Great News, Dead Six and SoE audiobooks!

January 28, 2014 correia45 10 Comments

I have FOUR new audiobooks coming out on February 4th.

You guys have been bugging me about these for years, so I am super happy to make this annoucement. There are going to be Dead Six and Swords of Exodus audiobooks, and they are narrated by none other than Bronson Pinchot, who performed my Grimnoir series (and won us a bunch of Audie awards).

I haven’t been able to say anything about this, and I sooooo wanted to. Bronson has been sending me samples as he went through. Big Eddie is one of the craziest performances you’ll ever hear.

The release date is soon. As in next week. http://www.audible.com/pd/Mysteries-Thrillers/Dead-Six-Audiobook/B00I0EODX8/ref=a_search_c4_1_10_srTtl?qid=1390864059&sr=1-10

And here is SoE: http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Swords-of-Exodus-Audiobook/B00I2WTRWA/ref=a_search_c4_1_11_srTtl?qid=1390864059&sr=1-11

Hope you like them!

And while you’re on Audible, don’t forget to check out my new Warmachine stuff too. http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Into-the-Storm-Audiobook/B00HS1WT4Y/ref=a_search_c4_1_8_srTtl?qid=1390864059&sr=1-8

Time is almost up for SAD PUPPIES 2: Rainbow Puppy Lighthouse the Huggening!

January 27, 2014 correia45 26 Comments

This is it everybody, your final chance to combat Puppy Related Sadness (PRS) is now! Only you can help support your favorite authors get a Hugo nomination, rather than literati message fic, so pretentious and boring that it is the leading cause of PRS. When a really crappy book gets a Hugo nomination, that is what it sounds like… when doves cry.

But you must register before the end of January! Go here to buy your supporting membership. http://www.loncon3.org/memberships/ For just $40 you can register to nominate and vote in the Hugos, and if you ACT NOW they usually throw in an eBook voter packet with all of the nominated works from the different categories so you can actually read the nominees and then vote intelligently. (unless you are a typical WorldCon voter, and then you just autovote for whoever is most popular to your clique, obviously). Sure, many of these works will suck, but it is still more valuable than the cost of the membership.

What is a typical WorldCon voter? Well, I’m glad you asked, but that’s tomorrow’s blog post. 🙂

Also, I’ve heard many people say that they haven’t registered because they believe that PRS is an unstoppable epidemic… But this isn’t the case. Nine out of ten veterinarians agree* that the people who already bought supporting memberships as part of Sad Puppies 1 WILL BE ABLE TO NOMINATE AGAIN THIS YEAR with no extra cost. They don’t need to register before the end of January, and they can nominate for the next few months. Since we almost succeeded in wiping out PRS last year, all we need is a little more help to put us over the top. MHL missed the final 5 by only 17 votes.

(*that last vet is just angry because I borrowed his lawn mower and haven’t returned it yet… Yeah, I know, way to be a jerk, Bill.)

Seriously, that last part is important. Everybody who voted last time can nominate this time. You just need to get your pins. But we’ve got a couple of months to get our noms in, so for January I’m just focused on getting people registered.

A couple of weeks ago you heard my heart felt plea to end PRS with our illustrated ad campaign.

https://monsterhunternation.com/2014/01/23/some-reactions-to-sad-puppies-2-rainbow-puppy-lighthouse-the-huggening/

But because CorreiaTech will not rest until it dominates the global entertainment industry, and our ultra high tech R&D department never rests, here is our illustrated plea in EXCITING CORREIACOLOR!**
**(also known as Photoshop).

VOICEOVER GUY! Now in EXCITING TALKING FILM!***
***(also known as YouTube) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzGKlOkQsxY

Insert Eloquent Manatee Here… Wait… Where’s Wendell?**** Oh, that’s right! Wendell has been offended. Somebody suggested that my fans were easily bamboozled by Sad Puppies (If I recall correctly, he suggested you guys were manipulated by rhetorical sleight of hand) https://monsterhunternation.com/2014/01/23/some-reactions-to-sad-puppies-2-rainbow-puppy-lighthouse-the-huggening/ And we all know that the only mammal at CorreiaTech cunning enough to pull off something that devious is Wendell.

So the BIG HUGO lobby has waged a slanderous campaign of character assassinatin and mud slinging against Wendell, suggesting that the people who care enough to end Puppy Related Sadness have merely been MANIPULATED BY MANATEES!

