I dont know too much about him. Can anybody tell me why i have heard exmormons say they dont like him?

Orson Scott Card is an anagram for Ass Hat. Well, maybe not letter for letter.

Here's a couple quotes by OSC

Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books…to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society’s regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens.

How long before married people answer the dictators thus: Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn. Biological imperatives trump laws. American government cannot fight against marriage and hope to endure. If the Constitution is defined in such a way as to destroy the privileged position of marriage, it is that insane Constitution, not marriage, that will die.

Yep, Ass Hat is right

Orson Scott Card is a fairly well known Science fiction writer. He wrote a popular series starting with his best novel "Ender's Game". It's set in the future, after/during a war with an alien race, and the governments of the earth are use children in their strategy, the most exceptional of which is the title character, Ender.

He has written several other series, one is a fantasy series loosely based on Joseph Smith, and another science fiction series based on the Book of Mormon. Some of his other books could be termed Mormon propaganda, promoting Mormon themes and issues, up to a fictional biography based on one of Joseph Smith's wives.

He has a following in the science fiction community and some of his books are well regarded. In recent years he has stuck his toes into comic books, and Ender's Game is getting a Movie adaption this year (I believe trailers should be out soon). In his local area, he writes and directs plays at church and local schools and teaches an annual writing workshop. He also writes a column for a local newspaper.

So, here's where the controversy comes in. He is an outspoken homophobic bigot. BC Posted a couple of his more inflammatory comments, but there's a lot more that are easy to find via Google. He is on the board for NOM, an anti-marriage equality group and has posted several essays stating his reasons for why Gay marriage should not be allowed (including BC's quotes above where it should be illegal to be gay and that he would work to destroy any government that allows marriage equality). He often includes a "gay" character in his books, and points to them and says that he does not hate them, while usually those characters have some tragic or fatal flaw, including one who turned out to be a pedophile.

His comments on the subject are so vile that when DC announced his involvement with the an upcoming Superman promotional comic series around the time of the movie, that there was a call for a ban on the comics he's tied to, and DC in general unless they remove him. So far, he's still listed.

It has gotten to the point that the production company handling the movie adaption of "Ender's Game" is considering downplaying OSC's involvement and not including him in any of the promotional meetings, comic con's and interviews for fear of backlash.

He is entrenched in his Mormonhood, he is a focal point for anti-gay politics and based on his on-line writing, can be seen as more than a little self important. More than enough reason for most ex-mo's to not exactly like him.

To bring Superman comics into the area of church literature with an eye toward its becoming doctrinal...

Plans are to suggest that the Planet Krypton once occupied a co-orbital location in the same solar system as Kolob...

They're also going to move the Fortress of Solitude to Little Cottonwood Canyon near one of the church's vaults.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2013 12:21PM by SL Cabbie.

Thanks, and thanks BC for the information. I have coworkers emailing each other about how wonderful he is, it was getting annoying.

"Book of Mormon: Artifice or Artifact?"

http://packham.n4m.org/card-bom.htm

I keep forgetting about that one... It's kind of awesome when the apologist disproves what their trying to prove.

...Wow, get a load of this guys picture. Brings to mind the old adage, "me thinks he doth protest too much".
what a douchebag homophobic asshole!

In case you guys missed this, worth a read.

http://www.salon.com/2013/03/07/end_game_for_orson_scott_card_partner/

So the little bastage did get kicked off of Superman. Justice prevails again!

I wouldn't say I don't like him. The first book of his I read was, "Saints" which incidentally got me questioning the church a lot, especially polygamy. I think "Saints" was his attempt at reconciling what he felt was a huge black stain on his Mormon beliefs with what he wants to believe true. I started reading "Enders Game" it's okay, I guess, not my favorite. I'm going to read the Ender series however. I will try to remember and let you know how I like them when I'm done.

Stop at Xenocide. Don't read Children of the Mind or later. Trust me.

I haven't read all the parallel ones and prequels - I here they are pretty good. Xenocide isn't great but it is bearable. After that it's hard to describe just how bad they are. All I can figure is OSC had no passion or interest in them, but just used them as quick cash cows.

I've never read any of his books, but I've heard both good and bad about his writing talents.

Long ago I was in a play in SLC, and he played one of the leads. There were several of us in the cast who were admittedly gay, and we all wondered whether or not OSC was too. But as far as I know, no one asked him.

My "gaydar" at the time told me he was a deeply closeted gay man.

I know his writing includes gay characters, but that's obviously not a sign he's gay. I write about straight people, but that doesn't mean I'm straight.

More important, gay straight or whatever, OSC does serious damage within the LD$ church with his anti-gay rhetoric. So I'm not about to invest any money or time reading his stuff.

His gay character marries a woman. There's a discussion where the "wife" explains how she has to role play and her husband has to use his imagination to make it work in the bedroom.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/2013 07:52PM by crom.

To paraphrase Shakespear:"Perhaps the man protesteth too much ?!?"

