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Sci-Fi Community: We Need to Talk – Part Two – Purity Culture

January 19, 2017March 4, 2023 Jackson Allen

In the week since I posted Part One of this train of thought, I had a couple of conversations that reinforce what I’m saying about the sci-fi community messing itself up. Today, let’s discuss Sci-fi Purity Culture.

It works like this: One conversation took place on Reddit itself and the other took place with one of the friends I can – because of my disability – have a normal chat with. “What did you think of Rogue One?” I asked.

“Oh,” he said. “I liked it … but there were a lot of people who were disappointed. They felt like all it did was focus on the one plot point and then …”

“Oh man,” I shook my head. “There it is again, Sci-fi Purity Culture.”

“What purity culture?”

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Wow … They Handled that Surprisingly Well – Notes from a guy who writes scifi short stories

October 7, 2016November 8, 2023 Jackson Allen

I’m just a guy who writes scifi short stories, but I ran across this on Reddit and wanted to share. Every author faces potential backlash when they discuss controversial subjects and rarely do you find an authentic story that does not have some sort of controversy. I’m not planning to play Mafia III, but I…

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Guy Who Writes Scifi Short Stories – Remember Our Geeks

September 21, 2016November 8, 2023 Jackson Allen

Here are some notes from a guy who writes scifi short stories – let’s remember our geeks today. We lost two of our own in the past seven days. I was saddened to hear of the loss of two of our elder geeks.

You won’t see trending #RIP hashtags on Twitter for them. They won’t make the Oscar’s ‘In Memoriam’ reel either. Yet, their contribution to science fiction is both significant and enduring. These two geeks’ names are unknown except to a precious few, but their achievement is immortal. Like Steve Jobs said, they put a dent in the universe.

To me, it’s infuriating that two celebrities and their personal lives dominate the public consciousness. It shouldn’t be that way. Perhaps things can change. Let’s bypass that debate. Instead, let’s simply remember our friends for the amazing people they were. C. Martin Croker and David Kyle changed the way you see science fiction. Let’s take a moment to examine why that is:

C. Martin Croker

You didn’t know him but you loved him. Clay Martin Croker was both an animator and a voice actor. You enjoyed his work on the seminal Space Ghost show … he was the voice of Zorak and Moltar. It didn’t stop there: Croker was also an animator for the show. That made him a bit of a unicorn: animators rarely do voice work.

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