The science fiction and fantasy haters have definitely been out of late.
First a certain writer turned the Hugo ballot into a political statement then complained when everyone calling him a racist — including me — wouldn't debate his racist hateful spewings. And today a SF writer known for starting hateful political fights decided to take his SF toys and go home because it turns out he hates losing said political fights.
There so much hate swirling around in the SF/F world that it's easy to forget all the good people in our genre. So I've decided to respond to this hate by highlighting the good people who give me optimism for the future of our genre.
My first SF/F good person of the day is K. Tempest Bradford.
Tempest is known both for her short story writing — with her fiction published in magazines such as Strange Horizons and Electric Velocipede, and anthologies like Federations and Dark Faith: Invocations — and for her tech writing and blogging. I love Tempest for writing short stories because I freakin love the short-form fiction and her stories are always fun to read. And I worship her as a tech writer because she cuts through the clutter and inside-baseball-itis which infects so many techies.
Tempest is also a tireless advocate for improving our genre, such as with her recent essay "Getting More Writers of Color to Workshops: A Modest Proposal" and her work for the Carl Brandon Society and on Con or Bust. Tempest is passionate about social justice and passionate about the SF/F genre and rightfully refuses to accept why these two passions can't co-exist and improve all our lives.
As with many people in the genre, I've known Tempest for a long time online. I met her for the first time in the physical world at the 2010 World Fantasy Convention. And I was thrilled to discover that Tempest in person turned out to be as amazing a person as Tempest online.
Thank you, Tempest, for all you do and for being a friend.
If you don't know Tempest, go a read her blog and her fiction and her writings. And if you want to fight all the hate in our genre, consider mentioning your own SF/F good person of the day.