Speechless…

Orson Scott Card is a fine writer. I used to be a big fan of his, one of the people in the “WHERE IS THE NEXT ALVIN MAKER BOOK???” camp (and then he wrote it, and I wish he’d waited a little longer. But that is neither here nor there…)

Used to be. That’s the operative phrase.

These days, I wouldn’t buy an Orson Scott Card book if you held a gun to my head. Because I won’t put my coin in the pocket of a rampant homophobic who has gone on the record as saying that homosexuals should not have equal rights, and that homosexual acts should be  criminalized. Not only that, he has advocated overthrowing the government  of any nation (including the US!) that grants homosexuals equal rights, or that does not criminalize homosexual acts.

So I suppose it should come as no surprise that Card’s latest work is violently homophobic. What is that work, I hear you ask? Why,  a retelling of Hamlet, of course.  No, I’m not linking to the book. I will, however, link to the review.

Now, Mr. Alexander (the reviewer), says everything I would want to say, and says it far better than I could. To be honest, right now, I’m more at the stage of sputter…sputter… whiskey  tango FOXTROT???

And my reaction isn’t because Card wrote this. Anyone who is following along and playing Homophobic Bingo: the Home Game just maxed out their score. This is no surprise.

The surprise is that Subterranean Press published it. Subterranean is a boutique press — usually, they publish collectables and limited editions. The only reason I can think of that they would publish a piece of hateful dreck like this is that they KNOW there is a cash cow here. Card’s followers in the Mormon Church and the National Organization of Marriage will buy this book. Die-hard fans who don’t care that the man is a homophobic ass will buy this book. And the shit-storm that is going to arise on the blog-o-sphere because of the message in this book is going to fuel those sales.

But really, Subterranean, is that how you want to make your money? Really?