You really didn't have to say anything else. That pretty much covered everything. At some point, the Martian Brain Fungus took over and they're just yet another left-wing avocation position for the Manhattan publishing scene.
Yeah. But it was 8 years ago, I was trying to publish a bog every day. They were easy fodder. The repost is ... because I put a lot of work into that and I didn't want it eaten by whatever blogger is doing.
The women in Gears of War (not 5, we don't count 5), games and novels, are nothing to forget either, but I'm sure Bourke and Tor do. Why do women like this get to comment on these things, and not the many of us ladies out here who are GWOT military veterans? 'Lived experience' and all that? Or does one only get to play that card when one has a certain point of view?
Women should not be in the special forces, ground-pounders or combat arms, full stop. The "Band of Bros & Hos" mixed sex war teams required by The Narrative are fake and grating. IRL? Nope.
But! And! SF&F has aliens, magic, and all manner of handwavium, so why not? Sure! Good fun even. Alas, the above toxic Narrative which hates humanity creates epic failures of natural human mindsets and sex differences, and the consequences thereof has poisoned much of the well. Sad.
And ! Also ! There are ultra-rare writers who understand that when the women are on the front line, performing combat ops, there's nothing left to lose. See The Night Witches (also all female) from history and Mech-Bunny. (Which nails it. Going to lobby hard for this one for the Dragon next year.)
So yes, Little Miss Torling is part of team "destroy fatherhood and families". So "No, sweetie, you're too dumb to know that what you are having a hissy fit about not only doesn't exist, but if it did, would be an improvement. You're so ignorant and toxic you can't even upgrade to 'wrong'..." is how I'd go.
But I won't, because Tor delenda est. Sorry Mr. Hartwell, the skinsuit has gone maggoty. Darn shame
And this doesn't even get into Ringo's Black Tide Rising, where his books center around sisters Sofia and Faith. Especially Faith. Then there's Trans-Dimensional Hunter, the series he is currently co-writing with Lydia Sherrer where protagonist Lynn Raven is, in every sense the hero.
The N3F Review of Books does a yearly review of Hugo nominees, after the awards are given. Based on the reviews, there seems to be a notable fixation in many of the nominees on defining characters in terms of the inclinations in fornication. Encountering a character who does not fit that mold must have been confusing for the original reviewer. Your description of Honor Harrington seemed to be entirely solid.
The hatred thrown at Baen from the LGBTBBQ is not at all surprising.
From what I have seen and heard, Toni Weisskopf has no time at all for the Woke Brigade. She even attended and spoke at - and Baen sponsored - a writer's con in Dallas in 2022 I attended that had the absolute temerity to have Larry Corriea as the keynote speaker! The nerve! The howls of the Social Justice League were loud and the attacks fierce.
Sadly this lead to a split in the people who run those cons in DFW and they have never been the same, as I have no interest in panels run by SJW queens and soyboys that produce absolute dross.
I have read a lot of military history (as well as military sci-fi). I recall exactly three women of significance in all of military history: 1) Artemisia, a naval commander fighting for Xerxes in the Battle of Salamis, who fought well, but ultimately lost to the Athenians; 2) Cleopatra, whose decision to flee the Battle of Actium basically lost the Antony/Cleopatra side of the battle; and 3) Joan of Arc, who rallied the French but ultimately was defeated, captured, and executed by the British. You may be aware of more, but these three are all I can remember off the top of my head.
In military science fiction, there should be no women present. At all. Unless the point of the novel is to explain to the audience what a bad idea this would be. Yet, all the military SF I read is chock full of badass women on the far right side of the bell curve in physical and mental abilities, presented in equal numbers as male characters. None of which is realistic. My perfect military SF novel would contain, like almost all the military history I've read, exactly zero women.
I've read Ringo & Kratman. Your remarks on them were solidly on the mark.
I never get excited about the woke critics. You can never make them happy. Why bother with their nonsense.
And of course, there is Ivanova's "message" to the Clarke forces. God sent her!
Yeah. I have to link in the previous article, since I made certain to put in the video ... okay, if I didn't, I will now.
