posted
I heard he had finished all his "Great American Novels" and now wants a life of leisure in a 6 x 6 cubicle where from 9 to 5, he will be pushing paperwork to nowhere.
Posts: 1941 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Yozhik: You got the hopes of a whole bunch of activists up, only to dash them. Great job!
We don't want him to retire. We want him to retire from being annoying and embarrassing. His novels are NOT the place to expand on the ideas he presents in his "World Watch" columns. IMHO, anyway. I prefer to buy a novel when I buy his work, not a collection of World Watch essays, mmkay?
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Yozhik: You got the hopes of a whole bunch of activists up, only to dash them. Great job!
We don't want him to retire. We want him to retire from being annoying and embarrassing. His novels are NOT the place to expand on the ideas he presents in his "World Watch" columns. IMHO, anyway. I prefer to buy a novel when I buy his work, not a collection of World Watch essays, mmkay?
Actually, his novels are the place for him to write whatever he wants. But that also means he takes the chance of losing readers. But it's definitely the place for his ideas, regardless of how abhorrent they may be.
Posts: 164 | Registered: Sep 2012
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quote:Originally posted by Yozhik: You got the hopes of a whole bunch of activists up, only to dash them. Great job!
We don't want him to retire. We want him to retire from being annoying and embarrassing. His novels are NOT the place to expand on the ideas he presents in his "World Watch" columns. IMHO, anyway. I prefer to buy a novel when I buy his work, not a collection of World Watch essays, mmkay?
Actually, his novels are the place for him to write whatever he wants. But that also means he takes the chance of losing readers. But it's definitely the place for his ideas, regardless of how abhorrent they may be.
Question my taste if you want, but...I'm not fond of the flavor of political screed in the novels I read.
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Yozhik: You got the hopes of a whole bunch of activists up, only to dash them. Great job!
We don't want him to retire. We want him to retire from being annoying and embarrassing. His novels are NOT the place to expand on the ideas he presents in his "World Watch" columns. IMHO, anyway. I prefer to buy a novel when I buy his work, not a collection of World Watch essays, mmkay?
Actually, his novels are the place for him to write whatever he wants. But that also means he takes the chance of losing readers. But it's definitely the place for his ideas, regardless of how abhorrent they may be.
Question my taste if you want, but...I'm not fond of the flavor of political screed in the novels I read.
I'm by no means endorsing WHAT he writes, I'm just saying, as they are HIS novels, he can write whatever he wants. It then becomes your choice to read them or not.
Personally, I read most of it as complete fantasy, so if he has any agenda to push, it gets ignored by me anyways.
Posts: 164 | Registered: Sep 2012
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posted
I find his Enderverse to be pretty much a non political spin zone, I haven't noticed anything like that there.
Posts: 12931 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Elison R. Salazar: I find his Enderverse to be pretty much a non political spin zone, I haven't noticed anything like that there.
There's a good bit of pro-baby, pro-family, etc. stuff in the Bean books, from what I recall. Petra goes from being a military commander to wanting to be a mommy. It's kind of silly, frankly.
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Elison R. Salazar: I find his Enderverse to be pretty much a non political spin zone, I haven't noticed anything like that there.
There's a good bit of pro-baby, pro-family, etc. stuff in the Bean books, from what I recall. Petra goes from being a military commander to wanting to be a mommy. It's kind of silly, frankly.
"you're my giant."
Posts: 1407 | Registered: Oct 2008
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quote:Originally posted by advice for robots: You'll have to remind me what's wrong with a military commander wanting to be a mommy.
Explain to me how it's remotely believable. Petra is a badass, raised to be a warrior. None of her training, schooling, experiences, day-to-day life, or behavior up to the point of the events of that book would suggest any inclination toward motherhood, domesticity, or worshipful/adoring love of a male peer.
The fact that the average high school girl (or college-aged girl, etc.) in the US is interested in boyfriends, marriage, and/or motherhood has very little to do with a character like Petra, with her background and personality, being focused on those things.
It's out of place. You can deny if you want. I will quietly laugh, and ignore you, though. Use some caps at me, though, if it will make you happy.
