Race Fail and Book Win

[shadydave]

So, if you haven't encountered RaceFail '09 yet, you should probably go check it out (ETA: here is a good and concise summary of events)-- not because it's particularly fun to watch various pro SFF authors make bigger and bigger racist and/or white-privileged assholes of themselves and the world a more exclusive and difficult place for persons of color, but because there's been a lot of thoughtful and thought-provoking posts about what it means to be a fan of color (not to mention those on racism, white privilege, and how not to behave on the internet), which I think everyone should read as part of our education in becoming decent human beings.

In more positive news, I was very pleased to find Naomi Novik weighing in on the right side of the debate, because it's always encouraging to find out that the author of awesome books is awesome too.

Anyways, this segues nicely into a rec for her books. Specifically, His Majesty's Dragon, which you can now read for FREE, because the only thing more awesome than a FREE BOOK is a FREE BOOK about the Napoleonic War with DRAGONS. It's like you have really awesome historical fiction and really awesome fantasy BUT TOGETHER IN ONE BOOK. THAT'S FREE. Plus the characters are amazing, the plots are exciting and fast-paced, and there are interesting AU historical tidbits that imply, for example, that all of Admiral Nelson is a zombie instead of just his arm. Also, literally every person I have made read these has loved them, all the way from my brother who seems to read only Star Wars EU books to my sister who talks about why books are awesome for a living.

In conclusion: AWESOME FREE BOOK.

Comments

[shadydave.livejournal.com]

I dunno. My personal opinion (having read a few of his other books) is that he's not actively racist, but he's like a lot of grandparents (which makes sense, since he was born in 1930 I think) in that occasionally he'll write things that are awkward and definitely not PC and probably offensive. Like, in The Elenium (which has totally awesome characters but gets very weird) there's a lot of stuff with an analogue of medieval Islamic countries that kind of makes me cringe, but he was also mocking medieval Christian countries too, because the whole series is basically a parody of medieval romances and religion, so it's not like he was specifically targeting Muslims for the sole purpose of being racist. But it's still very uncomfortable.

I DON'T think his weird "one race/country, one trait" matches up to real life race relations. Once you get around to reading the Mallorean, you'll see that he puts a lot of effort into humanizing the Angaraks, so while their individual countries still tend to revolve around a similar set of characteristics, you no longer have to deal with the "Hey, all the Asian-type people are pure chaotic evil!"

So, in conclusion, I think if someone called him on some of his more racist stuff, he would probably agree, but I don't think it's occurred to him that he SHOULD be called on it.

[naturalblue208.livejournal.com]

makes sense :)

dude, naomi is a total firebrand in some of those replies XD she is so softspoken in a lot of ways, whoda thunk it of her? XD

[shadydave.livejournal.com]

I know! It makes me respect her a lot.