So much for that idea.
Every year or so I do the same thing.
I pick up Ender's Game. I read it. I love it.
Then I pick up Speaker for the Dead. I read it. I like it, maybe even love it.
Then I pick up Xenocide. I start reading it. I start noticing little bits of misogyny, vague racism, and an underlying premise that women exist to "have men's babies," and that this is and/or being celibate but religious are the only two acceptable things for a human to do.
Then I start remember that Orson Scott Card is kind of a nut. I start remembering the weird pro-Iraq-war propaganda essays he wrote in the backs of his Ender's Shadow series of sequels. I start remembering how in that book the main character spends most of his time trying to save a bunch of frozen embryos created from his sperm and his (if I remember correctly) 14-year-old girlfriend. He and his girlfriend regard these embryos as their living children and will stop at nothing to save them - which okay, I can understand a character perhaps thinking that, but it comes as such a grand realization that it just gets under my skin a little.
Then I start reading up on Orson Scott Card. Then I find this quote.
Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books, not to be indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society's regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society
And then I have to stop reading Xenocide.
I really hate when an author's political stance gets into a story to the point where I can't ignore it, and then I hate it even further when I go find out that their stance kind of makes me want to throw up.
Apologies to any of you who may feel the same way about me after this. While I usually try to keep political stuff out of here, sometimes I just can't hold back.
It really does hurt, though. Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead are such great books, but every time a little bit of his politics comes shining through it's like a punch in the gut. The guy is such a talented writer, and most of his books make him seem so rational and intelligent.
Sigh.
I pick up Ender's Game. I read it. I love it.
Then I pick up Speaker for the Dead. I read it. I like it, maybe even love it.
Then I pick up Xenocide. I start reading it. I start noticing little bits of misogyny, vague racism, and an underlying premise that women exist to "have men's babies," and that this is and/or being celibate but religious are the only two acceptable things for a human to do.
Then I start remember that Orson Scott Card is kind of a nut. I start remembering the weird pro-Iraq-war propaganda essays he wrote in the backs of his Ender's Shadow series of sequels. I start remembering how in that book the main character spends most of his time trying to save a bunch of frozen embryos created from his sperm and his (if I remember correctly) 14-year-old girlfriend. He and his girlfriend regard these embryos as their living children and will stop at nothing to save them - which okay, I can understand a character perhaps thinking that, but it comes as such a grand realization that it just gets under my skin a little.
Then I start reading up on Orson Scott Card. Then I find this quote.
Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books, not to be indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society's regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society
And then I have to stop reading Xenocide.
I really hate when an author's political stance gets into a story to the point where I can't ignore it, and then I hate it even further when I go find out that their stance kind of makes me want to throw up.
Apologies to any of you who may feel the same way about me after this. While I usually try to keep political stuff out of here, sometimes I just can't hold back.
It really does hurt, though. Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead are such great books, but every time a little bit of his politics comes shining through it's like a punch in the gut. The guy is such a talented writer, and most of his books make him seem so rational and intelligent.
Sigh.