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As a peer comment has noted, the sci-fi scene isn’t healthier, the woke-guard just succeeded in silencing all dissenting voices. A few years ago — when I was t

As a peer comment has noted, the sci-fi scene isn’t healthier, the woke-guard just succeeded in silencing all dissenting voices. A few years ago — when I was totally unaware of the ideological take-over of sci-fi — I set a goal to read all Hugo award winners over the lifetime of the award, in chronological order of the awards. Many early books were out of print, and I ordered and read used physical copies. I abandoned the effort when I hit the modern era of woke sci-fi culture. The books were just bad. It was then I actually looked up what had happened in sci-fi culture — these books were being promoted because they promoted Right Thinking and were written by the people of the right race/gender/thought - not because they were good books. These days I use popular sci-fi awards as an anti-recommendation; a popular mainstream award (e.g. a Hugo) is strong indicator of a poorly written book.

barry-cotter 4y ago
> I abandoned the effort when I hit the modern era of woke sci-fi culture. When? Which books? > These days I use popular sci-fi awards as an anti-recommendation; a popular mainstream award (e.g. a Hugo) is strong indicator of a poorly written book. Strong disagree. Boring, preachy, not meaningfully science fiction, sure, but poorly written, nah. Lots of technically competent MFA crap by people who don’t read out care about SF for sure.
- teakettle42 4y ago
  > When? Which books? Around 2012, and I don’t recall. I have zero memory for names or titles even when I enjoy a book, much less books I dislike enough to abandon. (The name thing extends to the rest of my life. I don’t remember names of people or places, period). > Strong disagree. Boring, preachy, not meaningfully science fiction, sure, but poorly written, nah. I think those negative traits would qualify writing “poorly written”, but I accept that’s a matter of opinion.
  - barry-cotter 4y ago
    Lolita is wonderfully written but I did not care at all about a single character or event in the entire book. “Not my thing” and bad writing are different qualities.
- jimbokun 4y ago
  > Boring, preachy, not meaningfully science fiction Sounds badly written to me.

barry-cotter 4y ago

> I abandoned the effort when I hit the modern era of woke sci-fi culture. When? Which books? > These days I use popular sci-fi awards as an anti-recommendation; a popular mainstream award (e.g. a Hugo) is strong indicator of a poorly written book. Strong disagree. Boring, preachy, not meaningfully science fiction, sure, but poorly written, nah. Lots of technically competent MFA crap by people who don’t read out care about SF for sure.

teakettle42 4y ago
> When? Which books? Around 2012, and I don’t recall. I have zero memory for names or titles even when I enjoy a book, much less books I dislike enough to abandon. (The name thing extends to the rest of my life. I don’t remember names of people or places, period). > Strong disagree. Boring, preachy, not meaningfully science fiction, sure, but poorly written, nah. I think those negative traits would qualify writing “poorly written”, but I accept that’s a matter of opinion.
- barry-cotter 4y ago
  Lolita is wonderfully written but I did not care at all about a single character or event in the entire book. “Not my thing” and bad writing are different qualities.
jimbokun 4y ago
> Boring, preachy, not meaningfully science fiction Sounds badly written to me.