Some of you may be aware of the maelstrom of controversy that has engulfed the science fiction and fantasy publishing world over the sad puppies and rabid puppies campaigns over the Hugo awards. If you’re not, then it’s a something you may want to have a look at if you’re interested in the push-back in the culture wars against the SJW morlocks and Marxist hordes. An excellent place to get started is this round-up of posts by the author John C Wright:
The drama around Tor books, a subsidiary of Macmillan, is in response to statements made by Tor staff about their own readership. Irene Gallo, an associate publisher and creative editor at Tor books said this:
“… There are two extreme right-wing to neo-nazi groups, called the Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies respectively, that are calling for the end of social justice in science fiction and fantasy. They are unrepentantly racist, misogynist, and homophobic. A noisy few but they’ve been able to gather some Gamergate folks around them and elect a slate of bad-to-reprehensible works on this year’s Hugo ballot…”
The readership did not take well to this libel and Tor were asked to deal with the matter. Their response has been nonexistent. I mean, it’s pretty weird that a company would label their own customers this way, but that is what they have done. And it seems that the powers at be at Tor are either struck dumb with indecision or are actively complicit in this drama. Having dismissed all those people emailing them in protest as ‘bots’, (which was interesting to me as I myself sent some emails and I’m pretty sure I’m not a robot, although at times I fear my wife has cause to disagree), Tor were given adequate time to issue a statement, any statement, to deal with the situation.
None came. So the boycott of Tor books has been called. I have 16 books published by Tor in my personal library. Not only will I no longer be purchasing books from Tor again, I intend to dump my books on the secondhand market at cheap prices. This is in response to this post from Moshe Feder at Tor books. It seems that he thinks any commercial issues will be averted by people buying a Tor book for a day.
Even John C Wright, one of Tor’s own published writers, is unable to express support for Tor in this situation. Make your own minds up, dear readers. But rest assured that the culture wars have not been lost. They were only originally winning in the first place because our side couldn’t be bothered turning up. Now it’s on.
The Noisy Rogue 
June 20, 2015 at 7:55 am
Tor did offer a very mild response over here:
…but I’d say that it’s a rather tepid effort.
June 20, 2015 at 7:59 am
It was tepid in the extreme. Which is why they’re now in a bit of hot water.
June 20, 2015 at 8:43 am
[…] “The Boycott of Tor Books” – June 19 […]
June 20, 2015 at 8:46 am
So when did Tor dismiss us as “bots”? Apparently someone anonymously posted the claim somewhere on Reddit but it has since been deleted. Now everyone seems to be taking it as fact. WHo was the anonymous poster? What is their connection to TOR? Are they a genuine whistle-blower of just another troll? If they’re real, where’s the evidence?
June 20, 2015 at 9:10 pm
Peter Grant was contacted directly by an employee at Tor:
http://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/anger-doubt-and-confusion-at-tor.html
June 21, 2015 at 3:27 am
And he says
“Some have even asserted that the thousands of e-mails complaining about Irene Gallo’s statement aren’t genuine, but the product of a bot-net, a manufactured wave of pseudo-indignation that has no foundation in reality. Apparently Macmillan and others involved aren’t so sure about that, but it’s a defense the SJW’s are using with might and main.”
So Tor HAVEN’T dismissed us as bots, though other SJWs have. And we’re supposed to boycott Tor for that.
Grant also says
“The information they provided has to be verified. I explained to them that I couldn’t simply take their word for something; it had to be confirmed by external evidence. They agreed that this was reasonable.”
I also agree this is reasonable. No verification seems to have appeared since then. Can you see why I might be reluctant to give up my Gene Wolfe and John Wright and Orson Scott Card just yet?
June 21, 2015 at 3:43 am
Qrius,
Have a think about this for a second. If you were the head of Tor books and such a malicious rumor as the bot scandal was going around and receiving major notice, would you issue some sort of statement disowning it entirely?
The fact that they haven’t means one of two things; either it’s true, or they don’t care what their customers think.
June 21, 2015 at 4:09 am
Or they’re more worried about pissing off their leftist customers by calling them liars than they are about pissing off the non-leftists by standing by their editor who’s calling us nazis.
