Setting the record straight

Some people have said I'm mad because David Gerrold snubbed me at Sasquan. That's not true - I'm not mad that he snubbed me, because he didn't.

He did offer to buy me a beer, but that I guess was little more than a rhetorical flourish. I'm sure he was very busy. It think it would have made a great photo, the pair of us quaffing brews - it might have even helped show some kind of reconciliation was possible. A missed opportunity, perhaps?

Bumping into him in the hallway outside an elevator, I absent-mindedly and rather spontaneously went to shake his hand. He refused, saying "I may have accepted your apology, but I haven't forgiven you." Realizing my faux pas, I turned tail and took off.

That's not a snub, that's him exercising his personal rights. He doesn't have to be nice to me, and he wasn't rude, just firm. I may have other complaints about how some things were done, but a beer and handshake weren't two of them.

Some of the usual suspects have claimed I denied being a Sad Puppy. That's a lie.

I was not an organizer, but I accepted Sad Puppy support. In retrospect, that was a mistake, but hindsight is 20/20. I would not renounce the Puppies because I would not be bullied, and it would seem I was denying the credibility of my work. Both my short story and book were good - perhaps not award winning, but that's always a valid estimation.

But I think it's the height of arrogance to expect someone to abase himself in the way the Puppy Kickers wanted.

It IS true that I will not participate in Sad Puppies 4, and I think it's a bad idea, but you know what? I can't tell other people what to do. If some of the Puppy Kickers learned that simple truth, a lot of the animosity generated this year could have been avoided.