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‘Cancelations are Canceled’: Science Fiction Competition Tries To Cancel Author, Sees Backlash

Cancel culture — the practice of ruining someone’s career for not sufficiently adhering to Leftist principles — appears to be dying after decades of victimizing innocent people. In what seems to be the first attempted cancelation of the new Trump administration, Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) announced on Wednesday that it was removing author Devon ...

FibisFibis
Feb 7, 2025 - 05:28
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‘Cancelations are Canceled’: Science Fiction Competition Tries To Cancel Author, Sees Backlash

Cancel culture — the practice of ruining someone’s career for not sufficiently adhering to Leftist principles — appears to be dying after decades of victimizing innocent people.

In what seems to be the first attempted cancelation of the new Trump administration, Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) announced on Wednesday that it was removing author Devon Eriksen’s book from consideration for an award. The SPSFC said that it made the decision because Eriksen violated the competition’s code of conduct — which had been published to X the day before this announcement.

“We apologize for the extended delay and radio silence. Devon Eriksen has been removed from the SPSFC effective immediately for violation of our code of conduct,” the SPSFC posted on X.

Eriksen is the author of “Theft of Fire: Orbital Space #1,” a popular self-published book that has received glowing reviews, including one from the creator of Doom. He didn’t even enter the book into the competition; his wife did, thinking she might surprise him if he won. After seeing that he had been booted from the competition, he published a fictional account of learning that he had been entered into a competition without his knowledge and had somehow violated that competition’s Code of Contact, which he never agreed to.

That Code of Contact stated that contestants could not harass judges or other authors, which Devon didn’t do — and couldn’t do — since he didn’t even know he was entered. But one of the judges posted on Bluesky, in a message provided to The Daily Wire, that even though Eriksen “didn’t directly contact judges or other authors,” his posts were “driving away judges, authors and prospective contestants/members in huge numbers.”

The background on the situation was first reported by Jon Del Arroz on his Fandom Pulse Substack and was explained to The Daily Wire by Eriksen’s wife, Christine.

The SPSFC competition has been around for a few years and is currently in its fourth iteration. Nearly 200 books from independent authors are submitted and divided among various reviewers, each reviewing around 30 books. Each group then selects around four books as quarter-finalists, reads those four books, and selects two semi-finalists. Eventually, the list is narrowed down, and a winner is selected. There is no cash prize, but it allows the authors to collect reviews and publicity. According to Christine, Eriksen’s book had been selected as a quarter-finalist and was the only author to receive a “strong yes” in his batch.

After dozens of authors had been cut, at least one began complaining about Eriksen’s inclusion in the competition based on his numerous blog posts and tweets, which contain comments about immigration and transgenderism that frequently offend the Left. Dozens of people on Bluesky and the SPSFC discord started calling Eriksen a “nazi” for his posts and published some screenshots of them on Reddit along with a summary of the situation at the SPSFC.

Following the prolonged outcry, the SPSFC put together a Code of Conduct and then used it to boot Eriksen from the competition. But the Code of Conduct claims that its “goal is not to eradicate these ‘bad’ opinions” and that they are “not here to police people’s opinions,” they do just that after claiming Eriksen’s posts amount to “hate speech” and “backwards attitudes.”

Eriksen was not the only author targeted. E.J. Fisch, author of “Dakiti: Ziva Payvan Book 1,” who wasn’t even part of the SPSFC competition, spoke out against the handling of Eriksen and quickly saw her book dropped out of a promotion that is reportedly being run by one of the authors involved in the mob against Eriksen.

The announcement that Eriksen was booted from the competition was met with immediate backlash, with many other authors pulling their books from the competition.

Moe Lane, whose book “Ghosts of an Alien Wind” was in the competition, asked the organizers to remove his book from consideration, though his reasoning is unclear. His announcement was posted on the Discord for the competition and was shared with The Daily Wire. Other authors were more explicit about why they asked for their books to be removed from the competition.

Gregory Michael, author of “Chloe’s Kingdom,” asked for his book to be removed because “free speech is crucial.”

