Tell me more. How did you hang out with him and what did he do?
What did he do?
Most of the writers I’ve encountered were pretty personable in person. I didn’t find Harlan Ellison a jerk at all, but maybe I caught him at the wrong time. Aside from Larry Niven being cold, Ive never really had a bad experience.
Pepper Mill didn’t like Phil Foglio, though, and thought him a jerk. I’ve met him twice, now, and haven’t had that impression. But YMMV, clearly.
From reading his writing, he never struck me as particularly cuddly (and he seems to have been going downhill with his comments about illegal immigrants, etc.). But I never thought he would make some random fan cry! Was this a Q&A or something?
I don’t know if this counts, but after following Adam Baldwin on twitter for a while, I un-followed him and don’t think much of him any longer - he’s a Tea Partier, apparently.
I met Uhura at a con and seemed really really snooty and full of herself. But it wasn’t enough to turn me off Trek.
I saw an interview with Denzel Washington in which came off as a huge ass, and that has put me off seeing any of his movies that don’t have some other huge draw.
I haven’t met Tom Cruise but I can’t imagine that going too well either.
So you cannot enjoy the work of someone who has different political beliefs to you?
Twice I’ve struck up a conversation with him at his booth at a con. Once he was kind of distant and not terribly approachable. The second time, he was charmign and affable. Maybe he’s just kind of moody?
Adam Baldwin seems to be a giant prick, given what I’ve seen at cons.
I wrote:
> She grew up in poverty, was beaten by her father, and raped by her first
> husband.
What I should have written was:
> She grew up in poverty, was raped by her stepfather, and was beaten by her
> first husband.
I’m a huge lefty and love to read P. J. O’Rourke. But he is funny and his political opinions are well-thought out. But being a Tea Partier generally indicates a political viewpoint that sees solutions to things that are (as H. L. Mencken put it) “simple, neat and wrong”.
Note: this thread is about people you’ve met in person, not people about whose politics you’ve found out are opposite yours.
If you have met a celeb in person and discussed politics with him or her on that occasion, you may include that person – but otherwise, please stay on topic. (Though, as always, you’re welcome to start a new thread if you’d like.)
Thanks,
twickster, Cafe Society moderator
I met her at a con in the early 90’s. She went out of her way to suck up to the crowd. It was actually kind of sickening, but she wasn’t in the least bit unpleasant that I saw or heard.
Nope, I’d waited in line for 3 hours, clutching my 35-year-old personal copy of Ringworld, for an autograph. I arrived 90 minutes before he arrived, when there were only about 20 of us, and watched as the people in line ahead of me got entire wheeled-luggage-loads of books signed by him, but I never got to the front of the line. Then he left.
Later that day I attended a panel he was in, and arrived 10 minutes early. He was seated up front, only a couple panelists were there, and the small auditorium was still filling. He was unbusy, so I approached him with my book and submissively asked him nicely to sign it. He looked at me with contempt and chewed me out for approaching him at a panel. I told him that I had waited 3 hours in line for him, even arrived early, but never reached the front. He outright called me a liar - in front of a filling auditorium of people. He said if I had gotten there early I would have reached the front of the line. I was shocked, but continued to call him Mr. Niven, and politely told him about the others in line who had the same experience as me. He shook his head with disgust, so I said “okay”, turned and walked away. He called out to me as if pained, “Okay…I’ll sign it”, but I had tears running down my face and didn’t want him to see that, so I picked up my stuff and left the panel I never got to watch either. I tossed my book into the nearest trash can, and sat outside the room, just sobbing. I’d never encountered anyone so completely mean-spirited. I’m a 50+ woman, totally harmless, thought he was a great writer, and couldn’t understand why he would publicly discipline me as if I were a bad child, call me a liar, and refuse to sign the damned book.
Good Lord, this was almost exactly my experience with him; minus the tears. He started telling me there was this “code of conduct” about not approaching people before panels. I told him I never heard of such a rule. He did sign my book. What I should have done in hindsight was to tell him that James Hogan, a far superior writer, gladly signs anything anytime. I once caught up with Hogan in a hallway as he was rushing to a panel he was late for. He looked at me and said, “if you were kind enough to spend your money on my book, I certainly have the time to sign it”. So Mr Niven, if you’re out there, learn a lesson from a gentleman, who sadly left us too early.
You know, I forgot that he even wrote an article on “autograph etiquette”. I guess he’s a bit touchy on that subject.
I met Larry Niven at the 2009 Worldcon, in Montreal - I was in a very small roundable with him and perhaps a dozen fans. I think I came away with a much sadder impression of the fellow than some of the other posters here - by the time I met him, Niven just wasn’t all there. I think age is slamming the guy hard - he was just rambling, seemed kind of confused. Really depressing.
I believe it was Niven who once wrote that writers are competing for their readers’ beer money. That is, the book budget comes out of the general entertainment fund, and it IS possible to live one’s life without buying books. Or so I’m told. If a reader is going to buy (new) books, then s/he is supporting the author.
*removed my comment
I have heard that about him and some people said he was so bad they weren’t that upset when he got paralyzed and later died. What did he do that was so bad exactly?
This freakin story almost brought tears to my eyes. I’d cry, too, if someone I admired was just such a total jerk to me in front of all these people.
The rest of you, please don’t just say “He was rude to me!” Please tell us the story; we really do want to hear.
The British blues/rock band Savoy Brown played at a friend’s venue and I helped out with some stage work. I was looking forward to the night, and had gone back and listened to some of their work.
Lead singer Kim Simmonds was such a dick though. I ended up finishing the stage work, listening to the opening act, then going home. I purposely left through a back door so that I could “wave” (with a single digit) to Simmonds.