****(Wendell the Manatee was unavailable for comment, because he was golfing with Rush Limbaugh and the Koch Brothers at their secret country club… on the moon.)

Hmmm… Now that I’m thinking about it, if I ever get around to writing an actual Tom Stranger novel I am going to title it A Conspiracy of Manatees.
This has been a difficult battle against PRS, but we’re almost there! There are only a few days left to register! Won’t you take a stand against Big Hugo and end Puppy Related Sadness?

The Drowning Empire, Episode 44: Subotai’s Dilemna

January 24, 2014 correia45 2 Comments

The Drowning Empire is a weekly serial based on the events which occured during the Writer Nerd Game Night monthly Legend of the Five Rings game. It is a tale of samurai adventure set in the magical world of Rokugan.

If you would like to read all of these in one convenient place, along with a bunch of additional game related stuff, behind the scenes info, and detailed session recaps, I’ve been posting everything to one thread on the L5R forum, http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=295&t=101206

This week’s episode was written by Pat Tracy, who is playing Moto Subotai. During this session they are visiting his father, the daimyo at Journey’s End Keep. Stuff is about to get complicate for poor Subotai.

Continued from: http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/the-drowning-empire-episode-43-once-upon-a-time-in-the-ivory-kingdoms/

##
The stone was perfectly flat. Moto Subotai rubbed whetting oil upon it until the liquid began to bead on the smooth surface. With the tang of the dagger against the rough work table, he chose the angle that they’d taught him as a boy and carefully ran the stone down one edge of the tanto, then the other. It was a quiet pursuit, a pursuit that improved a person’s wa. He took comfort in it, the sound and feel of the stone against the steel surface.

Subotai took thirty-two strokes on each edge, squinted, then took thirty-two more. He lifted the carefully-folded linen cloth next to him and wiped the blade free of oil and grit, then held it to the light of the lamp. A tanto was a pretty thing, sturdier than the longer blades, the often forgotten element of the daisho, remembered only when one was called upon the expunge dishonor and debt with the ultimate act of a samurai, the tool by which he controlled the destiny of his family and clan.

Akodo Toranaka appeared, the smallest increase in his wariness and the hard set of his jaw the only hints that he was in the most difficult state that a hostage keeper could imagine. He was good at keeping his face, good and all the things that samurai valued. It was unfortunate that they had found themselves spirited into the Journey’s End Keep, that Toranaka was forced to trust in the questionable forbearance of the Unicorn. This was one part of the story. On the other side, Subotai’s father, Kohatsu-sama, was here, and it was said that his betrothed would return in a few days. One man’s fortune came at another’s expense, it seemed. That was the way the Fortunes structured the world. He would now have to ask something difficult of Toranaka, adding to his burdens at the least opportune time. It had been some time, and Subotai saw no way around it. The truth, at least part of it, would have to be told.

Toranaka nodded and took a seat at the low table. Subotai had asked to see him, and he would await whatever words were to be spoken. Though nothing outward was betrayed, Subotai imagined that Tora was considering the Utaku maiden he’d been arguing strategy with. She was handsome, and they were cut from the same cloth. They did not have minds that went in a thousand directions, but battlefields where strategies were tested. Subotai smiled slightly. He imagined Tora’s eyes lighting up in a private moment, his fist raised. “I will have cavalry!”

It was likely that he would not be there to see it., but he hoped Tora’s days were long, and that his dream of uniting the clans came true. With the gaijin threats from all sides and the Dark Oracle of Water, the Empire would need unity as it rarely had.

Subotai bared his forearm and put the tanto blade against his skin. The blade moved, all the hair parting and leaving a swath of bare skin. It was good, well honed.

“The reason I’ve asked to speak to you away from the others is this: I must tell you a few things, so that you might be prepared. It affects you more than the others, as you hold my parole.”

Toranaka raised an eyebrow.

“I have reason to believe that, some time in the future, I will be the subject of a blackmail attempt. The person or group who will do so have information that would serve as leverage for most men, information that could make things very difficult for me. When this happens, and they ask for something that I cannot honorably do, I ask that you be my second.”

“Your second?”

“When I use this,” Subotai said, holding up the tanto. “It is prepared, as am I. I have seen the thing done, and I trust your blade more than any others. I recognize that things will be difficult, and I will, of course, leave letters that will exempt you from all suspicion and wrongdoing, but I fear that I’ll need to buy back a debt of honor with my blood in the near future.”

