In August 2009, the publication of The Mammoth Book of Mindblowing SF, edited by Mike Ashley, was announced, and the table of contents posted. The SF fan community quickly pointed out that all the authors were white men. Paul di Filippo, one of the authors in the anthology, responded defensively, generating more waves of ire.
- Initial announcement with ToC -- see also Paul di Filippo's defensive remarks in comments
- Further defensive attempts at explanation by Paul di Filippo quoted in rosefox's journal
Commentary[]
- Three point Monday by Jim Hines (see point 2 and comments)
- Manthology fail - because real scifi is written with the peen by maevele
- Followup post: counts of women in anthologies
- Followup post: Gurls can't write the skiffy (list of female SF authors)
- This is why science fiction can't have nice things by Angry Black Woman
- More potatoes. And corn. Don't forget the corn. Corn is important. by lanning
- I dunno, "Mammoth" seems like a great name by shweta-narayan
- Only the word doesn't mean "big" so much as "badly adapted to the current climate and thus extinct, though possibly preserved in ice and unaware of its own extinction".
- I see your hair matches your oblique segues by gloss
- It's good for people to have things to discuss by James Nicoll. See comments eg.:
- "Mike Ashley has just given Di Filippo the impression that he's a better writer than Octavia Butler, Pat Cadigan, Nancy Kress, C.J. Cherryh, and Samuel Frickin' Delany, among many others."
- Individual pieces vs the larger puzzle by Jim Hines (also mentions RealmsFail).
- Once more, with feeling: Intersectionality
- Creating better magazines (and anthologies) by K. Tempest Bradford
- Editorial work is hard, asshole! (Claire Light)