FacebookTwitter
Hatrack River Forum   
my profile login | search | faq | forum home

  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Hatrack River Forum » Active Forums » Discussions About Orson Scott Card » Uncle Orson Reviews Everything

   
Author Topic: Uncle Orson Reviews Everything
Farmgirl
Member
Member # 5567

 - posted      Profile for Farmgirl   Email Farmgirl         Edit/Delete Post 
In his October 29th review column, OSC wrote, in part:
quote:
Sometimes a sudden closing is because of a personal tragedy -- like when one of my favorite restaurants closed because its owner-chef was dying of cancer.

(It would have been incredibly selfish of me to interfere with his last days and beg him for the recipe to my favorite dish. I'm ashamed I even thought of it. So disrespectful. But when authors die, what I miss is their unwritten books; there's nothing wrong with that, is there? My relationship with the chef was entirely because of his art. When I think of him, I miss him terribly ... but it's because I know I'll never have that glorious parmentier again.)

The part I emphasized in bold is what caught my eye.

I have always felt this way since the death of Louis L'Amour

I know lots of you think he just wrote cheesy westerns. But a big part of my youth was spent reading those.

But mostly, it is because of one of his last books, Last of the Breed, which was not a western at all.

Shortly before L'Amour died, I saw him at a local public speaking event. He was a great presenter, and in the course of the address, someone asked him about a sequel to Last of the Breed. He said he was working on it.

But he died before it was ever released. I really wish I knew where his ideas had that story going. I have always mourned that next book that might have been.

FG

Posts: 9538 | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Synesthesia
Member
Member # 4774

 - posted      Profile for Synesthesia   Email Synesthesia         Edit/Delete Post 
I feel that way about Octavia Butler. Dang, was she good, and I miss her so much. I was hoping there would be a sequel to her latest book too. [Frown]
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Uprooted
Member
Member # 8353

 - posted      Profile for Uprooted   Email Uprooted         Edit/Delete Post 
I've said this before, and I'll probably say it again: George R.R. Martin had better not die before he finishes A Song of Ice and Fire .
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
tern
Member
Member # 7429

 - posted      Profile for tern   Email tern         Edit/Delete Post 
I understood that another project L'amour was working on when he died was the sequel to The Walking Drum. I have to believe in the afterlife, because when I die, I will find him and ask him if he's completed it yet. Should he have not done so, I will hound him until he does.
Posts: 561 | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
RunningBear
Member
Member # 8477

 - posted      Profile for RunningBear           Edit/Delete Post 
He was making a sequel to The Walking Drum....

I need a ouija typewriter

Posts: 883 | Registered: Aug 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
mr_porteiro_head
Member
Member # 4644

 - posted      Profile for mr_porteiro_head   Email mr_porteiro_head         Edit/Delete Post 
The only L'Amour book I've read was Last of the Breed. I sure enjoyed it.

Now you've gone and ensaddened me, FG. [Frown]

quote:
I feel that way about Octavia Butler.
As do I.

I also feel that way about George Lucas. If only he hadn't been replaced by an android back in 1992.

Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Orincoro
Member
Member # 8854

 - posted      Profile for Orincoro   Email Orincoro         Edit/Delete Post 
Louis was my great uncle. [Frown]

Though I never knew him myself, he was very influential in my father and grandfather's lives, especially my grandfather's. Both of them own libraries of Louis' entire collection (much of it signed and personalized of course [Wink] ).

For me, Louis is a voice out of my family's past. He was the brother of my great grandmother, Edna Lamore Waldo who was also a writer. They had several falling outs, because they were both highly motivated and creative people (she was a highschool principle at age 25 in 1919!). Also, she claimed that he had tried to change family history (make them sound more sophisticated) by changing his pen name to "L'amour. It is not in fact, the way the family name is spelled, because by most accounts the family is not actually French in origin-- it's Lamore, I believe. That is a mystery however, that has not been resolved. Growing up, I did know her, but only as a very old and diminished person, blind and immobile, but still able to converse and tell stories. She lived to be 106, and died just a few years ago. My father spent some of his childhood summers visiting her in Palo Alto, and he always describes her as a kind of pedagogical, supernatural force. The kids in my family grew up listening to tapes of Louis' books, as well as tapes of him speaking about the stories and about all kinds of American folklore. His voice as an author has been present in my life through his sister, my grandfather and my father, as well as his books and the tapes his son Bo developed through the years, especially in the 80s, but I never met him.

