You May Have Missed... Links 04/09/08

While there's some other stuff in there, today should be known as 'ugly politics day' as the first two links are really quite depressing, but we end on a high note with one of the more interesting pieces 've read in the last few weeks.  Hurrah!

• The resignation of Jetse de Vries prompts a response by Andy Cox from Interzone.  In an attempt to silence speculation they're denying that Interzone is planning any kind of change in direction, thereby suggesting that Jetse was somehow deluded or confused and effectively resigned for no reason.  To my mind this was counter-productive as it continues the speculation for another blog cycle and it makes it look like Cox is a) sticking the knife into a former colleague who has felt obliged to leave a post he earned considerable respect for and b) stone-walling and thereby hiding what could well have been a long period of disagreement between the two men.  Given that we won't see the effects of Jetse's departure for a year or so, this feels like mean-spirited control freakery to me.  It would have been better to let Jetse resign with dignity and get on with the business of publishing a magazine.

• With the Republican National Convention looking every inch as depressing as the name of the event suggests, Charlie Jane Anders at io9 gets into the spirit of things by listing the great liberal dystopias including 1984 which was, apparently, an example of what happens when political correctness takes over. A piece of genre commentary that is as blood-curdlingly right wing as it is ill-informed.  I could go on and on about this but saying that 1984 is an example of 'political correctness gone mad' really is a fucking stupid thing to say.

• Ian Randal Stock at SFScope points out that Analog and Asimov's are shrinking but remaining the same price.

• Karen Burnham at Spiral Galaxy Reviewing Laboratory reviews Joanna Russ' The Country You Have Never Seen.  She's unhappy with her review but in truth it's not an easy book to write about as all the reviews in it are teeny and numerous.

• Cheryl Morgan at The Bilerico Project explores some different approaches to transgender themes in SF.  It's a lovely piece as there's some real bite to it in regards to works of Mary Gentle and Joanna Russ.  More of this sort of thing needed.  Oh yes.

Comments

[Ian Sales]

I think you're being a little unfair to Andy Cox and Interzone. I didn't read Andy's post as "mean-spirited control-freakery". Since Jetse has not actually identified the "change in direction", anything else is speculation - and by the time the first non-Jetse issue of Interzone does roll round in over a year's time, it's all going to be forgotten any way.

Oh, and your link to the io9 piece is b0rked, btw.

[Jonathan M]

To quote Vic Reeves, he could have let it lie.

Jetse felt compelled to comment and step down and Cox could have just disagreed and let him go his own way. Instead he felt compelled to answer Jetse's claims in a way that makes it look as though this is completely new to him. Control Freak for feeling the need to comment and mean-spirited because of the implied dig that Jetse resigned for no reason.

I shall fix the io9 link.

[Martin]

It isn't Andy Cox, it is Andy Cox, David Mathew and Andy Hedgecock, fiction editorial group. However, I agree that they would have been better off silent. de Vries's reasons for leaving were totally normal and uncontroversial and didn't reflect badly on Interzone at all. Then up pop the editorial group to say that he is deluded. What is gained? (Apart from speculation in various corners that tehre is more to this than meets the eye. A complete own goal.)

[Jonathan M]

You're right about the attribution. It is the fiction editorial group and not Andy Cox, though Cox posted the release and is widely seen as the guy in charge at Interzone. But yes... fair comment.

"What is gained?" is exactly what I thought and what prompted my comments. Jetse's earned a lot of respect as a result of his time at Interzone and he stepped up and defended the reviews policy 18 months ago despite the fact that it wasn't even his department (or arguably his decision to have shorter reviews).

He then leaves, seemingly as a result of some conflict with the rest of the editors, and rather than letting him have his say (a very politely worded and diplomatic say at that) they have to have a little dig and portray him as someone who just walked out for no apparent reason. There's no reason for that other than the satisfaction of vindictive urges.

[Nick]

Having read the article, I think you should break the i09 link again. Think of your readers.

[Jonathan M]

It's hideous stuff isn't it?

Written by someone whose dislike of liberalism is equaled only by his profound lack of understanding of it as a political philosophy.

I think characterising 1984 as political correctness gone mad is as close as you can get to a working definition of simple-minded ignorance.

[Ian Sales]

I agree about that article - it's shite. And the comments are even worse. I daren't click on the digg link. Mind you, Americans pontificating about any kind of politics except right wing is a bit like a pro footballer talking about literature.

[Martin]

I can't stop reading that io9 article, no, wait, article is the word - that io9 word-vomit. It is amazing! A bunch of utterly disparate links that are obviously googled at random cemented together with insane mischaracterisation of a utterly disparate works. The first link goes to someone on a forum in 2005 discussing that idiotic programme Michael Burke made about how women are ruining everything. Awesome.

[Jonathan M]

"Googled at random" most definitely.

[Evan]

From what I know (or at least think I know) of Newitz and Anders, it's more likely to be satire than a serious article. That doesn't mean that it isn't entirely inept, of course, but this is io9. Unless you've never looked at it or heard of it, you should expect this by now. They're possibly the worst of the gawker blogs, which is saying quite a lot.

That the comments are horrible beyond words is just evidence of how badly the liberals of my parent's generation failed. The center of discourse here is so far to the right that it would give a member of your Conservative Party the shivers.

Later: Further evidence at digg: "Hey, I dugg your latest shout... check out this tongue-in-cheek look at science fiction stories where liberals rule the world. It's looking at the Republicans' ultimate nightmares. Please digg it" by the author of the article. more here: http://digg.com/users/charliejane

[Nick]

I did initially think he was taking the piss, but the complete absence of wit, guile or humour led me to think he was being entirely serious. Not an ingnorant, dribbling moron then, just an overreaching writer. As you say, how very io9.

[Jonathan M]

Yeah, it's hardly The Thick Of It is it?

Satire is supposed to be a) funny and b) contain a chunk of truth.

[Martyn]

I don't know what he read to come up with that thesis, but it certainly was not '1984', and if it was he definitely didn't understand any word with a vowel in it.