I just finished it! OSC, you are incredible, as always. Mack Street is such a blessing. And I am grateful for the African American characters. Why does the picture on the cover look like a white man? except that he looks like Puck. . . .
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
I have nothing to say in defense of the cover.
Posted by Roseauthor (Member # 148) on :
I can't find a book store that isn't sold OUT!!@##$
Posted by Qrios (Member # 5259) on :
Thanks. I take that to mean you didn't exactly choose it. I actually posted the question before I read the afterword, and learned a little more about your process. I'm not African American, but I am so glad that you wrote this book. It may not be PC for a white man to do such a thing, but I know you brought a voice to life that no one else could have done. You are awesome! And there are still a lot of books at the Barnes&Noble in Phoenix, Roseauthor, if you live anywhere near.
Posted by Roseauthor (Member # 148) on :
I'll be in vegas for defcon that's as close as I get! As it is now.. I live in Texas. Fort Worth area. And I'm terribly frustrated because I have a friend who want's to read this together.. via internet. (I convince him to read Lost Boys.. so now we're going to do a book together!.. except I had to special order it!)
Usually, I'm first at the door, but I've had some personal situations which prevented me from getting there. Priorities .. priorities..etc.. now I'm just frustrated.
Posted by Qrios (Member # 5259) on :
It will be worth the wait. Posted by Macery (Member # 8251) on :
quote:Originally posted by Qrios: And there are still a lot of books at the Barnes&Noble in Phoenix, Roseauthor, if you live anywhere near.
Really? where at in PHX do you shop for books. I'm in the South Valley and the 2 B&N's that I hit (Ahwatukee and chandler fashion) seem to only get 2 or 3(between them both) new OSC books when they are released so if I'm not there day 1 it's off to the net for me.
Everytime OSC releases a new book I hate that I no longer live in a G'boro suburb where it was issue gettin the books, well that and the BBQ ;-)
Posted by Salah (Member # 7294) on :
Although Mack Street looks more white than black on the cover, I think there's one thing that gives it away. On the back side, there's a small section that shows his hair and it has those small dark wave curls close to the head that are characteristic of african americans. I can't help but think that Mack's eyes are stunning- a deep green with mystery written all over them, it's kind of a "I know something you don't know" expression.
Posted by DavidGill (Member # 8166) on :
Actually, I like the cover, and the face does look many of the African-American students I used to teach.
Posted by Roseauthor (Member # 148) on :
I finally got the book... YAY.. and I have to say.. the "puck bridge incident,' (not spoilers for those who haven't read).. I about fell out of my chair laughing. I don't recall ever laughing that hard in any OSC book (or any other book for that matter). I had to quit reading and still continued to laugh while making dinner.
Posted by S.M.I.L.E. (Member # 8152) on :
I wasn't too interested in the book but after reading these comments my curiosity is piqued. Thanks, I knew there was a good reason for joining this forum. It keeps reminding me to look past the cover and find out what the story realy is about.
Posted by AB (Member # 7458) on :
I like the cover too and though Mack looked black - I don't see why people are saying he looks white.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Anybody else have the mass market paperback of Octavia Butler's Dawn that depicts Lilith as a white woman? I've always found that one to be a combination of funny and puzzling.
Posted by Qrios (Member # 5259) on :
Macery - I shop at the one near Metro Center - and they had a good 30 or 40 copies visible. Move north! I agree that if you're really looking, you can find a black man on the cover, but if you weren't, would you know Mack Street was black? I guess it's an attempt to draw in a wider audience, and the fact is, that means a wider audience exposed to a view of normal life of African Americans,I trust. Which I believe is good.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
The same thing happened with Heinlein's book Friday. The protagonist is a black woman. You can see one of the covers with a picture of a white woman here.
It's not quite the same, as Friday's race (as in white or black) is never an issue in the entire book. Her skin could be any naturally occuring colour and the book would be exactly the same. This is not true for Dawn or Magic Street.
[ July 25, 2005, 02:45 PM: Message edited by: mr_porteiro_head ]
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
She's supposed to be black?!
I had no idea!
(That's the edition I have, btw.)
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Yeah. I think it's only mentioned once, and not blatantly. Of course, her apparent race is inconsequential compared to the bigger racism in her book against constructed people, or whatever they were called there.
I didn't pick up on it myself when I read it. In my mind, she looks like the girl from Oni.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I guess the cover pic constrained my imagination . . . . that was pretty much my picture of her.
-o-
I think of that as a book that started with a lot of promise but went nowhere. Too bad.
Posted by His Savageness (Member # 7428) on :
Did anyone else find it amusing when OSC referenced Ender's Game in the book?
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I don't recall that.
Posted by His Savageness (Member # 7428) on :
There's a part where Mack's at the hospital and he sees a flash of black down at the end of the hall which ends up being someone dressed in black wearing a motorcycle helmet. For a second he thinks it's a giant ant "like those aliens in that sci-fi book they made him read in school." The only sci-fi book involving giant "ants" that gets read in most junior highschools that I know of is Ender's Game.
