Shadow of the Giant

About a year and a half ago I wrote a post called The Bachelor about my wife being out of town, me being bored (and boring), and eventually an encounter with Orson Scott Card at Borders, in which, without recognizing him, I gave him my place in line and then, upon finding out who he was, I hoped he would send me a check for “an obscene amount of money.”

A couple of days ago I received this email:

Dear Josh,

Although it’s been a year and a half since you posted “The Bachelor” and mentioned meeting Orson Scott Card, someone only recently sent him a link to it, and he though it was hilarious (along with all of the comments that followed).

Anyway, he asked me if I could get your mailing address because, although he’s not going to send you a check for an obscene amount of money, he WOULD like to send you one of his books, if that’s okay.

Thanks.

Sincerely,
Kathleen
Assistant to Orson Scott Card

That was, of course, very OK, and in just a couple of days the book arrived. The book was autographed and a nice little note written on the title page:

ShadoofthegiantTo Josh-
With thanks for your kindness-
Scott


I think we can all learn two very important lessons from this:

  1. It pays to be nice to people. Well, OK, it almost never really “pays”, but go ahead and be nice anyway.
  2. Anyone of you could send me free things through the mail. No, seriously, try it, it will totally work.

PS- Check out Uncle Orson Reviews Everything.

11 responses for Shadow of the Giant

  1. Crapples says:

    Wow — that’s an amazing story. Does he also read the comments of your blog? Just wondering.

    Anyway, I think Orson Scott Card is the best and most sexy writer of all time. Also, I remember once at the State Fair when I.. uh.. gave him the last half of my hot dog because he was so… um.. hungry.

    Just thought you’d be interested to hear that story.

    Yours, Crapples c/o Berrett Rice 1621 Clark Ave. Ames, IA 50010

  2. Benjamin Read says:

    Dude (did you know I speak Dude?):

    I have all sorts of … let’s call it … stuff … that I want to send you, but cannot do so as long as you continue to designedly obstruct access to your mailing address by covering it up with Uncle Orson’s new book. My only clue on how to get these “items” to you is a big letter “P” and a USPS priority mail label. Now, I know that you are wary of publishing your address ever since that naked guy swam over to Anna Kournikova’s house, but you can get around that by getting yourself a P.O. Box or something.

  3. shawn says:

    Even cooler than the book–he called you by your first name, and signed it with his first name. Obviously, you have now forged some sort of bond. Me, I wouldn’t know whether to call him, Orson, O.S., Mr. Card, etc. But you now are on a first name basis with “Scott”. Do you realize how big this is?!! This could have implications for your children’s children. You could be known as Grandpa Knows Orson Scott Card on a First Name Basis.

  4. Adriaan says:

    Who is Orson Scott Card? Seriously, I didn’t know him before this entry…

  5. Josh says:

    Orson Scott Card is a pretty famous Sci-Fi author. Most famous for the book Ender’s Game.

    Here are Orson Scott Card books on amazon.com

  6. martin says:

    All this does is bolster the growing influence of Blogs. By officially recognizing you in this way, Mr. Card has affirmed that your blog is a peer – equal to his printed writing in every way. Now that is an acomplishment.

  7. Steve says:

    I once met Stephen King down here in Phoenix. Well it wasn’t actually the “author” Stephen King…it was a kid working at blockbuster who had the same name. Pretty cool though huh?

  8. martin says:

    I once met a janitor named J.R.R. Tolkien. well, not really – but that would be cool too.

  9. aubrey says:

    I noticed he gave you Shadow of the Giant which I haven’t read yet. Let me know if it’s good.

  10. Rob says:

    You’re so lucky. I’m going to buy that book this weekend if I have enough money. Damn Hardcovers are 30 Dollars…

    I heard he’s designing a Game or something.

  11. Wry1 says:

    It’s kind of nice to see that things like this can still happen….All I got when I met Steven Spielberg was a lousy couple of minutes playing a video game with him and his son…..