Yesterday morning, this wizard came up and carved a rune on my front door, square in the center. I thought we were just having a pleasant conversation and BAM! My door is advertising or something now. Of course, I have no idea what it says. I’ve tried everything to get rid of it. I tried cleaning it, painting over it, I even pulled the door down and hung a new one. The stupid thing just reappeared. I was at my wits end. That is, until a party of dwarves showed up this morning, offering ‘discount rune removal services.’ Goddam wizards.
Fiction: The Peter Jackson Version of this Drabble is 100 pages long.
January 19, 2014
Uncategorized Drabble, Fiction Leave a comment
Elanterra Journal 000: Foreward
January 18, 2014
Elanterra Journal 000, Elanterra Journal Leave a comment
“What is a fantasy map but a space beyond which There Be Dragons?”
–Terry Pratchett, The Color of Magic
The collection of articles known as the “Elanterra Journal” consists of a series of scholarly entries detailing the geography, culture, and lifestyles of the inhabitants of the Grand Island. These documents have been published, banned, translated and studied for centuries, and their history is so muddied at this point that little, if anything can be ascertained about the identity or purpose of the original authors. Translators and copiers make a habit of updating information whenever a new copy is produced, and it is traditional to include some small factual errors of the scribe’s invention in each new edition.
Although the earliest known editions can be traced back to Carabos Academy and were probably produced in the late 600’s, these copies are far from extant. Records prior to this time are unreliable due to the ancient wars. Further confusion exists as to what entries are ‘canon’ articles and which are forgeries or later additions. I have taken it upon myself to reconcile these versions as much as possible, and provide a definitive edition. It is my hope that such a volume will prove scholarly insight into the work as well as a boon to travelers across Elanterra.
Gloriana Bywater,
Master of Thaumaturgical Studies,
Carabos Academy
Winter, 1527
“Elanterra Journal” is a look into the People, Places, and history of the Island of Elanterra, the setting of the Freelance Hunters stories. “Glory’s Gauntlet,” an ebook collection of four Freelance Hunters stories is available from Amazon and Smashwords.
Hugh Likes Comics: High Crimes
January 15, 2014
Uncategorized Christopher Sebela, High Crimes, HLC, Hugh Likes Comics, Ibrahim Moustafa, Monkey Brain, review Leave a comment
Written by Christopher Sebela
Art by Ibrahim Moustafa
Published by Monkey Brain Comics
How far can you run from yourself? Zan Jansen was an Olympic snowboarder with a bright future ahead of her, until she fell and saw her chance at a gold medal slip away. After that, everything fell apart. She fled to Kathmandu, where she is drowning herself in substance abuse and guiding tourists up K2. But her real business is a bit darker than that. With the spike in adventure tourism, more and more people are climbing Mount Everest, and not all of them come back down.
When someone dies on the mountain, they are left where they fall. It is one of the hazards of the climb. So far Zan hasn’t climbed Everest. She is saving it. For her, climbing the summit is literally climbing out of the spiral she has put herself it. She says that she’ll climb Everest and keep going. But her boss has, and every time he goes up, he comes down with something someone left behind. A hand and what personal effects they carried. Once he identifies the corpse, he contacts the survivors, and offers to ship them back something to bury. For a fee, of course. It isn’t exactly illegal, but it is dirty work.
Of course, some things are meant to stay buried, and when her boss recovers the corpse of a black-ops government agent gone missing, things start to go very bad for her employer.
Moustafa’s art is fitting for this kind of noir piece. His figures are a bit stiff, but he takes some interesting risks, particularly with layout, that give the piece a nice atmosphere.
Sebela’s central characters are gritty and well defined. They feel like characters with history, and a lot of significant dialog feels unsaid. There’s a richness in what they don’t say, and that’s a tough trick to pull off in a twenty page comic.
I think that if there is a flaw in this comic, it is that the bad guys chasing Zan are a bit too cartoonishly evil. The secret military commander lacks a mustache to twirl when he shoots one of his minions in the face the second he asks a question, but he even goes so far to say that the person who has died ‘went rogue to protect the world from people like us.’
