news and notes
PERSONAL NEWS, BOTH SMALLISH AND BIGGISH, BECAUSE IT SURE HAS BEEN A WEEK.
Hugo nominations close in THREE DAYS! If you are able to nominate and have not yet done so, you can get started here.
There is an excerpt of Defekt up on Tor.com. Welcome to the corporate dystopia of your favorite multiversal homegoods giant. You can pre-order the trade paperback here or in various formats here.
Yesterday, it was announced that FINNA has been nominated for a Nebula Award! You can see the full announcement ceremony here on YouTube, with excerpts of all the written works read by professional voice actors, and a special appearance by the Nebula Awards toastmaster Aydrea Walden (who's an absolute delight). The ballot this year is SO GOOD, and it's a huge honor to be part of it.
It was also announced yesterday that FINNA was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award in the transgender fiction category. The ballot is full of amazing books; it’s awesome to see self-published and small-press books on a ballot with Big-5 titles, as well as poetry, plays, memoir, and fiction. It’s a glimpse into the breadth of contemporary LGBTQ literature, and it’s really beautiful to see.
OTHER, UNFUN THINGS ON MY MIND
Jude Ellison Doyle’s newsletter about Substack’s offering advances to alt-right transphobes and serial harassers through their “Pro” program has prompted a lot of online discussion. I think I’m closest to Emily VanDerWerf’s position in this newsletter. I don’t object to sharing a platform with someone I disagree with (else I’d have abandoned all social media, and probably humanity as a whole, a while ago). And there is a distinct difference between “this person discusses ideas I think are repugnant” and “this person is explicitly advocating harm,” one that’s outlined in Substack’s own content guidelines. But advances are a way of curating spaces; Substack’s hands-off approach to moderation looks very fucking different if they’re courting writers and consumers of hate-speech. Substack’s refusal to be transparent about whom they offer advances or support to isn’t giving me much faith in them.
Just a side-note observing that Substack is always quick to say WE WON’T ALLOW PORN but are happy to host serial harassers and vitriolic transphobia. Fuck SESTA-FOSTA, always and forever. I’d so much rather have the porn, thanks.
I’m not sure where that leaves me now. My subscriber list is relatively small, totally free, and easy to take elsewhere, and I’ve been investigating other platforms. I have too much on my plate to organize collective action, but am also keeping an ear out for any. I’m resistant, the way that Jude is, to having my transness (and queerness and leftist politics) being used to pinkwash and potentially fund the same people pushing for my extermination. No thanks!
So that’s where we’re at. Like I said, it’s been a week.
THIS WEEK’S CAT PICTURE TAX
