#BlackSpecFic report

Harlequin

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I put a longer version of this on twitter but I'll probably take it down because it's not a good medium for discussions.



Incredibly, incredibly disappointed to see that FFO scored 0 on this, especially bc I've been published in FFO and enjoy flash. Other zines, too, but less so on a personal level since I'm not a huge fan of Asimov's or Clarkesworld particularly. BCS was an unfortunate surprise.

But I also feel like every other POC is being lumped in with white (this seems to ALWAYS happen with Asian writers) and therefore, all the readers/reviewers/writers stating they will boycott those magazines for being too white are basically saying, other POC representation isn't valued. That stings.

There must be a better way to demand inclusion of marginalised voices without silencing or ignoring other groups in the process. That's all I'm saying. I know we're not as big a population % in the states (5% Asian) but these magazines are international. Not every writer submitting is American. Please allow other POC stories to have some weight, before bundling us all up as "basically white" and consigning us to the boycott bin.

Sincerely, a half-asian autistic writer who is struggling to be seen.
 

ap123

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I put a longer version of this on twitter but I'll probably take it down because it's not a good medium for discussions.



Incredibly, incredibly disappointed to see that FFO scored 0 on this, especially bc I've been published in FFO and enjoy flash. Other zines, too, but less so on a personal level since I'm not a huge fan of Asimov's or Clarkesworld particularly. BCS was an unfortunate surprise.

But I also feel like every other POC is being lumped in with white (this seems to ALWAYS happen with Asian writers) and therefore, all the readers/reviewers/writers stating they will boycott those magazines for being too white are basically saying, other POC representation isn't valued. That stings.

There must be a better way to demand inclusion of marginalised voices without silencing or ignoring other groups in the process. That's all I'm saying. I know we're not as big a population % in the states (5% Asian) but these magazines are international. Not every writer submitting is American. Please allow other POC stories to have some weight, before bundling us all up as "basically white" and consigning us to the boycott bin.

Sincerely, a half-asian autistic writer who is struggling to be seen.

I think this is an important discussion--and hope you don't delete your Tweets--despite the medium, there've been some instances of wonderful discussions and actions prompted through Twitter.

I went looking for a link, and this was the most recent I could find, 2016. Is there a more current one that's been released?
 

Harlequin

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The 2017 one just came out

https://firesidefiction.com/blackspecfic-2017

I have mixed feelings on readers and reviewers calling the magazines shitrags and other insults. Maybe deserved, I guess, but there's a kind of implicit insult packaged up against the contributing writers (in SOME of the comments, not all).
 

ap123

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Thank you! I'll agree reviewers should def be more selective in their word choices. :(