Tea and Jeopardy

Regarding Tea and Jeopardy being included on a certain list

The following is a statement regarding the Sad Puppies and the Hugo Awards. If you have no idea what I am talking about, please breathe a sigh of relief and go on with your day.

It’s been brought to my attention that Tea and Jeopardy has been put on the Sad Puppies 4 Hugo Recommendations list.

It’s not a slate this year, apparently, but as the fact that people within and without the Puppies have argued about whether the efforts of previous years have also been slates or not, I don’t have a lot of faith in the language being used here.

All I know is that I would like Tea and Jeopardy to be removed from this latest list. I don’t want something that Pete and I spend a hell of a lot of time and energy creating to be associated with anything like this. Our podcast has made it to the nominations shortlist two years in a row on its own merit and if we are lucky enough to be shortlisted for a third time, I want it to be because people listen to the show and are moved to nominate it. Nothing more.

Sadly, it seems that requests to be removed for the Sad Puppies 4 list are being ignored. Whilst part of me agrees that people can put whatever they like into a list on their own website, the part that values courtesy disagrees with the refusal to respect a creator’s requests to remove something from it. I’m sorry if this hurts the feelings of the people involved, but no matter what the intentions are this year, no matter the reasons why our podcast made it onto that list, I personally do not want my work to be associated with it.

In short, all I can really hope for is that if you are able to nominate works for the Hugos, that you do so out of love and respect for what has been created, not for any other reason. If you read Planetfall and want to nominate it for Best Novel, thank you. If you listen to Tea and Jeopardy and want to nominate it for Best Fancast, thank you. But if you want to use my work in any sort of agenda – even one that is supposedly to prove that what was done in the past is not happening again – I politely and most wholeheartedly ask you to respect my wishes, and remove any mention of my work.

If you read this and are angered by my desire to have Tea and Jeopardy removed from this list, please go and make a cup of tea and then do something kind for another person. If you read this and felt sad and angry that I am wasting my time on this instead of writing a book or making Tea and Jeopardy, I suggest you make a cup of tea and then do something kind for another person. Ultimately, this is exhausting and ridiculous and we could all be doing something much more positive and delightful with our time. For this reason I will not be participating in any further discussion on the subject as I feel this statement covers all anyone needs to know about my feelings on the matter.

Now I am going to make a cup of tea, do something kind for another person and then write my next book. Life is too damn short for anything else.