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Another Account of the Readercon Mess

August 7, 2012 @ 1:47 pm

Following up on my post about the Readercon mess, I received this email from a friend this morning. I thought it would be helpful to post part of it here verbatim (anonymously at the person’s request).

I just want to clarify a few things related to your recent blog post, as some of the facts Genevieve set forth in her own livejournal account of the incident seem to have gotten subsequently garbled along the way. I should also note that I was present for many of the events (or in their immediate aftermath) she describes in her account, though I myself did not personally witness the two incidents of actual physical contact.

Mr. Walling did not simply put his arm around her in what might, under some circumstances, be a friendly gesture (and here of course, they were not friends, but complete strangers). As Genevieve sets forth on livejournal, he came up behind her in a crowded area of a room party and snaked an arm around her shoulders *from behind*. To my mind, the best way to picture the result is to think of Walling’s arm almost in a chokehold position (albeit around her shoulders rather than her neck and without violent force being applied), thus resulting in the rest of his body essentially in a spooning position up against Genevieve’s back. Notably this maneuver was also accompanied by Walling’s comment, “You and I will have a good time.” Also notable is the fact that this action took place hours later on the same day on which he had earlier informed Genevieve that the sound of her voice made him want to say “wrong things”, something he told her in a conversation moments after introducing himself to her and during which he reached out to fondle her elbow and shoulder. In response to this earlier incident, Genevieve had already politely made it clear to Walling she did not welcome either his words or his touches. When she more forcefully told him not to touch her and fled his presence after the second incident, Walling then embarked upon a day and a half of intermittently following and hovering near Genevieve, ostensibly motivated by a desire to apologize.

I believe this accurately reflects the relevant facts.

I hate to throw out analogies, which are inevitably imperfect, but against my own better judgment, this time I will. When some folks in comment threads have been describing the arm around the shoulders, it’s been sounding to me like they’re picturing something from a Happy Days episode in which Richie Cunningham uses a stretch during a yawn as an excuse to put his arm around a date at the drive-in. There you have something that’s arguably inept flirtation. Imagine instead watching an episode at a sock-hop at Al’s Diner during which Richie comes up behind a random girl in a poodle skirt, snakes his arm around her shoulders from behind and says “You and I will have a good time.” The episode would suddenly descend from lighthearted comedy into something dark and disturbing. Which is why you never saw Richie do that. And which is why Walling shouldn’t have done it.

The moral of the story here is: “Happy Days” analogies work, people, so use them whenever possible.

No, but seriously. I never stated that Rene Walling categorically did not harass Genevieve Valentine. What I said was that Valentine’s published account of the incidents was vague and left a lot of room for interpretation. (Literally: “It might be sexual harassment, but I feel like I need more information. I don’t think that’s an unreasonable position to have.”) I read Valentine’s initial account and imagined the Richie-Cunningham-at-the-drive-in version, which I hope you’ll admit is more of a borderline scenario. If an eyewitness account like the one above is already out there somewhere, forgive me. I’m not masochistic enough to spend hours hunting through dozens of comment threads where people scream and whine hysterically at one another. I already spend enough time watching my three-year-old twins do that.

Anyway, it’s not your job to develop psychological profiles of everyone involved based on incomplete information released to the public. Nor is it mine. That was the Readercon board’s job, and presumably they did this with more detailed information and eyewitness accounts which you and I don’t have.

Having been surrounded by lawyers most of my life, I’ve been trained to cast doubt on things, to point out the interpretation that fits the evidence that you don’t want to hear. It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it if you want to get at the truth. I generally try to do this with respect towards all, starting with the premise that everybody thinks they have the best intentions.

I’m sensitive to the argument that this kind of scrutiny only discourages sexual harassment victims from coming forward. It’s a concern, to be sure. But I happen to believe that more knowledge, scrutiny and skepticism is never a bad thing, and that trying to shut down or shame the skeptics into silence only makes you look bad.

The Readercon Mess

August 7, 2012 @ 1:07 am

During the past few days, I’ve put my foot in my mouth a few times on my Twitter feed commenting on the Readercon sexual harassment incident involving Rene Walling and Genevieve Valentine. I’m usually smart enough not to jump into these vitriolic science fiction community debates, but for some reason I did this time. And looking back over my tweets, I think I need to clarify myself.

I’ve been composing a long, tortured blog post describing my thoughts on the issue. It currently stands at 3000 words. I’ve decided to scrap it and just make this brief. Read the rest of this entry…

“Where the Hell Have You Been, Dave?”

February 22, 2012 @ 7:22 pm

If anyone’s looking at this blog anymore, you might have noticed that I haven’t updated it in around two years. I haven’t published anything new in all this time, and I haven’t announced any further writing projects after the Jump 225 trilogy — the last installment of which (Geosynchron) came out in February of 2010.

The main answer about where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing can be answered with a single photo:

These are my kids, and basically I’ve been spending all of the spare time I used to spend writing raising these two. Can you blame me?

Have I completely abandoned my writing career? Am I working on anything new? No and yes. I’ve been toying with three or four different projects in the past few years, but have yet to really commit to any one of them. The latest project I’m excited about is a novel with a working title of The Island of Shakespeares. Once the kids are off in school, I intend to jump back in to the writing with more vim and vigor, and at that point I’ll entertain the idea of blogging again.

In the meantime, I do still post updates fairly regularly in three different venues: Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. Follow me there, or friend me, or whatever.