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
I'm with Steven. I couldn't help but be suspicious when you take a rabid hyper competitive tomboy and turn her into a pixie, at the age of sixteen, whose life mission is to risk her life for the sake of having Bean's children. Bean narrates that her character in Battle School was "just an act." She's never even the same character after she breaks in the battleroom and "disapoints Ender", and her guilt trip bugged the shit out of me.
Posts: 1407 | Registered: Oct 2008
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: There is a lot of overlap between learning to lead people, and raising good children.
There's also a lot of overlap between caring for children and caring for bedridden hospice patients. That's got nothing to do with anything, bro.
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
Nonsense. It just adds another facet to an already complex and thoroughly fictional character. Which of those kids could even remember anything approaching a normal life? I see it as Petra wanting to do something different than what she had been compelled to do since she was 6. Define her own life, as it were.
At any rate, it wasn’t clear that you were talking about Petra specifically. I thought you meant military commanders in general.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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quote:Originally posted by advice for robots: Nonsense. It just adds another facet to an already complex and thoroughly fictional character. Which of those kids could even remember anything approaching a normal life? I see it as Petra wanting to do something different than what she had been compelled to do since she was 6. Define her own life, as it were.
posted
The relentlessly, aggressively pro-procreation stance of the later Shadow books felt so out of place to me that I regarded them as political, particularly given how neatly they tied in to other themes of Cards along the lines of 'a heterosexual married procreating couple is the only real, authentic unit of coupled humans'.
But more than any of that what bothered me was the way Petra's entire life became oriented around Bean's, with incredible speed. That would've been a bit grating even if it *hadn't* taken the path of extreme domesticity.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
Have you read either of the two, new series? If not, I recommend that anyone who feels OSC should return to his old style should check out the Lost Gate series, and to a lesser extent, the Pathfinder series.
quote:Originally posted by advice for robots: Thought you were going to laugh quietly.
I'm TRYING
OMG IS ALL I AM TO YOU COMIC RELIEF AFTER ALL WE'VE BEEN THROUGH
I honestly have no opinion either way about Petra. It's been years since I've touched an Ender's Shadow book. But you just wanted me to argue with you so much! How could I disappoint you?
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
What bothered me was the LECTURING. Why does every character have to be possessed by Card to lecture and nag the reader about getting married heterosexually and having babies? It's deeply irritating and not just because Petra went from badass tomboy to omg I just want BABIES BABIES BABIES even though they have a rare genetic disorder. And wasn't it possible that their other kids were carriers for that too even though they were born "normal"? And why would you go to someone you can't trust just to have babies when it's not a totally good ideal?
GAH! I hate lecturing in stories. Even if it's something I agree with. It's not unbelievable that a tomboy would be like, now I want babies. But the way it was done in this story and the nagging made me snarl.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by advice for robots: Thought you were going to laugh quietly.
I was gonna make that joke, but it's no surprise someone else noted the unlikelihood.
I was promising to be quiet in response to something like "but EVERYBODY wants to have kids". I apologize. I was not prepared for the joke.
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Hobbes: Have you read either of the two, new series? If not, I recommend that anyone who feels OSC should return to his old style should check out the Lost Gate series, and to a lesser extent, the Pathfinder series.
Hobbes
Have read both books in both series. The Lost Gate series (a.k.a. the Mithermage series) is a bit derivative of "Jumpers" and "American Gods", but I'm not even sure that OSC even read either one of those books, so it may just be a case of convergent evolution, so to speak. The Lost Gate books are pretty good, I'd say in the top third of all his novels. I just finished the second one yesterday.
The Pathfinder books are a semi-rehash of ideas from the Worthing Saga and the Homecoming series (smallish group of humans stranded on a new planet, without knowledge or technology, and how hijinks ensue), but they're definitely better than Homecoming.
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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See, I wouldn't have said that. That's simply not true.
OK, let me restate. Something more like "everybody SHOULD want to have kids and raise a family, it's like the best".
You don't believe that? Certainly OSC does. He's made that plain, first in his essays, then later in multiple books.
It's jarring to someone like me, who thinks that overpopulation is one of the worst problems facing the world today, especially India/China. Especially India.
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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See, I wouldn't have said that. That's simply not true.
OK, let me restate. Something more like "everybody SHOULD want to have kids and raise a family, it's like the best".
