posted
Hello OSC. I am wondering, with all the publicity that Rush is giving you, will you do any radio interviews with talk show hosts to promote Empire? To get my political thriller fix, I have found many authors from listening to Michael Medved, Rush, Glenn Beck, and others. Having a phone conversation with a talk show host sure sounds easier than doing a book tour.
I have found Joel C. Rosenberg (who used to publish with TOR/Forge), Vince Flynn, Ted Bell, and others this way.
I know that you wrote this book because it is a cool idea, but mainstream recognition of you as my favorite author will make you more money, and may get Ender's Game movie moving forward. Then you become a celebrity and get invited to become a card carrying member of the Right Wing Conspiracy. Then everyone on Ornery will get deluged by conservative posters and will give me a chance to gloat over all those people who hate your politics over there! I really need to chill.
Posts: 231 | Registered: Apr 2005
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I think that's a good idea. I imagine that most people that tune in to Rush would enjoy the topic that Empire covers.
Posts: 2054 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Well, now that Rush clearly knows who OSC is (he mentioned him on the show) maybe he will look at some of his books. I did send Rush an e-mail letting him know about Empire. Maybe it will get a mention on the show sometime.
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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Anyway Senor Card, do you anticipate doing any promoting of this new book? Any signings or public appearances?
Posts: 231 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
Here we go, not that I should have been surprised. The Glenn and Helen podcast (Glenn, a U. Tennessee law prof, writes Instapundit and Helen, his wife and a psychologist, writes Dr. Helen) did a nice long interview with OSC, which you can listen to at Politics CentralPosts: 170 | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Most of the promotion of the book actually will be by radio. There will be a few signings -- check the hatrack calendar -- basically Utah and Greensboro, NC.
Posts: 780 | Registered: Jul 1999
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I greatly enjoyed Card's interview on the Glenn and Helen show. Are there any transcripts of it?
On an unrelated note, I'm assuming that Card was referring to console gamers as paying $300 for the system and $60-$70 for a game. As a PC gamer, I've dropped well over $2K for my system, and only $30-$50 for games. Posts: 561 | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
Of course, on Amazon people are doing an anti-promotion - deliberately reviewing the book to run down the number of stars, even though few of the antis have even read it.
The funny thing is that their reviews uniformly demonstrate exactly the main point of the book - that people are so polarized they refuse even to consider that the "other side" might have some merit.
Since the point of the book is not that one side is right and the other wrong, but that polarization is dangerous and that treating people of all political stripes decently and nonviolently is the way to go (i.e., "tolerance"), it's ironic that people who have not read the whole book leap to the conclusion that because I have red-state soldiers (surprise! who knew that such existed?) as the heroes of the book - and I show them as really smart guys who have genuine intellectual discussions (which fits exactly with the real soldiers I've known - who do you think volunteers these days?) - the book must be a conservative diatribe. Therefore they attack it with absurd statements like "predictable" and "boring." Well, predictable it ain't - just proves they haven't read it - and "boring" is in the eye of the beholder.
These clowns are simply incapable of empathizing with characters who disagree with them. And so they don't read the rest of the book to find out what it's ACTUALLY about. A book whose point is moderation and tolerance is getting savaged by the Left because it's "extremist" right-wing - proving that these particular Leftists, at least, are so dishonest they review a book they haven't read, and so bigoted they can't identify with people who don't agree with them.
I wish I could include their reviews with the book as proof: "You think people aren't bigoted fanatics? Look at these reviews!"
Meanwhile, though, their strategy is working. Empire, quite possibly the best book I've ever written (certainly the best PAGETURNER I've written), is getting only a couple of stars ("average rating") and is being called boring and predictable.
Now, folks: Does anybody wonder how people can get the false impression we're losing the War on Terror? You just pound out the lies and those who know the truth don't speak up, and pretty soon "everybody" knows that "everybody knows" something that simply isn't so.
that's how groupthink and propaganda work.
Being a moderate is so discouraging. you keep getting attacked as an extremist. Probably because moderates with a strong point of view are correctly seen as far more dangerous to the puritans than extremists of the opposite viewpoint.
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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I'm really looking forward to reading it after reading the Amazon reviews. If those people were as far off the mark about the "predictability" as you claim, it should be a great read!
I *think* it's sitting in my stocking right now (my husband gets his shopping done EARLY!) so I'll have to wait to buy it until I know for sure that Santa didn't bring it to me.
