Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

I’m astonished and horrified. We have a copy on tape of Orson Scott Card’s “Secular Humanist Revival” and use it as a teaching tool for my kids -btw, it’s hysterical as well as accurate.

I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised; he is, after all, a devout Mormon. Still, I’d thought better of him.

(still don’t like his books, however - too depressing for my taste.)

reading his article, the bit I object to most is his idea that civilization is based in ‘reproductive security’ and then the following:

“Why would men submit to rules that deprive them of the chance to satisfy their natural desire to mate with every attractive female?

Why would women submit to rules that keep them from trying to mate with the strongest (richest, most physically imposing, etc.) male, just because he already has a wife?”

I find this insulting. It implies that my dh pants to mate with every attractive young thing that saunters by, and is restrained only because of the rules of civilizatino and fear that he’ll have negative consequences if he doesn’t behave.

gad, he’d have me panting to mate and reproduce with Donald Trump! eeewwwww.

I’d need my own blog to respond appropriately just to those two paragraphs. And I hate blogging (present company excepted, of course!)

Oh my Lord. I read parts of that article to my husband and he was just as astonished as I that anyone could pull such crap out of their ass. As I’m reading , I’m thinking- I can’t believe he said that. No wait, I can’t believe he said THAT. Then, OMG, where is he getting this stuff? That essay read like a horror novel where homosexual marriage and ruins the world. And his bit about how no homosexual has been deprived of the right to marry was appalling. Oh hell, who am I kidding. It was all apalling.

And I should say, I just barely escaped being tarred by his brush. Out-of-wedlock births? I guess I’m lucky I got married a month before I had Brianna or I too would be responsible for the destruction of our society.

Sheesh.

I like his books, but am not crazy about them, so it won’t kill me not to read any more of his stuff. Frankly, his rant was depressing. He thinks gay guys should just marry women so they can ‘be married’? What about love? What about romance? What about truth and convictions? What an asshole!
OK - Orson Scott Card is a dickhead.
Let’s hope he googles his own name sometime and finds this.
LAnd while we’re at it, let’s hope his wife leaves him for his best friend’s wife.

Oh*My*God!

The world opens a little wider and Ferfe discovers that Guys Have Blogs!

::DH just handed me a HUGE assed cup of Cuban coffee made with whipping cream steeped in vanilla beans::  He made it himself.  I hate coffee but , damn, isn’t he the best?!  He loves Orson Scott Card --- is currently watching Tread Barta.

Wait.  What was the rant again? 

Yeah.  Assholes and opinions.  What can you do?  The man writes great fiction.  I just bought Ender’s Game for my son.  We already have it (somewhere) but I couldn’t freaking find it.  My daughter stole the new one before Jon could start reading it.  I will tell her about the homosexual rant and see if she gives it back to Jon.  Stand by for updates.

oh blast. whoop-whoophwoop cognitive dissonance alert..

I bought his books new. And I thoroughly enjoyed Ender’s Game and the book about Bean (after that the boys and I lost interest)..

Update on caring about authors and their politics.

Robin Schone is quite possibly the most liberal person I have ever met.  I adore her books.  I disagree with a lot of her politics.  I love her personally and gain a great deal from our conversation.

Katheryn Greyele put her Anti-Gun politics in The Oracle and I had to stop reading because the book was whapping me in the face over and over again with the gun thing.  I am not into guns.  My husband is a Fed and hunts. I personally wish no one needed weapons.  But BUT.  Damn.  Enough with preaching in the fiction already.

Here’s the difference.  If the book is solid and a good read and doesn’t try to make a hidden political statement (Uncles Tom’s Cabin is a different kind of fiction) I don’t care what the authors politics are.  If stupid personal beliefs and bad politics prevented everyone from writing, no works of fiction would EVER make it to the shelves.

Writers are flakes.  Nothing you can do about that.

Writers are flakes.  Nothing you can do about that.

Writers are people. or at least most of them are.

but I agree that there’s a difference between telling a good story and disguising a sermon as a novel.

OK I and a writer and I am a flake. 

Better?

:: Munching my Special K and looking for hidden political messages in the blurb on the back of the box ::

There isn’t time or space to tackle his sweeping pronouncements.  Have to admit, I’ve never heard that bit about gays can marry--just not each other, before.  Wow.  You have to be pretty dedicated to your narrow mindedness to come up with that.

