Genre Grapevine’s Smorgasbord of 2023 Leftovers
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As I create each month’s Genre Grapevine, there are a number of items that don’t make it into my column. Sometimes the column is already too long so I leave something out. Other times an item simply doesn’t have much to do with the science fiction and fantasy genre, or was superseded by other news items.
And yes, I occasionally forget to add something to my column.
Here’s a selection of news and items from 2023 that I didn’t cover in previous columns. I hope everyone enjoys this quirky smorgasbord of leftovers. My regular Genre Grapevine for December will be released later this month.
“The Extremely Nerdy Love Stories That Are Burning Up the Bestseller List.” Per the article, "Hazelwood is a pseudonym that an anonymous professor, now employed full time in academia, uses to publish a series of novels that tend to get tagged ‘STEMinist’ on BookTok. Her books follow women as they navigate the political, ever-confusing, and at times exploitative world of STEM academia, and have struck a serious chord with audiences."
Loved this comment from G. Willow Wilson about Bluesky and have no clue why I didn’t use it in an earlier column: “Someone on Mastodon described Bsky as ‘a bunch of people hanging around in the parking lot after the mall has closed’ and I thought it was A) accurate and B) pretty great actually.”
In discussing science’s role in opposing the ongoing transphobia moral panic among certain asspects of the political spectrum, Dr. SkySkull said “I saw someone on Twitter reply to this as ‘not science’ and they're wrong: countering moral panics that literally got people killed was one of the original tasks of science. See Reginald Scot's 1584 ‘Discoverie of Witchcraft’ for an amazing and profoundly moving debunking of witch hunts.”
“The Witcher Producer Blames Season 3's Critical Crash On Its American Audience.” Because sure, canning Henry Cavill as the title character and stuffing season 3 full of horrific writing had absolutely nothing to do with the critical crash.
Good thread from Mary E. Lowd on “how some writers find AI helps them write” and why they need this help.
Benjamin Davis asked “Are We Eating Each Other Alive in the Indie-Lit World?” The essay opens by pointing out that "Submittable pulls in 36.4 million per year. Reedsy’s estimated annual revenue is 94.4 million. Duotrope brings up the rear with annual revenue of 1-2 million. Meanwhile, the publishing industry is projected to grow to 19.2 billion in the U.S. by 2026. So why is it so common to hear people lament, ‘There is no money in writing!’ Because there is no money in writing for writers.”
“The Sci-Fi Overflow - From China's Fanzines and Moviemakers to a World in Waiting." Interesting interview with RiverFlow, whose Zero Gravity Newspaper won this year’s Hugo Award for Best Fanzine.
“New Study Claims YouTube Is More Popular Than TikTok Among Those In Search Of New Book.” Not sure if this study is accurate, but it does suggest that BookTok may be oversold as a way of reaching new readers.
Evidence suggests that Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain, a urinal signed and dated “R Mutt 1917" and "widely regarded as a pinnacle of 20th-century art," might be a fake.
Karawynn Long shared her experience as an Autistic person and how people on the spectrum are making their voices heard. "I was able to celebrate my fiftieth birthday as a self-aware Autistic person only because, in the last decade or so, authentic Autistic voices have gotten significantly louder. The number of first-person blogs, essays, books, podcasts, and social media posts has exploded, both driven by and driving a veritable tsunami of adult epiphanies. A whole cohort of self-aware Autistic research psychologists have entered the field, particularly in the UK, and their publications have begun shifting the academic conversation in a more accurate direction."
LOL is dead. Long live IJBOL.
In the 1980s, Joe Mauri went to Russia and ticked off much of the United States. In a gripping Slate article, Josh Levin reexamines this Cold War tale and also caught up with Mauri to learn what he was really up to. “Mauri has spent his life on a quest for something flawless—the perfect physique, the perfect country, the perfect woman. In America, he had the freedom to do whatever he pleased, until some rich folks decided they liked his block. In the Soviet Union, he found a system that was supposed to nurture everyone but wanted to control everything he did. And there was Alla. Maybe he could’ve loved her, in some alternate timeline. But in this world, they were too far apart.
I love this wonderful cartoon from This Modern World featuring a physical manifestation of an AI chatbot.
I hung a copy of this cartoon by Keith Knight featuring inspirational quotes from Hayao Miyazaki on my bulletin board. "Whenever someone creates something with all of their heart, then that creation is given a soul.” And if you haven’t seen Miyazaki’s new film The Boy and the Heron, check it out. I love the film and plan to watch it a second time.
Finally, I present an in-depth dive into what an anonymous writer calls “literary hope theory,” which is a “framework for the critical analysis of hope and despair as themes in literature.” This essay was originally posted to Wikipedia back in 2022 and deleted for being original work (which isn’t allowed on the encyclopedia). But despite deleting the article, Wikipedia editors still praised it as "A well written essay that probably could be published in an academic journal with some minor modifications.” Thankfully, the EverybodyWiki saved a copy of the essay. I’m not sure I agree with everything in the essay – hell, I’m not sure I understand everything in the essay – but it is absolutely thought-provoking and I urge people to check it out.