tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post4574030017550022134..comments2024-02-05T10:41:31.777-05:00Comments on I Saw Lightning Fall: An Intense, Crowd-Pleasing GameLoren Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-18606579927421813772011-12-02T09:00:11.485-05:002011-12-02T09:00:11.485-05:00That sounds ... most unusual. Like combining the v...That sounds ... most unusual. Like combining the viewpoints of a gender critic and a social conservative. And, you know, those two camps don't normally find a lot of common ground.<br /><br />I don't really know what more to say about that.Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-89084861304272395112011-12-01T23:51:12.424-05:002011-12-01T23:51:12.424-05:00It's specifically that he seems to believe tha...It's specifically that he seems to believe that all heterosexual men secretly long for the healing power of someone else's penis, and that social ostracization and rigid laws prohibiting such behavior are the only things keeping the species reproducing normally. He writes about this at length.<br /><br />Dude's got issues, is all I'm saying. This goes way deeper than just agreeing with culturally received wisdom regarding sexual morality.Scattercathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00302815654553659644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-76041024399719991072011-11-29T14:48:29.462-05:002011-11-29T14:48:29.462-05:00Aidan and CR,
I'm quite interested in reading...Aidan and CR,<br /><br />I'm quite interested in reading <i>Speaker for the Dead</i>. It sounds as though it has a very different tone than <i>Ender's Game</i>. I liked <i>Ender</i>, sure, but it didn't set my world on fire as I expected it to.Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-79255989582581922762011-11-29T10:48:13.976-05:002011-11-29T10:48:13.976-05:00I'll also echo Aidan: Speaker is nothing like ...I'll also echo Aidan: <i>Speaker</i> is nothing like <i>Ender's Game</i>. The Shadow series (<i>Ender's Shadow</i>, <i>Shadow of the Hegemon</i>, <i>Shadow Puppets</i>, &c.) does a much better job of capturing the fun of <i>Ender's Game</i>, but isn't as thought provoking. They do, however, establish Bean as a much more fascinating figure than you ever thought he was.Chestertonian Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01550643992523840950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-14977452248116729502011-11-29T10:45:19.171-05:002011-11-29T10:45:19.171-05:00Wow. This has been an enlightening discussion.
I ...Wow. This has been an enlightening discussion.<br /><br />I read Ender's Game while single, admittedly, but in a particularly stable and balanced place. I never thought of it as a book to change people's lives, and haven't recommended it as such. I have, however, considered it the prime book to give to someone new to the SF genre, because it seems to have a bit of everything. Breathtaking fantasy world--check (in the computer program, which may be OSC's best gadget.) Disturbing ethical questions--check. Adventure with a single, likable character--check. Interesting alien race--check. Thrilling climax--check. Card does a few things exceptionally well, but he seems to do <b>everything</b> with a fine sense of professionalism.<br /><br />For this reason, while it doesn't actually reside on my bookshelf of recommendations, I often give it to people who definitely didn't grow up as nerds, and find I have had great success getting them to thoroughly enjoy it, when they wouldn't enjoy, say, Dune. If they tell me their favorite part, I feel I've got a pretty good shot at telling them what they might enjoy next.Chestertonian Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01550643992523840950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-78556872392091267622011-11-28T10:53:02.813-05:002011-11-28T10:53:02.813-05:00@Loren, Speaker for the Dead comes across as a sep...@Loren, Speaker for the Dead comes across as a separate novel. I haven't read it since I was a teenager, but remember liking it.<br /><br />@ScatterCat, Ender's Game was included in my Honor's College English course that included books that had "changed" people's lives. I think the course took a survey before deciding which books would be included. Your discussion on it's popularity casts an amusing light on that episode.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14170148559429001125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-21335772100486355302011-11-28T09:32:46.061-05:002011-11-28T09:32:46.061-05:00Patti,
I'd be curious to hear what you think ...Patti,<br /><br />I'd be curious to hear what you think about it. I saw a copy for cheap in a used bookstore and thought, "It's about time I read this one."Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-25608349077097114472011-11-28T09:32:07.983-05:002011-11-28T09:32:07.983-05:00SC,
Yeah, I'm guessing that the book would...SC,<br /><br />Yeah, I'm guessing that the book would've had more resonance with me if I hadn't read it for the first time while married and with a family. I mean, I enjoyed it, thought it was an entertaining read. But it didn't rock my world.<br /><br />Regarding Card's attitudes towards sexuality, I haven't heard anything except his opposition to homosexual marraige, which hardly surprises given that he's Mormon. Does he have some weird beliefs I don't know about? Surely he can't be as odd as Robert A. Heinlein.Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-1513485450067550912011-11-28T09:30:42.433-05:002011-11-28T09:30:42.433-05:00I have always meant to read this one. Perhaps it n...I have always meant to read this one. Perhaps it needs to be read without any preconceptions.pattinase (abbott)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-41318044910376533442011-11-28T09:28:20.256-05:002011-11-28T09:28:20.256-05:00Aidan,
I remember reading in the intro that Card ...Aidan,<br /><br />I remember reading in the intro that Card originally planned <i>Ender's Game</i> as a lengthy intro to <i>Speaker for the Dead</i>, but it grew into a proper novel in it's own right. A good friend tells me that he much prefers <i>Speaker</i> over <i>Ender's Game</i>. I might have to check it out.Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-14406123052522696372011-11-28T08:56:08.454-05:002011-11-28T08:56:08.454-05:00It gets a little less awesome when you realize tha...It gets a little less awesome when you realize that a lot of SF fans tend to be above-average in intelligence and get picked on a lot, and thus the story's enduring popularity likely owes a debt to the fact that it's a revenge/glory fantasy for socially ostracized nerds.<br /><br />Mind you, the sequels are each about half as good as the book directly before them and rapidly approach unreadability, which soured me on the series as a whole. And then much of the (somewhat troubling) subtext in "Ender's Game" gets a lot weirder when you factor in OSC's absolutely bugnuts attitude toward sexuality. (This is without even getting into Ender's platonic romance with his sister and a robot who lives in his head in the later books.)<br /><br />I loved "Ender's Game" when I first read it, as an angry and clinically depressed "gifted" student in middle/high school. I think it still holds up as a text even now, but I find it a lot more of a mixed bag when I reread it from the point of view of a more-or-less psychologically healthy adult with a stable family life.Scattercathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00302815654553659644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-63075526829057242842011-11-27T23:22:35.267-05:002011-11-27T23:22:35.267-05:00One of the interesting things I find about the way...One of the interesting things I find about the way Orson Scott Card approaches stories is the way he iterates. Ender's Game was initially a short story that was expanded into the novel form (I've most recently read the short story from one of his compendiums). However, it was rewritten yet again when Card chose to concentrate on Bean's point-of-view.<br /><br />In some ways, each of these distillations concentrates on different themes creating different stories.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14170148559429001125noreply@blogger.com