Next verse, same as the first.

[splash_the_cat]

Linkspam on the fail surrounding Patricia Wrede's "Thirteenth Child", an alternate fantasy pioneer history of the Americas where Native peoples never existed. From the Tor review, "This is an alternate version of our world which is full of magic, and where America (“Columbia”) was discovered empty of people but full of dangerous animals, many of

Comments

[nandamai]

where America (“Columbia”) was discovered empty of people

Oh my god. That's just. I gather from some of the comments in your links that slavery did not exist in this book, either. How does this get through writing, editing, and publishing with nobody noticing how not okay it is? (Rhetorical.) Hey, let's take (arguably) the two least privileged groups in the US today and just make them disappear from history! W00t!

Anyway. I'm here on the sidelines, cheering you and your rage on. \o/

[anonymous]

I'm all about freedom of speech, but seriously, what the fuck? *boggles*

[daveamongus]

What I find problematic in the Tor conversation is that the concepts discussed in RaceFail have morphed from a sort of compassionate (toward the author) condemnation of the unconscious societal attitudes that beget this kind of tin ear for race/gender/culture sensitivity, to an outright condemnation of the author as an immoral being, full of conscious understanding of the reprecussions of her actions. I doubt Wrede in particular perpetrated that kind of disregard

[dendrophilous]

It does leave me curious, though, as to where this ranks in terms of literary crimes against Native Americans: above, or below the Alvin Maker series?

I thought I saw some commenters holding the Alvin Maker books as a good example. I haven't read them, so wouldn't know.

[daveamongus]

My memory is of the Native American characters being batted between Noble Savages and Magical Negroes.

[splash_the_cat]

to an outright condemnation of the author as an immoral being, full of conscious understanding of the reprecussions of her actions.

When you consider how many authors made it damn clear during RaceFail that they just don't give a shit about these issues, I'm not surprised. Sure, Wrede herself may not have consciously realized how this reading of the novel could happen, but I truly do get how POC, after seeing this over and over and over, and pointing out how these issues are a problem over and over and over, finally just say fuck it, and write all white authors off as a whole. It's same shit, different day for a lot of people, and yeah, it sucks that people who don't intend harm sometimes get the brunt of it, but intent isn't all that it's about.

(Speaking as a woman SF fan, I'll be blunt. Male SF authors have an extra step (or three) to take in earning my trust as a reader when writing women, because I have been burned so many times. And when a male author writes something that's seriously problematic, and he gets nailed with

[amonitrate]

WHAT THE HELL.

[blacksquirrel]

Oh, oh dear.

What if colonial fantasies were all totally true! Wouldn't things have just been so much nicer if native people literally were the animals that colonial policies consigned them to be?

Wow - who decided this was a good idea?