As it is #HugoAwards season again, here is a link to my works published in 2025.
https://rdmasters.lympago.com/2026/02/hugo-season-2026.html
If you are a member of the #Worldcon2025 or #worldcon2026 you can nominate me if you think I am worthy.
You have until March28.
Remember that @MicroSFF , @Unixbigot , @FutzleFiction , and @vanellopemint are also eligible and deserving (in my opinion).
@Priyajsridhar
I've been missing #Writephant for too long and I'm sorry!
My joy comes from having actually gotten out to see movies in the theater recently. With my hubby, even.
Also, I went to Worldcon and haven't talked about it. There were ups and downs, but the best part was meeting [IRL] @Priyajsridhar and one of my teachers, Henry Lien. Take his classes--they're amazing. I also spent some time with the remarkable Cat Rambo. And did some panels. Good times.
Octothorpe 142 is here with stunt Alison, Lori Anderson of @hugogirlpodcast! We discuss some of the pronunciation snafus at the Hugo Awards Ceremony before getting into a happier discussion of panels, the winners themselves, and books. Listen here! https://octothorpe.podbean.com/e/142-a-lot-of-double-sided-bra-tape/
#ScienceFiction #Podcast #HugoAwards #Worldcon #SeattleWorldcon #Worldcon2025
@NicoleJLeBoeuf As it happens, I attended 2024 Worldcon and therefore I have been receiving correspondence from 2025 Worldcon organizers regarding Hugo nominations. All their e-mails began with "Hello Szymon Sok", while as you can see my last name is "Sokół". Over 30 years since Unicode was invented they still can't handle non-English characters. Of course this could be written up to technical ineptitude rather than negligence. However, organizers of 2024 Worldcon were able to handle it correctly… maybe because it took place in Europe, where people are accustomed to such strange names as Ångström, Müller, Egaña, Ørsted, Đurđević or Černík?
Did the Seattle WorldCon ever release final attendance data or were they embarrassed by it?
Grigory Lukin has some things to say about presenters' mispronunciation of nominees' names at the latest WorldCon: https://grigorylukin.com/2025/08/21/when-people-giggle-at-your-name-or-the-2025-hugo-awards-incident/ (edited to fix link)
If that seems like a minor thing, please consider what it means for a Black, non-binary person with a name like Egbiameje Omole to be going through US border protection in the year 2025.
Once you've settled yourself into those shoes, think about how it might feel to have put oneself through that crap in order to attend an event (where one is supposed to be an honoured guest), only to hear the hosts emphasising the foreignness of one's name.
I went to a conservative primary school in the 1980s. Probably 95%+ of kids had Anglo names, but we had one kid from a Sri Lankan family with a long Sri Lankan name. Our headmaster made sure to pronounce that kid's name correctly and without any kind of "gosh what a weird name" shenanigans. If that dude can do it, you can do it.
If the USA wants to continue hosting WorldCons in this era, people need to think long and hard about what the "World" part of that name means.
Edit #2: Egbiameje Omole is with FIYAH magazine, which was the subject of a *previous* Hugos mispronunciation fuckup with GRRM a few years back.
Seattle Worldcon 2025 was an incredible experience! A huge shout-out to everyone who came to every panel with the word "solarpunk" in it like it was their job. ✊
My big takeaway is that we're all looking for hopeful visions of the future - the people want solarpunk! So honored to be able to present my research and network with amazing authors & organizers in such a beautiful city.
#solarpunk #worldcon #seattleworldcon #Worldcon2025 #sff #digitalhumanities #ClimateCrisis #climatescience
The Magic Number Seven of Nine.
Progress report from after #worldcon2025 with two rows to go before I have to stack, line, trim, quilt, and bind.
rdm
Elektra
Octothorpe
Szymon Sokół 🇵🇱🇪🇺🇺🇦
Starraven
Chaucerburnt
Solarpunk Now!
Uncle Josh
Jeff Miller (orange hatband)
NNWest 🏳️🌈