Why I Love Card

Of the Orson Scott variety, that is.

I haven't read all his works - that would take quite a while. I feel nervous about some of them - Wyrms, for example. I also can't say that I love him more than any other author, either.

But I do love to read him. Why?

It's not because I've always done well with SF and fantasy. While you could put his writings in that category, I don't read them that way.

It's not because reading him is easy. I think if I told him it was, he'd be horrified, or at least disappointed. Not that I'll ever get the chance. I've never met the man, after all, and don't know if I ever will. I love to read him because it's hard. Card is hard. Isn't that nice?

His writing extends my thought without dirtying it. True, some pretty dirty things happen in some of his books, but I've never felt sullied by them. Instead, I've felt as though they were revealed to me for what they were - dirty; I've learned from them. I love the way he probes ideas and finds nooks and crannies in them that I may never have recognized on my own, and does so without overextending anything. In short, reading Card lifts my mind to a higher sphere than what it would aspire to without influences like his.

This isn't Card worship, though. I've got my issues with him. I don't usually like his cover art, for example, although I'm not sure that's his fault. There are other things, but that's not the point of this post. I just admire him as a very talented writer and I appreciate him as a careful thinker. I wouldn't call him my hero. But I do love to read him, even though I don't always want to.