I like the word asshat. It speaks to my inner 13 year old. And mudflap rhymes, so that's good enough for me. but this post is mainly about asshats, not mudflaps, and in particular asshats of the depressed doggy variety.
The whole Hugo, sad and rabid puppy thingumy has been written about by many people, most of them more knowledgeable and closer to the subject than me, which was one reason I, fledgling writer that I am, haven't bothered. But now I do have something to say, so here we go.
Oh, it occurs to me dear reader that you may not know what I'm talking about. Well, you could go google it (go ahead, I'll wait), but the short of it is some white male authors don't particularly like non white male authors and have decided to organise block voting to 'bring back the glory days' (their words, not mine) of white male authors in sci fi and fantasy. They don't say that, of course. Evil never advertises it as such. They dress it up with blah di blah di blah. But anyway, that sums it up.
Thing is a lot of people, George RR Martin among them, have said this issue might end up breaking the Hugos, and I really don't think we have anything to worry about. Thing is, the sadsacks need to work at being racist, misogynistic pricks. While the world turns on and inclusion becomes ever the norm these throws need to actively work at being hateful. They need to go and try and convince enough other people to be hateful with them. And the thing is, while hate often is a lifelong thing, life, as it were, isn't. There's a certain amount of die off when it comes to stuff like this. Exhibit A: KKK membership isn't what it once was.
You only have to look at the rates of female and gay authors in the Hugo honour roll over time to see what happens when things are left to themselves. People begin to enjoy good writing for its own sake, and not give a damn at the colour of the hand holding the pen. Which is great and as it should be.
I actually had a fairly long diatribe mapped out in my head on this subject, but given my point is "Don't worry, racists die eventually" I really shouldn't take the piss and go on longer than necessary.
See you later people, and remember what the great ones said: Be excellent to one another.
Michael
It's gratifyling and thrilling to see that what imagined tranlsated well into through writing that other people saw something similar in their own head. It's kinda like telepathy..... I must be sure to sure this power for good. Michael 
And if you're in the market for a little persons' collection of Christmas stories for this season, 
I'll leave you today with the song of the sphere.... cause it's awesome.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MmWeZHsQzs 
I had a lot of fun writing The Hunt. The world Mantic have designed in Deadzone very much represents the zeitgesit of today, just as Games Workshop did in the 80s with Warhammer 40,000. In it, we are presented with a galaxy run on a corporacracy, where the final word of law is what the largest corporation says it is. It's serfdom in everything but name, which is basically the logical end result if capitalism is allowed to run unchecked.
In all seriousness, I am truly honoured that they ran the story. I've been listening to the podcast for years (and if you haven't, there's a 153 episodes for you to catch up on, you lucky person), long enough now when I hear their voices it's like listening to two old friends.Also kudos must go out to Tom Tancredi who did an excellent job with producing the cast, Craig Weinberg for the retro sci fi music (It made me want to play Mass Effect again) and Alyssa Quinn for the cover art, which suits the subject and sound effects perfectly.I hope you enjoy,Michael