Toranaka considered the revelation quietly for several seconds. “Do you know who this person or agency is? We could move to crush them. Anyone who resorts to blackmail is dark of heart, and the world would not miss them.”

Subotai shrugged. “I have been approached once. I didn’t know the man, and there were no clues that I could find to his identity. I can’t say, even, how the information he would use against me came to light. It is a secret that, to my knowledge, is only known by two living people, both of whom would rather that it were expunged and forgotten.”

“This secret involves you?” Toranaka asked.

“Yes.”

“A deed?”

“Not my own, but yes. More a state of being, really, a fact that cannot be changed. Something that has given me much to consider and great doubt over these last few years. In many ways, I think that it has made me try harder to be what a Samurai should, but at the same time, it calls all I have ever done into question. That is all I can say.”

“I would prefer not to see you initiate the rites of seppuku, my friend, but a samurai must do as his honor commands. I will serve as your second, if this comes to pass.”

A well honed tanto
and the shadow of the truth
honor must be served

Moto Kohatsu looked old and fatigued. He put up a good image in front of the partygoers, but Subotai knew his father, could see the pain and wear on his face. He had aged fifteen years in the last three, and anyone who had not seen it happen across the slow sequence of days found this perfectly clear.

Kohatsu leaned on the war table in his rooms, laughing sardonically. “I can see it in your face, my son. You don’t have the makings of a courtier, and I know well that this is the face of an old man. I have changed, become unlike the hearty samurai you grew up watching.”

“Becoming so well lauded and successful has not been without difficulty, I suppose.”

Kohatsu blew air out of his nose. “No. Nothing is ever easy. A man’s life is not long, so he must take pains to assure that it is worthy and filled with deeds. This I have done, and regret but little. I took a wound and am dying, though I cannot betray such a fact to the others. I would see things put right before I become too weak to fool my adoring Unicorn brothers, though. I would see you freed from the Akodo and prepared to rule in my stead.”

“Father, you have many good years left. I’m sure that the Shugenja will happen upon a draught that will restore your full powers.”

“No, son. They have tried, but this old wound saps my strength and erodes my ability to lead. I…cannot even ride well anymore. I have not been able to for a while. If I could have, you would have seen me at the head of the vanguard that lead you here. No, I am going to have to go to the monk’s life soon, and for not very long.” He laughed. “That’s all for the best. I don’t have the makings of a good monk.”

“Father…”

Kohatsu forestalled Subotai’s words with the flat of his palm. “Now, how shall we get you out of this hostage situation? I could arrange for Toranaka’s death easily enough. There are ways around these things.”

Subotai felt the blood leave his face. “Father, I believe that it would be a poor choice to harm Toranaka. He his an honorable man, and we have grown to be friendly in these years. I trust the man with my life, not out of duty but out of choice. We have gone to battle shoulder to shoulder too often to seem as enemies now.”

“You are young, son, and you have always been fair minded. Perhaps too much so. There are political exigencies that must come before friendship.”

Subotai sighed. “Perhaps, but not before honor. Were Toranaka made of the same stuff as Akodo Tetsuru, the mad man, I would have no quarrel, but he is a true samurai, the like of which there are too few in the kingdom today. It would be a shame to waste such a life, when I have heard that peace accords over Rich Frog are now well on the way to being completed.”

Kohatsu sagged into a chair at the side of the war table, his face ashen, his hands betraying a tremor. “Very well. I will try to hold out for you, but I can make no promises. Another season, perhaps two, is all I have left in me. If you are still entangled, the leadership and all its accolades will have to pass to another. I would find that most troubling, when your deeds and quality have been spoken so widely.”

“I will do all that I can do to be the man you would want as your son, Father. As to leadership here, I don’t know whether I am ready for such responsibilities yet. I am a sword fighter and a wanderer, a young and rootless man who has little head for business or the leading of men. There are certainly more deserving men in the fortress now, and I begrudge them nothing that they deserve.”

Kohatsu brought his fist down on the table. “None of them are my son! You are my legacy, Subotai. Your mother and I…well, you know your mother. It is no accident that I have not been home in many years. We did not long share an amicable union, and you are my only heir. I must see that you are well situated before I die. All else dwindles to insignificance in my vision.”

“I will be fine, Father. All is well.” The lie, while delivered with all the artifice Subotai could manage, hurt like splinters of broken pottery as it passed from his lips.

