Speak of the Devil

[kevin_standlee]

...and he appears. I was invoked this afternoon to enter a discussion about someone's unhappiness with the Semi-Prozine Hugo Category. (Update: She's hidden the post.) I concentrated on the technical issues, but I can also highly sympathize with Cheryl's unhappiness with a definition of "fanzine" that dismisses them as "squeeing about other people's fiction, or writing fanfiction based on someone else's creative property, or gushing over your favorite actor and drawing bizarre little comic strips to honor her/him."

But I can certainly see how some people would think that's all there is to a fanzine, because that's all they've ever seen. In fact, I suspect such people, if forced to read something that's actually been nominated for a Best Fanzine Hugo, would be completely bemused and probably say, "But there's almost nothing about science fiction or fantasy there!" Funny thing, fanzines.

Still, as I wrote over there, the Semiprozine category is more likely to be abolished than it is to be redefined as "fiction magazines paying more than zero, but less than SFWA-defined professional rates."

Comments

[pnh.livejournal.com]

All of your links go to "403 Forbidden."

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

She's hidden the post.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I'd like to read this too.

If that quote in your last paragraph was someone's serious suggestion, sounds like they haven't seen a whole lot of Hugo-winning semiprozines either.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

You're quite right. She may have only been paying attention since 2005 or maybe 2002 -- and in those years, there was a Best Web Site category (as you know, it was the Special Category added by those two Worldcons), and she assumed that there was always a Web Site category or something like that.

She also wrote: "Why is Locus competing against fiction magazines in the first place? Why not put them in the "Best Related Publication" category?" This was a follow-up to someone's suggestion that Best Related Book be broadened to include "non-fiction magazines," to which I asked "who decided in which category the work belongs."

I pointed out that historically, fiction magazines in Best Semiprozine have been relatively exceptional (although not unheard-of), and that she was actually suggesting that we needed a new category just for magazines that pay less-than-SFWA rates, but more than zero.

I do hope that she unhides the post so that people can see it. If she thinks I'm the SMOF she annoyed, she's wrong. I'm not annoyed. Bemused slightly, perhaps, but not annoyed.

And heck, I don't really want to chase people away who are trying to be involved with the Hugo Awards. I want them to know how they work and I want them to participate if they are interested. Unfortunately, I fear that I've managed to scare someone away instead.

[crookedfeet.livejournal.com]

She's now hidden the post-she has a new one up about hiding the old one because she hurt a SMOF's feelings.