Edited to add: In a few years, when a lot of the war-hungriness of the world has hopefully boiled back down for a decade or two, it may well be viewed as one of the best political-themed novels around, so don't let "The Man" get you down, Mr. Card.
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Mr. Card, would you like me to provide another perspective that you may not have considered? I understand that my POV is not always appreciated, so I don't want to offer it unsolicited, but I sincerely believe you may be overlooking some other elements in your analysis and would volunteer those observations if you're interested -- even privately, if you'd prefer.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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It's hard to understand the full perspective as there are a lot of points of views to consider. The soldiers. The Iraqi police. Iraqi citizens, even the perspective of the insurgents. My opinions are not completely informed because I do not know everything and do not have tehe time to look at every source, but I disagree with the war on every level. Not because of group think, but because I naturally mistrust people when they state a war is going fine when there have been so many losses just in the past month.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Tom, I'll say it out loud, and from my point of view, having not read the book, though I plan to.
Just from reading your post OSC, I get the creepies when you say that this is your best book. How can you possibly know that? I haven't read it, but I know from experience that it takes me a good year to decide a book was even great, after I've read it. You're coming from having JUST WRITTEN the book, so you're in that mindset, but you have to consider that not everyone is coming from that experience, and of course not everyone is prepared or willing to recieve your book. The fact that people are coming up with these extreme reactions to the book tells me (having not yet read it) that this may say something about the book as well as about them.
You write for an audience composed of people who know your work, and people who don't. The people who don't know you or your work are probably not very confused by what you are saying, because it is their first impression of you, and they can take it in a clear-headed way (hopefully). However your fans, or your readership, are reading this book and taking it badly, or at least the ones who are are being vocal about it (as they often will do). This tells me that there is something possibly inconsistent about your relationship with your fan-base, that some of them feel confused or betrayed or unsure of your motives... that they don't completely trust you. This tells me that maybe this book is not as consistent or as clear as you think it is. There may be problems with the book and its presentation that you haven't considered because you wrote it, and it makes sense to you.
I'm just trying to say that whenever an artist or a writer or a singer does something that gets a bad reaction, and then they turn around and go: "Seee????" I wonder about their motives, and I trust them a little less. You should be, if you are really confident about the quality of the book, more confident that its detractors will only ad to its cache, like the scandalous censorship of Bradbury's Farenheit 451 made the book even MORE relevant (though he was still understandably pissed).
On a different note- I have consistently found that I have liked mostly work that you haven't taken seriously. For instance, the classic example is that you took SFTD very seriously, and EG was "having fun," and yet EG is the book that people consistently attach to your name, and revere the most. This tells me that you place importance on things that people respond to less, even when they do respond, and that you tend to deemphasize the elements that people actually like. For instance, you consistently say that EG doesn't try to be "literary" in the same sense that makes people hate "literature," and yet to me, EG is very literary, and deeply complex in the literary sense. When I read your books, I feel that I understand what you are saying, but when I read what you have to say about books, I wonder how I could have understood them so differently. This is a consistent thing for me, and probably results as much from my reading more of your take on it than I do most authors.
As one of my music composition teachers once told me when I mentioned that a composer had said something derisive about one of his own famous works (I think it was Ravel on his own 'Bolero'), "what composers say about their own works is sometimes pretty far from the reality that we see, they composed it, that doesn't mean they completely understand it."
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote: "You think people aren't bigoted fanatics? Look at these reviews!"
So if somebody doesn't like a book, they're a bigoted fanatic? That seems like quite a leap to make. Maybe it would be wiser to take what the people said at face value than to give them ulterior motives. A lot of the amazon reviews praise the book. Maybe it rang true for some and not others? That seems more likely than a vast conspiracy against you.
Note: I haven't read the book yet, so I can no longer say I've read the complete Card collection. I'll rectify that soon. Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Empire, quite possibly the best book I've ever written (certainly the best PAGETURNER I've written)....
This comment got my attention. If you believe that this is a strong contender for being the best book you've ever written, I very much want to read it. Unfortunately it was sold out at the bookstore I tried to get it from this evening (which has to be a good sign for you), but I'll get it or check it out soon.
So I'm curious--what things about this book do you feel put it above your other novels?
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Amancer, he wasn't talking about people who have read the book and commented on it. He was talking about the people who haven't read it, but saw fit to trash it simply based on what they believed it to be about, or because of what they already thought of Card.
