Hugo and Rita
The much-disputed Hugo travesty comes to a head this weekend, and we’ll find out how (and whether) the prestigious science fiction award can be taken back from the misogynistic Gamergate-inspired crew that used a block-voting loophole to seize the nomination process.
Meanwhile, the Romance Writers of America nominated Kate Breslin’s For Such A Time in two categories – Best First Book and Best Inspirational Romance. The book’s romance connects a young, blonde, Jewish woman in Dachau with Aric, an SS officer and extermination camp commandant. In the end, the Nazi helps save some Jews, the Jew converts to Christianity, and everything’s cool, right?
Unsurprisingly, the nomination has been controversial. (More in The Guardian and The Forward)
"No one considered that the female character’s life at the hands of the male character’s might make it impossible for her to consent. No one considered that this might not be romance but rape. No one considered that after thousands of years of forced conversions, Jewish people might find a novel romanticizing conversion to be problematic. – on this date |