Sci-fi writer Orson Scott Card is the new casualty in the cultural wars that roil across our country.  For those readers who don’t know him, he is the author of Ender’s Game, now considered by many to be a sci-fi classic.  It’s the story about a special boy who is trained to manage flotillas of starships in a war against ETs that are more hive-like than human.  The movie is scheduled for release in November, and therein lies the problem: gay groups are calling for its boycott.  Mr. Card, a Mormon, has a long history of being against homosexuality and same-sex marriage—hence the question in the title of this post.

I often ask myself this question about my own work.  In the latest installment in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series,” Teeter-Totter between Lust and Murder, one of the themes is Castilblanco’s anti-gun views.  I wrote most of this before the Newtown Massacre in Connecticut because my anti-gun views were well developed much earlier, starting with the Kennedy, King, and Lennon assassinations, and the attempted assassination of Reagan.

I’ll admit this is a political view (maybe a safe and non-controversial one too, because 90% of the American public supports more gun controls).  In my novel, Castilblanco points out that most law enforcement people, especially those in big cities, want to restrict gun ownership.  My contention is that present restrictions are too weak when we compare ourselves to more civilized societies like we find in most European countries.  But does this detract from the mystery tale in my novel?  I hope not!

In fact, I’m the first guy to admit that there are different sides to a political issue.  Chen, Castilblanco’s partner, is his foil.  She’s conservative and balances out Castilblanco’s progressive proclivities.  They still work together in a relationship where differences are respected (one of my reviewers loved this—it comes naturally when you’re a people watcher).  Mr. Card has said that the Supreme Court has decided the same-sex marriage issue and made it a moot point.  He’s not going to change his personal views, but does that make Ender’s Game a bad story?

Certainly not!  In fact, in spite of my tendencies to prefer peaceful coexistence, I’m a sucker for military sci-fi.  Ender’s Game is classic military sci-fi.  It’s also a young adult novel, or, at least, a novel about a young boy coming of age.  Ender, in fact, is a more believable Harry Potter—the novel is hard sci-fi, not fantasy.  In that sense, it’s much better than anything J. K. Rowling ever wrote.

I know some readers can’t get beyond seeing the tree of the author’s politics to appreciating the forest of his or her story-telling.  But, if you read Ender’s Game, you won’t see the author’s views.  Compared to my stories, Mr. Card was either careful not to write them into the story or so involved in the story that those views were relegated to his private life.

In my books, I’ve been a bit shaky in this respect.  If I’ve offended you, I apologize (but you didn’t have to read it!).  My ultimate goal is the same as Mr. Card’s—to entertain my readers with a damn good story.  Ender’s Game is that story.  The books in the remainder of the Ender series become wrapped up in pseudo-mystical oriental-like philosophy—possibly interesting to some readers, but I found them boring.  (His next best book, in fact, is Characters and Viewpoint, from Writer’s Digest, a book every writer should read.)

Sci-fi writers often show a political bent in their writing.  Critics have often commented that Heinlein, Pournelle, and Niven espouse Libertarian viewpoints.  A more recent Libertarian was James Hogan, especially in Voyage into Yesteryear (that’s my comment, not the critics’).  But I generally remember these authors for their stories, not their politics.  (Voyage into Yesteryear is good, but Hogan’s “Giants Trilogy” is a classic.)

In literary space, the politics are irrelevant.  “Tell the damned story,” was Tom Clancy’s advice to writers.  One can imagine what Clancy’s politics are, but that’s good advice for any fiction writer.  Michael Crichton, especially in his later life, also expressed strong political views.  That didn’t stop Spielberg from making Jurassic Park, because it’s a damn good story.  Ender’s Game is in the same category.

I would venture that most writers are hard to pigeon-hole politically.  I’m basing this on probably the worst statistical sample possible, myself.  Most of my views can be called progressive because looking forward to better times is part of my personality (and the worry that some policies will take us to worse times).  I’m against most things military (but not our armed forces and veterans) and critical of Pentagon culture, but I’m a sucker for good military sci-fi.

I’m also a hawk with respect to terrorism for many reasons, some very personal.  Nevertheless, as a writer, my Irish blood dominates, the blarney flows, and the story is written.  I like to think of myself as a bard from yesteryear, telling stories that, hopefully, entertain my audience (don’t look for a lute, though).

Some writers can’t (or couldn’t) get past their politics to just tell a good story.  Ann Coulter is a recent example; Ayn Rand is an old example.  Their audiences are limited to those readers who are only looking to have their political beliefs shored up.  Same goes for Christian lit, although I respect the agenda more.  (I’m sure there are “extreme” writers on the other side of the political spectrum, but I can’t think of one right now.  You’ll certainly find Hollywood script writers on both sides.)  How much a reader can tolerate the writer’s politics or agenda is inversely proportional to how good the story is, I suppose—and each reader will have a tolerance level different from every other reader.

Fortunately, no one tells us what to read.  But no one tells us what an author’s politics or agenda are either, unless we pay attention to the cultural wars (I do because of the op-ed nature of many posts in this blog—this one is about writing and those cultural wars, for example).  Even the worst reviews you find in Amazon focus on the story.  And that’s a good thing!  If you’re like me, the story is everything—I don’t give a rat’s ass who wrote it as long as it’s a damn good story told well.

In libris libertas….

[If you enjoyed this post, please support this blog: buy, read, and review some of my books.  In particular, thanks to my reviewers—you know who you are.  Even if you just drop me an email, I love to hear what you, the reader, think about my writing!]

 

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013 at 4:00 am and is filed under Classic Sci-Fi, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.