Does anyone else like Orson Scott Card?
POSTED BY: rita
UPDATED: Saturday, March 13, 2004 18:31
VIEWED: 10920
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Try "Songmaster", it too is unique.
I never really got the homophobe vibe from him when he was around my 'obviously' gay friends. But his LDS affilation should have been a clue. He never acted on his religous beliefs in the convention circuit, that I know of. I tend to dislike those who publicly thrash others, either verbally or physically. Card advocates neither type of unreasoning attack.
may I quote :
Quote:There ya go, a product of his faith and choice of Church. Still a damn fine author and does intresting character studies. Nuff said! Dong ma.
The hypocrites of homosexuality are, of course, already preparing to answer these statements by accusing me of homophobia, gay-bashing, bigotry, intolerance; but nothing that I have said here -- and nothing that has been said by any of the prophets or any of the Church leaders who have dealt with this issue -- can be construed as advocating, encouraging, or even allowing harsh personal treatment of individuals who are unable to resist the temptation to have sexual relations with persons of the same sex. On the contrary, the teachings of the Lord are clear in regard to the way we must deal with sinners. Christ treated them with compassion -- as long as they confessed that their sin was a sin. Only when they attempted to pretend that their sin was righteousness did he harshly name them for what they were: fools, hypocrites, sinners. Hypocrites because they were unwilling to change their behavior and instead attempted to change the law to fit it; fools because they thought that deceiving an easily deceivable society would achieve the impossible goal of also deceiving God.
I met the man at InConjunction 4 in '84(I think) ... not in the usual way of booksigning 'tho... We talked a lot about 'A Planet Called Treason'.
His 'Memory of Earth' series is fantastic!
His "The Abyss" novelization is spectacular in my opinion.
But its all a matter of relative perspective.
I am sure that any of you could list a book, movie or TV show that I would consider total crap.
"Observe Analyze & Respond"
Motto of the A.P.E.s
Alliance Protean Engineers
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Quote:
Originally posted by mrgreen:
The Ender's Shadow series however, was basically rubbish. They were fairly well written, but extremely thin in plot. I mean, Bean's story was pretty weak when you compare it to the complexity of Ender's, and the rest of it was kinda preposterous and silly, if you ask me.
Gasp! Oh, you wound me! ;)
Ok, it's quite late for me and I'm being a bit silly, but I just felt that I needed to put in a few good words for the Ender's Shadow books, which I absolutely love beyond words. Seriously. Beyond words.
I love Ender's Game, and I love Ender's Story - it particularly resonated with me when I first read it, in junior high, for a variety of reasons. For the record, I've never been a big fan of Speaker for the Dead, et al.
The rest of the story, however, particularly once you get to Shadow of the Hegemon and Shadow Puppets, is, in my opinion, riveting. I think the politics are complex, interesting, and believable, and I just adore finding out the details of what are minor big events (how's that for an oxymoron?) in Ender's Game and Speaker. I think it's amazing that he's addressing what happened to those Battle School kids, what failings in humanity might make them take advantage of them, how the kids struggle with adjusting to a life that doesn't fit them anymore and a society that doesn't know what to do with them and loyalties that are unclear, and how a sadistic kid from smalltown USA took a figurehead position and not only claimed it, but turned it into an instrument through which he created world peace.
Damn interesting story, to me. Definitely 'complex'.
So. That's /my/ Card shout out. I'm also quite fond of a few of his stand alones - Pastwatch being the first that comes to mind.
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Thanks for the website.
I was blown away by Ender's Game.
Then read everything I could find that OSC had written. I enjoyed it all to some degree.
I enjoyed the rest of the Ender series because I always want to know what happens afterwards.
"Every well bred, petty crook knows that the small, concealable weapons always go to the far left of the place setting."
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WARNING: VITRIOLIC POSTING AHEAD
Try to introduce the concepts of philosophy and current global politics if you want to be nailed to a cross. That just might become my motto.
India and Pakistan are in the deepest peace talks in their history.