It's a bit odd-but I sound alot like him. He had a very husky voice, and a kind of discursive way of talking, at once very authoritative, but also inviting, that I liked very much growing up, listening to him speak and reading his words. He also had a very particular method. I once went to Silverton CO, near Durango where he did a great deal of his writing (and had his ranch), and met a ranger who had known him when he had spent time walking the hills in the San Juan Mountains and writing his stories. He liked to write descriptions of real places for his stories, so he would go out to the mountains and get a feel for the trails he was writing about. He wrote some stories about Silverton mines, and I got to see the mines when I was there backpacking, which was a remarkable feeling.

Edit: Come to think of it, Edna was also that way when she spoke. Like him (and you'll know it if you've heard him speak) she had a very clipped way of speaking. She made statements. Then she elaborated on them. Like this. :pause: and then she would continue on. It was as if she was narrating a play or reading aloud when she spoke. It was fascinating. Like him too, she was fascinated with folklore and the "western territory," and in her there was a living memory of people who lived in it the way Louis wrote about it-- because they really did meet those people when they were very young.

Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
cmc
Member
Member # 9549

 - posted      Profile for cmc   Email cmc         Edit/Delete Post 
Holy Expletive Deleted to the fullest extent possible.

I can't Expletive Deleted again (i'm sorry - i'm at a loss for intelligent words) believe that Octavia E. Butler is dead. I really, truly did not know that.

I read people's books because they're good. I (sorry if this is callous) don't care so much about what's happening in their 'everyday'. I didn't know she had moved on until I read this thread and then looked it up.

I'm somewhat crushed.

Wow.

Seriously.

On a sadly coincidental note - two nights ago I picked up Parable of the Talents to read again.

I'm seriously at a loss. I am so just, bummed, I don't even know the word - granted a little late, but wow.

Guess all that change is left to our imaginations...

Posts: 1355 | Registered: Jul 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Farmgirl
Member
Member # 5567

 - posted      Profile for Farmgirl   Email Farmgirl         Edit/Delete Post 
Wow - Orincoro - -that is so cool that you were related to him.

(after I posted this thread above, I went and looked up his website and posted on the forum there, too. However, Beau has not answered me yet).

I didn't know the family name spelling was a sore point in the family. He does say in his autobiography that his dad used the spelling "LaMoore", and Louis changed it to L'Amour for himself. Probably because it sounded so romantic and exotic.

Actually his life story is more interesting that many of his books. He lead such an adventerous life -- I doubt many these days could do such a thing. He lived through so many eras of changes of time in America and the world.

I really enjoyed hearing him speak back in the early 1980s. He was a great storyteller. Like you said, he has that unique was a speaking that used the silences as well as the words to paint the picture of the story.

FG

Posts: 9538 | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Libbie
Member
Member # 9529

 - posted      Profile for Libbie   Email Libbie         Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
Originally posted by Uprooted:
I've said this before, and I'll probably say it again: George R.R. Martin had better not die before he finishes A Song of Ice and Fire .

A pox on your head for eve thinking it.

I hate to sound morbid, but I wonder if Robert Jordan will make it through to the end of his colossal series?

Also, thanks for starting this thread, Farmgirl, and reminding me that I'll have to feel this way about OSC some day. [Cry] [Cry] [Cry] [Cry]

Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Swampjedi
Member
Member # 7374

 - posted      Profile for Swampjedi   Email Swampjedi         Edit/Delete Post 
I am afraid that RJ won't make another book. He's too busy trying to stay alive, poor guy. [Frown]
Posts: 1069 | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Orincoro
Member
Member # 8854

 - posted      Profile for Orincoro   Email Orincoro         Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
Originally posted by Farmgirl:

Actually his life story is more interesting that many of his books. He lead such an adventerous life -- I doubt many these days could do such a thing. He lived through so many eras of changes of time in America and the world.

I really enjoyed hearing him speak back in the early 1980s. He was a great storyteller. Like you said, he has that unique was a speaking that used the silences as well as the words to paint the picture of the story.
FG

Indeed- Edna, his sister, was quite sore about the name change, but that was just what she harped on in later life, after he had died. He got famous with his books, and wrote SO MANY of them, that I think she was always jealous of him. She wrote maybe 5 books, and none of them a great success. Still, I saw some of him in her and in my grandpa, and Dad- he was like the Robert Frost of the West or something, he had a story for everything, and they were all interesting.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
aretee
Member
Member # 1743

 - posted      Profile for aretee   Email aretee         Edit/Delete Post 
So how do you all feel about books that are written by the writers family after his or her death. I can't believe I am about to admit this, but I was a BIG V.C. Andrews fan when I was in high school. (She wrote the Flowers in the Attic series and the Heaven series). I think her daughter took over her series after her death and it just wasn't the same.