Posted by CRash (Member # 7754) on :
Page 143:
quote: It looked like an alien out of a sci-fi book they made him read at school. Like a big ant. Only when he thought about it, he realized it must have been somebody dressed in black, with a black helmet. Like a motorcycle rider.
Posted by Shawshank (Member # 8453) on :
quote:The only sci-fi book involving giant "ants" that gets read in most junior highschools that I know of is Ender's Game.
Too bad I never got to read EG for class in middle school (course I did read it from a book fair in the 6th grade)
Course we had to do "award winning books" book report in 8th grade. I couldn't do EG since I had already read it- so I gave my copy to a friend. I didn't like my book- and when my friend did his report the teacher said- that seems like a book you would like- I just laughed>
This is- the funniest book by OSC I've ever read. I love all the cultural stuff- references and stuff- I thought it was great. And I loved the signs they carried, those were a funny thing to read.
My favorite part though was page 300 near the top. The sentence "How swell." I started laughing really hard because I love the word swell and have told many people that it should be used more in today's society.
Posted by Shawshank (Member # 8453) on :
I did for sure thoroughly enjoyed Magic Street.
Posted by Roseauthor (Member # 148) on :
This was one of the BEST books by OSC yet! I have the entire family reading it now!
Loved it, loved it, loved it! Like EG, the ending is great! However, "Stone Tables," is still my favorite.
(I wish I had the ability to read all the threads on this site! I might be able to keep up if I did!)
Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
I wonder if I'm the only one who didn't really like Magic Street. Part of it, I'm sure, is that I never related to Mack as a character. He was so unlike me I felt detached toward him. I liked Ura Lee and Ceese much better, but I never felt like I saw enough of them.
There were some very funny moments, but funny moments don't make a great novel to me. OSC also captured the voice of an African American hero, but again, doing so isn't in and of itself a guarantee of great fiction.
I thought the plot felt very slow at times and at other times crazy and jolting. The merger between a middle-class African American neighborhood and a fantasy world Shakespeare wrote about was too weird for me. The ending left me unsatisfied, feeling like the book had never become a cohesive whole. I felt like it had a lot of possibility, a lot of promise, but it felt incomplete somehow.
But everything, more or less, that has been said about it has been positive, so I'm sticking with the assumption that it's just me. Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
Yeah, CRash. That was my joke for those who recognized Ender's Game. And my recognition as well that it's kind of creepy to have people be forced to read my novel.
Meanwhile ... not every book is for everybody. So I'm glad for those who liked Magic Street, and unsurprised that there are those who simply weren't interested in that particular story.
I was, though. Couldn't have written it if I hadn't fallen in love with it.
Posted by Blackthorne (Member # 8295) on :
I finally finished Magic Street, and while Enchantment still remains the numero uno on my OSC best book list (Ender's Game is close second), I enjoyed it. It got a little *different* towards the end, but at least it kept my attention (a feat few books can master). The style was a little rough for me at first, but I learned to get through it.
Anyway, another check off my to do list. Thankfully, it was something worthwile.
Now I'm off to rewrite chapter one of my current novel. Hoorah!
Posted by Therese (Member # 8579) on :
Brinestone- I kind of got the same feeling. It was an OK book, but not nearly as good as most of OSC's works. Some of the phrasing (coprocephalic) just seemed off, and the son reminded me so forcibly of the Reverend from the Alvin books... I don't know. It just wasn't my cup of tea.
Posted by UrsaMojo (Member # 8596) on :
I just want to give my two-bit take on OSC’s Magic Street.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy Magic Street. I was just intrigued that OSC was writing some Urban Fantasy, like China Mieville’s King Rat, or Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. I enjoyed the book Magic Street very much. It really seemed to hook me from the first chapter. I had a hard time putting it down; I was just real curious where the story would lead. With that being said, it was not one of my favorite OSC story books, but it was one of my favorite OSC discussion books. Let me explain.
I tend to group OSC books into two categories. I don’t know why; I just do. The first group of books is OSC stories. These are the books that I enjoy reading just because I enjoy the escape. I find the characters and the progression of the story the most compelling facets of the book. The next group of books I’ll call OSC discussions. These are books that seem to pull me along not because of the characters per say, or how the story is resolved, but by the issues that are brought up in the book and weave their way into the story.
For example: I enjoyed the book Enchantment not because of the characters (I don’t even remember their names), but because I really enjoyed the constant reference to social or cultural mores that we live by and how we can be viewed so differently than we see ourselves when viewed through another persons set of mores. I also enjoyed the discussion of how innate observational skills could be viewed as magical powers; when talking about the main character’s grandmother as a witch (maybe this last one was just the science teacher in me that enjoyed it).
I’ve also enjoyed the Alvin the maker series, but one of the books I really enjoyed, was again, not for how it progressed the long term story arc, but instead the issues it discussed. Heartfire fell into that category for me. What I found intriguing in this book was the discussion of what is truth, and how truth is used. Truth can sometimes be as much about the intent and perception, as simply about the bare facts. This discussion is of course brought into play due to Alvin’s wife being able to read a person’s soul.