At a buck on Comixology, “High Crimes” is another Monkey Brain comic that really shows the potential of its creative team. It’s at least interesting, even if it might not reach the heights it is reaching for.
“High Crimes” is available from Comixology.
Hugh Likes Comics: The Top 5 of 2013
January 7, 2014
Review 2013, Atomic Robo, Batman, Comics, HLC, Hugh Likes Comics, review, Saga, Sandman, Top 5, Young Avengers Leave a comment
#5: Batman ’66: I like stories that go all-in. No pussy-footing around, not Super-Heroes-but-no-tights, which seems to be de-reguer, particularly at “The Big Two.” That’s why I was pleasantly surprised by this outing from writer Jeff Parker and artist Jonathan Case. They’ve returned to the source material of the ’60’s Batman TV show, complete with dancing and giant sound effect bubbles. The digital versions have a few more tricks up their sleeves to evoke the classic series. Batman ’66 embraces everything the New 52 disdains, and soars because of it.
#4: Saga: Vaughan and Staples continued to knock it out of the park this year with Saga. The story of an ancient interstellar war cut with family drama, mercenaries, and the ways art can change a person make for a heady mix. The art remains evocative and controversial. Saga doesn’t pull its punches, but it isn’t crass, either.
#3: Atomic Robo: The Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur: There was little chance for Clevenger and Wegener to escape this list as well, with this nail-biting installment that puts Atomic Robo at the site of an impossible underground city, with shadow military agents storming his headquarters, and completely unstable velociraptor mad scientist Dr. Dinosaur sitting on a stockpile of stolen nuclear warheads. Atomic Robo remains funnier and smarter than it has a right to be.
#2: Sandman Overture: We only got one issue of Neil Gaiman’s return to his seminal Byronic Dream King, but oh boy, was it ever a doozy. Filled with all of the gothic-horror elements that made Sandman great, and with exceptional art by G H Williams III, This comic is a rare treat for Morpheus fans. Hopefully, we’ll get to see it a bit more frequently in 2014.
#1: Young Avengers: Sadly ending in early 2014, Young Avengers is a comic that knows exactly what it wants and goes right for it. Under the direction of comics super-team Keiran Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, the Young Avengers bring a little bit of their indie hit “Phonogram” into the Marvel Universe. “Young Avengers” pits focuses less on what it means or takes to be a superhero than it does the trials and tribulations of modern teenagers. After a poorly planned bit of magic use, a group of teens find themselves fighting against an magical parasite that draws power from how parents don’t understand teenagers. It is a fantastic high-concept very well executed. Unfortunately, for a teen book, there is a lot of backstory for these characters that just isn’t given. I’ve felt in over my head a few times, but I’ve loved the ride. Another plus in this comic’s favor is that it has possibly the highest collection of LGBTQ characters anywhere in ‘the big two,’ and handles them with then same excellent touch as earlier Young Avengers installments.
2013 No-Prize: Dan Didio continues to be comics’ greatest super-villain. He spent the year making sure no DC Comics characters have any fun on his watch. After denying the upcoming marriage of Batwoman Kate Kane, he went on to say that none of DC’s heroes should have a stable home life, and seems to be making certain of it. His crowning achievement this year: Creating an art contest for Harley Quinn #0 which included drawing the beloved children’s TV character naked, despairing, and about to commit suicide. After much outcry, the panel did not appear in the final version.
Honorable mentions:
X-Men: Teenage Mom Jubilee, enough time-travelers to stage a production of “Les Mis” and other crazy nonsense. Marvel seemed to focus on their movie-friendly characters like the Avengers in 2013, but there was still a ton of mutants out there, including an all-female team!
Edison Rex: Artist Dennis Culver gets the nod for designing not just a new set of comics characters, but an entire major publisher’s line-up of heroes and villains. My personal favorite: ROFL, an omnipotent extra-dimensional being using the form of a muppet Grant Morrison.