You don't believe that? Certainly OSC does. He's made that plain, first in his essays, then later in multiple books.
It's jarring to someone like me, who thinks that overpopulation is one of the worst problems facing the world today, especially India/China. Especially India.
Guess why I put the series down years ago.
I happen to put great value in raising a family, but I'm not going to say what anyone else should do in that regard. Neither am I going to criticize anyone else's choice to have or not have kids.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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See, I wouldn't have said that. That's simply not true.
OK, let me restate. Something more like "everybody SHOULD want to have kids and raise a family, it's like the best".
You don't believe that? Certainly OSC does. He's made that plain, first in his essays, then later in multiple books.
It's jarring to someone like me, who thinks that overpopulation is one of the worst problems facing the world today, especially India/China. Especially India.
Guess why I put the series down years ago.
I happen to put great value in raising a family, but I'm not going to say what anyone else should do in that regard. Neither am I going to criticize anyone else's choice to have or not have kids.
I'm not criticizing Petra. Not formally anyway. I think she's lame, but for selfish reasons. I'm making a conjecture about the person who wrote Petra, along with all the peripheral elements to it, and why he wrote her that way.
Posts: 1407 | Registered: Oct 2008
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See, I wouldn't have said that. That's simply not true.
OK, let me restate. Something more like "everybody SHOULD want to have kids and raise a family, it's like the best".
You don't believe that? Certainly OSC does. He's made that plain, first in his essays, then later in multiple books.
It's jarring to someone like me, who thinks that overpopulation is one of the worst problems facing the world today, especially India/China. Especially India.
Which is ironic because in that universe folks with your opinion have put the boot to those wanting many children.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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The worse advice in the world is the concept that EVERYONE should have children. No, some people should NOT have children. They do not want children. It's OK not to want children. I respect people who admit that. I can't really decide. Children make loud noises that hurt my ears. They demand a lot of care and some people just do not want to give kids the care they need. Worse reason to have kids is because society says to do it. No. Don't listen to it if you don't want kids! How people raise kids has an effect on society. *soap box*
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Synesthesia: Pathfinder frustrated me.
I personally am not a fan of the lying robots. Also, time travel paradoxes get a little unwieldy. However, at least there's no preaching, that I remember...and it's a better working of that idea from Homecoming.
Granted, "it's better than Homecoming" isn't exactly ringing praise.
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
He still had once instance of preaching. I swear nagging and lecturing about marriage and babies is to OSC the way sex is to LKH. You just want to sit both of them down and go, OSC, no LECTURING about marriage and babies or heterosexual monogamy. Stop it. And LKH you can go 10 pages without a long drawn out sex scene when folks were in the middle of actually doing something besides having sex!
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Synesthesia: He still had once instance of preaching. I swear nagging and lecturing about marriage and babies is to OSC the way sex is to LKH. You just want to sit both of them down and go, OSC, no LECTURING about marriage and babies or heterosexual monogamy. Stop it. And LKH you can go 10 pages without a long drawn out sex scene when folks were in the middle of actually doing something besides having sex!
Wait. LKH isn't just porn for girls who like fantasy?
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
Yes, but sometimes you need a bit of story with your cheap porn. Some kind of plot otherwise it's just smutty. But, really, girl needs to go easy on the cayenne pepper. It's gets silly when they are like, someone just got killed, we need to investigate, but first, we need to go off to some magical world and have SEX. YAY! SEX for like 20 pages and using the world spill incorrectly.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I could believe her with Bean, but having another zillion more with Peter? That was weird. Also, Peter's still a sociopath, so marrying your protagonist to him is all sorts of delusional. And cruel. And makes Petra seem Really Really Stupid. And out of left field.
Posts: 1757 | Registered: Oct 2004
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quote:Originally posted by theamazeeaz: I could believe her with Bean, but having another zillion more with Peter? That was weird. Also, Peter's still a sociopath, so marrying your protagonist to him is all sorts of delusional. And cruel. And makes Petra seem Really Really Stupid. And out of left field.
Yeah, I'd be real careful about making sure there wasn't a sociopathy gene(s) before I'd have kids with one.
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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I would not want to marry a sociopath. They would stress me out. OSC doesn't do romance well except for Peggy and Alvin. Their relationship was kind of cool.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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