Saturday, July 07, 2018

Lost rockets

While in Chattanooga for Libertycon, I met a number of authors who were among the so-called Sad Puppy finalists for the Hugo awards in 2015. If you are ever a finalist, you get a small lapel pin shaped like a rocket. I had two because I was a double-Puppy in 2015.

We fellow sufferers talked about the Puppy experience a bit. I told a friend why I didn't have my lapel pins any more.

I lost them the previous weekend.

I explained I never wore my lapel pins, but last year, at the last convention I attended for 2017, I met a fellow 2015 finalist who wore his. I asked if he was afraid to wear it in public. He seemed puzzled at the question.

"The way we have been vilified," I said. I'd be afraid to wear my pins, I'd be afraid someone would assault me at a convention."

My colleague said he earned his pin and he was proud to wear it.

I decided I'd start wearing my pins this year, and I took them with me when I went to SoonerCon in Oklahoma City June 22. After I checked in and got my badge, I took them out and I was going to stick them on.

I took the first one out, and as I tried to stick it on, I fumbled it. I never saw it land. It disappeared. I never saw it again. I put the second one back in its bag. The next day, I realized I'd lost it also.

After I told this story to one colleague at Libertycon, he said, "Well, you can always ask WorldCon for a replacement."

I laughed. "You've got to be kidding! They didn't want us to have them in the first place! Do you think they would ever give me a replacement!"

1 comment:

  1. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. And it puts the onus on them if they refuse.

    ReplyDelete

Whatever happened to that old Sunbelt?

By LOU ANTONELLI Managing Editor It’s rained almost daily for the past four months. The ground is saturated; walking across grass is lik...