He annoys me and saints frustrated me. It is gross for a woman to bathe her 19 year old son

Surely OSCard is older than 19....

The book character was 19 and his mother was bathing him and checking him out. It was gross. I hate that book.

I really liked his Book of Mormon series. He made me think about Laman & Lamuel's pov's, not just Nephi's. The gay man in that story, i thot, was done very well and positively. Or at least it gave me a more positive view for them than i had acquired from church.

I also liked his book enchantment and the historical ones: Pastwatch, Sarah, Rebekkah and Rachel & Leah.

I was disappointed to discover that based on his portrayal of Zdorab, he's gone backwards in is opinions of gay people.

I wondered if that has something to do with one of his kids dying and now he has to 'be worthy' to see him/her again in the next life. Not that that excuses his behavior by any means.

Has OSC found a homophobic illustrator for his new Superman comic. According to this blog:

"...this charmer is already in talks with DC Comics to illustrate Orson Scott Card’s Superman story. It’ll be the first comic book drawn completely in douchey hair gel."

I am not completely sure that the author wasn't joking though.

Who is "this charmer"? He is not named, but is outed here as a homophobic bully:

http://michaelhartney.tumblr.com/post/45067171649/this-afternoon-my-partner-turtle-walked-out-of

OSC and 'Slick Hair" = a match made in the celestial kingdom.

Methinks, he just needs a good man to show him what he is missing. Closeted gays are often the most rabid homophobes until they get laid by one.

+ 1

Having both met Mr. Card in person and read his homophobic screeds over the years, my good money is on the above.

No straight man spends the amount of mental energy thinking about man sex that Orson does.

OSC's writing is great. His homophobic apologetics makes him a fairly horrible person.

What I never understood is how people mix the two. His is a good writer AND an asshat.

I haven't liked the books he has published over the last few years though. :(

He's not that good a writer. He always switches from third person to first person in his books which is extremely annoying. He uses characters to nag the reader about morality, marriage and having babies. His characters are flat and two dimensional, the good guys are too good and the bad guys are too bad. And he ruined Ender's Game forever with the stupid Bean series which was mostly about nagging people about getting married and having babies.

Also Ender in Exile was a terrible book and not needed!

Wasn't it he who wrote "Uranus Testifies of Christ"? I know mine does.

... and very funny!

Thanks for the laugh

Tom in Paris



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2013 07:03AM by Soft Machine.

I read one of his books that was a bit eye opening.

He had a couple come into a new ward and campaign for their "callings" in the church. Their kids were lined up cute on the pew after church while the parents sang in the choir practice. They were talented, the husband was good at gospel discussions and the wife was soon called to be a RS teacher and her hubby the Gospel Doctrine teacher with possibly being the next Elders Quorum teacher.

The book has a very dark under belly. Their little boy is scared. Their new house has a VERY bad odor. The father walks past his boys room and speaks to him for a moment.
Turns out that at the time the father was talking to his boy on his bunk his boy was actually buried under the house!
Their "kindly" neighbor was an old man who'd been using their house to bury the bodies of little boys he'd raped and killed.Neighbors and members of the ward had known there was something not right about him but had NOT warned them and were overlooking the man's behavior!

So the father and mother had been busy with a wicked school teacher who'd been all over their kid and church and they hadn't noticed something wrong. I think their younger child, a baby had been in the hospital too. That was when the predator moved in and killed their boy.

It showed me that Mormons really do campaign for positions in the church, which they vehemently deny, and that Orson Scott Card is very troubled by some dark things in his life...to be dwelling on sorting things out over the murder of a child, and inside the mind of a pedophile as a subject of a book....brrrr it still gives me the creeps.

I read that one too. I agree it was creepy.

The book is called "lost boys." Orson Scott Card actually claimed that M. Night Shyamalan stole the plot from "lost boys" and used it as a basis for the movie "sixth sense"

The only book I've ever read was published when he was a Deputy Editor on the Ensign. "Saintspeak- A Mormon Dictionary" was so cynical about Church definitions/practices I am sure it planted seeds to bring me here today.

A@@ hat...and nothing more......

Last time I saw his name on the Internet was when he was a director or head of an LDS committee or association against gay marriage and "the homosexual agenda."

That would be NOM, the National Organization for Marriage...a truly nasty and insipid organization. NOM is alleged to have been secretly bankrolled and organized by the church. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the church keeps its finances more sacred and secret than its temple ceremonies, verifying that with absolute certainty has been difficult. But surely they were involved on a VERY involved level at a bare minimum...possibly with some help by the Catholics. NOM has also vehemently fought in the courts to hide its donor lists and sources of funding.

Matthew Holland (Jeff's kid) was a founding board member. Orson took his place, so clearly there is a "mormon" seat.

The spokes persons for this organization, while always non-mormon (the church's purposeful obfuscation skills at work) are nonetheless very mormonish fat, pasty, obnoxious, moralistic boobs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Organization_for_Marriage