Back in April, we covered the timeless tale of how a gay-dinosaur-erotica writer got swept up in a battle between fans and trolls for a prestigious science fiction award, once considered the Oscars of sci-fi. Since you've all been waiting, clenching your butts for the results of the Hugo Awards clusterfu-
'Wait a second,' you say. 'Gay-dinosaur-erotica?'
Chuck Tingle is so much more than a writer of man-on-reptile fiction. The mysterious pseudonymous author remains in character at all times - the Stephen Colbert of bizarro gay erotica, if you will. He claims to have a PHD in holistic massage and - the story goes - lives in Billings, Montana with his son Jon, who edits all his stories. His Twitter feed is a piece of spun gold: if bizarre syntax, 'true love' and the word 'buckaroos' is your jam.
Tingle's branched out from dino-porn to increasingly twisted sentient objects, timely current affairs and bizarre meta erotica. His Amazon page is filled with titles like 'Glazed By The Gay Living Donuts', 'Pounded By The Pound: Turned Gay By The Socioeconomic Implications Of Britain Leaving The European Union' and his magnum opus, 'Pounded In the Butt By My Own Butt'.
Tingle took his Hugo nomination and ran with it, publishing 'Slammed In The Butt By My Hugo Award Nomination' 24 hours after the ballot went out. He started a new twitter meme about 'devilmen' who were trying to bring sci-fi down. And he appointed Zoe Quinn, a woman at the centre of the Gamergate controversy and no stranger to trolls, to collect his award in his stead.
His moves were presented as the simple ravings of a gay-dino-erotica writer, but they were a calculated and glorious middle finger not only to the trolls targeting sci-fi, but to trolls everywhere. In trying to use Tingle to further their own agenda, the trolls got 'pounded' in return.
Source: The Feed
Sadly, 'Space Raptor Butt Invasion' didn't take out a Hugo (the short story gong went to 'Cat Pictures Please' by Naomi Kritzer). In his award speech for Best Graphic Novel, 'The Sandman: Overture Deluxe Edition', Neil Gaiman called the entire Hugo nominations an "unfortunate mess" caused by "pitiable people". In good news for sci-fi fans and lovers of diverse fiction, most categories were won by entries that weren't put forth by the trolls slate. Those that weren't were granted a 'no award' vote.