“That’s good. That’s good. Win yourself free of this, and return to me while what little strength I have persists. That is my wish, and my command.”

Subotai bowed.

“Now return to your friends. Enjoy the party in your honor. Eat well and dream of a day when all this will spring into action on your command.”

The father falters
time steals away his power
desperation grows

To be continued next week: http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/the-drowning-empire-episode-45-the-duel/

If you want to read some of Pat’s regular stuff, he’s got a couple of great stories in this anthology, including one where somebody who might be Agent Franks (I can neither confirm nor deny) shows up for a cameo: http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=monshuntnati-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B008OJITTS

Some Reactions to Sad Puppies 2: Rainbow Puppy Lighthouse The Huggening

January 23, 2014 correia45 93 Comments

There have been a few blog posts pop up relating to my noble endeavor to end Puppy Related Sadness by going directly to my fans and asking for them to nominate me for a Hugo. As usual they’re written by humorless finger shakers or people who just don’t get it. But that’s okay, because I’m here to help!

Here is one that linked back to my blog today: http://file770.com/?p=15783 This is a pretty good one that brings up some interesting points, so it’ll serve to clarify a few things. The original post is in italics. I’m in bold.

Larry Correia’s Vulgar Blog Post – His Word

Actually, no. Somebody used that word to insult my shameless self-promotion, so I took it and made it my own, which is sort of what I do when people try to insult me. (as a result Monster Hunter Nation is now the #1 Google result for Cismale Gendernormative Fascism!)

Adam Roberts, meet Larry Correia!

Okay. Nice to meet you, Adam (okay, I’ve got absolutely no idea who that is, but we’ll run with it).

Last week Larry Correia served up a whole hot fudge sundae of self-promotion, victimhood, and smof-stomping in “Sad Puppies 2: The Illustrated Edition” at Monster Hunter Nation.

Self-promotion. Check. Victimhood? That implies that I’m sitting around rather than doing something, but hey, to left wingers “victim” is like an achievement, and since I’m normally just a filthy heartless capitalist 1%er on the internet, ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! Smof-stomping? Sounds awesome.

Then he quotes me.

Some people rejoice in sad puppies. They say that having one tiny group of fans always vote for their favorites is “tradition.” They call popular authors’ attempts to stir up their non-WorldCon attending fanbase to vote in their little popularity contest as “vulgar.” By being vulgar and super non-traditional Larry Correia’s Sad Puppies 1 campaign only missed the Best Novel cutoff by a few votes, and those brave souls who supported him last year can do so again for FREE this year. But he needs more help… Larry Correia fans are far more likely to spend $40 on ammo, or snacks for the while they watch the new season of Justified than to join WorldCon, and if they actually attended a WorldCon they would probably be very, very bored.

But if somebody like Larry Correia would be nominated for a Hugo, then puppies everywhere would rejoice.

Indeed. And if you’ve watched the video you’re imagining Voice Over Guy and even the proper background music as you read that.

It really gravels him, as many fans as he has, that last year he lost what everyone admits is a popularity contest. Correia’s Monster Hunter Legion missed the 2013 Hugo ballot by 17 votes.

Ah, but here the obfuscation starts. First off, I was unaware that gravels was a word. Sweet. Second, Everyone admits it is a popularity contest? Really? That’s fascinating, because outside of a tiny insular group of folks that attend WorldCons, most people aren’t aware of that. In fact, me coming out and saying that it was just a popularity contest certainly managed to cause a lot of twisted panties. And most of that tiny insular group (smof, if you will) sure don’t like to come out and publicly admit that it is just a popularity contest. You see, the Hugo is SUPER PRESTIGIOUS and they’d love to keep it that way.

His strategy for avoiding the same fate in 2014 involves the rhetorical sleight-of-hand of convincing his fans that voting for their favorite (him) is a virtuous act of nonconformist rebellion, while the identical behavior directed by other fans towards their favorites (not him) is hideous elitism.

WHOOOSH. That is the sound of the Point flying past somebody totally oblivious.

Okay, let’s break this down for the utterly clueless. There’s not really any “rhetorical sleight-of-hand” involved with me going directly to my fans and asking them to pony up cash to vote for me. (I do like how it is implied that you guys are so easily bamboozled though).

If anything, compared to most self-promoting writers, I’m at least honest about it. The part that seems to get me in trouble is that I’m asking my readers instead of the proper gate keepers.

