RE: https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/116290338892571761
🤦🏿♂️Actually, nevermind.
Why is everything like this?
The author supposedly went on an anti-woke, right-wing podcast to promote the movie while trashing other books and movies that do have a "woke" message or that have inclusive representation? But... why?
Why was that necessary?
I'm not saying don't watch the movie or read the book. Do whatever makes you happy.
I'm also not interested in debating how much inclusion is in his stories, whether he realizes it or not.
And I'm not interested in comparing even bigger, "super woke" sci-fi franchises like Star Trek or Star Wars.
I'm just saying that I personally watched the last one (The Martian), and I watched this one (Project Hail Mary), but you can guess if I'm watching the next one.
So many choices in entertainment.
The actions that attract the MAGA customer base will probably alienate me, and vice versa. That's OK!
Whether or not I watch his next movie doesn't really matter that much to him. He's not going to go broke and that's okay. Good actually!
But it's so hard to be an author, let alone a woman author, in sci-fi, who tells stories with good representation? Those authors don't need to be punched down on.
🤔Now I need to buy two IMAX tickets worth of sci-fi books written by authors that aren't anti-woke, just to put my part of the universe back in balance.
🤔Actually to properly balance things out, I have to keep reading new sci-fi books until I find one that I can recommend to thousands of people.
You're right! They don't have to be new!
@s_wilson @JonnyT @mekkaokereke
Absolutely! Very favorite SF author of all time. CJ Cherryh is wonderful.
For the uninitiated, start with Downbelow Station and move on to the Chanur series.
Great mixture of hard SF, politics, humanity, and adventure. Fantastic writing style. Just the best.
Her fantasy novels are wonderful too.
@s_wilson @JonnyT @mekkaokereke
Absolutely love the Foreigner series. All 22 books!
Have been listening to it on audio book. David Thomas May is a wonderful narrator who does great service to Cherryh's complex liguistics.
@s_wilson @JonnyT @mekkaokereke
You need to be in the right frame of mind for sure. Finding it to be the perfect antidote for these crazy times. Just a wonderful escape to another world. It is a slow burn though.
Edit: Maybe try the audio book version
@JonnyT @mekkaokereke @s_wilson Most of Le Guin's novels are scifi actually, it's just her half dozen fantasy books are more famous.
Big plug for Four Ways to Forgiveness and The Telling, imo the best of the Hainish Cycle.
@JonnyT @fullfathomfive @mekkaokereke I'm always puzzled about how her most known books are the few she wrote for children
I'll recommend her short stories books too
@hypostase @JonnyT @mekkaokereke @s_wilson Le Guin was a fucking genius.
Also recommending "The Dispossessed". Blew my mind.
For something more recent, Ann Leckie is a solid choice, and Becky Chambers if you want something really wholesome.
@forse @hypostase @JonnyT @mekkaokereke @s_wilson
The whole Hainish cycle is wonderful, yes, but The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness are the best.
Iain M. Banks (""Money implies poverty") was also woke before the conservatives discovered the word and oriented their culture wars around it, in the Culture people change their gender by meditating on it and the social norm is to father one child and mother one child, if one is into procreation, of course. :-)
@forse @hypostase @JonnyT @mekkaokereke @s_wilson
After reading The Dispossessed, I recommend. Samuel R. Delany’s Trouble On Triton which he wrote in response to Le Guin’s work.
@hypostase @JonnyT @mekkaokereke @s_wilson
Yeah thanks for bringing this up. The Dispossessed is like book number three in the series "The Hanish Novels and Stories" and a two book collection of all the works in the universe is a fantastic read!
I loved reading the collection, and if I don't have so much other stuff on my TBR list, I would read it again.
@JonnyT @mekkaokereke @s_wilson
As always, more people should have paid attention to Butler's Parables.
@mekkaokereke @s_wilson
Objection: If they're not new, the author wont get any money.
I often buy used books, and always buy used if I don't want the author to get money from me (like the Hillbilly book from that Hillbilly VP).
@mekkaokereke @s_wilson If you also accept short stories that veer more toward science-fantasy instead of hard sci-fi: "Nine Bar Blues. Stories from an Ancient Future." by Sheree Renée Thomas.
If the above contains to many fantasy-elements, "Africa Risen. A New Era of Speculative Fiction." is a strong contender.
I liked both books, but found the first one a tiny bit better.
Of course, both are anthologies and thus will contain stories you do not like as much, but I found them all to be good.
+1 for the Culture series.
I've only read Consider Phlebas so far.
It’s good, but not my favourite. Player of Games, Excession (❤️ Sleeper Service!) and Surface Detail are my amazing IMO.
And, always read the epilogue!!
@mekkaokereke really? Sad.
why do they do this? So sad.
It is so easy to go out and say "I'm super excited that this work of mine is out there, please watch it."
There is no need to punch down on others. It just makes the puncher look bad. Especially in sci-fi.
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