Here’s a wider question: is reading an author like Card at all, whether used or by borrowing a book from a friend or the library, supporting that author indirectly? I know used book sales aren’t tracked, but library readers are, and the more people borrow a book from the library the more likely the library is to purchase additional work by the author?

(I happen to think Ender’s Game is brilliant, by the way, but that’s immaterial to this question)

I would respond, but my brain has completely attacked itself in self-defense. I may never be the same again. I never thought stupidity could be so...complete.

I need a margarita.

Robin Schone is very liberal? Who would have thought. I’ve read about 2-3 of her books and I felt that if I ever read about another homosexual murdering rapist/pedophile I’d want to shoot myself.

As to Card I’ve never read any of his books so avoiding won’t be an issue. For me there is a difference between merely having different politics and demonising a section of society to prop your views. I won’t be picking up any of his books.

“If the book is solid and a good read and doesn’t try to make a hidden political statement (Uncles Tom’s Cabin is a different kind of fiction) I don’t care what the authors politics are.  If stupid personal beliefs and bad politics prevented everyone from writing, no works of fiction would EVER make it to the shelves.”

In a lot of ways, I don’t necessarily care what a person’s personal politics are. But racism, sexism and homophobia are three very, very hot buttons with me. And in my opinion, preachy fiction (especially when you’re not expecting the fiction to be preachy) is every bit as annoying when it comes from people whose politics are in sync with my own as it is from people whose politics are light-years away from mine. I avoid authors who are too preachy with their fiction, but in this case it’s purely an aesthetic issue.

What it boils down to is: I don’t want a racist, sexist or homophobe to have my dollars. Or at least I want to avoid giving my dollars to that person if I possibly can once I’m informed of their views. It may not necessarily impact that person in an appreciable way (I really, really doubt OSC is going to miss the royalties from me not buying his books) but it sure as hell makes ME feel better.

Robin Schone is very liberal? Who would have thought. I’ve read about 2-3 of her books and I felt that if I ever read about another homosexual murdering rapist/pedophile I’d want to shoot myself.

See?  This how distracted I am when reading hot sex scenes.  The deeper meaning of it all just blows right past me.  Clearly I must reread them all without the vibrator.

And I can ... because I don’t care what an authors’ politics are any more than I care about an actors’ politics.  We are not talking about Christopher Hitchens or Hunter S. Thompson and the myriad of other writers who put their politics and philosophies in their novels.  These are fiction writers. 

Maybe they know what they are talking about?  May they are talking out of their ass?  Who knows.  But they write great fiction and I try never to deprive myself. 

The mans’ name is Orson for gods sake.  How seriously can you take him?

Spoilers here-in for those who haven’t read Schones’ “Lady Tutor”, “Gabriel’s Woman” and umm, that other book that came before that.

Ferfe, it really wasn’t particularly deep but didn’t Schone bludgeon her readers with it in “Lady’s Tutor”? It had a ring of homosexual pedophiles for goodness sake, some of which partook in incest and attempted murder! Not to mention the guy who raped the hero? Kinda hard to miss.

Then we had Gabriel and his pal (forgot his name) who were both raised in a brothel, and the friend who had sex with woman had a great time but poor Gabriel got them, which had him all but puking. There is more, Schone was anything but subtle. I chose to avoid her other books.

**End of Spoilers**

The thing for me is that there’s a difference between a political view and plain ol’ crazy BS. Being against gay marriage for whatever moral reasons has now become a political view. Presenting homosexuals as deviants out to get our children and destroy society is plain ol’crazy BS. In this situation I believe I have enough knowledge to say that Orson “doesn’t know what he’s talking about”. There’s more than enough great fiction out there it won’t be much of a deprivation.

I haven’t read The Lady’s Tutor. 

I read the other Schone books more than two years ago.  This is significant because two summers ago I damn near died from ciguatera (and yes it’s in my freaking book and I put the ciguatera reference in before I got the fish toxin so it was obviously a creepy kind of karmic fish retribution voodoo).  Ciguatera affects memory as well as other things.  I had to re-read about a million books starting with all my computer books and working my way through the romances again.  Fortunately, I read very fast.