As for the nonconformist rebellion bit, he must have missed the last few years of internet arguments, literati trolling, and assorted BS my regular readers have watched transpire on this blog, Facebook, or Twitter, but that can’t possibly be why a bunch of you who don’t give a crap about going to WorldCon kicked in money to vote last year. I guess I’m just that good at stirring up nonconformist rebellion. Shrug.

Shouldn’t that work?

Considering how unpopular I am with the typical WorldCon attendee, and the fact that I missed last year’s short list by a handful of votes with a total that would’ve put me 2^nd or 3^rd in any prior year, and my entire suggested slate of nominees made the short list in every single other category, yep. Pretty much.

Along the way, Correia called on people to nominate his editor at Baen, Toni Weisskopf. Now that’s something I can agree with – Toni Weisskopf should be competing for a Hugo. She’s a terrific developer of talent.

So there’s hope for this guy yet!

Beneath a photo of Toni’s dog, Daphne, Correia continued –

Daphne is sad because most of her owner’s authors are despised and ridiculed by the traditional WorldCon voting crowd and the snooty literati. She knows that her owner deserves a Hugo for Best Editor because of her impressive career editing hundreds of popular works of sci-fi and fantasy and for discovering dozens of new authors who went on to be big sellers…

Yep. Now let me point something out for. You realize Toni is worthy, and you are apparently aware of her many remarkable achievements, but did you realize that the only Hugo nomination Toni has ever received was because of my campaign last year? Well, huh… Go figure.

But since we’re on this topic of this biased little popularity contest and how worthy figures like Toni have gotten completely hosed by this cliquish little group, were you aware that Stan Schmidt had been nominated over THIRTY times before he final won, and he actually had to retire in order to get that? If you want to talk about an editor developing new talent, you’d think the guy who edited Analog the entire time most of us have been alive, Schmidt should have won his Hugo long ago. But nope. He had a enough fans to get the nom, but since he wasn’t a WorldCon favorite, Stan was ignored.

And that’s in a category that at least has some different people win once in a while. Locus has won THIRTY Hugos. 30. Three zero. If you want a glimpse into the type of people who vote for the Hugos, they read Locus, and the only time I’ve ever showed up in Locus is on their bestseller list.

Hmmm… Maybe a little shake up might do this super prestigious award a little good!

For all that the Hugos are a popularity contest, fans are aware a writer can sell an enormous amount of sf — stuff they like! — without moving them to give him an award. One of my personal favorites, Mack Reynolds, sold hundreds of stories in his career, only one of which garnered a Hugo nomination.

Wait… So you’re saying that Mack Reynolds was really really good, but got mostly ignored because he wasn’t a fan favorite of one tiny splinter faction of all sci-fi readers, yet I’m the bad guy?

It sounds absurd to argue that Toni Weisskopf has rendered service to the field while pretending her authors – which is to say Baen-published authors – are generally despised and ridiculed.

You must not know very many Baen authors… We are the black sheep of sci-fi/fantasy, but the thing that really pisses off the groupthinkers is that we’re so damned proud of that.

And for the record, we’re only despised and ridiculed by the literati message fic types. Find some politically correct SMOFers (which is most of them), bring up Tom Kratman and watch them burst into flames. That’s really it for the ridicule though, since out in the real world we actually sell books by the ton and sleep on large piles of money.

Begin with Larry Correia himself. Worldcon members nominated Correia for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2011. They sure didn’t despise him that year.

Well, I can see that somebody totally doesn’t know the origin story of Sad Puppies!

Let me help you out. I got the Campbell nomination because one small contingent of WorldCon voters is made up of Baen Barflies, and I was the new writer that they all got behind that year, and that in and of itself was a miracle, since getting all the Barflies to vote together is like herding cats. Just ask them. But my first book had made a big splash with Baen readers, so they nominated me. Most of WorldCon didn’t despise me then because at that point they hadn’t heard of me yet.

Then my name showed up on the shortlist so they looked me up… Hoo boy. It was the end of the freaking world. Most of them didn’t actually read my book to know they needed to vote against me. They found out I was an outspoken, right wing political blogger, and gun rights activist. Critics came out of the woodwork. Smofers actively campaigned against me. If you voted for Larry Correia, you were a bad person. I was accused of misogyny, racism, hatey-hate-mongery, and why wouldn’t I keep my Jesus out of their uterus! My favorite post however was from a British blogger who said that “if Larry Correia wins the Campbell it will end literature forever”.