Even if OSC could get the recipe for his favorite dish...would it taste the same?

Posts: 1735 | Registered: Mar 2001  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Rohan
Member
Member # 5141

 - posted      Profile for Rohan   Email Rohan         Edit/Delete Post 
It's the sequel(s) to the Walking Drum that I miss. Man, did I love that story.
Posts: 196 | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Libbie
Member
Member # 9529

 - posted      Profile for Libbie   Email Libbie         Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
Originally posted by Swampjedi:
I am afraid that RJ won't make another book. He's too busy trying to stay alive, poor guy. [Frown]

I know. It's so sad. I hope he's able to pull through. Poor guy.
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Libbie
Member
Member # 9529

 - posted      Profile for Libbie   Email Libbie         Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
Originally posted by aretee:
So how do you all feel about books that are written by the writers family after his or her death. I can't believe I am about to admit this, but I was a BIG V.C. Andrews fan when I was in high school. (She wrote the Flowers in the Attic series and the Heaven series). I think her daughter took over her series after her death and it just wasn't the same.

Even if OSC could get the recipe for his favorite dish...would it taste the same?

Hey, I think everybody was a big V.C. Andrews fan in high school. I never read her, myself, but my sister was WAY into her books when she was 15 or 16.
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
GaalDornick
Member
Member # 8880

 - posted      Profile for GaalDornick           Edit/Delete Post 
It must be a nice feeling to know that there are people around the world that you've never met that are hoping you won't die because they enjoy the things that you think of so much.
Posts: 2054 | Registered: Nov 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Orincoro
Member
Member # 8854

 - posted      Profile for Orincoro   Email Orincoro         Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
Originally posted by aretee:
So how do you all feel about books that are written by the writers family after his or her death. I can't believe I am about to admit this, but I was a BIG V.C. Andrews fan when I was in high school. (She wrote the Flowers in the Attic series and the Heaven series). I think her daughter took over her series after her death and it just wasn't the same.

Even if OSC could get the recipe for his favorite dish...would it taste the same?

Well one really nice thing about Beau is that he didn't try and keep writing the stories, but he DID do alot with them anyway. He produced a long series of audio-tapes for example, and I think he is responsible for several of the books being made into movies in the last 20 years. He didn't try to keep writing Louis L'Amour books, but he did keep them alive.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Mike Shaffer
New Member
Member # 9881

 - posted      Profile for Mike Shaffer   Email Mike Shaffer         Edit/Delete Post 
Farmgirl,

Your original missive to Beau has been brought to the top of the forum. It had been buried and I thought Beau might like a chance to respond.

If we want someones attention in the forum we generally just say hey.

In this instance you'll find your question to Beau under my post of HEY BEAU! on the L'Amour website.

Nice to see all y'all.

Posts: 2 | Registered: Nov 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
ricree101
Member
Member # 7749

 - posted      Profile for ricree101   Email ricree101         Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
Originally posted by aretee:
So how do you all feel about books that are written by the writers family after his or her death.

In general, they tend to turn out pretty mediocre at best. That said, I'm a huge fan of the Silmarillion, and in general I think that Tolkien fans are much better off thanks to the dedication and effort of Christopher Tolkien. That's pretty much the exception, though. While there are definitely authors whose works I would love to see more of, it is often better just to accept that they will never happen.
Posts: 2437 | Registered: Apr 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
pooka
Member
Member # 5003

 - posted      Profile for pooka   Email pooka         Edit/Delete Post 
I suppose a story where an author is reanimated to keep writing could be creepily weird. For the Science Fiction fans, at least. I don't see it happening for Louis L'amour.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Farmgirl
Member
Member # 5567

 - posted      Profile for Farmgirl   Email Farmgirl         Edit/Delete Post 
Thanks, Mike!

For those of you (Porter?) who might be interested in Beau L'Amour's reply to my question about a sequel - you can find that discussion HERE

Farmgirl

(p.s. - Mike? "all y'all"?? That's true Texas talk!)

Posts: 9538 | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Mike Shaffer
New Member
Member # 9881

 - posted      Profile for Mike Shaffer   Email Mike Shaffer         Edit/Delete Post 
Just a bit of the south, Darlin'. Glad you got your answer.

