by Sumiko Saulson
Hugo Oghenechovwe nominee Donald Ekpeki is a rising star in the literary arts. The Nigerian sci-fi, fantasy and horror publisher and publisher won the Nommo award for best short story for “The Witching Hour” in 2019.
Since then, he has been nominated for a dozen or more awards and won at least four, adding his groundbreaking victory in the 2022 Nebula Best News category for his “O2 Arena” storyline. In May 2022, Oghenechovwe became the first black African descendant to win a Nebula award. Nigerian-American Nnedi Okorafor won the most productive short story award in 2015 for “Binti,” but was born in the United States.
Like many conventions since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 57th Annual Nebula Conference of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) was held entirely online. The award rite can be viewed online on YouTube. in Nigeria awaiting the announcement of the award.
It’s tricky to identify a transcontinental video conferencing connection, and sadly, due to technical issues, you may simply not pass in front of the camera to settle for it. He was stunned when he learned that he had won the award. “This is unprecedented on this continent. There is nothing that is happening here. It was an excessive shock, winning. To my surprise, the story happened,” Oghenechovwe said.
Nominated for the Hugo Awards in two categories: Best Short Story for O2 Arena and Best Editor, Short Form for Best African Speculative Fiction of the Year, he made an ambitious plan to fly to Chicago for WorldCon from September 1 to 5, 2022. If he won, he intended to get the prize in person. Now, a Nebula Award winner and the continent’s most awarded speculative fiction ensemble, his enthusiasts and private and professional connections have encouraged him to fund his path to the convention.
“I raised about $7,000 on GoFundMe. That was the first step. Then I had to pay to get a visa. Moving one from Nigeria to the United States is like winning the big lottery or having lightning. “five times in one place, Oghenechovwe said.
Despite his achievements, he had great difficulty downloading a visa. There is more than two years of waiting to download a visa from Nigeria to the United States. Visitor visas are much more difficult to download than student visas. His first interview came to an abrupt end when the U. S. Embassy learned that he was unmarried and did not plan to move on to school in the United States.
“They didn’t consider me. They have safe criteria, safe boxes that if they check, they will not escape, they have ties at home such as a circle of relatives and properties. I am literally the continent’s most awarded speculative fiction publisher. “, so there is no way for me to give up my career and start hiding illegally. He would make public appearances in the United States, do readings, participate in panels, and attend events. It’s literally very unlikely that anyone in contact with the public will hide, and at this point in my career, I’m going to be very public. But I was rejected. My interview lasted less than 30 seconds,” Oghenechovwe said.
This put an end to Oghenechovwe’s plans to attend WorldCon.
“I had to launch a cruel global crusade against the U. S. Embassy and the State Department. Some of the guest writers involved: John Scalzi, Neil Gaiman, the Science Fiction Writers Association, WorldCon, and the entire Speculative Fiction organization, which attracted a number of politicians, senators, and ambassadors, I mean there were literally senators from the Democratic and Republican parties who were splitting up to get this issue done, talking to the embassy, and writing to them to make sure I would run away. ” Oghenechovwe said.
Would I be entitled to a momentary interview in time?A few weeks before WorldCon, he was now facing a crisis of time in the primaries. Oghenechovwe and his followers were anxiously awaiting the news. Finally, on the Friday before the event, the invitation to the interview arrived at one point, just 10 days before the start of the event. His interview took place the following Monday. Scheduled for Wednesday, he got his visa on Tuesday, a little on time.
Then, too tired and stressed, he missed his Wednesday flight and had to replace his reservation for Thursday. The airline’s last-minute interview and new last-minute booking were very expensive.
“I had to do all this in a few days. The tension is mind-boggling. I missed my flight, I had to book another one, which was very expensive, and it was my first time traveling. I controlled everything on the fly. The flight itself is not easy. It took about 24 hours and the plane stopped on 3 other continents. It was a long flight, physically fragile. Then I was given here and had to deal with immigration. I already had the visa, but I still had to be interviewed, questioned and explained why I am here. Oghenechovwe said.
Chicon 8: WorldCon 80 was the eighth time the World Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention was held in Chicago, and the 80th World Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention as a whole. Chicago is the historical site of the WorldCon moment. Started through speculative fiction Issac Asimov, the first WorldCon was held in New York, but it was with WorldCon 2 in Chicago that it became an annual event.
WorldCon 2022 began on Thursday, September 1 and ended on Monday, September 5. Due to visa issues and flight change, Oghenechovwe missed the first day and a portion of the convention, adding the panels and non-public appearances he was scheduled to make.