I have not reread Schone’s books, yet.  But I do remember liking Gabriel’s Woman.  Her heros are very damaged emotionaly.  Many of her fans are bisexual or homosexual.  If it had been an overt, hit-you-over-the-head kind of thing they would have picked up on it, yes? 

Pedophiles are indefensible BTW.  Just Say’n.

Yes.  Orson’s rant is completely over the top, frothing at the mouth, asshatted-ness. (LOVE that word.  I am rolling around with it and bonding.) I’ll still buy his books.

I noticed the weird homo-hate thing going in Schone’s books, too, and I think other people have picked up on it as well--I know Mrs. Giggles has mentioned it in the past. I have no idea what Schone’s politics are, but over-the-top villains in general indicate lazy writing, and I find that many authors often use homosexuality and bisexuality as a way to further demonize a bad guy ("LOOK! He likes COCK! What a deviant he is, on top of being a thief and a liar and a traitor and a Very Bad Person in general!"). Anyway, Schone’s books didn’t really thrill me all that much to begin with, and after trying to read The Lady’s Tutor and The Lover, I just stopped reading her entirely.

I guess when you live in the Keys it’s just not an issue.  That whole subplot in Gabriel’s Woman just whiffed right over my head.

We are a live and let live kind of place and prefer to debate the more pressing issues.  Issues like:

* Was it realy such a great idea to ban the homeless from catching and BBQ’ing the wild chickens on Smather’s Beach?  Umm, now that the island is completely over-run with chickens it seems like that was a bad idea. 

* Will the retiree, historical preservationists ever allow people to pet the cats again at Hemingway’s House? 

* Is it fair that the State Govt is making an exception for smoking at Sloppy Joes, especially since Sloppy Joes isn’t even the bar Hemingway actualy hung out in all those years ago. 

* Why the hell won’t anyone evacuate when the weather gods say a hurricane is coming?  Why? 

* Is EVERYONE stoned out of their minds?  Why, yes.  yes they are ...

Ironic moment in Bars - off topic.

When they opened the Zane Gray Bar here in Islamorada and touted the Cigar Smoking fabulousness of it all, reporters asked Zane’s grandson how his Grandfather would have perceived the way they were honoring Zane’s memory since he so loved the Keys.

He politely pointed out that Zane had never smoked, to his knowledge.

The point being ... wait ... mind melting ... ok ... the point being that we didn’t used to know much about the personal habits, politics, religion or beliefs of our favorite authors.  Life was good then, better, less filling.

Somewhat, I guess. Some authors were still plenty high-profile, though, and created scandal because of who they were/what they did/what they believed in and people exhorted others to boycott them for those reasons, not necessarily because of what they wrote. Oscar Wilde and Lord Byron come to mind. Not to mention how women in the past took on male pen names. Actually, the latter is probably a different but related issue.

p.s. And I still plan to read some of Orson Scott Card’s work. I’m just going to make sure the crazy old bastard isn’t going to get my money while I’d doing it, mwahaha. Petty? Infantile? Futile? I don’t care.

the point being that we didn’t used to know much about the personal habits, politics, religion or beliefs of our favorite authors.

what about the flap about Ezra Pound being a Nazi sympathizer? seems to me there was a semi-boycott of his work; I know my Jewish SIL won’t read him and won’t let her kids read him, even for school.

Orson Scott Card, wow I’m glad he never mentioned something like that when he was recently in New Zealand.  Considering we introduced the Civil Union Bill, that allows those of the same sex to “marry”, and considering how many gay/lesbians attend the National Science Fiction Convention in NZ.  I am so surprised.

>> ... so the system that provides reproductive success to the largest number is the system that will be most likely to keep a civilization alive. <<

Oh, okay.  Well, that’s Niger.  According to the most recent statistics I could find, Niger has the highest birth rate of the world.  Let’s all move there, because that high birth rate--excuse me, the reproductive success of the largest number of its citizens--must indicate a highly advanced, tolerant, free, and God-fearing society. 

Bull fucking shit.  Can I give Mr. Orson Headuphisass Card a little smidge of actual fact?  Niger, with a population of about 12 million and an average life expectancy of 46 years, ranks as one of the world’s least developed countries, with one of the lowest incomes.  (So much for the success of society depending on the success of their fucking, eh?)

