I've heard that his Alvin Maker series was pretty bad... although I'd be interested to hear what he did to you. (I also don't know what "NonCon" is; Google doesn't turn up anything.)
NonCon is the name of an annual regional science fiction convention held in Alberta in the '80s and '90s. Most were held in Edmonton, some in Calgary, once in Red Deer (I was on the concom for that one) and once in Banff. As with the other Alberta-based SF conventions, the emphasis was on writing, editing, fandom, and art, so none of the guests were ever actors. Thanks to NonCon and Con-Version (the convention that started when some of the NonCon people based in Calgary decided to have a summer con instead of Thanksgiving weekend, like NonCon), I've had the pleasure (or displeasure as the case may be) of meeting quite a few authors. My personal favorites were Frederik Pohl (a legend among SF writers, editors, and fans), Alan Dean Foster (extremely friendly; I've emailed with him a few times over the years), and Robert Silverberg (was GoH twice, always willing to chat and answer questions; he has a Yahoo! group I'm a member of).
I normally don't mind an author's politics- but what if an author had declared that he would be "boycotting" people of your beliefs/political affiliation/nationality and not selling his books to you? Would you read him, even then?
I don't see how an author could ever hope to enforce that 100%. There is this thing called a "used book store", and another thing called "eBay." If people are really serious about getting somebody's books, they will find a way.
That said, if any author decided he didn't want to sell to a non-Conservative Albertan, I'd probably say, fine. You obviously don't want or need my support, and I'll shout it from the literary rooftops what a jerk you are.
Kyriakos said:
That said, one of the most boring and badly written books i read (most of) was that one attributed to Anne Frank. The book is not good at all and it is a farce that politics made it some sort of 'classic'.
Are you referring to
The Diary of Anne Frank?
Normally I separate someone's work from his/her person ...
I've managed to do that with some actors. I may despise Mel Gibson's attitudes and open bigotry, but he
can act, and I bought the DVD of his Hamlet movie with full knowledge that he's really not a nice person.
Are you ever going to tell us what orson Scott card did to you? I'm dying of curiosity.
Time zones... while a lot of other people were posting in this thread, I was still asleep.
It wasn't what he did, so much as what he wrote when I asked him to autograph the book I'd brought along. It was a jerk thing to write in somebody's book, and his general attitude and body language were rather off-putting. No, I am not going to say what he wrote. It was a personal remark that was inappropriate.
On the matter of boycotting: There are a couple of Star Trek authors I am boycotting, based on interactions with them on TrekBBS. No professional author gets to act like a jerk or swear at me and then expect I'm going to buy his books.