Subatomic Party Girls: Simms and Bowers had the stones to use the line ‘Do you realize we’re floating in space’ unironically. Props.
The Freelance Hunters: Glory’s Gauntlet
December 21, 2013
Uncategorized Blocked, ebooks, Glory's Gauntlet, Short Stories, The Freelance Hunters, Writing Leave a comment
An ebook collecting all four of this year’s “Freelance Hunters” stories is finally up! Available from Amazon or Smashwords, the volume contains “Glory’s Gauntlet,” “Blocked!” “The Least Unicorn,” and “A Splash on the Big Bridge!” There’s a lot more coming from our band of misfit adventurers in 2014, so keep your eyes peeled here!
Hugh Likes Comics: X-Men: Battle of the Atom
November 1, 2013
Uncategorized Battle of the Atom, Brian Michael Bendis, HLC, Hugh Likes Comics, X-Men Leave a comment
Today’s comic is X-Men, Battle of the Atom, written by Brian Michael Bendis, and drawn by various artists. 2013 is the 50th anniversary of Uncanny X-men, and Marvel is celebrating with a crossover featuring those two most pressing issues to mutant-kind, Time Travel and The Phoenix. In classic X-men style, the story plays out in a bunch of different titles over the course of a couple months, and as of writing, they are about halfway done.
I’m on record as hating crossovers, and this one takes a few of the miss-steps that irk me. Characters are acting against their type, there’s a lot of scenes where people just shout their opinions without doing anything, and characters appear for no other purpose than to be seen and fill out the page. It’s a lot like the American Government Shutdown, actually.
But for all that, I’m surprised to find myself really enjoying the story, and eagerly awaiting the next part. The story is stuffed full of nostalgia and angst, and unites the past, present, and future X-Men. To condense a long story into a single paragraph, after the last catastrophic crossover event, Cyclops has gone rogue, and under the influence of everyone’s favorite cosmic fire bird, killed Professor Xavier. In an attempt to prevent this from happening, his former team-mate Hank McCoy built a time machine and brings the original five teenagers from 1963 to the present and showed them how everything turned out. I don’t know why he didn’t just use the time machine to prevent the murder, but what do I know from storytelling. It turns out that Causality will not be denied, however, and when Teenage Cyclops is nearly killed, everyone realizes that doing this stupid thing might have been a mistake. But just as everyone is about to send the five kids home to prevent something horrible from happening, a DIFFERENT set of time travelers appear: X-men from the future who have come to make sure the Original Five-man band all go back home. Much shouting, angst, and fighting for no reason ensues, and in the confusion, Teenage Jean Grey and Cyclops escape. Seeing how their future worked out for them, they are inclined to stay in the present, even if it means more trouble down the road.
It’s difficult to say what makes this story work exactly. It has a lot of moving parts, not all of which seem to be on the same track, but the story is crazy enough at this point that literally anything can happen. The stakes are as high as they can be in a comic-book universe, and these characters have been struggling against each other, to say nothing of the Marvel Universe villains, for so long, that I’m really cheering for them to catch a break. The visions of the future, including a version of Jean Grey in Xorn armor (Xorn was a character from the late-90’s/early 2000’s X-men who dressed in armor covered in chains and wore a skull-mask. He ended up being a bad guy, go figure) and an Iron Man armor painted up in Sentinel colors with an X across it’s chest plate, are both cool and tantalizing. I haven’t been keeping a close eye on the X-books, but the comics gave me enough back-story when I needed it, and I wasn’t lost. Also, Jubilee is both a teenage mother and a vampire, but I don’t think it’s a vampire baby. I’m probably going to go into back issues and find out how that happened, because someone has done the impossible and made Jubilee a character I want to see more of.
This is a crossover that really seems like it’s trying to move forward while still hitting the high notes of the team’s fifty year history. It might not appeal to casual readers, but if you’re a fan, you should check it out.