So about a week after I got the nomination, and estimating the number of Barflies going to Reno, I figured I would come in last. Bingo. Not that I mind, since the guy who won hasn’t published a book since and my 11^th is coming out this summer, so I’ve managed to squeak by (and personally, of the five of us, I thought Dan Wells was the most talented writer).

Watching people brag about how they hadn’t read me, and never would, but were super proud to vote against me because of my having the wrong politics was enlightening. But that’s only part of it. Actually attending that WorldCon was very eye opening. It is an extremely political environment. If you want to win, you suck up to the right crowd. If you don’t say the right thing to that crowd, buh-bye.

Now, talent and sucking up to the right crowd are not mutually exclusive. There have been some extremely talented nominees, but the only way to be a nominee is if you’re popular with the right people. But if you are popular enough, then the actual quality is irrelevant. You make it sound like everyone admits this, when in fact, very few do.

And this isn’t even getting into the many allegations of fraud and complaints of missing nominations I heard, which aren’t my stories to tell, but I’m a retired auditor, so let’s just say that the public part of Sad Puppies is only half the fun for me! Somebody really cynical might think I’m just doing all this as a way to collect data for analysis, but that’s just crazy talk. 🙂

So I decided in Reno that if this thing was just a popularity contest, since I was popular outside of this tiny group, why not just go directly to my fans, tell them about how it works, and then ask them to go vote?

When I left that WorldCon I had a long conversation with another author who I will not name. I won’t out this particular person because he is decently popular with the WorldCon voters clique and has won a Hugo. I told him what I was thinking of doing. His comment to me was that he was normally against my crazy desires to break everything (hey, former auditor, can’t help it), but in this case, the system sucked and needed it.

Of course, that was years ago. Since then my fans have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of literati twatwaffles coming around, picking fights, calling us names, and explaining how I’m not a *real* writer and my fans are dumb. So if you want to know how I got 100 people to kick in $60 last year to do this, it certainly isn’t because of my crafty sleight of hand, but rather because they’ve personally seen the snooty morons up close, and like me, rejoice in anything that pisses those people off.

Lois McMaster Bujold is a 12-time Hugo nominee, 5-time winner – and 3 of her Hugo-winning novels were published by Baen.

You’ll note that in the prior posts of mine you went through, I always say most Baen authors, as in all but one. Lois is our one anomaly because there is a big group of WorldCon voters who love her. The Barflies are a small group, and there is some crossover between them and the Bujold fans, but there are more Bujold fans at WorldCon than there are Barflies. If Lois writes a Vorksogian novel, she is going to get nominated that year. The rest of us are fully aware of this. She’s had an entrenched fan base at WorldCon since 1989.

Once again, popularity contest, and she’s popular with that group. And I really like Lois! I think she’s an extremely good author. The main difference between Lois and the rest of us however, is that the average Correia/Ringo/Kratman/Hoyt/Williamson fan would rather set themselves on fire than sit through a WorldCon, especially when it is competing with DragonCon (i.e. Nerd Mardi Gras).

Other current Baen authors have history with the Hugo/Campbell awards from when they were with other publishers. Timothy Zahn won a Hugo and received two other nominations for short fiction in Analog.

Wait… So your evidence that the WorldCon voters aren’t biased against Baen is one of my publishing house’s authors won a Hugo in 1984? I was in 4^th grade. Many of my readers hadn’t been born yet. And judging by the general cardiovascular fitness of most WorldCon attendees, I’d hazard a guess that most of the people who voted in 1984 are dead now.

Wen Spencer won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer when she was with Roc.

So one of our authors won an award before she was published by us. Wow. That sure is some compelling evidence that the WorldCon clique isn’t predisposed to dislike stuff from Baen!

It is a little surprising that two leading alternate history authors, Robert Conroy and S. M. Stirling, who are up for the Sidewise Award almost every year, have never made the Hugo ballot. (Stirling’s Nantucket trilogy came out when he was at NAL/Roc, so as I’m suggesting, the pattern probably has nothing to do with Baen.)

Conroy and Stirling are both accomplished authors. Full agreement… Wait… So are you agreeing with me now that this popularity contest is stagnant and needs a good kick in the nuts?

