“May the old devils depart! May they burn in the fires of their own damnation! May they freeze in the infinite cold and darkness of their own hideous creation!”
“Isn’t that kind of insulting?”
“I guess it’s supposed to be. I mean, we’re trying to get rid of them.”
“I don’t think I’d like your friends very much, not if you have to meet them at night. That is why you go into the cemetery at night, isn’t it? To meet these people, your friends?”
Every year at the Hugo Awards, a lucky writer is given the Campbell
Award for Best New Writer, named for the noted sf editor and fascist
John W Campbell, whose editorials in the pages of Astounding Science Fiction
lamented the demise of slavery, cheered the murder of the Kent State 5,
advocated violent reprisals over the Watts Uprising, and promoted
Dianetics (Campbell wasn’t just a racist kook: he was several kinds of
kook).
Luckily, the management of Dell Magazines – which sponsors the Campbell
Award – were more intellectually honest, and last week, they announced
that they’d be changing the name of the award to the Astounding Award,
which is great, even if it means that in years to come, the Hugo program
and ballot will celebrate “The Astounding Award for Best New Writer
(formerly the Campbell Award) (not a Hugo Award).”
Speaking as a winner of both Campbell Awards (I think I’m the only one!), I’m grateful to Ng for her bravery and intellectual rigor. Well done!
This blog is mostly so I can vent my feelings and share my interests. Other than that, I am nothing special.
If you don't like Left Wing political thought and philosophy, all things related to horror, the supernatural, the grotesque, guns or the strange, then get the fuck out. I just warned you.
