In the latest Racefail development, bloggers have uncovered numerous connections between Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden and the Ku Klux Klan, further calling into question the paucity of non-Caucasian speculative fiction writers. In May 2008, the Nielsen Haydens attended three KKK rallies in southern Kentucky. Clandestine recordings of these events reveal that the couple were among the more vocal participants in the “Tar the Darkies” part of these rituals, with Patrick shouting, “Yeah! I’d do that to Delany,” and Teresa reportedly crying, “It’s a good thing that Octavia is dead!”
It remains unknown whether the Nielsen Haydens’s extracurricular activities had any bearing on their editorial decisions at Tor. But Teresa Nielsen Hayden has been reportedly taken a hiatus as Boing Boing moderator as these claims continue to be investigated. This temporary suspension has not stopped her from leaving the following comment on a post titled “DRM is Evil! It Can Never Be Stated Enough!”:
W r nt glty! Wht w d n r prvt lvs hs n brng n r prfssnl dts.
The Call by Yannick Murphy: The always interesting author of Here They Come and Signed, Mata Hari returns with a novel that whips up a worldview from a rather quirky set of limitations: namely, the call logs that a veterinarian maintains as his son is unexpectedly put into a coma and an unforgiving economy denies him work. What emerges is a surprisingly optimistic, often funny, and very moving account on how one family uses acceptance and forgiveness as a way to atone for hard knocks. (
Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber: Forget Franzen and Eugenides. If you're looking for a social novel that counts, Diana Abu-Jaber is the author you're looking for. Building from the free-form exploration of consciousness and identity in Crescent and the gripping procedural structure of Origin, Abu-Jaber's latest novel is her finest, equally fluent with gutterpunk culture and smarmy real estate men. It has been suggested by The Washington Post's Ron Charles that you will likely gain some pounds while reading this novel. This is certainly true. Abu-Jaber's description of food is so precise that it often made me want to do more cooking. But I very much admired the way in which Abu-Jaber presents all her characters as unwitting victims of rough capitalism, which permits them some dignity even as they perform terrible acts.
The Last of the Live Nude Girls by Sheila McClear: This memoir isn't so much about the decline of the Times Square peepshow, as it is about one young woman's efforts to pull herself up by by her bootstraps when presented with few economic options. Filled with self-introspective candor and a quiet dignity, McClear's story is one that might befall any of us in these volatile times. While McClear does get back on her feet, her book leads one contemplating the terrible fates of other young women now moving to New York and falling into deadlier vocations. (
Dude, this is truly not funny.
There’s funny and there’s tacky. This is definitely the latter, even on April Fool’s.
Libelous on its face.
Yeah, I’m going to have to go with: tacky, not funny. Satire does require a bit more wit and intelligence to be truly biting. I’m afraid you missed the mark.
This is really just gross and offensive.
The above commenters: (1) Abi Sutherland, who has the Nielsen Haydens appear on her blog “Evilrooster Crows.” (2) James Macdonald, regular commenter on Making Light. (3) K. Tempest Bradford, a well-meaning but ultimately politically correct person. You may find this offensive (and I really don’t give a shit), but I find the lack of disclosure among these Nielsen Hayden acolytes — specifically (1) and (2) — to involve the same cowardly anonymity that the Nielsen Haydens have accused others of.
I can’t see that you have that many readers, so I was pretty much addressing this comment to you. You have the information you need to find out who I am, and look, you did! Well done you.
If I had wanted to be anonymous, I would have been. It’s not exactly rocket science, you know.
The word you’re looking for, by the way, is not acolytes but friends.
All that aside, this was still tacky. Not a blog worth coming back to or recommending. Shame; I like finding interesting new blogs.
I wouldn’t go for “not funny” or “tacky,” I’d go for “cruel.” To save your commenters’ research, I’ve known the Nielsen Haydens for 30 years, and we’re friends. I also watched the way they brought publicity, outrage, and attention to New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina.
Cruel, tacky, and over-the-top inappropriate. Not funny, even on April 1st.