The U.S. has lost a lot of our peaceful clout, and our economy cannot support a sustained presence without foreign money.
The stigma of AIDS("my god don't touch me") is the stigma of the Piggies.
Do yourself a favor and read a newspaper someday, or pick up a book without a space ship or sword on it's cover for a change.
What is it with you Human Beings? It's because of unthinking sheep like you that Firefly was canceled.
There were prodigies and portents enough, One-Eye says. We must blame ourselves for misinterpreting them. One-Eye's handicap in no way impairs his marvelous hindsight.
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HUH?
"Every well bred, petty crook knows that the small, concealable weapons always go to the far left of the place setting."
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Palehorse
I actually agree with your post ...
But to echo Serena... HUH?!
You haven't posted to this particular thread and I may have missed any of your other posts on this site.
I am a bit confused as to basis of your rather vitupertious post on this very thread.
With no informational preamble, you depress the plunger and: BOOOOM! -- "Earthquakes, fires, dogs and cats living together ... Mass hysteria!" {- paraphrased from Peter Venkman, Ghostbuster -}
Palehorse: A little 'flashback' info so we may understand your '... VITRIOLIC POSTING ...'.
Thanks!
"Observe Analyze & Respond"
Motto of the A.P.E.s
Alliance Protean Engineers
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Ok. I'm a little put out by the slamming O.S.Card has recieved on this thread. The man has certainly done more for giving SF respectability than Piers Anthony(exception Perlandra).Though I enjoyed them, the Xanth books, with silly names and covers,only enriched the stigma of SF to the uninnitiated.
The reason for my dreadful release of anger is simply that a respected thinker outside of his writing was beeing slammed as basicly a HACK.
If we don't wish to look beyond the veneer of a book, T.V. show, or painting we lose the ability to see them as art forms and buy into the idea of superficiality and commercialism which spawned the reality show movement.
Examples:
Spaceangler Said:
Everything he wrote besides the Ender series is crap. But Ender's alright
Fremdfirma Said:
Enders Game rocked, and then started the immediate downhill slide of sequelization.
Card is an overrated one-hit-wonder, in my opinion, but that's the great thing about sci-fi writing, you don't have to please everyone
Shiny Said:
The rest of the Enders series was pretty much trying to live off the reflected glory of the first...
Mrgreen Said:
The Ender's Shadow series however, was basically rubbish. They were fairly well written, but extremely thin in plot. I mean, Bean's story was pretty weak when you compare it to the complexity of Ender's, and the rest of it was kinda preposterous and silly, if you ask me.
There were prodigies and portents enough, One-Eye says. We must blame ourselves for misinterpreting them. One-Eye's handicap in no way impairs his marvelous hindsight.
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Quote:
Originally posted by palehorse:
If we don't wish to look beyond the veneer of a book, T.V. show, or painting we lose the ability to see them as art forms and buy into the idea of superficiality and commercialism which spawned the reality show movement.
Hmm...so we don't like OSC's other books as much as you do, and therefore we are as dumb as Fox execs, is that your basic argument? I would argue that 'superficiality and commercialism' applies better to an artist/writer/director/etc creating a bunch of lesser sequels after a 'hit', but I don't suppose I'm entitled to an opinion, since it differs from yours. Guess I'll go watch some reality television and stop bothering you enlightened souls with my blathering.
RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.
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I thought the Memory of Earth series was wonderful. Not wanting to go into it (due to being at work and wanting to make my boss money) any deeper than saying, "I like the way he gets into people's heads. Even if he is writing those people."
I try to remember something he said about the differences between the way we treat/judge adults and teenagers and keep it in mind when dealing with neices and nephews:
The younger brother is watching his older brother take a cold shower. The older is jumping around and acting silly. The younger makes a mental comment about how anyone seeing this would find it "charming and child-like" while if he, himself were seen acting this way, they'd tell him to "stop acting childish".
"Just keep walkin, preacher man."
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What is the difference between "Treason" and "Planet Called Treason"?
- scott
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