You want to know why those guys win Sidewise Awards but not Hugos? (same reason I’ve won some Audies). It is a juried award where a handful of specialist experts read a bunch of submissions and weigh their relative merits, instead of a popularity contest decided by warring cliques of fandom. Sadly, which award has more name recognition to regular readers? Yep. The popularity contest.

However, I never said it was just about Baen (especially since this bias extends into categories other than best novel or best editor). This applies to anybody who isn’t popular with the in crowd in any category.

And there are some more Baen authors — Michael Z. Williamson, Eric Flint, David Weber, and Mercedes Lackey – who have provided so much entertainment over the course of their careers it’d be great to see them nominated someday.

Interesting. I’m friends with some of those people and have had long conversations with a few of them about this very topic… Want to guess which one of us they agree with? And if you think I’m militant about the bias in this business, Mike makes me look like a hippy with a Give Peace a Chance sticker on my Prius.

I too would like to see some of those authors nominated someday, but they won’t ever be nominated unless they do the same sort of thing I’m doing right now that you find so very distasteful. The only reason I can do this and have a chance of sneaking in is because I have a bigger online presence than the other people you mentioned, and my fans are hard core. If I thought I could pull this off with somebody else the literati found as uncouth as me, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

And the sad thing is if Flint or Lackey were to get a nomination nowadays, at least their politics would keep them from getting character assassinated the whole time.

In fact, the part I’m really excited about is if I do pull this off, I will have demonstrated once and for all that it is just a popularity contest, and then I can’t wait to see what authors way more popular than me do with this most prestigious award EVAR. I don’t know how many blog posts I saw lamenting some amazing favorite book of theirs not making the list. Good. Now you know what you need to do in order to get your favorite author on there for next time.

See, I suspect when you say self-promotion, you’re using it as something derogatory. Popularity contests are always about self-promotion. In the past, the Hugo was about self-promotion, only it was promoting yourself to the WorldCon crowd. After the reception I got from WorldCon, I figured what the hell, I’ll just go around them. Of course, the people most offended by this sort of barbarity are the people currently getting their way.

You mentioned Hideous Elitism earlier, as if I didn’t approve when other authors engaged in self-promotion. Quite the contrary. I think it is fantastic. Now you’re putting words in my mouth.

You’ll note that in all of these silly campaigning posts I’ve done, I’ve never bashed any other author’s promotion of their work. Take Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant for example. She promotes herself and is popular with the WorldCon crowd and has won some stuff. Good. I like her writing. I’ve VOTED for her. An author who doesn’t self-promote is a sucker. Look at last year’s best novel winner, John Scalzi. I am the political polar opposite of Scalzi. I disagree with Scalzi on about just about everything, but as a capitalist I’ll give him points for being such a shameless self-promoter, and the typical WorldCon voter loves him.

I think if an author wants to actually make a living at this stuff, they’d better be a self-promoting machine. My problem isn’t with the authors and other creative types promoting their work, since that is sort of our job. But some of us will never be liked by the average WorldCon voter. Period. My problem is with one tiny group of gate keepers declaring themselves the deciders of all that is good.

So we can either put up with the gate keepers, or we can go around them. I don’t know how you define “victim” but I’m guessing we have very different definitions of the word. 🙂

And since I’m on a roll, the comments to this blog post are good too.

1. Reed Andrus on January 22, 2014 at 3:47 pm said:

Larry Correia seems to be in the small-but-very-visible class of genre authors whose work is extremely good while (his in this case) personality sucks. There are a few others I could name, but probably won’t in the interest of fair play. Nice write-up on this particular innocuous kerfuffle.

My personality sucks. That is remarkably nice compared to most of the things I’ve been called on the internet. At least this guy was honest enough to admit that I can actually write. Most of the time they just call me names and haven’t actually read my stuff, so I call this a huge step in the right direction.

Luckily, the award is for Best, not Nicest. Though in all honestly I’d be curious as to what the criteria for “nice” would be to somebody like Mr. Andrus. I’m betting for the people on my side of the aisle that probably means not arguing back whenever somebody tells us how stupid we are.

1. J. C. Salomon on January 22, 2014 at 5:10 pm said:

There’s no “rhetorical sleight-of-hand” here. Larry is openly acknowledging the Hugo Awards as a popularity contest and he’s asking for votes. And anyone asking for votes while being less honest about this is fair game to be—rather gently—mocked.

“You can beat any system. All you do is turn the handle the way it goes, only more so.”

Now this guy gets it. And that is also a really good quote.