Megaman I: Elegance in Design
October 1, 2013
Gaming, Review Gaming, Megaman, review, Video game Leave a comment
System: Nintendo NES/Famicom
Release Date: 1987
Megaman’s creator, Keiji Inafune recently funded a kickstarter for his new independent project, Mighty Number 9. Inspired by the buzz surrounding the new project, I went back and looked at the Blue Bomber’s original adventure with new eyes.
I didn’t have “Megaman” for my NES, but lots of my friends did, and I remember the games fondly from the early nineties. I also recall them being controller-threateningly difficult. I was curious to see how the first outing would stack up to my memories.
First of all, it is worth noting that the first game lacks the graphical and musical polish of the sequels. There are only six stages, and once the player determines the proper order for playing them, they fall rather quickly. Especially if you use the well-known ‘pause trick.’ Likewise, there’s not much of a story besides ‘You’re a good robot, they’re evil robots, go fight them.’ It’s the sort of fare from the era that is simple, but has been expanded upon greatly in the years since. For example, in the much-praised Megaman comic, put out by Archie Comics.
While I will agree that Megaman is hard, it was not quite so bad as I remember. Aside from a few of the end stage bosses, (and I am looking squarely at you, one-eyed rock monster) the deaths don’t feel cheap. Unlike other 8-bit era platformers, there is no countdown clock. The game gives you plenty of time to observe and experiment. Megaman really is the start of what later-generation indie developers would call ‘puzzle platformers.’ Most of the game can be best progressed by observing the challenge and discovering the pattern, or choosing the best Robot Master’s subweapon for the situation. For example, the flying torpedo enemies can often knock you into a pit when they explode, but freezing them rather than shooting them with your regular gun solves the dilemma. Most of the jumping puzzles can likewise be bypassed with the Magnet Beam.
This creates an odd challenge curve as the game actually gets EASIER as you gain new powers. The game’s non-linear nature lets you play the stages in any order, but the real challenge is figuring out an optimal path. each Robot Master has a weakness, and some levels, such as Fire Man’s stage, are practically impassable without the right weapon.
All in all, Megaman I is a solid entry in the NES’s roster of games. While its sprites and textures are a little less eye-popping than its successors, it is at the very least noteworthy for being the progenitor of something great, and a whole lot of fun. You don’t need to play it to get into the series, as there isn’t much of a story aside from the window-dressing standard to that generation, but it is certainly worth your time. Just watch out for those disappearing block puzzles.
Otakon 2013: Day One
August 15, 2013
Uncategorized anime, Otakon, review Leave a comment
Otakon is one of the conventions I’ve been going to the longest, and with attendance of over 30,000 people, it’s certainly the biggest one I’ve been to so far. It takes over the Baltimore Convention Center, and most of the harbor, for three days every summer. In spite of it’s size, unlike the other big conventions on the East Coast like Dragon*Con and NY Comicon, it is devoted entirely to Anime and Asian culture.
I first attended Otakon in 2004, and although I have missed it once or twice, I’ve been back almost every year since. I particularly enjoy Otakon because it is for a medium I’m not trying to make an eventual living in. Balticon is great fun, but in a lot of ways, I’m still working the whole time I’m there. I’m making contacts, learning new techniques, and hunting for trade secrets in addition to spending time with all my friends from twitter. But Otakon is a chance to fully relax and enjoy the spectacle. So with that being said, let’s begin this year’s review of the show! I packed in so much this year, I’m going to go through it day by day.
Day one was my day to really watch new anime, and was filled to the brim. I watched some new things, some old things, and even a US Premier movie!
First up: “Occult Academy.” This might be my favorite series from the convention. When a teenage girl’s father dies under mysterious circumstances, she inherits the private school he owned, which is famous for its study of supernatural phenomena. But his obsession with the occult drove her parents apart, and she ‘hates the occult.’ Beset with the supernatural, a scheming faculty, and a time-traveler sent back to prevent an apocalypse centered around the school, can she save the world and find her father’s killer?
