Yesterday I had six skin biopsies done at my annual "Did Libbie develop melanoma yet?" dermatologist's visit. As you can imagine, I had a hard time sleeping last night thanks to some really angry sutures all over my body. So I picked up my copy of my friend's new book, "The Life and Crimes of Bernetta Wallflower," to entertain me while I tried to get comfortable enough to fall asleep.
It's written by my pal Lisa Graff. This is her second children's novel. I don't know about you guys, but I love well-written children's books. I have been eagerly awaiting this one to arrive in my mail box. Well, it was worth the wait! I'm amazed at what Lisa can do. The story was totally engrossing. Even though I did finally get comfy, I actually couldn't stop reading until I'd finished the book, it was so compelling. I stayed up for three hours with that book!
Anyhow, the main character is a smart 12-year-old girl who falls in with a boy her age who convinces her that becoming a team of con-artists is the only way for them both to raise the very large sum of money they each need to achieve their important summertime goals. He is obsessed with movies, and she is obsessed with books, especially science fiction and fantasy. She is seen reading (an chewing on) several sci-fi classics throughout the book, including Dune, A Wrinkle In Time, The Hitch-hiker's Guide, and, to my surprise, Ender's Game! Woot!
Lisa and I have discussed books many times before, as you can imagine, but somehow I have never thought to ask her whether she's a Card fan. I suppose this kind of answers that question for me!
Anyway, this is the first time I've encountered a character reading an OSC book in another book. Has anybody else ever made such a discovery? I'd like to know what other fictional characters besides Bernetta Wallflower have such good taste in literature. Posted by Timoty (Member # 10389) on :
Nope... though Cory Doctorow does have a short story called 'Anda's Game' - and he remarks in his introduction to it that if said with a strong British accent, it sounds like 'Ender's Game'. And it was good.
Posted by sylvrdragon (Member # 3332) on :
Do you need permission for books and whatnot to have a Cameo in your own work? I'm guessing probably not considering how much you see stuff like Star Wars mentioned at every turn. I've seen EG references here and there, but not yet in another published book or movie. I know it shows up in a couple xkcd.com comics and various other media throughout the internet.
Posted by Libbie (Member # 9529) on :
You probably do. Or maybe not! I'm not sure, really. In any case, if you do, I'm sure permission was obtained. It's a Harper Collins imprint that published this book. They seem pretty reputable and smart to me. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Mentioning a book's name, title, author, and plot summary would be fair use, neh? No permission required.
Posted by hatrkr81 (Member # 9317) on :
The main character in Charles de Lint's Greenmantle (also a young girl...can't remember her name right now) is also an Orson Scott Card fan! I remember reading that at the beginning of the book and thinking it was so cool. That's a great book by the way...love de Lint.
Posted by hatrkr81 (Member # 9317) on :
Oh, and I hope everything was ok at the doctor's Libbie.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
I have a physics text book somewhere that has a problem based on the Ender/Bonzo fight.
Posted by Occasional (Member # 5860) on :
I can't remember the exact novels, but I have run into Ender's Game getting mentioned at least twice. Once, I believe, it was a military story mentioning what they studied in the academy.
I wish I had good enough memory to remember the titles.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
quote:Originally posted by rivka: Mentioning a book's name, title, author, and plot summary would be fair use, neh? No permission required.
Definitely no permission required, but I'm not sure it's fair use that allows this.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
It's fair use that allows doing much the same thing in a book review.
Posted by happysmiley (Member # 9703) on :
I did see a magazine cover that had a girl holding a copy of Ender's Game.
Posted by Libbie (Member # 9529) on :
quote:Originally posted by hatrkr81: Oh, and I hope everything was ok at the doctor's Libbie.
coming to this late, but it was. Two moles were normal and four were precancerous, but precancerous doesn't mean they were necessarily going to turn into skin cancer - it just means they were funky in some way.
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