Culture

The Author Of ‘Space Raptor Butt Invasion’ Is Trolling Gamergaters In The Best Possible Way

Oh, boy - this one is going to take some explaining.

by Jody Macgregor  7 May 2016

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Oh, boy – this one is going to take some explaining.

The Hugo Awards have been recognising excellence in science-fiction and fantasy fiction since 1953, and have been won by books like Dune and Neuromancer. In recent years authors who aren’t white dudes have been nominated for and won several awards and that angered exactly the kind of people you’d expect it to anger.

Since the Hugos can be voted for by anyone who pays $US60 for a membership it’s always been vulnerable to bloc-voting by motivated fans. In the last two years a bloc of politically conservative fans who say they want sci-fi to get back to pulpy stories with no subtext or messages – which doesn’t really describe Dune or Neuromancer, but never mind – have been nominating slates of straightforward shootybang fiction by white people. These voting blocs call themselves the Sad Puppies and the Rabid Puppies, because if you’re going to lack self-awareness you may as well go all the way.

Wait, Who Are The Rabid Puppies?

The Rabid Puppies are the more blatantly pro-bro of the two, and are led by conservative blogger, gamergate supporter, and sci-fi author Vox Day. Since none of the stories the Rabid Puppies nominated (including Vox Day’s own) won any awards last year their plan to discredit the 2016 Hugo nominations shifted tack. They got a book called Space Raptor Butt Invasion by Chuck Tingle nominated for Best Novel in an attempt to make the whole thing look ridiculous.

SpaceRaptorButtInvasion

Wait, Who Is Chuck Tingle?

Chuck Tingle writes hilarious gay erotica like Pounded In The Butt By My Own Butt, the story of a man who clones his own arse and then has sex with it. Tingle’s response to his Hugo nomination was to publish a new story called Slammed In The Butt By My Hugo Award Nomination, which you really can buy and read on your Kindle right now.

But that’s not all. Since Tingle is a pseudonym for a real person (a real awesome person, obviously), Chuck won’t be able to pick up the award in person and had to choose someone else. Chuck chose Zoe Quinn.

Wait, Who Is Zoe Quinn?

Quinn is the video game designer who was the first target of gamergate and is also a fan of gay dinosaur erotica. (You can see her quote on the cover of My Boyfriend Is A Gay Alien Dinosaur, A Billionaire, And President Of The United States, another classic of the genre unfairly overlooked by the Hugos.) Tingle has also been relentlessly owning Vox on Twitter by calling him “Voxman” and concocting bizarre memes using the movie Grandma’s Boy, which is about a 35-year-old manchild who works as a video game tester.

So if Space Raptor Butt Invasion really does win an award, which is still pretty unlikely, it’s not going to look like the victory Vox Day and the Puppies wanted. They’re the ones who are going to look ridiculous, and if it’s a victory for gay space dinosaur erotica as well then that’s OK too.

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h/t Daily Dot