Come to think of it, the creepy giant bug looks right at home. But the girl looks completely misplaced. How did she get there without getting so much as a stain on her flawless white dress..??
Heh, I had this book in my school library too… I mean, come on, hidden penis on worm monster, hot young woman… Heh, in the 80s there was a lot of anti-Japan racism (The Jappy-Neeeze are buying everything! We’ll have to commit seppiku if we don’t get an “A” in class!) but this here’s a “Tentacle Monster” thing.
“I know something of the doctrine of the Vigilants.”
“I am not talking about a school of doctrine, I am talking about the answer I gave Heffiji. The reason Unwyrm calls to me.”
Now she could ask him outright, “What question did Heffiji ask?”
“She asked me if dwelfs have a soul.”
“Then it is theology.”
“What she really was asking – and it’s a question you’d better answer before you face Unwyrm – she was asking what part of her was herself.”
Patience studied Will’s placid face. How could he have known the question that so haunted her? “My father taught me to listen to everything and believe nothing.”
“The dead don’t do that much,” said Will.
“The dead don’t listen.”
“If you believe nothing, then you are listening exactly as much as the dead.”
“I’m not dead,” Patience whispered.
Will smiled. “I know,” he said. He reached out to touch her cheek; she recoiled from him and shook her head. So he sat back, making no effort to conceal his disappointment, and began to teach. “Each part of the triune soul has its desires. The passion has the desires of pleasure and survival, and the avoidance of pain. Those who are slaves to passion are the ones we see as hedonists or cowards or addicts or drunks, the ones we despise. And these slaves think that their passion is themselves. I want this drink. I want to breathe. Their identity is in their needs. And to control them is easy. You simply control their pleasure or their pain.”
Wow, people paid cash on the nail for this nonsense?
You can read more of the leaden yet pervy prose at that link.
EDIT: oh sweet baby jebus, according to a one-star review, this IS a scene from the book. The bug DOES have a you know what and uses it on her. After a man does.
@Gss ex-noob, Oh yes, this is one of the books that takes Card’s standard plot “There’s a young kid and their whole life gets f***ed over” and ramps it up to Richard Blade levels (songmaster is another one). And the heroine? She’s 13. No wonder she does so much recoiling.
CarD is one extremely f’ed up individual. Shame he grew up in and stuck with a religion that basically mandates that you’re happy all the time* and never explore your psyche. A decent shrink could have helped him through whatever penis-related trauma he suffered as a young’un.
*Utah has the highest prescription use of anti-depressants in the US, which puts it way, way up there in the world. They also subscribe to a lot of porn… and who pays for porn nowadays?
January 18th, 2011 at 9:46 am
Wow… that’s exactly the scene every Saturday night in inexplicably popular south-side of Glasgow night-spot, The Shed.
January 18th, 2011 at 9:49 am
Makes me think of the enormous bee that crops up from time to time on Family Guy. ‘Now ahm gonna sting you with mah stinger — ooooh nooo!’
January 18th, 2011 at 10:06 am
I think that is her ex. Look at how she holds up her arm to stop him/it from kissing her. He/it is probably a sloppy kisser.
January 18th, 2011 at 10:23 am
Those are some long legs!
@Richard – Not sure if he’s a Celtic or Rangers fan though… maybe Partick Thistle?
January 18th, 2011 at 11:05 am
Madame, to visit a cave in a white midi and heels is simply to court trouble!
January 18th, 2011 at 11:09 am
By the by, is that a cape, or her tresses, or that other fellow’s chair?
January 18th, 2011 at 11:45 am
There’s an ex like that in the history of every woman on Earth.
January 18th, 2011 at 11:47 am
Come to think of it, the creepy giant bug looks right at home. But the girl looks completely misplaced. How did she get there without getting so much as a stain on her flawless white dress..??
January 18th, 2011 at 12:41 pm
Everyone knows that’s how nurses will dress in the 23rd century. “Now, Mr. Wyrm, where shall I take your pulse?”
January 18th, 2011 at 1:03 pm
Oh, not another ENDER’S GAME spinoff…!
January 18th, 2011 at 2:02 pm
One of those tentacles appears to have a semi!
January 18th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
“Heey…! What’s a gal like you doin’ in a joint like this?”
January 18th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
She’s so bored she’s checking her watch. Probably the bug exterminator she called is late.
January 18th, 2011 at 3:21 pm
@ Dead Stuff: I believe that is a cape. Red cross of the FUTURE? oh and check out the side pony tail.
January 18th, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Maybe using the shrinking machine to get a closer look at dust mites wasn’t such a great idea.