“Removal of [Devon Eriksen] over politics is upsetting,” Michael wrote on X. “Theft of Fire was likely the best book in the competition … I don’t agree with everything Devon tweets, but free speech is crucial. Please remove Chloe’s Kingdom [SPSFC]. Heist novels need to stick together.”

G.S. Jennsen, author of “The Thief,” posted a lengthy letter on X outlining why she wanted her book removed from the competition as well.

“I have gone out of my way to steer clear of politics out of respect for all of my readers, no matter the issue or side, and I hope my actions today continue to reflect that commitment,” Jennsen wrote. “I don’t necessarily agree with the politics or public statements of the author whose book was removed from the competition. But I do disagree with both the book’s removal and what this action says about the leadership of SPSFC4.”

Jennsen also noted that since her book was being judged in the same group as Eriksen’s, “any future success that my book might have enjoyed would be tainted by the stain of this controversy.”

C.R. Walton, author of “Wilderness Five,” also noted that Eriksen’s removal had nothing to do with his actions relating to the competition, writing that the decision to drop him was “very clearly just caving to a hateful mob that hates the guy.” Walton also asked that his entry be removed from the competition.

Zachary Forbes requested his book, “Slipspace: Terra Nullius” be removed from the competition as well, also writing a lengthy X post about how the SPSFC’s recently-introduced Code of Conduct “was done hastily and sloppily, left intentionally vague, for the sole purpose of banning one particular contestant.”

Steve Gavin also requested his book “Cosmic Strife Assault” be removed from competition, writing a short post on X calling the situation involving Eriksen a “mess.”

Grace Walker publicly distanced herself from the SPSFC, seeking to have her book, “ASH (Rogues: Legends Book 1),” removed from the competition as well.

“Hot take: books should be judged by their quality, not by their authors,” Walker wrote, adding that she doesn’t “have to agree with everything someone says to support their right to free speech.”

Danielle Ste. Just also cut ties with the SPSFC, although her book, “The Disk Mirror Solution (Galaxia Mortem Book 1),” had already been cut from the competition.

“As a science fiction author, I want to concentrate on writing science fiction people will fall in love with, not on passing a purity test whose requirements are only known to the gatekeepers,” Ste. Just wrote on X.

Even one of the competition’s judging teams decided to pull out of the competition — not because they agreed with what Eriksen had said — but because of how SPSFC handled the situation.

The seven authors — other than Ste. Just — who have so far withdrawn from the competition were quarterfinalists, meaning they had already advanced over about 30 other competitors in each of their respective judging groups.

The idea that fellow competitors would drop out of a competition in solidarity with one of their own is almost unheard of when it comes to these types of cancelations and shows the ideology of “cancel culture” may no longer be tolerated.

Christine Eriksen wrote on X that “cancelations are canceled” and pointed out that her husband’s book has had one of its best sales days to date.

Other authors who dropped out of the competition said they had seen an increase in sales. Michael, who was the first to withdraw from the competition, noted that “Chloe’s Kingdom” was now #1 on Amazon, “not from winning a competition – but for standing up for free speech. Doing the right thing feels good.”

In a post shared with The Daily Wire, John A. Douglas, author of “The Black Crown,” commented that the SPSFC doesn’t “fully understand the schism kicking Devon out has caused in the indie author spaces.”

“DevonGate is a seismic shift in the indie landscape,” Douglas added. “And he didn’t even DO anything!’

Published at The Daily Wire
Originally Published at Daily Wire, World Net Daily, or The Blaze

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Fibis
Fibis I am just an average American. My teen years were in the late 70s and I participated in all that that decade offered. Started working young, too young. Then I joined the Army before I graduated High School. I spent 25 years in, mostly in Infantry units. Since then I've worked in information technology positions all at small family owned companies. At this rate I'll never be a tech millionaire. When I was young I rode horses as much as I could. I do believe I should have been a cowboy. I'm getting in the saddle again by taking riding lessons and see where it goes.

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