Most families depend on subsistence farming, growing only enough food to survive until the next harvest. Even in the best years, 40 percent of children are malnourished, the United Nations office said. One in four children dies before the age of 5.  (That’s from the NY Times.  I’m sure they’re run by gay, married editors and columnists from broken, fatherless homes.  Don’t get mad, Mr. Card.  They don’t know any better.)

By the way, he mentions a reproductive free-for-all.  That sounds kind of fun, actually.  Where can I find that party?  Do you have to be invited, or can I just crash it?

Does that mean that those of us who choose not to or cannot reproduce should not be allowed to get married? Gads, I’d better tell my husband, my two adopted kids, and their birth parents that we’re destroying civilization as we know it. (ah, the power!)

I had to stop.  My brain hurts.  But I have to say, now I feel so very, very guilty about divorcing my abusive ex-husband when my oldest son was 18 monts and I was 2 weeks from delivering my second son.  I’m deeply ashamed of that act of cowardice.

I clearly should’ve stuck around so my kids could have that vision of saintly fatherhood.  Just think what better men they’d have become if I’d let them see their mama getting slapped down all the time.  They’d probably already be following in dear old dad’s footsteps, instead of using such horrible words as “please” and “thank you,” and running ahead of me wherever we go so they can open the door for me and say, with huge grins, “Ladies first!” Instead, they could have joined the natural, civilised order of things and said things like, “Hey, you worthless bitch!  Where’s my fucking socks?”

Oh, yes.  I have so deprived them.  Perhaps I should just go marry a chick so their downfall can be complete.  Then they can embrace the Dark Side, have a swordfight with Obi-Wan near a lava flow, and get a nifty black mask…

Which reminds me of something.

I don’t usually share kid stories because let’s face it, most of them are only interesting to their mama, but this one applies.  My littlest was mad at me the other day and told me I’m the meanest mama in the world.  I told him, yes I am, and I’m the only one you’re gonna get, so you’d better get used to it.  (I’m really nice like that.) He stops, glares at me, and says, “Nuh-uh.  If you married a girl, then I could have TWO mamas!”

After I laughed my ass off, we had the discussion about this (I’m probably not going to marry a girl, but it’d be okay if I did--see, I’m destroying him already) and by the time we got home, he delivered his verdict.  “Don’t, Mama.  Two of you would be WAY too many rules.”

My attitude is simple: love is love. Period. If the two people involved are in love, they should be allowed to make their committment legal and enjoy the benefits.

In fact, since a common misconception is that the gay community is to blame for the spread of AIDS (statistically incorrect, but common) you think they’d be commended for wanting to make said committment.

And honestly, does it hurt anyone to let them marry? No. So the idea offends some people. Wah. Bigotry and arrogance offends me, but these folks seem to think that’s ok.

Ferfe, it actually didn’t hit me until I read three of her books. In Gabriel’s Woman I noticed but thought it was just a...you know, plot thing. Then I read The Lover and I figured she was just continuing some kind of...theme. Then I read the Lady’s Tutor and said, WTF? Darn it, I’m sorry about spoiling it for you though, that’ll teach me to run off my mouth. Colour me surprised about the bi/gay fin thing though, I’d expect that for Emma Holly maybe since her bi/homo characters are...umm...normal. Schone has a lot of other books though, perhaps if I just picked up one more…

naaah.

Amy your kid is smart. ;) I was born out of wedlock so we can continue to destroy society together!

wow...that article is fucked up. but the best part is the section labled:

The Propaganda Mill

What happens now if children grow up in a society that overtly teaches that homosexual partnering is not “just as good as” but actually is marriage?

Once this is regarded as settled law, anyone who tries to teach children to aspire to create a child-centered family with a father and a mother will be labeled as a bigot and accused of hate speech.

Can you doubt that the textbooks will be far behind? Any depictions of “families” in schoolbooks will have to include a certain proportion of homosexual “marriages” as positive role models.

Television programs will start to show homosexual “marriages” as wonderful and happy..

i say, bring it!!!

(and as others mentioned earlier, substitute in bi-racial couples, or two-religion couples in to see how wacky this all is)

If the legislature allows gay references at all.

Alabama has introduced a law that would prohibit any state-funded agency or institution from offering any literary or other art form that shows homosexuality in a positive light.

http://www.eros-london.com/articles/2005-01-04/gaybookban0104/