I really liked this series. It is made up of a nice blend of comedy and drama, and is centered around a tough, capable heroine who isn’t reduced to a sex object or damsel in distress in the face of the monsters. This series is on the Crunchy Roll anime streaming service, and I’m adding it to my pile to watch.
“A Certain Scientific Railgun” Fewer railguns, and much less scientific than I was expecting, but this is a slice-of-life comedy or sorts that is not without its charms. A companion piece to an apparently much more dramatic series called “A Certain Magical Index,” which I have not seen, the series is set in a futuristic city where 80% of the residents are boarding school students, and most of them have unusual ‘Esper’ talents. The Railgun of the title refers to the main character, a powerful esper girl with psycho-electric powers who can launch 100 yen coins like a railgun. She has a penchant for vigilante justice, which exasperates her roommate, who is a member of a school-based local law enforcement agency. I have no idea how that works, by the way. Anime, I guess?
As action-packed as the description sounds, most of the series involves the relationships between the two main characters and their friends. The series has a fan-servicey vibe with extremely heavy lesbian undertones, and while it was funny, I felt like a dirty old man watching these supposedly teenage girls engage in that kind of ‘horseplay.’ It was fun, but I won’t be looking for it on DVD.
“Hanasaku Iroha-Blossoms For Tomorrow” This is another slice-of-life show revolving around a teenage girl, but this one was much more grounded in reality. When a 16-year-old’s mother runs off with her boyfriend, she moves from Tokyo to her grandmother’s distant onsen. But in addition to dealing with her mother’s abandonment and moving to the small town, her grandmother, who she has never met before, expects her to work for her room and board.
This is a cute series that was far less maudlin than I had expected. The animation is high-quality, and the depiction of life at a Japanese inn was very interesting, as I stayed in one while teaching in Japan myself. I believe this is also on Crunchy Roll, and I will probably watch more of it later.
“Evangelion 3.0: You Can (NOT) Redo” Perhaps I should have rewatched the second Evangelion movie before coming to see this one, because I was a bit lost for some of the movie, but if you’ve seen any of the previous incarnations, you should be alright. The thing I liked about the first two movies is that as a necessity of run time, they cut out a lot of Shinji’s reluctance and depression. This movie, well, it’s mostly that, actually. Set 14 years after the second movie, Shinji unwittingly triggered 3rd Impact after trying to save Rei Ayanami, and now he is caught between NERV and anti-NERV organization WILLE. If he pilots an EVA again, he might be able to restore the world, or make a new one, but he could also trigger a devastating FOURTH Impact which would fully destroy the world.
So Shinji is still a terrible character, followed by worst father of all-time Gendo Ikari, but this movie had a space-ship made out of EVAs captained by Misato, (in the requisite amazing hat and giant sunglasses) so it still evens out at ‘pretty cool,’ although the movie series has finally caught up to the ‘makes no damn sense’ arc of the original TV series.
“Space Adventure Cobra” More “Star Wars” than “Star Wars” is possibly the best way to describe this early-80’s space opera movie. A lost cousin of Kirk and Solo, the main character, who’s arm turns into the dreaded “Psycho-Gun” macks on telepathic alien princesses, fights his way through a flying prison, and joins up with a platoon of female revolutionaries on rocket-powered snowboards called “Snow Gorilla.” It’s awesome, while never taking itself too seriously. The movie is also a clear influence on later anime heroes like “Vash the Stampede.”
And that’s all I did on day one of the convention. Stay tuned for Wuxia Detective films, anime music videos, and the surprising popularity of cereal-themed video games.
Fiction: The Least Unicorn, A Freelance Hunters Adventure
August 7, 2013
Uncategorized Corn, Fantasy, Fiction, Freelance Hunters, Unicorn 1 Comment
The Freelance Hunters came to the village of Corn Hall looking for a unicorn. Rumors of the beast had flooded every tavern in Elanterra, it seemed, and all three of them were hunting the beast for a different reason.
