Tuesday, September 22, 2015

My Comments on the Cimmerian Blog

At one time the Cimmerian Blog was the cream of the crop for online Robert E. Howard scholarship and I was very proud to be a contributor there in 2009-2010. Since closing down that year the blog has remained online as an archive of scholarship, hosted by the owner Leo Grin.

This weekend I learned that owner had posted a political rant attacking one of the other bloggers, Barbara Barrett, and endorsing controversial science ficiton writer Theodore Beale (a.k.a. Vox Day) founder of the Rabid Puppies group that tried to hijack the Hugo Awards this year. The wording of his rant in the first person plural makes it sound as though all of the other bloggers endorsed this action as well as the ideology of Vox Day. This is not the case at all.

I was not consulted about this and I do not in anyway endorse Leo Grin's comments or the beliefs of Vox Day and the Rabid Puppies. Howard fandom and studies needs to remain apolitical -- and yes that applies to all the parties involved. But only one party chose to involve me without my consent.

I have asked that my name, image, and posts be removed from the site and Leo has complied. I will likely be reposting some of my less-dated material here as time permits in the weeks to come. I am very saddened that this had to happen and that what was once a great REH blog has been tarnished by such divisive politicization.

That said. there are amazing things happening in Howard fandom and scholarship now and coming in the future. We will not let this petty nonsense get in the way of that great work.

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