The Hugos were this weekend and as you might already know, they were a mess. A fixable, completely unavoidable MESS (kind of like the US right now, but we’ll stop that analogy there). There have been a LOT of posts and threads about it – Jason Sanford’s Genre Grapevine (Hugos/Worldcon Edition) has a LOT of links to different threads and posts (https://www.patreon.com/posts/genre-grapevine-40014596).
The nominees and winners are all AMAZING and you should definitely check them all out if you have not read them yet ( https://www.tor.com/2020/07/31/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-winners/ ) – it is a dazzling display of talent and imagination.
However, Meg Elison on her Twitter had a very interesting thread (https://twitter.com/megelison/status/1290046758525886464) and it hit upon something that I myself had struggled with in the past and to be honest, I didn’t realize that I had needed someone to say what she said. It is not necessary for you to read all/any of the SFF classics to understand the genre itself. The genre today is not the same as the genre that Asimov and Heinlein knew. And that is A GOOD THING.
But if you are looking into getting into the genre as a reader or writer or creator, you are not required to go back and read all the “greats” before you get your member of [x] fandom card. Your nerd cred will not be revoked if you have not read Heinlein or Asimov or EE Doc Smith. At best, the classics will give you an idea of what science-fiction was, not what it is now. If you want to learn the history of the genre and how certain things came about – there are write-ups about it. Someone somewhere has done a link roundup or blogged a reaction to it. I guarantee you that. If that is your jive thing, go forth and prosper. There are resources out there for you. However, if you don’t want to? You do not have to. It is not required that you go back and read everything Heinlein/Asimov/Campbell ( or others, this list could go on forever) wrote in order to participate in the genre and the fandom. Gatekeepers, at the end of the day, don’t actually care what you have and haven’t read. They’re just going to know that you don’t belong – because they’re convinced they can tell that about someone by sight. So don’t even worry about them.
We, right now, are in a new Golden Age of SFF. The genre is so much more inclusive and spectacular and breathtaking. We are dismantling barriers that previously excluded people from joining, we are reckoning with past issues from racism to sexual harassment to the need for accountability, and we are trying to be the best versions of ourselves. It’s not perfect, there are still A LOT of issues that need to be re-evaluated, there are still problems that need to actually be fixed instead of patched over or ignored. There is still work ahead of us to make things better, both as a genre and as a fandom. There’s been things hardbaked into the foundations that need to be excised and replaced because they’re toxic.
This genre and this fandom is ultimately one of hope. So read Amal Al-Mohtar, RF Kuang, Meg Elison, Fran Wilde, Rebecca Roanhorse, Seanan McGuire, Jim Hines, Keith DeCandido, SL Huang, JY Neon Yang, Charlie Jane Anders, Annalee Newitz, Premee Mohamed, Gerald Coleman, Nicole Kurtz, Tate Thompson…find your weird and your wonderful with FIYAH Magazine, Strange Horizons, or Uncanny Magazine.
And then come back here and let’s talk about what you found.