Orson Scott Card

He starts with: Rowling "feels like her words were stolen," said lawyer Dan Shallman. Well, heck, I feel like the plot of my novel Ender's Game was stolen by J.K. Rowling.

And ends with: Rowling has now shown herself to lack a brain, a heart and courage. Clearly, she needs to visit Oz.

The rest is vitriolic, brilliant commentary.

In this piece published 4 years ago, John Kessel eviscerates the moral underpinnings of Ender's Game, the SF classic that pushed Orson Card to fame. “The power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can’t kill then you are always subject to those who can, and nothing and no one will ever save you”

The author is Orson Scott Card, and the controversy is his stance on gay and lesbian sexuality. Once again we are faced with the question of whether an author’s personal views should factor into judging the literary merit of his work. Should Card’s anti-gay sentiments bar him from award nominations? Or is that just another kind of prejudice?