EDIT: Wait just a second… This post was from a website called File 770… That sounded strangely familiar for some reason. Oh, will you look at that. Thanks, Wikipedia. File 770 has won SIX Hugos for Best Fanzine and been nominated another TWENTY TWO times. Well, shucks. I can’t imagine why they’d think shameless self-promotion by a WorldCon outsider would be such a terrible thing!

And on that note, my nomination for best Fanzine will be going to http://elitistbookreviews.blogspot.com/, who Sad Puppies 1 got a Hugo Nomination for last year. 🙂

But since I’m surfing around the interwebs tonight, let’s see what other fun ad Puppies related stuff I can find in the track backs. From http://chris-gerrib.livejournal.com/

Okay, that is a very fair post, but the poster is missing one big part of the puzzle (and he did vote for me for the Campbell, so we’re cool) 🙂 He read MHI and didn’t think it was Hugo worthy. Fair enough, except that was my 1^st novel. I’m promoting Warbound, which is the 10^th novel I’ve written. You know what they say about practice. And speaking of the Campbell, like I said, I wanted Dan to win.

He said MHI is just basic Let’s Go Kill Some Monsters fiction. Okay, but Warbound is the last book of a trilogy which is a totally different series, and as far as originality goes, I don’t know, it is a pretty standard diesel punk, 1930s alternative history, super heroes with sci-fi based extraterrestrial magic, noir-pulp, epic fantasy, Tesla weapons, gangster, zeppelin, great depression, samurai power armor novel…

(though my favorite negative review is, and always will be, the guy who said the Grimnoir trilogy was just ripping off the X-Men when I had FDR try to round up over a hundred thousand people who were considered scary to put them in concentration camps. Holy crap.)

My Grimnoir trilogy has already been nominated for a bunch of other awards, including the Hugo equivalent of other countries, and won a couple of juried awards like two Audies for best audiobook, so it isn’t like I’m just chucking crap at the wall to see what will stick. This is actually a good book, not that very many WorldCon voters would ever look at it otherwise. 🙂

Quick Reminder, SAD PUPPIES 2 only available until the end of the month

January 21, 2014 correia45 17 Comments

Watch this video and feel the infinite sadness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzGKlOkQsxY

That’s right. The clock is ticking. What have you done to end Puppy Related Sadness today? If you don’t register as a WorldCon voter before the end of January then it will be too late, and puppies will be sad. FOREVER.

For only $40 you can become a member and nominate books, stories, and related works that are actually entertaining for the Hugo awards. (Like Warbound) Go here to combat PRS: http://www.loncon3.org/memberships/

Some people rejoice in sad puppies. They say that having one tiny group of fans always vote for their favorites is “tradition”. They call popular author’s attempts to stir up their non-WorldCon attending fanbase to vote in their little popularity contest as “vulgar”. By being vulgar and super non-traditional Larry Correia’s Sad Puppies 1 campaign only missed the Best Novel cutoff by a few votes, and those brave souls who supported him last year can do so again for FREE this year. But he needs more help… Larry Correia fans are far more likely to spend $40 on ammo, or snacks for while they watch the new season of Justified than to join WorldCon, and if they actually attended a WorldCon they would probably be very, very bored.

But if somebody like Larry Correia could be nominated for a Hugo, then puppies everywhere would rejoice.

This puppy belongs to Baen’s publisher. We will call her Toni. No. The publisher. We will call the puppy Daphne… Daphne is sad because most of her owner’s authors are despised and ridiculed by the traditional WorldCon voting crowd and the snooty literati. She knows that her owner deserves a Hugo for Best Editor because of her impressive career editing hundreds of popular works of sci-fi and fantasy and for discovering dozens of new authors who went on to become big sellers, but Daphne’s sadness swells when she finds out that because Toni doesn’t like to throw away large sums of money promoting boring ass message fic about dying polar bears and is one of the only publishers brave enough to actually publish right wingers or militant libertarians like Ringo, Kratman, Williamson, Hoyt, or Correia, then her owner will be ignored by the literati, UNLESS YOU HELP… (Daphne is also sad because she just got spayed, but today we are concentrating on the whole Hugo thing).

PRS isn’t limited to just puppies. The Hugos have become so snooty and pretentious that even this baby… Er… Hell, I don’t know what that thing is… But look at that sadness.

Damn, that’s cute.

So won’t you help the poor whatever the hell that is? Only you can stop Puppy Related Sadness.