January 18th, 2011 at 9:42 pm
The monsters like, so yea this is my apartment. Don’t mind my roommate he’s leaving in a minute. Make yourself at home.
January 23rd, 2011 at 8:34 pm
That is the BEST. I don’t know where you’re located but there’s a used scifi bookstore in Boston that would keep this blog going for 20 years.
February 1st, 2011 at 12:42 pm
Marie, maybe there’s some weird space-time paradox going on, that creates new bad book covers (and movies, and TV shows)… in the past.
‘Cos isn’t it weird how the amount keeps increasing?
March 10th, 2011 at 8:14 pm
Izzat a PENIS!?
Heh, I had this book in my school library too… I mean, come on, hidden penis on worm monster, hot young woman… Heh, in the 80s there was a lot of anti-Japan racism (The Jappy-Neeeze are buying everything! We’ll have to commit seppiku if we don’t get an “A” in class!) but this here’s a “Tentacle Monster” thing.
May 22nd, 2015 at 3:34 pm
Wyrst styry Yrsyn wryte!
March 6th, 2016 at 8:18 pm
Holy carp, I just noticed that thing’s… appendage. Vile!
“Worms” indeed, sir!
May 6th, 2017 at 2:36 pm
Whenever I’m alone with you, you make me feel like I am lumbricoid…
Whenever I’m alone with you, you act and feel like it’s an ambuscade…
Whatever words you say, I will always love you
However far away, I will always love you
Your brother isn’t gay, I will always love you…
May 6th, 2017 at 3:22 pm
“I know something of the doctrine of the Vigilants.”
“I am not talking about a school of doctrine, I am talking about the answer I gave Heffiji. The reason Unwyrm calls to me.”
Now she could ask him outright, “What question did Heffiji ask?”
“She asked me if dwelfs have a soul.”
“Then it is theology.”
“What she really was asking – and it’s a question you’d better answer before you face Unwyrm – she was asking what part of her was herself.”
Patience studied Will’s placid face. How could he have known the question that so haunted her? “My father taught me to listen to everything and believe nothing.”
“The dead don’t do that much,” said Will.
“The dead don’t listen.”
“If you believe nothing, then you are listening exactly as much as the dead.”
“I’m not dead,” Patience whispered.
Will smiled. “I know,” he said. He reached out to touch her cheek; she recoiled from him and shook her head. So he sat back, making no effort to conceal his disappointment, and began to teach. “Each part of the triune soul has its desires. The passion has the desires of pleasure and survival, and the avoidance of pain. Those who are slaves to passion are the ones we see as hedonists or cowards or addicts or drunks, the ones we despise. And these slaves think that their passion is themselves. I want this drink. I want to breathe. Their identity is in their needs. And to control them is easy. You simply control their pleasure or their pain.”
Wow, people paid cash on the nail for this nonsense?
May 6th, 2017 at 9:02 pm
@DSWBT: Gad, it took me two tries to get through that. Had to scrape the glaze off my eyes.
No wonder the heroine is named Patience.
Sounds like she does a lot of recoiling, and who wouldn’t in this book?
Evidently the white dress is her thing — here’s a later cover.
https://www.amazon.com/Wyrms-Orson-Scott-Card-ebook/dp/B003GFIVXE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494100978&sr=8-1&keywords=wyrms
You can read more of the leaden yet pervy prose at that link.
EDIT: oh sweet baby jebus, according to a one-star review, this IS a scene from the book. The bug DOES have a you know what and uses it on her. After a man does.
May 8th, 2017 at 6:50 am
@Gss ex-noob, Oh yes, this is one of the books that takes Card’s standard plot “There’s a young kid and their whole life gets f***ed over” and ramps it up to Richard Blade levels (songmaster is another one). And the heroine? She’s 13. No wonder she does so much recoiling.
May 9th, 2017 at 1:52 am
CarD is one extremely f’ed up individual. Shame he grew up in and stuck with a religion that basically mandates that you’re happy all the time* and never explore your psyche. A decent shrink could have helped him through whatever penis-related trauma he suffered as a young’un.
*Utah has the highest prescription use of anti-depressants in the US, which puts it way, way up there in the world. They also subscribe to a lot of porn… and who pays for porn nowadays?
May 10th, 2017 at 1:48 am
@Dead Stuff With Big Teeth –
Whenever I’m alone with you, I am too startled by your magnanimous presence…
However far away, I have and will always love you Too .
May 10th, 2017 at 5:42 pm
@Devotion: Thank you! I’ll be here through Friday.