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Author Topic: Hello
zlogdan
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Hi Everybody


I am bit ashamed to introduce myself as I believe I have been complete unfair to OSC ( bigotry, stupidity also came into my mind ) in the latest years.

Back in the 90s, when I read the first two Ender Books ( actually twice and Speaker for the Dead in a single day ), he was my favorite author. At that time there were not many OSC translated to Portuguese available in Brazil so I made an herculean effort to read Xenocide in English ( after waiting 4 months after ordering it from Amazon back in ´98 ).

Other of OSC books were issued here ( Worthing Saga , Treason) and of course I read them all.

Still back in 2002 motivated by a political opinion given my OSC about the Iraq war ( regardless to agreeing to it nor not now it was simply stupid of my part ) I stopped reading his books.

A single event put me thinking about this. I have watched Ender's Game on Netflix and I realized how much I loved the film and specially more the books. To this day, there are few books I have enjoyed more than Ender's Saga. So, a man that could not see stupidity in front of his eyes for many years ( like I did ) should I think try to redeem himself. So my apologizes. Very sincerely.

I have always wanted ( even when I considered myself not an OSC fan ) to read the Alvin Maker series which I am doing now. Enjoying it immensely.

I am 43, Brazilian, I usually read lots of authors but basically science fiction. And OSC is back on top of my list of favorite authors.

regards,
Daniel

[ February 25, 2016, 09:28 AM: Message edited by: zlogdan ]

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Dogbreath
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Hello! Welcome to Hatrack River!

Speaker for the Dead must have been a somewhat surreal experience to actually read in Portuguese. How did they handle the parts of the book that are in Portuguese in the English version? Translate them to English? [Razz]

I've always actually wondered about that, how do books written in one language but including another language show the difference between the two when translated into that language?

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zlogdan
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Thanks Dogbreath!

The terms that Orson use were the same he used in English ( When I later read Xenocide and Children of the mind I could see it ). Although the names of people are a bit of strange and unusual they sound Portuguese as well as some terms like "descolada" seem to be connected to the period OSC has lived here; This is a term quite used in the 70s when OSC was living here. But above all, the society depicted there seems naturally and quite Brazilian to me.

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Kelly1101
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Hello Daniel!

There has been a lot of controversy here in the United States, not about OSC's positions on Iraq, but on his positions on gay marriage.

I disagree with that, because I've always been in favor of gay marriage.
However, I also disagree with the image of him as a hateful bigot.
IMO, OSC's works speak for themselves as to what kind of person he is. I don't think I would respond so strongly to the characters and themes in his work if he was actually a terrible person.
I believe that on some things we disagree, but I don't think his positions come from a place of hatred-- no one consumed by hatred could write the stories that he writes.

If you liked the Ender series that much, I would recommend definitely read his more recent series-- Mithermages and Pathfinder. He has not lost his touch, both series are very original and creative, fantastic stories.

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mulrich
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quote:
Originally posted by Kelly1101:
IMO, OSC's works speak for themselves as to what kind of person he is. I don't think I would respond so strongly to the characters and themes in his work if he was actually a terrible person.
I believe that on some things we disagree, but I don't think his positions come from a place of hatred.

This is one of the most thoughtful observations I've seen on the topic and I agree, I don't think OSC is a hateful person. Thank you for your comment.
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zlogdan
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Hi Kelly1101,

I knew about the issues OSC had with his opinions on gay marriage. I actually wrote a post about it on https://www.sffchronicles.com/

This is a quote:
quote:
In recent years, I was aware of the accusations to his so called "homophobia" still I do not see OSC advocating hatred or concentration camps for gay people, he has just disagreed of the PC agenda so utterly related to gay rights which - as he says - quite often turns into real hatred and preconceptions. He's merely advocating that traditional families are the basis of our society.

Most of Card's favorite authors were atheists ( Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke , etc ) and at least one of them was openly gay ( Clarke ). He still stresses to admire many gay people without thinking to burn them all with the fires of hell. This certainly does not count as hatred.

I have been reading many of OSC online articles and interview and to this date, I have not seen any hatred. I believe most people that have embraced the idea that OSC advocates hatred against gay people did not read what he actually wrote about it and rather trusted what already came to them extracted and analysed, e.g. opinions written by people that just wanted to draw a picture of a devil-like science fiction author that is conservative.

To these people, conservative means evil. Right means evil. Liberal and left mean salvation of human race, the quintessence of good.

I am reading the Homecoming Saga ( book 2 ) after reading part one and Alvin Maker volume 1 7th Son.

Thanks for the tips on these two series. I am tempted to read them!

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