These were two examples of what I am talking about. This brings me back to the book Magic Street. As for the story, it had some elements that I enjoyed. The way Mack was brought into the world by Bagman and then discarded, and then saved by Ceese, caught my attention immediately and really hooked me. I also like the strange interaction between fairy land and the real world. But I really didn’t like how the fairies developed later in the story. And I wasn’t crazy about how the story wrapped up. What I did REALLY enjoy was the discussion in the book about desires, wishes, belief, reality, and how they relate to each other. Do we believe in something because it is real, or does some thing become real because of our belief? The idea about, as my mother used to always tell me, be careful what you wish for; it may just come true. How does our desires shape who we are in reality? These are all topics that I enjoyed thinking about while reading the book Magic Street. Thank you Mr. Card.
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
Um ... you're welcome?
Posted by UrsaMojo (Member # 8596) on :
I apologize if my comments appeared to be some kind of diatribe with a backhanded compliment on the end. Please don’t get me wrong, I’ve always enjoyed reading your books. It’s just that for some books I have different reasons for liking them. I enjoy reading Stephen King because of the way he describes people so you can picture what they would be like. I enjoy reading Terry Pratchett for the way he illustrates the humor and idiocy in day-to-day interactions and behaviors. I enjoy reading your work, Mr. Card, because of the way you use speculative fiction to its fullest, by putting characters in situations that bring up excellent questions about what it means to be human.
..And I also think that you just plain spin a good yarn.
Posted by Dannighe (Member # 7831) on :
I adored this book. I'm actually telling my African American History teacher about it, he was complaining about the lack of positive black literature the other day. I love that Mack thinks about the black kids growing up in his neighborhood acting like their from the ghetto is rediculous too, and the bridge scene made me laugh oh so hard.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
I'm still in the midst of reading it, but what Ursa said about curiosity in where it's going next is what keeps me reading. I'm certainly intrigued.
Posted by human_2.0 (Member # 6006) on :
I just finished the book 2 nights ago. I loved it.
I had not read anything about the book so when it veered where it did half way through, I was surprised. I imagined the book was going to be about bullet bikes racing the streets of LA. Cover's fault no doubt.
I now appreciate James Christensen's artwork more.
Posted by Ron Lambert (Member # 2872) on :
I enjoyed Magic Street. It is a pleasure to see such well-done fantasy integrated with modern mainstream reality in such a fun way. I am left wondering--where did the fairies come from? Do they exist on other planets?
You know the cross-genre book I would really like to see? "Harry Potter and the Martian Invaders."
Or how about alien fairies waging war against earthling fairies? "Mack Street vs. the Aliens." Or even better, "Fairies vs. Aliens vs. Predators." That way we could tie in the horror genre, too! Of course, true to the Alien tradition, we would have to have the lead character be female: Titania, the Queen of the Fairies, vs. Aliens vs. Predators. I bet that would really get William Shakespeare's goat. Then again, he might have enjoyed it. I have a suspicion he was one of us. The man who wrote The Tempest could not be a mundane!
Posted by human_2.0 (Member # 6006) on :
"Fairies vs. Aliens vs. Predators."
Magic kicks guns', teeth's, and claws' butts.
How about faries meet buggers & Ender Wiggin? Or faries in the Alvin Maker series? Or Alvin Maker visits Ender. Or he could have written Enchantment to bridge the far future with the past...
Posted by KEGE (Member # 424) on :
Ron, the fairies have always been here. Wasn't that the point? We living in our own worlds limited by our 5 senses and thinking that THAT is all there is - the everyday world that we can see, hear, taste, smell and touch.
If you want some "cross genre-ing", then we're kind of like the characters in the paintings in Harry Potter. We can move amongst the other paiting through the scenes, but our experience is limited by the edges of the frames.
Posted by Infernal Destiny (Member # 8014) on :
I thoroughly enjoyed Magic Street. I had been discussing it with a few friends and who happens to come along but the Shakespeare teacher who listens, shakes his head, and stalks off. He was not amused obviously. But I still love it. It has been added to my shelf with the rest of the OSC books I have. I particularly liked the tidbit about Puck being black and that no white person would talk like that. ^-^
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote: You know the cross-genre book I would really like to see? "Harry Potter and the Martian Invaders."
Try reading some Eoin Colfer. His Artemis Fowl books are very similar in tone to this concept.
Posted by carpe_diem_baby (Member # 8875) on :
Maybe Magic Street wasn't his hottest book, but it was definitely something new and very intriguing. As a theatre fanatic, and fantasy being my favorite genre, the conceptwas extremely appealing to me, and that more than made up for any (very slight) flaws.
::groan:: We've come to expect so much from O.S.C. that nothing, short of absolute brilliance, will satiate us.
Posted by Roseauthor (Member # 148) on :
and yet.. I thought Magic Street was incredible. It just goes to show... not everyone has the same definitions and likes. This was my second favorite book by OSC so far. Fav will stay with Lost Boys; While Magic Street won over Enders Game for me.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)