In other words, he only meant the reviews written by actual bigoted fanatics.
Posts: 241 | Registered: Nov 2001
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He doesn't know who's read the book, and who hasn't. Don't forget that- he is making assumptions about people making assumptions. They may be safe assumptions, but then again they may not be. If people actually read the book and then wrote these things, that says something else. It's no use talking about the people who don't even read the books and then bash them- they're kind of beyond reasoning.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Well, there was one reviewer who said he skimmed that last few chapters, and another who based the review on the first five chapter that are online.
Posts: 94 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I don't know, I always prefer an author believe that every new work is their "greatest" work. If an author ever came out and said "Eh, it's pretty good, but it's not my best.." I'd never bother buying it because it would tell me they don't believe in it. I want someone to believe 100% that every new piece of work is their "greatest" piece of work. It's just a matter of confidence. The moment you stop feeling as though you're topping yourself, quit.
Posts: 202 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
I listened to Scott on the Glenn & Helen Show podcast from instapundit.com. I thought it was great and very interesting. I was wondering if OSC can tell me/us what book he was reading on the fall on the Rome that referenced trade in the Eastern Empire vs. the Western Empire? I have read several books on Rome and had not come across that thesis.
Many Thanks Alex
Posts: 1 | Registered: Dec 2006
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quote:on Amazon people are doing an anti-promotion - deliberately reviewing the book to run down the number of stars, even though few of the antis have even read it.
Saw that also happen some on Amazon with Michael Crichton's "State of Fear". It brought out some strongly polarized reactions.
posted
Kristine Card mentioned to me at a book signing that they have been doing several radio shows around the country to promote Empire. She said she would work on getting the upcoming shows up on the calendar.
Posts: 231 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Hmmm... I am an old grandma who's daughter just recently got her to read her way through the Ender series. (I am on my 6th one and have totally been enjoying myself.) But, reading OSC's political views and this thread, have made me take the jump out of the series.
I just bought myself a copy of Empire.
Can't wait to read it.
Posts: 10 | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
Um, just want to suggest that anyone who hasn't downloaded the podcast to listen to it yet should definitely give it a shot. It gives a lot of insight into OSC's ideas, about where his politics come from, about where he goes to get informed on the issues, and more about the stuff being discussed all over this side of the forum right now.
I do, however, suggest you download it rather than listening to it online. The player on the sight contains no features beyond play and pause, so if you miss something and want to go back, forget it.
But do download it. Good listen.
Posts: 1894 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Just thought that I would say that I am totally enjoying Empire. I got it on cd and have it playing in my car every time I find an excuse to go somewhere. I am not sure if listening in the car was a really good idea, but.... people do seem to be trying to avoid getting in my way. Posts: 10 | Registered: Aug 2006
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I'm strangely tempted to pick up a copy of Empire and see why it's been getting such an underwhelming response.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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In most threads where I have seen Empire talked about or reviewed... there is very little mentioned about the merits of the book itself. The main complaints I have read, have been mostly about OSC's politics or about the perceived political statements being made in the book. (Interestingly I might add... some of the people making these statements have never even read the thing. )
It seems to me like there are a lot of people who are making judgments about the quality of the book and OSC's writing ability solely on the perceived view that OSC is attacking their political party.
Considering the fact that OSC clearly shares his intentions in the afterward of his book... it seems to me that a person would have to be pretty sensitive to write scathing reviews about Empire, just because they feel that someone is purposely stepping on their political toes.
Posts: 10 | Registered: Aug 2006
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I think that everyone is missing the point.
Which is that...damn, that's a spoiler, isn't it? But it's really important. No, you must read this book. It isn't about red and blue, or tolerance or division or any of that CR4P. It's about how even good people will sell their souls for the sake of a little peace. I was...profoundly disturbed. It's a terrifying book, in the end. It's just as well that liberals aren't reading it, I'm glad that the general public is being protected from a book that would force them to ask themselves the question this book brings to the point.
I answer that question with a shout of defiance.
Posts: 763 | Registered: Aug 1999
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quote: I'm glad that the general public is being protected from a book that would force them to ask themselves the question this book brings to the point.
So, are you saying that those who are bashing the book without reading it, or who are concerned that the message will cause people to question their political positions and are spreading falsehoods about the book... are doing a public service?
Posts: 10 | Registered: Aug 2006
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