American Indian trickster tales, and the loa of voudoun and the Christian Holy Trinity.” At the end, she calls herself Agnostic, “in the sense of doubting the capability of any human religion to encompass the divine.” Roanhorse and Jemisin are continuing a style of spiritual fantasy dominated in an earlier generation by C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams, a genre that perhaps could be described as theology–sci-fi.
The Puppies Push Back
Roanhorse and Jemisin both approach theo–sci- fi with an irreverent and sometimes humorous twist that has not been universally appreciated. Roanhorse says she is grateful to Jemisin for tak- ing the brunt of a backlash in sci-fi against the rising prominence of women of color. In 2015, a clique of lesser-known sci-fi writers organized to repel what they apparently saw as a threat to the male, Euro-centric domination of the genre. Jemisin describes their Medievally fixated style of writing as “Simplistic British Isles Fantasy Full of Lots of Guys with Swords and Not Much Else.” A group calling itself the Sad Puppies and an offshoot called the Rabid Puppies managed to game that year’s nominations for the Hugo Awards, using targeted voting to exclude “femi- nist” and “ideological” entries. As Connie Wil- lis, author of the wonderful Oxford Time Travel series and a two-time Hugo emcee, explained, a small group of people “took advantage of the fact that only a small percentage of Hugo vot- ers nominate works to hijack the ballot. They got members of their group to buy supporting
Left: Cover for The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth: Book One) by N. K. Jemisin. Orbit Publishing, 2016. Winner of the Hugo Award for best novel in 2016. Above: N.K. Jemisin.
memberships and all vote for a slate of people they decided should be on it.” A leader of the Rabid Puppies, who later made a career as an “alt.right” Internet provocateur, singled out Je- misin for racist abuse, calling her “half-savage.” But the Puppies’ success was short-lived.
Prominent sci-fi writers condemned the rigged nominations. Willis refused an invita- tion to be a presenter, and George R.R. Mar- tin offered to set up his own more inclusive awards. In three of the Hugo categories, voters chose the alternative “No Award.” In the fol- lowing years, the barriers collapsed. Jemisin won the Hugo Award for the category Best Novel for her book “The Fifth Season” in 2016 and then again in the next two years for “The Obelisk Gate” and “The Stone Sky.” This Broken Earth trilogy made her the first writer to win this prestigious science fiction honor three years in a row. In 2018, Roanhorse re-
ceived the Hugo and Nebula awards for her short story, as well as the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her novel “Trail of Lightning” was also short-listed. Roanhorse says she thinks the controversy turned out to be good for the sci-fi genre: “It forced a lot of prejudice out into the daylight.” The spectacular failure of the Puppies’
resistance and the brilliant breakthroughs by Jemisin and Roanhorse are heralding a bright future for others previously excluded. Roan- horse is promising four installments each for her Sixth World and Anasazi series. “Four is a sacred number for Indians,” she says. And Je- misin might lead the way to another level. The TNT network has been exploring a television series based on the Broken Earth novels. X
James Ring Adams is senior historian in the History and Culture Unit of the National Museum of the American Indian, and managing editor of American Indian magazine.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 13
COVER DESIGN BY LAUREN PANEPINTO; PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK; REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION OF HACHETTE BOOK GROUP
© LAURA HANIFIN, 2015, PHOTO COURTESY OF N. K. JEMISIN
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