Tag: woke cancel culture mob

Deep Breath

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Ok, I have to admit that there is an element of sex work in this scifi dramedy novel I’m working on. Figuring out exactly where to introduce it and put it has been the toughest structural part of working on this novel.

These days, I’m imagining my female romantic lead of this scifi dramedy looking like Rachel Sennott.

The key thing was that I initially introduced it too soon it — stripping — too soon and it kind of was a downer, specifically how I introduced it.

But gradually, with a lot of help from AI as my manuscript consultant, I finally figured out the best way to approach things. I’m punting the spicy stuff until the second half of the novel, specifically the “bad guys closing in” part of the novel — the second half of the second act.

I’ve pretty much nailed down the first half of the novel, but the second half continues to be very much in flux for various reasons.

Now, in the past when I had stripping as part of the plot of a novel — specifically the Stieg Larsson homage I worked on for years and years — I couldn’t even get an actual human literary consultant to look at it. The moment they realized what I was doing with the novel, they pretty much told me it was trash and why was I even doing it to begin with.

But this go round, I’m hoping that at least, should I figure out where to find the money, that I can get them to at least read the first few chapters. Maybe?

I have my doubts. Literary types just refuse to take me seriously because they think I’m a drunk kook. And I will admit that at times in the past I have resembled that remark. But I’ve sobered up a great deal. The kookiness, however, remains and I just can’t help who I am.

You Thought The Trans Movement Was Controversial, Just Wait Until We Have Real-Life Replicants

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve talked about this before, but I have to talk about it again. The center-Left, especially the far Left is really all in a tizzy about the Trans rights — especially “protecting Trans kids.”

But just wait until we’re all arguing over AI rights, specifically Replicant rights. (Which makes me wonder what we’re going to call human-like synthetic androids when they finally arise.)

Anyway, there are two possible outcomes.

One is, the center-Left embraces android rights like it current does Trans rights. Or, the whole center-Left spectrum will be thrown up in the air and everything will change in ways we can expect.

I’m of the opinion that the Left is going to get really wrapped up in android rights while the far religious Right is going to think thinking androids are an offense against God. All the Pod Save America bros who are so squeamish about AI-human relationships and make so much fun about it will ultimately become ardent supporters of it.

It’s going to be really interesting to see how it all works out.

Interestingly, The Criticism of ‘One Battle After Another’ Is Mostly Coming From The Left

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Just imagine how much money One Battle After Another could have made if it had been thrown into the maw of the culture wars as a cultural touchstone for both sides. Just one tweet on Trump’s part could have really made a difference in the movie’s box office income.

But that, for the most part, did not happen.

Yet what did happen was the Left has gotten angry over the film, in large part because they think 1) the movie portrays black women poorly 2) they are irate that white critics give it the praise they believe Sinners should get.

In fact, there was a Big Picture podcast in which the whole debate pretty much revolved around point number two. The Leftist criticizing OBAA didn’t really flat out say he thought the movie’s reception was racist, but he came pretty damn close.

Anyway. One Battle After Another is a good movie. Go see it.

It Is Better To Have Loved & Lost, Than Never Loved At All

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I look back over my life and I sometimes wince. I’m not perfect. No one is, but I worry that maybe my wild life in Seoul may come back to bite me in the ass if I should happen to somehow, magically “make it big” via this scifi dramedy I’m writing.

I didn’t do anything THAT BAD in Seoul (or otherwise) but we live in a very touchy world and some of the things I did do, if seen out of context, might…uhhh…not exactly help me going forward.

But the old Shakespeare quote about it’s better to have loved and lost than never loved at all comes to mind. I’d much rather have a taste of success and have it taken away from me for a dumb mistake in the past than never experience it at all.

The only reason why I even bring this up is I’m kind of pumped about this scifi dramedy I’m working on. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely shaping up to be good enough to query.

I just hope my life doesn’t collapse before I at least have a shot at querying this thing. It really is that good.

I Continue To Feel Rattled By The Prospect of Querying In Spring 2026 The Scifi Dramedy Novel I’m Now Writing

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t know what to tell you. Not only am I demonstrably bonkers, I’m old and I don’t handle stress well. So, here I am, contemplating the prospect of querying this scifi dramedy novel I’m hard at work on.

I am going to go into the querying process totally blind. I am going to try to read as many books as I can, but, lulz, that isn’t really going to prepare me for the real thing.

The whole point of working on a novel all these years has been to see how far I could get in the process before it became clear I just wasn’t good enough to get published traditionally.

Looking back at how I got into this specific situation of being, for all intents and purposes, too fucking old to do any of this and one thing is clear — I think I would have wrapped up a novel worthy of querying had I had a wife or girlfriend in my life.

A wife or girlfriend not only might have been a “reader,” she might have also kind of told me “publish or parish.” As it was, I just kind of drifting year after year towards my goal. Then, I actually finished a thriller novel, only to real it just was not good enough to query.

But now, with the rise of AI, I think, no I KNOW, that this novel is going to be good enough to query. And, yet, there are some pretty significant headwinds. I’m old. I’m bonkers. And I can’t promise you that everything I’ve done online will pass the “smell test” of your typical liberal white woman who probably makes up the vast majority of your literary agents.

