Today Annie Bellet withdrew her short story “Goodnight Stars” from the Hugo Award ballot and Marko Kloos did the same thing with his novel Lines of Departure.
While Bellet and Kloos were on the slate of stories put forward by the Sad and Rabid Puppies campaigns, both decided that didn't want to be anyone's political ball.
I can totally understand that. Few people like being used by others to score political points.
And this news comes only two days after the novelette “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” by John C. Wright was pulled from the ballot for being previously published (and replaced with the novelette “The Day The World Turned Upside Down” by Thomas Olde Heuvelt).
On top of all that, the organizers of Sad Puppies are scrambling (and failing) to disassociate themselves from a certain person who ran the Rabid Puppies campaign.
I will still be reading all the Hugo Award nominees. But if this keeps going I may not have much reading to do.
So Puppies, how's that campaign of yours working out?