As questions have been raised on File770 regarding my involvement in the Chengdu Hugo Award disaster, I am making a public statement.
1. I was not a member of the committee of the Chengdu Worldcon, and was not involved with the convention other than as an ordinary member of WSFS who did not attend the event.
2. I was not involved in any way with the Administration of the Hugo Awards for Chengdu.
3. As a member of the Hugo Awards Marketing Committee it was my duty to ensure that the results of the Hugo Award voting process were posted to the official website promptly and accurately, as they were supplied to us by each year’s Worldcon, including those from Chengdu. We had no authority to comment on or change those results in any way.
4. I am not, nor ever have been, a member of the WSFS Mark Protection Committee (MPC).
5. I am not, nor ever have been, a Director of Worldcon Intellectual Property (WIP), and have no financial stake in that organisation. WIP was created from the corporation that ran the SF&F Translation Awards (of which I was a Director), but no directorships carried over from the one organisation to the other, save for Kevin Standlee who is a Director of WIP because of his membership of the MPC.
6. I resigned from the Hugo Award Marketing Committee, primarily because I no longer wish to be held responsible for (including being subject to legal and reputational risk for) the actions of organisations of which I am not a member and over which I have no influence.
7. Having seen legal advice on the subject, I am confident that the contracts I issued from Wizard’s Tower Press are structured in such a way that no one suing me, either individually or as an officer of WSFS, will be able to obtain the rights to any of the works published by Wizard’s Tower.
Thank you for all the work you’ve done for Worldcon and the Hugos in the past.
Thanks!
That was me wondering, because I know you’re blameless, and have done good work for a long time. Given the current state of things, stepping back is understandable, and I’m sorry you are doing so. Thank you for all you’ve done; I know fandom has, at times, not been kind to you, nor as grateful as they should be.
Everyone who is involved in WSFS should step back as quickly as possible until there are proper legal protections in place.
You have my sympathy, my support, and a drink as and when our paths cross.
Thank you!
Cheryl, I’m so sad, frustrated and disappointed that both you and Kevin have been dragged into this mess for absolutely no reason other than people’s total misunderstanding of how the Hugos are run. And this is even more galling given how much work you have done for fandom. As I said on Kevin’s journal and which applies just as much to you, no good deed goes unpunished.
Social media is all about the easy target. Facts are mostly irrelevant.
Well said. Thank you for clarifying your position.
very best wishes
—
-Alan