My fiancee told me about a short story by Card that involves a society that is deaf, mute, and blind. She can’t remember the title or any of the names (proper nouns) in the story which makes it hard to search on the net. (searching on ‘card, deaf, blind’ isn’t useful on google or even the official card website). Can anyone help me out here? Anyone ever read or hear about this story?
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DrMatrix - General Questions Moderator
I’ve been a fan of OSC for years, but I can’t recall a story like that from him.
John Varley wrote a story called The Persistance of Vision about just such a society. Could that be it, and she got the author wrong?
I don’t recall a story like that either, but he’s published 68 short stories and I’ve only read 1/3 of them at best.
I’ve read damn near all of his short stories (have all 4 of his paperback short story collections), but I confess that this description isn’t doing anything for my recollection. Either it was a very unmemorable story, or your fiancee has him mixed up with another author.
Want to read more of Orson Scott Card’s writings?
http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com/osc1.html
I honestly had no idea who Orson Scott Card was, until I read his stuff in the Rhino Times.
(Aside: 3 names = pretentiousness to me)
I’ve read 'em all, too (many times), and I don’t remember anything like that.
Man, wasn’t Hart’s Hope good?
I believe that was his publisher’s decision. He usually goes by Scott Card.
His website is http://www.hatrack.com/
I remember that story quite well and I don’t think it’s Orson Card. I remember it is based on the saying “In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king” and the protagonist finds it is much to the contrary. I will try Googling on something like that and report back. Something tells me it is by someone well known for their short stories, Arthur C. Clarke, perhaps?
H. G. Wells, of course! :smack: Don’t know how I forgot that one.
For a plot summary, have your girlfriend look here. (It contains spoilers if you haven’t read the story, and it’s an all-time classic that I would recommend to anyone who hasn’t.)
JCorre, are you still here, or would we be wasting our time even guessing? Is the story “The Persistance of Vision” by John Varley, as Broomstick guessed? I’ve read that story, and it certainly sounds like the description you’ve given. There’s also the story by H. G. Wells called “The Country of the Blind” that also fits the description. Since this story is definitely not by Card, there’s no point in us continuing to guess unless you read the Varley and Wells stories and tell us if one of them is the right one. I hate these threads where the OP drops out, and we continue to blather on pointlessly.
I think the story is Light on the Sound, by S.P. Somtow (although when he wrote it he was writing as Somtow Sucharitkul). The society had been genetically engineered to be blind, deaf, and dumb so that they couldn’t see or hear the “animals” they were killing. The brains of those “animals” allowed for FTL travel (I think, it’s been YEARS since I read this), but when alive they sang as they flew, and the singing was so beautiful that no one who heard it could bear to harm them.
Of course, sometimes there were atavisms, and Light on the Sound is largely the story of one of those atavisms. It’s a pretty good story.
There is a story about a deaf, mute, and blind society by Robert Silverberg. Damned if I can recall what it’s called.
I know Card does have some limited edition books which contain almost impossible-to-get stories…
Without having read any of the stories, I’d guess it was the H.G. Wells one.
H.G.Wells => Orson Welles => Orson Scott Card? It might not be that hard to do. 
I don’t think so. The Wells story only dealt with a country of the blind; JCorre’s girlfriend specified deaf and mute as well.
As I suspected, JCorre is a drive-by poster who doesn’t even care about the answer to this question. We’ve already given him a bunch of possibilities (“The Persistance of Vision” by John Varley, “The Country of the Blind” by H. G. Wells, “Light on the Sound” by Somtow Sucharitkul, and a story by Robert Silverberg) and he can’t be bothered to give us any further clues or read the stories to see which one it is. If you can’t be bothered to keep up with the thread, JCorre, don’t start it.
=>Three Card Monty => Three coins in a Wishing Well => H.G. Wells.
So what’s the confusion? 