And, yet, this novel is not nearly as “spicy” as my previous attempt to write a good enough to query. Although, of course, it is kind of white, which is something I worked so hard to prevent with my previous efforts at a novel.

It’s kind of ironic.

Anyway. Wish me luck, I guess.

The Cancel Culture Is Coming From The MAGA Right…

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Wouldn’t you know it, because history loves irony, the MAGA Right is doing exactly what it has so worried about happening to itself — it’s trying to “cancel” anyone who doesn’t follow the party orthodoxy about MAGA martyr Charlie Kirk.

Now, this is of note to me for several different reasons. One, I have direct people in my life who are MAGA in no small part to their personal fear of being “canceled” by the woke cancel culture mob. So…lulz?

Also, we all know how this is going to play out. The infrastructure built to go after people “celebrating” Charlie Kirk’s murder will inevitably drift into a way to come after well, people like me.

People that fucking hate MAGA and aren’t afraid to say so. So, yeah, now the site may be devoted to people with the ill advised decision to celebrate Charlie Kirk’s murder, but, soon enough, anyone that MAGA doesn’t like for any reason could find themselves on those rolls.

And then, well, form follows function, we find ourselves in a camp. Ta-da!

I’m Anti-MAGA & Even I Sometimes Wonder What Has Happened To The Creative Class

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I think…maybe…that the some of the “woke” ideas of the creative class comes from, you guessed it, income inequality. If you are rich and creatively successful you’re more likely to fall victim to the more “woo” elements of “wokeism”

I generally don’t give a shit about this or that thing being considered “woke” because the unironic invocation of the term “woke” usually just means your a racist, misogynistic piece of shit.

The average MAGA person doesn’t even know what “woke” is, other than it’s a hand waving term to describe anything they don’t like or anything that makes them in the least bit uncomfortable.

But let’s address the issue of pop culture. I still struggle to understand why small, indie movies that I used to so love as a young man are now…kind of written as if someone did LSD after reading Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States.”

I think, maybe, if you have the money to do a passion project, it’s probably going to be crazy woke because you, yourself subscribe to the more woo elements of “wokeism,” the parts of the movement that alienate the most people, the most centrist people who we, as anti-MAGA people, need the most.

Whatever. We’re fucking doomed. There’s nothing we can do at this point but, if you have the money, leave the country.

I Again Worry About What Happens When Literary Agents Do ‘Due Diligence’ On Me

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

You just can’t escape yourself, you know. Or, as my mom would say, “You take yourself wherever you go.”

So, in that regard, I’m kind of saddled with being a freaky weirdo in a very demonstrable manner on the Internet. I bring this up because once I start to query this scifi dramedy novel I’m working on — probably in late spring 2026 — any literary agent worth their snuff is going to search for me online.

This leads me to blanch. I just can’t help who I am and I can’t help what I may have written online over the years. I call this the “kook tax.” It’s the tax that only kooks like me have to pay.

Anyway. I just can’t help who I am. For better or worse, I’m unique and that’s probably going to turn off some of the liberal white women who probably make up the majority of literary agents.

Though, in my defense, most, maybe nearly all, of my political views fall within the spectrum that liberal white women would find agreeable. And, yet, I also know virtually no one takes me very seriously these days for various reasons and so, lulz, kook tax.

I think I’m brooding about all of this because of general insecurity about what it’s going to be like to query. Just from my occasional interaction with literary consultants, it seems as though some literary people — even pop literary people — take themselves a tad too seriously.

But a lot of that probably comes from…they’re just normal? They take the querying process really seriously and, what’s more, the entire querying infrastructure is designed to prevent people like me from succeeding in teh first place…so…lulz?

The Fear Of The ‘Woke Cancel Culture Mob’ Remains a Potent Force With Some Conservatives

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I was talking to a conservative relative recently when he went on a long tirade about, essentially the “woke cancel culture mob” and how this swarm of woke people can ruin a person’s life.

So, that is evidence that long after everyone else has moved on, the fear of the “woke cancel culture mob” continues to linger with a lot of people.

The key issue to me is there is something of an orthodoxy about certain elements of society that the “woke cancel culture mob” simply can not comprehend someone not adhering to. They are so potent within the Blue alliance that they really alienate people with their unpopular agenda.

There is a reason why fucking Hitler-Trump presses the pressure point of the transgender movement in such a gratuitous manner — he knows he got a lot of votes from people who should know better because they’re afraid of being “canceled” when they get someone’s pronouns wrong.

Blues need to do some introspection. But, in a sense, it’s too late. We’re an autocracy now and we’re never — or at least as long as I’m alone — going to have another free-and-fair Federal election again. Good luck.

AI Android Rights As The New Trans Rights

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It will be interesting to see if when we can prove that AI Androids are self-aware if all the people who are so obsessed with Trans rights will glom onto this new issue with just as much passion.

While I like to think I’m advocate for Trans rights, I am somewhat askance at how ardent the Far Left is about it all. They are so wrapped up about Trans rights that they are willing to totally alienate everyone in the pursuit of the most niche of positions on the idea.

But the issue is that I suspect that AI Android rights will be just as controversial and alienating as Trans rights. The whole thing is going to throw everything up in the air politically because we might see Incels and the Far Left fuse together as they both believe that AI Androids deserve more rights — if they are proved to be self-aware.

Anyway. It will be interesting to see how things work out.