“I’ve heard unicorns have razor-sharp hooves, and their horns can rend the strongest armor!” Joachim said, brandishing his fearsome spear Incisor. “they will battle anyone unworthy of them to the death!”
“Just don’t go busting its forehead lance too much. It’s worth mad loot on the slack,” said Bingo, their tracker.
“You two are not going to kill that noble and beautiful creature!” said Glory the magician. “Unicorns are one of the rarest cryptids on the island. If I can study one, or better yet, capture it alive, I’ll be the toast of the Academy!”
“I’ve heard only a fair maiden can capture one. What are our chances, Glory?” Joachim asked. She thumped him on the back of the leg with her staff in reply. When they finally reached the town, they found a festival atmosphere, complete with pantomime unicorns, booths selling every kind of food with corn in it imaginable, and all manner of charms and tokens for sale, each one ‘guaranteed’ to help catch the beast. Joachim gleefully consumed a prodigious amount of the local corn whiskey, and the other two hired a local fellow by the name of Finnegan to act as guide. They left the fair well alone, and headed out into the fields the next morning.
At first, signs of the beast were slim. Finnegan knew the area well, but he was a corn farmer, not a tracker, and it was difficult for Bingo to pick up much of anything, until they found the track. It was deep, and not more than two hours old. The hunt was on.
They went two more days, always frustratingly close to the creature, but it was tireless, and seemed to slip away every time they got close. They caught a glimpse of it when they stopped to rest on the second night, just a shadow against the stars. It had to have been the largest equine any of them had ever seen, and the horn poked straight from the top of its head. They renewed their efforts. Bingo set some traps and breaks in the forest. The unicorn could avoid them, but before long, they had it cornered in a little glade in the woods, sheltered by rises on all sides.
The Freelance Hunters descended into the valley. The beast was there, drinking from a brook that trickled between two boulders. Late afternoon sunlight drifted through the high branches, filling the glade with majesty and awe. And then the creature looked up and stared at them. The hunters stared back. Neither moved for a long time.
“Glory,” Joachim said at last. “There isn’t any magic here, right? This isn’t an illusion or anything?”
“Nope.”
“And you all see it too, it’s not just me?”
“Nope.”
“So it’s really…” He trailed off.
“A huge white horse,” Glory began
“With an ear of corn fixed to his head,” Bingo finished. All three of them turned to look at their guide. He grinned sheepishly.
“The village had a bumper crop, last year,” He said, as though this explained everything.
“So? Joachim asked, adjusting the grip on his spear.
“So we sold so much corn, the price went through the floor! Corn’s just about the only thing we grow out here, and with corn being almost worthless, the village needed money. The town elder came up with a plan, though. When he was a boy, the Corn Hall was threatened by a manticore that came down from the mountains. Monster slayers came from all over to slay it. So…”
“So you invented another monster.” Glory said.
“The elder thought the whole thing up! Bronco down there is the fastest horse for miles around. We didn’t think anyone would be able to catch him.” The Freelance Hunters returned to the village of Corn Hall that evening. They did not stop at the fair or playhouse. They made a brief visit to the Elder’s house, so that they could show him a few more uses for an ear of corn. The story of that visit is occasionally recounted by a few of the more risque troubadours in the area. After that, there were no more monster sightings in Corn Hall for many, many years.
Why is Hugh skipping “Ender’s Game?” The reasons may surprise you.
July 15, 2013
Uncategorized Don't Feed the Troll, Film, OSC, Rant, Stupidity, Writing Leave a comment
Last week there was renewed talk of the upcoming “Ender’s Game” film. Specifically, there was a renewed call to boycott the film by Queer SF fans and their allies. This is because the author of the original novel, Mr. Orson Scott Card, is most decidedly NOT a friend to the LGBT community. Mr. Card, using his religion as reasoning, has often made absolutely horrific statements, both in interviews and on his blog, concerning LGBT people. He has advocated for their arrest, and advocated for armed insurrection against any governments that sanction marriage equality. He wrote a novella based on ‘Hamlet’ smearing gay people and equating homosexuality with incest and pederasty. He sits on the board of NOM, a group with lobbies against marriage equality and spreads misinformation about LGBT people.
