Little Valkyrie Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 i thought, for instance, that the identification of author and text is unsupportable as a matter of literary theory ('this text has racist implications and therefore author is racist,' and so on); that's the same error made by fanboys who say that a text can't be racist because 'in his letters he said that he hates racism," &c. text and author are not identical, and one can have characteristics of rhetoric that the other does not have as conscious or unconscious belief. and of course this principle applies a fortiori to the ROH persona. people getting their knickers in a noose over this are falling into the same conceptual error as ROH and the fanboys aforesaid. were i to fall into the same error, and i will not, my thesis would be that all'y'all are conceptually identical to ROH, and how could you be such a losar like that? That identification of text and author is taken pretty seriously in the part of the sf/f community that she has appealed to, in both personae. There's a lot of worry about representation, writing the Other, etc. (and that is not necessarily a BAD thing, at all.) And as such, no one in that community wants to be smacked with the label of racist, be it deserved or not. The constant component of her critique that I found more dismaying was a total disregard of the "depiction is not endorsement" idea--she was only happy when bad people were explicitly called out in the text and good people got happy endings, etc. And going after people for liking problematic books--not just authors, but other fans who didn't read the same way--was very corrosive to several communities, although a lot of the evidence has to be reconstructed now. But hey, she made her bed on the basis of this psycho-biographical criticism, so I will weep no tears if she doesn't like the covers now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EruditeFool Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 So, how good is Benjanun's writing? Is there a place online where I can grab some of it for free to sample? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Valkyrie Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 So, how good is Benjanun's writing? Is there a place online where I can grab some of it for free to sample? There are some stories free online: http://beekian.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/fiction/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EruditeFool Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Perfect! I'll that to my to-read list. If the stories are free then they should stand or fall on their own merits. Whether or not I purchase anything of hers remains to be seen.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorral Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 There are accounts by a pro about an atempted an overdose at one point due to the abuse and stalking. Then the writer went offline for quite some time. Fear. Later the writer and BS cleared up the mess between them. This is a someone very well known and respected, and many others know about this particular event even as it went down. This is the only one I'll bring up because this one happens to be someone with whom I have personal contact. Because of all these reasons the writer will not be named. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorral Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 As I commented above at one point, the most interesting element of this, which people seem to be missing, is that BS's current public persona is one of the ethnic Asian female stereotypes that the other personas ranted about white sf/f writers, particularly white, male Ameuro writers depicting in their fiction.Thus it's difficult to believe this one is not also deliberately constructed, and she's continuing to laugh at the cultural ignorance and gullibility of the field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Yeah this isn't a case of disagreeing with an authors, say, political views. This person, as stated above, harnessed and threatened people to the point of ATTEMPTED SUICIDE. Cmon people, for fucks sake, don't enable this monster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Selig Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Yeah this isn't a case of disagreeing with an authors, say, political views. This person, as stated above, harnessed and threatened people to the point of ATTEMPTED SUICIDE. Cmon people, for fucks sake, don't enable this monster. What does buying her books has to do with enabling her (I assume that is what you mean)? She was harassing people left and right long before she published anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sci-2 Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Yeah this isn't a case of disagreeing with an authors, say, political views. This person, as stated above, harnessed and threatened people to the point of ATTEMPTED SUICIDE. Cmon people, for fucks sake, don't enable this monster. I thought the accusation was she deliberately tried to get someone to commit suicide? If the issue is she argued with someone who then tried to commit suicide due to existing mental issues that's rather different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterbound Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 What does buying her books has to do with enabling her (I assume that is what you mean)? She was harassing people left and right long before she published anything.It's allowing her behavior to go unchecked, and almost rewarding her actions by providing her cash based encouragement. How can you not see that?This is one of the few time in your life you can actually stand up and do the right fucking thing. Take the opportunity, and don't fuck it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EruditeFool Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 It's allowing her behavior to go unchecked, and almost rewarding her actions by providing her cashed based encouragement.How can you not see that?So, just read the free stuff? Maybe, if I like it, I'll purchase her books when she's dead? Yes, it's a bit morbid but I'm trying to think of a rational compromise here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myshkin Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 There are some stories free online: http://beekian.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/fiction/ Just read Courtship in the Country of Machine-Gods, which is a pretty awful title for what turned out to be a really good story. Whatever else Benjanun is, she's a good writer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Just read Courtship in the Country of Machine-Gods, which is a pretty awful title for what turned out to be a really good story. Whatever else Benjanun is, she's a good writer.This whole thread I never bothered to look up her writing. But I read that in one of the Apex anthologies and it was very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 You all disgust me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologdin Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 oh, as if you're not structurally identical to her, DR. you are in fact our local ROH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 tHAT I actually find extremely personally offensive. I don't even know what to say to you dude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterbound Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 tHAT I actually find extremely personally offensive. I don't even know what to say to you dude. Don't sweat that DR. Solo has been working on his asshole persona for much longer than you. If you are structurally similar (and i'm not saying you are) to her, Solo may be one of her sock puppets. From him, consider it a compliment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 You all disgust me.Was I supposed to retroactively NOT enjoyba story i previously enjoyed? Or just not talk about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Was I supposed to retroactively NOT enjoyba story i previously enjoyed? Or just not talk about it?No, I'm just very touchy about this whole thing. Online bullying has Affected me in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Errant Bard Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Even bad publicity is still publicity, uh? Interesting that if she had not been a huge jerk, some of you would not have had the impetus to read her production. Meanwhile, nice, quiet authors stay in the slush pile. The cognitive ability the evaluate a work of fiction seems quite dissociated from the ability to not be steered by one's newsfeed, heh? :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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