“I arrived on Friday and missed part of the day. I’m exhausted and wanted to do some of the symptoms I was planning for. As soon as I got off the plane, tired and nervous, I received an email from the WorldCon organizers saying that they had won a risk of death for me and the other guy [Patrick Tomlinson], who are going to come and shoot the position because of us, and kill us. So as soon as I can, I come to conference security and see the security of the hotel and make plans to make everything safe. I just can’t tell you how I felt after going through so much to get there,” Oghenechovwe said.
Oghenechovwe had been receiving death threats similar to those of WorldCon 80 for some time, while Patrick Tomlinson had been the victim of a four-year crusade of cyberbullying and intimidation. Doxxing is a cyberbullying strategy that involves revealing home addresses, phone numbers, and other non-public forms. Swatting is an incredibly harmful form of harassment, in which cyberbullies call police, SWAT, and other governments and send false reports for armed law enforcement to show up at the victim’s home.
The cyberstalkers had run over Patrick’s space 4 times before the WorldCon, stole his identity and threw credit cards in his name, and filmed themselves trespassing on his property. His security camera filmed one of them smashing the look of his space and his motorcycle.
Cyberbullies live all over the United States and some of them are overseas. They can send other people to various conventions, where they took pictures of Patrick and posted them, bragging about harassing him. One of them drove five hours to a bar where Patrick went and hung out drunk, waiting to beat him.
Several of them had started bureaucracy on Internet sites to harass black people, especially black women, disability advocates, and members of the LGBTQ community, posing as Patrick. Since the bureaucracy on the online page allows them to use any call or email address, he used the calls and email addresses of Patrick and his wife in the bureaucracy to spoof their identity.
“It’s the same organization of cyberbullies. They have been sending death threats via email and voicemail for years. Oghenechovwe recently enlisted because they saw that we were friends online and that I was pushing for his visa,” Patrick Tomlinson said.
Some other authors, editors, activists, and black network leaders that cyberbullies have harassed this strategy include Ijeoma Oluo, Imani Cezanne, Diana Cejas MD, Justina Ireland, Aja Romano, Ola Ojewumi, Marvin Toliver, and Kalynn Bayron. They usually send harassing emails directly to targets, to cause anxiety. But this time, they sent a message directly to WorldCon.
“I tried not to leave him,” Oghenechovwe said, “but you still ask yourself the question. I was checking my panels looking to enjoy the convention, but I had this infuriating feeling every time I was on the panel, wondering if anyone was going to jump between the audience and knock me down.
“Sometimes I identified who had been around me more than once and felt a spike of anxiety. It is a convention, so there are many other people who will be in the same position more than once. I tried not to let that go mess up. ” my enjoyment of the event, bringing other people together and being part of the panels.
From WorldCon, Patrick Tomlinson has suffered another fake call to the police through cyber attackers. According to his Facebook post: “Another fake call made, pretending to be me, claiming I drugged and had just killed my wife, and our house coping with what was given.
Recently, an article covering the situation made an impression in the Houston Press. It was removed in less than 24 hours because the journalist who wrote the article was harassed. Someone sent a text message to your private phone number with a message stating your home address. , as a doxing threat.
This shows how cyberbullies will go through to hunt down black perpetrators and our allies. It also shows how harmful it is to simply report on the situation.
Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki came to WorldCon and, did not win any Hugo awards, was able to physically be in the presence of other nominees and winners. Reflecting on this, he posted: “There is a victory in the maximum defeats. Just locate take it and continue.
For the promising young Nigerian author, the victories are numerous. He will be the guest of honor at the International Association Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) 2023, the first African-born black man and the youngest guest of honor. Despite all the stumbling blocks, Oghenechovwe turns out to be well positioned to take the little rocket on his Hugo pin and shoot at the stars.
Bestseller Sumiko Saulson (they/them or ze/hir) writes award-winning multicultural science fiction, fantasy, horror and Afro-surrealism. His most recent novel, “Happiness and Other Diseases,” is in Mocha Memoirs Press. The Richard Laymon Presidents Award from the Horror Writers Association, the 2017 Afro-Surrealist Writer Award, the 2016 HWA Hell Fellowship, and the 2016 BCC Voice Reframing the Other Award, his monthly series Writing While Black sticks to the struggles of black writers in the literary arts. and other segments of arts and entertainment. Support them on Patreon and follow them on Twitter and Facebook.