Allow me to make one observation. I just finished S’s book, Android’s Dream. Did you notice that Creek’s race was never noticed or hinted at? He could have been anything.

That’s what I think of race.

You might think about giving me an apology.

Pax,

J

I know you posted this a while back, but I’ve just come across it now and wanted to say hello. So, “Hello”.

I’d also like you to know that you don’t sound the least bit racist to me. Please don’t suggest I’d call you that. I actually love the questions you raise and way you raise them. Believe me, I struggle to make sure I do better and better all the time with all sorts of diversity, including gender (By the way, there’s a gay character in Walk Through Darkness and two in Pride of Carthage – I didn’t have any that I’m aware of in Acacia 1, but I’m already correcting that in Acacia 2). Some of my best friends are gay, and I’m utterly and completely happy with that. They baby-sit my kids!

Funny that you mention crippled characters, because I’ve just written one of the MAJOR characters for the future of the series as having a lifelong ailment. How many “women are in charge of armies, or ships, and are not just from a matriarchal culture, like the Amazons”? Well, between the first book and the ones to come my answer is “More than you can shake a stick at”. Women, in many ways, will define the future of this series, and I hope they’ll define them in ways that set my work apart from the norm.

So, I guess I can’t answer everything at once, but it’s clear to me that we’d agree on many more things you’d imagine. I know you’re basing the assumption that I’d deem you a racist on the Scalzi interview and discussions after it, but you’re mistaken about how I’d judge you. (Actually, I don’t spend a lot of time judging people anyway.) I hope we can put that rest.

That’s all for now. I wish you well. Hope you read my work. Thanks for participating in the Forum and for commenting on my blog. And big congrats on the baby. It’s a wild ride but so, so worth it!

Best,

David.

You’re such a dork–I LOVE this banter. Makes me feel like I’m back in college in my Literary Critism class, the lone Creative Writing major (an a chick to boot) debating all the Political-Sci. majors (all boys, by the way). How in the killswitch’s-detonation-wire do I know more about politics and reality then they do? ME!

“The privilege of the white person is that he doesn’t know he’s privileged:” does this even make gramatical sense? Did I threaten this dude with genocide in a former life? lol. And why did I just kill off the only black dude in my first chapter? Why, because I just killed off his white female counterpart–doesn’t she count? Oh, excuse me, my antagonist is brown; is that bad? He’s evil, so what, he’s the best character! His foil in a future book is brown too–do I have an agenda, or did the color just fall into palce because I didn’t care a whit about race? LOL: keep up the good banter.