Either way, fuck Tor and everyone associated with them. Until Gallo, Feder, et. al. are gone, no more Tor books for me, nor any authors who write for Tor. And that includes David Weber. As long as he writes for Tor, he’s on my shit list too, even if it means i have to skip future Honorverse books.
There is no such thing as overkill on this. I am done with the left and their shit.
June 21, 2015 at 7:52 am
Actually I’ll go one further. Until they publicly announce in an official statement that their only reason for existing is to publish the best quality science fiction and fantasy possible and that political correctness and crusades for social and cultural change have no place in their company then I’m done with their works.
June 21, 2015 at 5:41 am
It feels so weird to boycot a publisher of books because they voice a message that you do not approve off.
Books are about controversy and disagreeing. Books are about alienating some readers, Books are great when they provide an interesting viewpoint, and capture a time period.
This is especially the case in science fiction, but for any book really.
I like it when a publisher takes a stand-point,
That said, I generally try to buy my science fiction from Ace books. They have more authors that I like, while Tor is often hit-or-miss.
June 21, 2015 at 7:36 am
When the message in question is “if you don’t agree with my political views, you’re a nazi”, it becomes a lot more understandable.
June 21, 2015 at 3:39 pm
Actually, it’s not even “if you don’t agree with my political views”, it’s “if you believe that leftist bias exists at all in the Hugo Awards, you’re a nazi”
June 21, 2015 at 7:51 am
They voiced a message we don’t approve of? They accused their own readership of being homophobic racist nazi scumbags. They even labeled their own published authors with the same brush. This was not something written in a book. This was a clear directive from three of their top placed staff.
June 23, 2015 at 4:31 am
They voiced a message we don’t approve of? They accused their own readership of being homophobic racist nazi scumbags.
> Which is basically their message. I like that they gave a strong opinion, even if it alienates quite a few (potential) customers.
Why aren’t they allowed to say that?
Tor Science Fiction publishes science fiction. I”ve read science fiction books describing utopias and dystopias that were anti-capitalist, anti-communist, anti-fascist, anti-religious, anti-individualistic, anti-technology, anti-drugs, anti-women, anti-everything, Authors created thought experiments where these belief-systems were dominant and successful, while they were ‘evil’ in other books. Science fiction is (often) about pushing boundaries.
I like diversification. I like reading from authors living in different parts of the world, that having different belief-systems.
And I like it when a publisher makes a statement regarding their political viewpoint. It’s great, in my opinion, as long as other publishers have different viewpoints (!!!).
Note: I am not 100% sure of this, but it is based on the knowledge that I have (from the books that I have read)
This was a clear directive from three of their top placed staff.
Tor science fiction has a clear vision. It makes me (generally) avoid these books.
They like a certain style. There is often some cross-over with fantasy, and the books would make good action movies. The books often follow a standard hero storyline. It basically is a good vs evil storyline, often avoiding moral ambiguity. I would recommend Tor to people who haven’t read much Sci-fi.
I like that Tor has a clear vision. If anything, it creates some transparency towards its readers. I, as buyer, know what to expect when I buy a Tor SF-book. I know who I would gift Tor SF-books to.
Authors from Tor, like Anderson, Asaro and Scalzi have a certain style. They write for certain target audiences. I (generally) do not belong to this target audience any more.
Ace provides the best science fiction for me. I also buy a lot from Bantam. I rarely buy Tor (around 0-2 books a year).
Buy why would I boycott Tor? Why should I ignore Liu Cixin? Why should I ignore Wright?
Why should I ignore any author that writes a book/story that I am interested in?
I find the concept of boycotting a publishing firm somewhat dangerous. Especially when you boycott them because they (or rather an employee) voiced their opinion.
It’s a slippery slope.
June 23, 2015 at 8:42 am
Earth, you can write as many walls of text as you like but my response to you remains the same as before.
Incidentally, Tor books certainly used to publish books with moral ambiguity. I thought Glen Cook’s works were a fine example of that.
June 23, 2015 at 5:02 pm
“Why aren’t they allowed to say that?”
They are. Freedom of speech, dude.
And we’re allowed to boycott them for it. Because actions have consequences. You call me a nazi, i stop giving you my money.
Only the left would have so much trouble understanding so simple a concept.
June 23, 2015 at 11:36 pm
[i]Earth, you can write as many walls of text as you like but my response to you remains the same as before.[/i]
I considered my post to be too short. It’s all over the place, since I wanted to touch many subjects.