Regarding rewrites by family...Beau has taken one short-story and turned it into a pretty good screenplay...THE DIAMOND OF JERU. The finished movie changed somewhat due to studio pressures and it's evident as the movie progresses along, but it's still a pretty good movie adaptation.

If Beau does any writing in novel form it would probably be original and from what I've read of his thoughts it would be totally different than anything that Louis has ever written or attempted to write. There was quite a bit of material that LL left behind, some finished short story materials that Beau edited, and other materials in various forms that he's included in the website LOUIS L'AMOUR'S LOST TREASURES, which examines the way LL wrote and developed stories with notes by Beau on what Louis may have been attempting to do and why. It's really an excellent insight...an online classroom of sorts. Beau has taught college course for a number of years and he's good at expressing his thoughts and ideas. Many of the entries are frustrating because they are only a chapter or two or three long and just when you're getting really hooked...it ends. Louis had a habit of writing until the idea froze and then moving on to another story before eventually coming back to a story and he'd make little notes in the margin from time to time. There are even entries to story idea where you'll recognize the novel, but the characters names have changed as well as their relationships within the storyline....pretty interesting academically.

Posts: 2 | Registered: Nov 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
brojack17
Member
Member # 9189

 - posted      Profile for brojack17   Email brojack17         Edit/Delete Post 
I miss Robert Ludlum. The Borne series was amazing, but I thought "The Bourne Legacy" was horrible. The characters were named the same but the story to a bad turn and it just didn't feel right.

Kinda like when you were a kid (or maybe still are) and one persone will start a story and you have to take over and fill in the next few lines, then someone else takes over, etc.

Posts: 1766 | Registered: Feb 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
I Am The War Chief
Member
Member # 9266

 - posted      Profile for I Am The War Chief   Email I Am The War Chief         Edit/Delete Post 
I think there was a thread involving ways of keeping OSC alive including an army of personal security, cryo freezing him, and or somehow extracting his brain so his consciousness could be linked up directly to a printer so we may enjoy his books for quite some time [Wink] .
Posts: 201 | Registered: Mar 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Libbie
Member
Member # 9529

 - posted      Profile for Libbie   Email Libbie         Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
Originally posted by I Am The War Chief:
I think there was a thread involving ways of keeping OSC alive including an army of personal security, cryo freezing him, and or somehow extracting his brain so his consciousness could be linked up directly to a printer so we may enjoy his books for quite some time [Wink] .

I HAVE LOOKED INTO THE FUTURE AND LO, IT IS GOOD.
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Farmgirl
Member
Member # 5567

 - posted      Profile for Farmgirl   Email Farmgirl         Edit/Delete Post 
Did you design that, Libbie? That's hilarious!
Posts: 9538 | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Libbie
Member
Member # 9529

 - posted      Profile for Libbie   Email Libbie         Edit/Delete Post 
No, of course not! It's from a news article from the future. [Wink]
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Libbie
Member
Member # 9529

 - posted      Profile for Libbie   Email Libbie         Edit/Delete Post 
HA! The new issue of Uncle Orson Reviews Everything actually made me laugh out loud most of the way through. It makes me wish I lived in NC just so I could read this in the newspaper when it's fresh and new. I guess I'll just have to settle for the internet.

I'm going to get some Corn Thins today. Mmmmmmm.

Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Frozenoak
Member
Member # 9454

 - posted      Profile for Frozenoak   Email Frozenoak         Edit/Delete Post 
I was saddend when Frank Herbert died (in the middle of the sequel to Chapterhouse Dune. I was surprised and offended when his son defiled his notes and wrote a book.

I have since read the books that Brian Herbert and Kefin J. Anderson wrote on those notes. I have found that if I read them as an insight to Franks thoughts I could enjoiy it. I guess it is like taking the afore mentioned recipe and trying make it. You may get a tast of the cheff's art but not the true flavor of one of his creations.

I am now happy that Brian converted the notes into a book but I still feel guilty.

Thanks for listening,
dale

Posts: 8 | Registered: May 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Libbie
Member
Member # 9529

 - posted      Profile for Libbie   Email Libbie         Edit/Delete Post 
Hmmm. That just might actually inspire me to read the Herbert/Anderson books. I've been avoiding them, but maybe if I take them as you recommend, it might work out okay.
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

   Close Topic   Feature Topic   Move Topic   Delete Topic next oldest topic   next newest topic
 - Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:


Contact Us | Hatrack River Home Page

Copyright © 2008 Hatrack River Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classic™ 6.7.2