FantaSci AAR…

Good little con! Small turnout compared to last year, but the panels were good, learned some things, had some interesting conversations with some folks, an confirmed once again that hotel conference room chairs SUCK! Sigh…

By Sunday, my back was not happy with me, and I know I got a little grumpy, so if I grumped at anyone, I apologize.

The North Texas Troublemakers and ‘adjacents’ held down the bar Friday and Saturday, much to the delight of the bartender!!! LOL

Six panels over two days is about my limit, and ended up moderating three of them, which is more work than one would think, but I sent out questions ahead of time, which helped.

BUT…a couple of times I had to cut people off so I could ask the question to the rest of the panel after the person answered it…LOL

In news that just pisses me off, HarperCollins is now going after Agatha Christie! Note the headline!!!

Agatha Christie novels reworked to remove potentially offensive language

Several Agatha Christie novels have been edited to remove potentially offensive language, including insults and references to ethnicity.

Full article, HERE from the Guardian.

Of note- This quote is included in the article!

Sensitivity readers had made the edits, which were evident in digital versions of the new editions, including the entire Miss Marple run and selected Poirot novels set to be released or that have been released since 2020, the Telegraph reported.

WTH??? I guess I might as well try something other than writing if THIS CRAP is the way things are going… I don’t/won’t use a ‘sensitivity’ reader, because I try to write honest portrayals of people, places, and the language used…Grrrr…

Comments

FantaSci AAR… — 15 Comments

  1. As a self published author, you maintain control of your content and copyright. Sensitivity readers are not an issue that should affect you, or your work.

    Keep writing entertaining stories with honest portrayals, and I’ll keep buying and reading. I’m sure others here will echo similar sentiments.

  2. 1984 Censorship is now the norm in this world. I grant you that some language should not be used in certain circumstances but censoring certain words in writing stories about certain types of people and specific eras should not be up to the publishers. Freedom to write and all decIsions should be the authors alone. If people are offended by some of the wording all I can say is they are just words that were used in the time and place the novel was set in.

  3. Fleming, Orwell, Dahl, now Dame Agatha. The monkeys are running the zoo.

  4. The new darks ages? Will our survivors, generations out, re-discover “original texts” and pour over them with delight in a new renaissance? Makes me wonder.

  5. Frankns: Yes they will. Thomas Bowdler tried this with Shakespeare’s works, and as a result, his name goes down in infamy. “Bowderlizing” is the term that applies to all such situations of attempting to censor/edit past works to make them “family friendly” in the current times.

    Shakespeare’s original works persevere.

    • Argentium … Of course! I had forgotten about Bowlder. What a great reminder. Thanks!

    • Shakespeare’s works only survived because academia and the elite fought against Bowlderlization.

      Today, it’s academia and the elite who are leading the charge. So Bowlderization will be more successful. After all, we’re all just peons who don’t matter (looks at Star Wars, Indiana Jones, et al…)

  6. Get a nice cushion to carry around. Check out your local med supply house for wheelchair cushions or for ones designed to support your back.

    Then have a con bag that has room for the pad, your laptop (if you carry one) and other common supplies.

  7. This sort of problem is turning up on Kindle. I need to get a unit that doesn’t connect directly to the web, so Amazoon can’t get into it and screw with books I’ve already bought.

    Any ideas on how to accomplish this? I’ve got over 900 books in my kindle library…

  8. Will: While possible, it is annoying for doing for more than just a few books, and it’s not a perfect long-term solution.

    Look under “Account & Lists” (your account), “Manage your Content and Devices”, then “Books”.

    For each individual book, you can select “More Actions”, “Download and Transfer via USB”, select the radio button to match your physical Kindle device, then click [ Download ].

    The saved *.azw3 file can then be copied, via USB cable from your computer to the “documents” folder on the Kindle.

    While your Kindle is in “Airplane mode”, neither the content nor the software on the Kindle can update. However, you can’t access the Kindle store through the Kindle reader while it’s in Airplane mode.

    Don’t count on those downloaded files being usable on a different Kindle device though, I believe they are encrypted to just the one specific device. They _might_ work across devices on your account, but I only have the one physical Kindle reader, so I can’t test that for you.

    Good luck. The convenience of Amazon Kindle is a bit of a monkey’s paw trap, and it doesn’t help that Amazon really is the 800 lb gorilla in the eBook publishing world.

    I try to buy as much as I can at Baen because they don’t use DRM, and thus anything I download can be used on any reader I buy (including Kindle), or in the Calibre reader software on my computer, no fuss, no muss. That’s a better way to treat a customer.

    Hope that helps you out.

  9. To clarify: While in airplane mode, the only way to add/delete/update content on the Kindle is via the USB cable.

    Airplane mode shuts off the wireless network capabilities of the device until that mode is disengaged.

  10. Beans- It’s more of a back issue, a cushion doesn’t help.

    Will- See Ag’s answers below.

    Ag- Thanks!

  11. Jim…
    Your honest portrayals of people and characters is one of the reasons that we buy your books.

    The scenarios may be imaginative, but if the people are realistic, we can identify with them and follow the narrative.