"I saw this on the Tor blog..."
You really didn't have to say anything else. That pretty much covered everything. At some point, the Martian Brain Fungus took over and they're just yet another left-wing avocation position for the Manhattan publishing scene.
Yeah. But it was 8 years ago, I was trying to publish a bog every day. They were easy fodder. The repost is ... because I put a lot of work into that and I didn't want it eaten by whatever blogger is doing.
The women in Gears of War (not 5, we don't count 5), games and novels, are nothing to forget either, but I'm sure Bourke and Tor do. Why do women like this get to comment on these things, and not the many of us ladies out here who are GWOT military veterans? 'Lived experience' and all that? Or does one only get to play that card when one has a certain point of view?
100% the latter.
I want to read the Ringo books just from the descriptions
I will definitely push the "Special Circumstances" books, Princess of Wands et al.
Women should not be in the special forces, ground-pounders or combat arms, full stop. The "Band of Bros & Hos" mixed sex war teams required by The Narrative are fake and grating. IRL? Nope.
But! And! SF&F has aliens, magic, and all manner of handwavium, so why not? Sure! Good fun even. Alas, the above toxic Narrative which hates humanity creates epic failures of natural human mindsets and sex differences, and the consequences thereof has poisoned much of the well. Sad.
And ! Also ! There are ultra-rare writers who understand that when the women are on the front line, performing combat ops, there's nothing left to lose. See The Night Witches (also all female) from history and Mech-Bunny. (Which nails it. Going to lobby hard for this one for the Dragon next year.)
So yes, Little Miss Torling is part of team "destroy fatherhood and families". So "No, sweetie, you're too dumb to know that what you are having a hissy fit about not only doesn't exist, but if it did, would be an improvement. You're so ignorant and toxic you can't even upgrade to 'wrong'..." is how I'd go.
But I won't, because Tor delenda est. Sorry Mr. Hartwell, the skinsuit has gone maggoty. Darn shame
What they're upset about is that the portrayal of women in scifi hasn't yet made women as strong as men in real life.
And this doesn't even get into Ringo's Black Tide Rising, where his books center around sisters Sofia and Faith. Especially Faith. Then there's Trans-Dimensional Hunter, the series he is currently co-writing with Lydia Sherrer where protagonist Lynn Raven is, in every sense the hero.
Yeah. I think I wrote this before BTR came out, definitely before TDH.
The N3F Review of Books does a yearly review of Hugo nominees, after the awards are given. Based on the reviews, there seems to be a notable fixation in many of the nominees on defining characters in terms of the inclinations in fornication. Encountering a character who does not fit that mold must have been confusing for the original reviewer. Your description of Honor Harrington seemed to be entirely solid.
The hatred thrown at Baen from the LGBTBBQ is not at all surprising.
From what I have seen and heard, Toni Weisskopf has no time at all for the Woke Brigade. She even attended and spoke at - and Baen sponsored - a writer's con in Dallas in 2022 I attended that had the absolute temerity to have Larry Corriea as the keynote speaker! The nerve! The howls of the Social Justice League were loud and the attacks fierce.
Sadly this lead to a split in the people who run those cons in DFW and they have never been the same, as I have no interest in panels run by SJW queens and soyboys that produce absolute dross.
I have read a lot of military history (as well as military sci-fi). I recall exactly three women of significance in all of military history: 1) Artemisia, a naval commander fighting for Xerxes in the Battle of Salamis, who fought well, but ultimately lost to the Athenians; 2) Cleopatra, whose decision to flee the Battle of Actium basically lost the Antony/Cleopatra side of the battle; and 3) Joan of Arc, who rallied the French but ultimately was defeated, captured, and executed by the British. You may be aware of more, but these three are all I can remember off the top of my head.
In military science fiction, there should be no women present. At all. Unless the point of the novel is to explain to the audience what a bad idea this would be. Yet, all the military SF I read is chock full of badass women on the far right side of the bell curve in physical and mental abilities, presented in equal numbers as male characters. None of which is realistic. My perfect military SF novel would contain, like almost all the military history I've read, exactly zero women.