And if you’re starving for some of my fiction, read Jump 225 again. I’d like to think it can withstand the scrutiny of multiple readings. In fact, I think it’ll be better the second or third time around. (Then again, I’m biased.)

David J. Williams Reading Tonight in DC

June 2, 2010 @ 9:37 am

Allow me to step back onto my blog after a long absence to make a quick pitch for my buddy David J. Williams, whose latest novel, The Machinery of Light, is hitting stores, oh… right… about… NOW.

I met Dave at Capclave a few years back, shortly before the release of his first book, The Mirrored Heavens. We share in common that our books have both gotten blurbs from Peter Watts. Watts says of Dave Williams’ book that it “explodes out of the gate like a sonic boom and never stops.” If you have any doubts, all you have to do is see Dave read. I went to his first reading not sure what to expect — turns out the dude does a reading kind of like you might expect Denethor from Peter Jackson’s Return of the King to do a reading. Intense. Fast. Loud. Intense. With authority. And did I mention intense?

Here’s the description from the back of the book:

With The Machinery of Light, David J. Williams completes his furiously paced, stunningly imagined trilogy—a work of vision, beauty, and pulse-pounding futuristic action.

September 26, 2110. 10:22 GMT. Following the assassination of the American president, the generals who have seized power initiate World War Three, launching a surprise attack against the Eurasian Coalition’s forces throughout the Earth-Moon system. Across the orbits, tens of thousands of particle beams and lasers blast away at one another. The goal: crush the other side’s weaponry, paving the way for nuclear bombardment of the cities.

As inferno becomes Armageddon, the rogue commando unit Autumn Rain embarks on one last run. Matthew Sinclair, an imprisoned spymaster, plots his escape. And his former protégé Claire Haskell, capable of hacking into both nets and minds, is realizing that all her powers may merely be playing into Sinclair’s plans. For even as Claire evades the soldiers of East and West amid carnage in the lunar tunnels, the surviving members of the Rain converge upon the Moon, one step ahead of the Eurasian fleets but one step behind the mastermind who created Autumn Rain—and his terrible final secret.

Yes, it’s cyberpunkish, and it’s also military fictionish. But don’t be dissuaded into thinking these are dumb shoot-’em-ups with ray guns. This is intelligent stuff, heavily researched, detailed and backgrounded. Mr. Williams even caused a little bit of a stir by getting into a science tiff with Jerry Pournelle a little while back, an incident which sounded like great fun.

And hey, if you’re intrigued, it so happens that Dave’s reading tonight at 7pm at the Borders on 1828 L Street NW, and then there’s going to be an afterparty at the Science Club. If you’re really motivated, you might just have time to read books 1 and 2 of his Autumn Rain trilogy before you go.

I don’t expect Dave to run and jump off a tall balcony covered in flames like Denethor did in Return of the King. But you never know. It would make a good finale to the trilogy, wouldn’t it?

The Ending of “Geosynchron”

April 6, 2010 @ 10:18 am

Ever since Infoquake hit the stores in 2006, I’ve felt this subconscious urge not to discuss the meaning and symbolism behind my Jump 225 trilogy. Perhaps there’s some Holy Writ which demands that authors remain mysterious about their own work. Certainly keeping mum encourages people to come up with their own interpretations — but why should discussing things discourage people from doing so? Are my readers really so obtuse that they’ll just stop reading if I tell them directly what I intended? Am I afraid that talking about the handwaving behind the curtain will dispel the magic onstage?

Since I’ve received a number of comments and emails asking me about the ending of Geosynchron, I’ve decided to open up about it and discuss it here. Oh yeah, in case you haven’t figured it out, thar be spoilers ahead.

Let me start with a comment by Jason in a previous post:

…[T]urning Natch into a deaf, mute, blind, retarded person did not seem to have a point. The explanation of the role of the autonomous minds felt like half of an explanation because no time was spent explaining how or why they function the way they do. They appeared to be basically, magical, especially in regards to their connection to the Pharisees. I thought the story of the autonomous minds held immense promise and I was hopeful to learn more about their role in the history of the world you have created, so perhaps this is why I feel so let down by the explanation you gave. I feel like I completely missed something either much earlier in the story or even within the last book that would have helped me understand your intent in telling this final part of Natch’s story in the way that you did.

Regarding Natch’s fate: if you think about possible endings for Natch using a(n almost MultiReal-like) process of elimination, you’ll see that there are not many other fates that work for the character. The whole point of the character is for him to go from a state of complete selfishness to a state of complete selflessness. He begins Infoquake callously threatening all of civilization with a fake black code attack; he ends Geosynchron sacrificing everything he knows and loves to prevent an Autonomous Revolt-style catastrophe that threatens humanity.

Natch is presented as a character of limitless drive and desire (see my Big Idea piece on John Scalzi’s Whatever blog for more about that). By the end of MultiReal, he’s achieved everything he ever wanted, or at least everything he always thought he wanted: freedom to explore his programming with virtually unlimited funding, without constraints of government or society. Not only that, but he’s got a program under his command that lets him find the best of all possible worlds with every decision. But he soon sees the emptiness behind these goals, and finds himself in the complete opposite position at the beginning of Geosynchron: trapped in the Patels’ dungeon, unable to move forward, unable to do anything except sit and wait for the world to do what it wants to him. Achieving everything he wanted has led him… nowhere.

Where can Natch go from there?

Read the rest of this entry…