But of course Card has the right to say what he wishes. He made his bed, and well and good for him. The problem is, he doesn’t much feel like sleeping in it. Last week, Card gave an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Therein, he hoped that supporters of marriage equality would ‘show tolerance’ and go and see his movie.
Tolerance. You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.
This petty little swipe, maybe meant to bolster his reactionary religious base into getting the word out, maybe an accurate portrayal of his thoughts on not boycotting his film vs. being thrown in jail for being with the person you love, certainly had an effect, just maybe not the one he wanted.
Card’s comments had the effect of pouring gasoline on a pile of embers. When trailers for the film first came out, SF fans had a generally quiet and civil discussion about the movie. On the one hand, it looked cool, and was the work of a whole team of people, many of whom were strong allies of the LGBT community. In any case, the novel is much beloved, and was it possible to separate the work from the creator? This had all simmered down when Card threw his dunce cap into the ring with his comment. Some people weren’t going to see it, other people were. Some people were going to see it but assuage their guilt by donating the ticket price to a charitable organization, because darn it, the trailer did look cool. Most people behaved like adults. They considered the options, and they decided on the one that was best for them. All was well.
Card’s comments set off a new round of anger in his adversaries. New calls, much louder this time, came for a boycott, with the clear evidence of his snide little remarks to back them up. Lionsgate, the film’s distributor, went into crisis mode, demonstrating their solidarity with the LGBT community with PR statements, celebrity supporters, and even promising a special LGBT-friendly premier of the film.
I’m still not going to see it, and my reasons have more to do with Card’s foolish interview comments than his politics. He is entitled to his opinions, but an author should know better. Card acted in an abominably unprofessional manner. Here is what he did wrong:
1. Never, never, EVER feed the troll. Even if you think you’re right. Even if you are right. Even if your opponents are godless commie mutant traitors, ALL HAIL FRIEND COMPUTER! Don’t do it. Don’t get that last word in. A troll pokes the bear. A professional cuts their losses and moves on. Don’t get that last punch in. Because it won’t be the last punch.
2. Accept that you have haters and you have fans. Engage the fans and ignore the haters. Dude is a New York Times best-selling author. He has been for decades. The SF community has seen example after example of authors trying to directly challenge their critics. In some cases, literal critics writing bad reviews. SF has never been the darling of the publishing industry anyway. We’ve long been considered literary fiction’s dorky little brother, hanging around where he isn’t wanted, swinging toy swords and making lightsabre noises with his mouth. You get the audience you get, and you cherish it, feed and water it, make it grow like a money tree. Don’t shout at the brambles. They aren’t going to do anything for you.
3. To quote another recent SF flick, “It’s not about obedience, it’s about respect.” Audiences go to your film, or buy your latest book in hard cover because… drumroll please… they want to be entertained. They see what you have to offer, and decide that it’s worth their money. Maybe they go because they’re fans, and they like you. But they don’t owe you a thing. This is the great secret I’ve learned about being a writer, slinging words out into the dark aether and hoping they land on the desk of someone who wants to read them. Nobody owes you shit. Not the industry, not your fans, and certainly not your detractors. It is the height of arrogance to expect otherwise.
Tolerance means accepting your film exists. The boycott isn’t about picketing the theaters or shutting down the studio. It’s about not paying twenty dollars to watch an earnest white boy kill buggers. And that’s fine. The film might have needed to reach a wider audience to be profitable. The negative attention might convince potential theater goers to wait for the blue ray. But that money wasn’t promised the film, and it certainly isn’t owed. Any shred of attention, anything cent spent on merchandise, or any tiny fraction of a ticket price, is the goodwill and respect of your audience. To imply that people outside your audience are being intolerant by withholding their dollars is not merely unprofessional, it’s disrespectful to them, and to your fans.