I don’t agree with any of these comments, but I would defend any of your rights to write them.
Do you know what’s cruel? Disemvoweling. Just destroying somebody’s perspective like that, as opposed to permitting someone to express an opinion, however stupid or contrary to your own viewpoint. This is autocratic cruelty that runs counter to the First Amendment, and it is precisely this phony notion of entitlement that motivated this April Fool’s joke. If the Nielsen Haydens and their phony syocphantic ilk can’t take it, then they may want to consider whether they should be dishing it out in the form of disemvoweling.
What the hell is wrong with you?
There’s an art to satire; it requires subtlety and a nuanced understanding of the situation being lampooned. You clearly don’t get it, and this is about as subtle as a brick to the head. It’s not funny, just tasteless and stupid.
wow, I wasn’t aware that being politically correct was some kind of pejorative. I suppose I am guilty of mincing words in my last comment, so I’ll be more blunt and less PC now: this is some disgusting bullshit and you know it. It is not ever and in any way funny to say that people are connected to the KKK when they are not. It’s obvious that you’re not serious, but that doesn’t make the offense any less serious. This is just plain wrong.
I have disagreed with Patrick and Teresa in the past. I have been very angry with Teresa in particular in the recent past. I understand why people would take exception to some of the issues you raised in your last comment. That has absolutely nothing to do with “jokingly” posting that they’re in the KKK. There is no correlation. There is no excuse. This isn’t about being politically correct. It about being a non-douchebag or a douchebag. (let me make it clear, you fall on the latter side.)
Is that non-PC enough? I can only hope.
As a liberal with actual KKK ties (thin though it is, my uncle-in-law’s father, but he was a politician in where you needed them as a voting block), I found this rather humorous.
I will agree, however, that accusing someone of racism these days automatically makes them a pariah, especially among the literary. Still, racism, narcissism, and alcoholism all tend to be things that sell books.
Wow Ed, totally not funny on all sides, you manage to trivialize and misrepresent a months-long political discussion among hundreds of very smart people. While also insulting the Nielsen Haydens – not even those of us who are angry with them can support that or laugh at it.
You sound really jerky here. I had thought better of your humor.
I’m honored to have exposed how humorless and sanctimonious BOTH sides are in Racefail.
It won’t be long before you’re driven entirely out of the village, bereft of right-thinking blowjobs forever…
I’m honored to have exposed how humorless and sanctimonious BOTH sides are in Racefail.
Don’t be. All you’ve exposed is “If I hit people with a hammer, other people object, and sometimes those people disagree on other stuff!”
This is not what I’d call a breath-taking discovery.
Oh — and you might want to take that False Binary Syndrome you’ve got there to a doctor; those can turn out really ugly if not treated.
Bottomline – cruel and unnecessary. I don’t know what your issue with the Nielsen-Hayden’s is but I truly doubt it has anything to do with RaceFail’09 because if it did you would at the very least try not to derail the discussion from it’s original point. I’m not a fan of the Nielsen-Hayden’s after what was said but you don’t have to be a fan or a friend to see that this post is totally inappropriate. I assume that this post was mostly to get attention and ’cause controversy well congratulations but you haven’t done anything to further any conversation and have in fact set back the discussion around race in sf/f with an unnecessary personal attack.
Yeah, I don’t think it’s that funny, either. What *is* funny is watching some of the major players in recently tarring the Nielsen Haydens as racists acting like they’re all offended about this post. Let’s see…not very funny mockery of people calling them racists for no good reason vs. actually calling them racists for no good reason. Hmm…
I thought this post was HILARIOUS! And the people who don’t like it need to grow up or better yet SHUT UP!
We don’t live on some plantation where the hypersenstivity of whites is somehow sacrosanct. The Haydens brought this on themselves and deserve to be made the laughingstocks they are.
Their friends shouldn’t make the mistake of using their real names since the customers who BUY SF have far more power than some self-important editor and her talentless hubby.
Rock on! This post should be mandatory reading.