Apr 26 2008
SFWA Passes Its Gut Check Moment
Greetings, gentlebeings! Little birdies flying to Ohio from down Austin, Texas way tell me that the incoming president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America is Russell Davis, who won the position by a rather substantial margin over Andrew Burt. Also on the upcoming SFWA board: Elizabeth Moon as vice president, Mary Robinette Kowal as secretary and Amy Sterling Casil as treasurer.
I personally feel that this is a very strong slate of incoming officers, and I wish them all the best in their upcoming tenure. They certainly have my support.
Good times! Let the healing begin…
Woo hoo! I doubt I’m the only one who’s been waiting for those results. Thanks, John.
>Greetings, gentlebeings!
Not one to rub it in, are you?
Trust me, if I rubbed it in, you would know it.
So, why didn’t anyone write you in for Secretary?
I was required to read one of Elizabeth Moon’s novels for an engineering survey class…
…I kinda wish I would’ve read it…
It’s never too late, Alex.
Steven: Because they knew I would never oppose MRK.
So is Burt going to flounce off Absute-Write-Newbie-Style and start his own club away from you big meanies?
I’ve got an extra feather boa around here somewhere he can borrow.
Also, you know, congratulations to Russell Davis and his incoming cabinet (which I probably should have said first), and congratulations to the SFWA and its members for winning the leadership draw this time around.
Annalee Flower Horne:
“So is Burt going to flounce off Absute-Write-Newbie-Style and start his own club away from you big meanies?”
If you could read the SFWA private boards, Annalee, you’d know the answer to that already. Suffice to say Andrew Burt sees himself as the abused and misunderstood hero of this particular tale.
(And people wonder why people want to join the SFWA for the gossip. Sure, we’ll hear about it at cons anyway, but that’s like watching new Doctor Who eps on YouTube).
On the off chance that it will save other Whatever readers a googling, here’s the link to your schadenfreude pie recipe.
(really, though, he can have the boa. I don’t wear it anymore because it clashes with my bonnet).
I am pleased.
Annalee: You think that might be a good slogan for a new membership drive? “SFWA: Join for the gossip…”
And, G-d help me, I would LOVE to see what Burt is posting on the private boards. I am not a good person by any stretch of the imagination.
It’s sometimes tempting to gloat when people one objects to fail in some way, but I don’t think it’s a good thing in the long term.
I congratulate SFWA’s membership for doing the right thing here.
I’m glad Burt didn’t end up in charge, as an outsider looking in. But I don’t think he’s evil. Greatly impedance mismatched with the modern world, perhaps, but not evil.
Hopefully the process of pulling the SFWA organization into the 21st century can now begin.
Indeed, this is good news! Yay!
I think what’s impressive to me is that the winning slate consists of writers who I either know about or have read. Not yet eligible for SFWA myself, but such a result is likely to have a favorable slant when I do.
Dr. Phil
*waves her Team MRK sign happily*
Bet The Naked Hand is bumming now! All that muck-stirring for nothing!
Hope thats a sign of things to come for November. As opposed to the karma god going “Well, I’ll let one of Scalzi’s presidential candidates win this year. Let’s make it SFWA”.
George William Herbert:
Andrew Burt is definitely not evil, nor in my opinion should such a suggestion be made. In the context of SFWA, he’s other things, some importantly not positive. But evil? No, that’s too strong a word. So you are correct.
That’s really good news! Hopefully, this will mark a positive turning point for SFWA, at the very least on the e-PR front.
And I would totally join for the gossip. But like Chryss @13, I am also not a very good person ;-)
Join for the gossip? The gossip scares me. I want to hide from the gossip. *facepalm*
But I digress.
Congrats to Russell Davis and all the winners, and here’s hoping Jen Pelland wins a Nebula tonight!
Posted:
http://www.sfwa.org/news/2008/eresults.htm
Results for the 2008 SFWA Election of officers:
President:
Russell Davis 330
Andrew Burt 53
Write Ins: Gregory Benford, Linda Dunn, Charles Stross
Vice President:
Elizabeth Moon 356
Write Ins: Spiro Agnew, Greg Bear, Michael A. Burstein, Andrew Burt, Walter Burty, Stephan Lambiel, Mike Resnick, John Scalzi, Charles Stross, Connie Willis
Secretary:
Mary Robinette Kowal 297
Lee Martindale 79
Write Ins: None
Treasurer:
Amy Casil 330
Write Ins: Kevin O’Donnell Jr. (3 votes), John Scalzi (3 votes), Orlando Bloom, Walter Burty, Michael Capobianco, Milton Friedman, Megan Lindholm, David Moles, Jim Morrison, David Alexander Smith, Justin Staunchfield, Charles Stross
Eastern Regional Director:
Bud Sparhawk 95
Write Ins: Angelina Jolie, Nick Mamatas, John Scalzi, Tom Welling
And the only candidate to receive no write ins or opposition, with one of the biggest turnouts for his region in years ….
Overseas Regional Director:
Ian Whates 19
Write Ins: None
My only comment on the results.
How many people are voting members of SFWA?
I expect more than 383. WTF is up with the organization? NO one gives a hoot?
Lots of organizations have board positions filled in elections that get a minority of members voting, I expect, Tom.
Bummer about Agnew losing :(
I think the big news of this election is that Scalzi eeked out a 5-3 victory over Stross.
So, how do you feel that Andrew Burt got twice as many VP votes as you? (For those who only see one, http://ccfinlay.livejournal.com/114690.html may explain…)
I think I’ll live.
It’s good to see common sense reign. I except Lee Martindale-she’s plenty of it.
What, and not one vote for John Scalvi?
it’s good to see that Walter Burty made such an excellent showing in the write-ins. Gives me hope for the org.
I’m not an expert in how many people vote, but it seems to me it’s at least 30-40% more than I remember seeing from when they started posting the vote totals. I remember one, and it could have even been last year, when the winners had fewer than 200 votes – like maybe 150 or 170.
There are about 1500 members overall, but not all members are able to vote. Only active members in “good standing” are supposed to be able to vote, and I believe there are fewer than 1,000 of them.
I have now exhausted my limited knowledge. If I hadn’t decided to run for treasurer, I was going to help the election committee, which is Catherine Asaro, Brenda Clough, and Nancy Kress – and they have been the same team for a long time. This was to help them have some backup so they would have to keep doing it forever. They would know tons more. I think it was an extremely high turnout based on what I remember.
In terms of moving into the future, I’ve already had a bunch of historical info. dumped on me. It’s all well and good. My basic idea has always been to support Russell. I’ll do the work he needs to get his job done for everyone.
I am glad to see that Dr. Burt is sitting this year out.
On a side note, I did get a kick out of some of the write-in candidates.
I suppose what disturbs me more than anything else is that Andrew Burt actually got more than one vote.
“Sterling” is a good name for a Treasurer.