have fought too long and too hard for rights that we are letting slip through our fingers.

On top of the Cheerios commercial, there's the sexism blow-up in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America organization. Angie Benedetti has a rundown here and here with lots of links to other writers.

Why are we letting other people foster this hate (yes, I'm specifically talking about the GOP, the Tea Party and Fox News)? Even worse, why are so many of us taking this into our hearts?  Can we not accept that things change?

Well, guess what? Change is a part of life. When my great-grandparents were born, the Civil War had been over less than twenty-five years before. Automobiles were fancy toys rich people used to scare horses. And the idea that human could fly? Laughable.

Five out of eight of my great-grandparents lived to see Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. I let my son stay up to watch the returns for the 2008 presidential election.

Because things change.

Yet, my mother still refers to African-Americans by the n-word, despite having a master's degree in multi-cultural education. My sister-in-law claims immigrants are pushing her out of a job, even though she lost one position because she was caught stealing. I've been told by several well-meaning "friends" that I shouldn't make more than DH because it affects his self-esteem.

Hell, if the last one were true, I wouldn't be married to the guy in the first place.

So what does this have to do with a Cheerios ad?

They put out a damn cute commercial, and I'll buy more of their cereal to support a company that uses the same types of families I see everyday.

Including in my own house.

How to Respond When Bigotry Hits the Streets

I admit when I heard about Brad Paisley's song Accidental Racist, I thought he was trying to be cute. And I REALLY wondered what was going through LL Cool J's head by participating on the record.

After listening to it, I think the song tried to bridge a gap, but it was rather sugar-coated. Both men could have gone farther in addressing the problem in the lyrics.

Because racism is a problem in this country. And it's becoming more and more obvious since President Obama was elected in 2008 when a great deal of festering ugliness exploded across the nation.

On last Thursday's Colbert Report, Stephen and guest Alan Cumming sang their own parody concerning homophobia.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Did you laugh?

I laughed. I probably would have laughed harder if the parody wasn't in the coattails of nasty problems from last week.

One of the points of art is to get the human race to examine itself. One of the roles of artists is to ask the hard questions, to examine the things about ourselves we don't want to acknowledge.

As clumsy as Brad and LL's duet is, it has gotten people talking about stereotypes and judgments, on the internet and in real life. Maybe it will be the turning point in solving four hundred years of shit in this country.

I hope it is.

I really do.

Why the Kitchen Sink Is Important

SFF Author Scott Lynch wrote a scathing retort to a reader who complained about Scott's heroine in Red Seas under Red Skies being a black, middle-aged woman.

As I read it, I wanted to scream, "Hell to the yeah!"

I want to read about variety. I want to write about variety. I want to share with my son that variety exists in this world.

One time, another writer read one of my Bloodlines books. Her primary complaint was that I threw in every race and religion as well as the kitchen sink. Most of my characters are vampires. They reflect the culture and religion of the time they were born.

I simply stared at her and said, "You expect me to take that criticism seriously?"

"It will confuse people," she replied.

"So your personal life is confusing to you?"

"Huh?"

I leaned back and folded my arms. "Your mom's Mexican. Your dad's American. And you're married to a Chinese guy."

"Never mind."