I’ve been (much too) actively following the ongoing controversy over the Hugo Awards. Sadly, two of the authors recommended, Annie Bellet and Marko Kloos, have withdrawn their works from consideration, due to the intensely political debate, much of which centers around the fact that the writer known as Vox Day (a pen name) recommended them.

About two years ago, a couple of members of the SFWA (Science Fiction Writers Association) said some positive things about the appearance of a couple of female . The Guest of Honor at the next association, an award-winning author, said some nasty things about how condescending they were. Vox Day, in turn, said some nasty things about her, on a SFWA-owned newsfeed. He was expelled from the SFWA, and since that time, there has been bad blood between him and the principals of SFWA, and many of the writers and fans that were paying attention.

He formed a group called the Rabid Puppies, with recommendations which largely overlapped the Sad Puppy recommendations, but his behavior has been confrontational and abrasive.

I haven’t read his work and I don’t follow his blog, so I’m in no position to judge whether what his enemies say about him, except that it sounds too toxic to be true.

What I can say is that voting “No award”, or against their work,  just because he recommended them, is shameful behavior for a group that claims to be concerned with recognizing the best in science fiction.