Flip Flop Genre

[Vertigo]

Crikey Parson, I knew you were upset by it but I didn't realise how upset. Allow the man a couple of errors eh?

It feels kind of weird to be defending Weber againt you

 

[Grimbear]

I hate vampires, they are dull and pathetic.

Neither do I like werewolves, ghosts, or any other similar tired and past-it, over-romanticised supernatural phenomenon and pathetic excuse for a plot.

I would hate that ending so I sympathise.

However, that's in books.

I will watch anything on a big or small screen - apart from 'Twilight' that is.

 

[Parson]

Crikey Parson, I knew you were upset by it but I didn't realise how upset. Allow the man a couple of errors eh?

It feels kind of weird to be defending Weber againt you

The most important word in that small rant was "so." I'll never think of him so positively again. I still think positively and look forward to the next HH book, hope for sequel to "The Path of the Fury," am more than willing to read the next "Safehold" etc. but as you can see, I was really ticked coming to the end of that book.

I guess I had something of a similar let down with Orson Scott Card. I still think Ender's Game is without peer. "Speaker for the Dead" changed the way I do funerals. I think that "Song Master" is the most under appreciated SF I know of; but as I was getting bogged down with "Songs from Distant Earth" series, I discovered the whole series was a big joke on the readers, he was drawing the series from the Book of Mormon! I haven't read a book of his since.

 

[Vertigo]

Oh dear, I can see why you might find that disturbing. I would too. Though never having looked at the Book of Mormon I wouldn't be able to recognise anything as coming from it anyway

 

[Parson]

I didn't recognize it either. I also have never read the book of Mormon. But I did recognize some biblical allusions that seemed sort of left handed to me. When I found out the source of the series, I saw them in a whole new light.

 

[D_Davis]

Very much science fiction, and vampires!

 

[Ursa major]

I've never heard of that series, Parson. Which of Card's books does it contain?

 

[D_Davis]

Looking at the Amazon page for the book in question, and I see that the Publisher's Weekly blurb states:

Expanded from a short story that first appeared in George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois's anthology Warriors, this trilogy kickoff blends elements of military science fiction and dark fantasy. In the very near future, Earth has been targeted for colonization by a galactic empire known as the Hegemony. Deemed "lunatic local sentients" by a survey team that witnessed King Henry V and his troops slaughtering the French at Agincourt, humankind has essentially been written off as bloodthirsty, expendable barbarians. When the Hegemony's henchmen, the doglike Shongairi, show up to conquer Earth, the resistance is beyond anything they had ever imagined, especially when vampires appear to help the humans. Weber pulls off this conceit in audacious style with a focus on military-powered action that will thrill fans of his Honor Harrington series, and he keeps the pedal to the metal right up to the almost unbelievable conclusion.

It pretty much spells it out right there.

I guess from the shock of the OP, I would expect the "twist" to be more hidden or something.

It also looks like it has received a fair number of negative reviews...so maybe it just sucks, vampires or no vampires.

 

[Ursa major]

Not everyone reads the blurb on Amazon before starting to read a book.

 

[Vertigo]

Come to think of it Parson, you've got me scratching my head as well as Ursa (no I'm not scratching your back Ursa!). I didn't really pay full attention to the book titles as I'm not very familiar with Scott Card's work but... isn't Songs of Distant Earth an Arthur C clarke book?

 

[Ursa major]

I've had a shufti on Wiki and I think the series is called The Tales of Alvin Maker.

 

[Vertigo]

An atypical mental side slip from Parson perchance?

 

[chrispenycate]

I've had a shufti on Wiki and I think the series is called The Tales of Alvin Maker.

No, I think it's the "Homecoming " series. I happened to be dealt the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints" as my comparative religion subject in school (a very long time ago, yes) and had read some of the book (plus visiting the temple in South Kensington; as I was applying for Imperial College that was no hardship) so recognised the references when starting the series.

But honestly, Card makes no secret of his beliefs, and his proselytising is no worse than, say, a Heinlein; I stopped reading that series because it had started to bore me, and wasn't going anywhere, rather than because of being preached at.

His "Folk of the fringe" was far more blatant for that, and I quite enjoyed it, probably because it was shorter.

 

[Parson]

My fault guys! It was indeed the "Homecoming Saga." The books in it are
Books in the series

• The Memory of Earth (1992)
• The Call of Earth (1992)
• The Ships of Earth (1994)
• Earthfall (1995)
• Earthborn (1995)

I'm not sure I spelled it out clearly enough, but I do not complain about vampires or the supernatural in a book when it is part of the world setting. If I had known there were vampires before I read the book, I might not have read it, but I surely wouldn't have complained and would have had no reason for anger if I did read it. What aggravates me is when the author has an agenda which is not plain from the beginning. Had I read the Amazon page I likely would not have had the reaction that I had. Also if OSC had said at the beginning of the series that he was doing an SF re-write of the Book of Mormon I would likely not have read it, but I wouldn't have felt angry about reading it when I knew what agenda was.

I also agree that this was a weak OSC series. But since I've not read OSC since, maybe that's what he has devolved to.


Vertigo said:

An atypical mental side slip from Parson perchance?

More likely a typical mental slip.

 

[Ursa major]

No, I think it's the "Homecoming " series.

Thanks for putting me right.

My excuse: I just happened to notice that The Tales of Alvin Maker series was said, by Wiki, to be

to some extent based on early American folklore and superstition and the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, Joseph Smith.