[i]Glen Cook[/i]
I said generally.
I have spent hours reading bayourenaissanceman, voxday, accordingtohoyt, file770 and other links.
I really liked to read it, especially the blogs of authors who were nominated.
I get why these authors are upset. I especially see why Grant, who fought against Apartheid, is upset for being called a racist.
The way that things went is highly unprofessional.
I can see how you want to avoid working with Tor, especially when someones image-of-self or the content of the books does not match the image of Tor.
Using this internet buzz is a good chance for some marketing for both the insulted authors and Tor.
But I simply don’t understand why consumers should care, One employee explained how she viewed things on facebook, and was uneducated about what she said. This happens on a daily basis. It however gave a chance for the authors/Tor to do some marketing.
[u]Could you explain why consumers should be upset?[/u]
June 23, 2015 at 11:54 pm
They should care because a subset of the group “consumers” is among those who were called racists and nazis. Now you, specifically, may not care because you may not be part of that subset. However, you shall accept that i am a part of that subset and that i am thus offended. As is Adam.
As to the question of “why boycott?” Simple. If i approached you and said “Hey, you worthless fucking shitball nazi, give me ten bucks,” would you comply? If not, why not?
(And if you would, then i’ll post a paypal link and you can fucking go ahead and send ten grand, you disgusting degenerate slime.)
June 24, 2015 at 5:09 pm
Awesome. Thanks for answering Sjonnar.
I wasn’t sure of the motives behind the boycott. Thanks for explaining what you are upset about.
As to the question of “why boycott?” Simple. If i approached you and said “Hey, you worthless fucking shitball nazi, give me ten bucks,” would you comply? If not, why not?
I would laugh at your face and make fun of you. If you said “Hey, you worthless fucking shitball nazi, give me ten bucks and you’ll get The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu” I would give you the ten bucks and buy the book. After the transaction is completed I would make fun of you. I would not give you ten bucks without getting anything (good) in return.
My expectations of Tor could not get much lower.
One person insulting me (by saying what she genuinely believes is true) does not change much. Especially since she did not do any research and expressed a stereotype on an informal channel.
Tor still publishes 0-2 books a year that I really want to buy.
June 24, 2015 at 11:08 pm
There we differ. I will not do business with someone who openly derides me as the literal scum of the earth, no matter how desirable their product. There’s always someone else who can sell me a good book.
June 22, 2015 at 6:08 pm
Even if TOR Books apologizes, they’re still locked into that 10-year contract with John Scalzi.
Vox Day of Sad/Rabid Puppies fame hates Scalzi (and everything he stands for) with a blinding, deafening, incoherent yowling passion and that’s really all you need to know about John Scalzi.
Instead of playing whack-a-mole by trying to boycott all the publishers that have Social-Justice-Friendly employees, why not do a procott instead? I’m thinking of Castalia House: Vox Day is the lead editor, they’ve published John C. Wright, and they have no fewer than nine works on the ballot at this year’s Hugo awards. If you only read works published by Castalia house, you can be confident that you’re getting exactly the sort of SF&F that you deserve.
June 22, 2015 at 9:09 pm
As far as I’m aware the staff at Castalia House didn’t publicly accuse their own readership of being racist homophobic nazis. We’re obviously not playing whack-a-mole. You’re just trying to make a point, albeit in an obvious and stupid way.
June 23, 2015 at 9:01 pm
Are we agreeing or disagreeing?
Publishing houses employ a lot of creative types, and creative types do love their hyperbole. To pick an example at random, this highly imaginative person thinks that I’m a Nazi *and* a Communist *and* a child abuser, just because I like the idea of free public schools.
I can shrug it off, but I’ve got an unusually thick skin. I do understand that most people have more delicate feelings than I do. That’s why I’m concerned that your boycott of TOR is just setting you up for further disappointment. It solves one problem, but what happens tomorrow, when an employee of some other publisher targets you for a blast of hyperbole? Instead of dealing with an ever-growing blacklist, why not come up with a whitelist of publishers who can guarantee that they’ll never expose you to anything that will offend you?
June 23, 2015 at 9:14 pm
Chaos, your question is reasonable. I will answer it in a new post. Give me a day or so.