Have you ever been turned off of an author's books...

[Nerdius Maximus]

...Because you met him in real life and found out he was a dick? Just something random that popped into my head. I was thinking about the time I met Larry Nemececk at a convention when I was a kid. He's not an author as much a writer of guidebooks about Star Trek, I suppose, but he was a huge butthole. He was like Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons. I had just purchased his Next Generation Companion book, and there wasn't much going on at his table, he was just sitting there, so I asked if he'd mind signing it. He sighed, scribbled on it with a sharpie, slammed it down on the table and turned his back to me.
I walked over to where Keith Birdsong was painting, though, and he was really cool. He was painting a cover for a future issue of the fan club magazine, and I remember thinking it was really cool when I got it in the mail. I was like, "Hey, I watched him paint that!"

 

[Thrawn]

If I can still enjoy Ender's Game after reading some of Card's more... polemical rants, then I think I can safely say this will never happen to me

 

[Dayton Ward]

I quit buying anything with Kevin Dilmore's name on it a long time ago. What a douche.

As for Larry, I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that you perhaps caught him at a bad moment/on a bad day. He's really one of the nicest folks you'll meet.

Speaking of Keith Birdsong: I met him at Trek Expo this past summer in Tulsa. Very, very cool guy.

 

[elaithin]

Thrawn, that was the example that came to my mind, as well.

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

I quit buying anything with Kevin Dilmore's name on it a long time ago. What a douche.

As for Larry, I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that you perhaps caught him at a bad moment/on a bad day. He's really one of the nicest folks you'll meet.

Speaking of Keith Birdsong: I met him at Trek Expo this past summer in Tulsa. Very, very cool guy.

That might very well be. Man, thinking about that convention takes me back. I bought a DS9 shirt(This was before anything about the show had been revealed, it just featured the logo, and it was completely different from the one used on the show.), Nichelle Nichols was there...Good times.
The only previous one I'd been to was with James Doohan when I was 12 or 13. What a great guy.

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

If I can still enjoy Ender's Game after reading some of Card's more... polemical rants, then I think I can safely say this will never happen to me

Hmmmm, I'm almost afraid to google that. Ender's Game was a great book.

 

[Daddy Todd]

If I can still enjoy Ender's Game after reading some of Card's more... polemical rants, then I think I can safely say this will never happen to me

Interesting that Card's name came up so quick. I used to know him (like 25 years ago) and was a big fan of his books, but I sensed a sharp decline in quality starting with Xenocide and the third or fourth Alvin Maker book.

Coincidentally, this was about the time he (unknowingly) insulted me while a guest in my home, and later refused to apologize when called on it. He's not a nice man -- al least, he wasn't in 1990, when these events took place and I last had any direct contact with him.

I continued to pick up his books when I found them on the remainder table for another decade or so, but have never had the inclination to actually crack one open. I finally stopped buying them, even at remainder prices, around the turn of the millennium.

 

[Therin of Andor]

In the early 80s, having loved TAS and "The Slaver Weapon", I sought out Larry Niven's "Ringworld" (and "Tales of Known Space") because I'd run out of ST novels and I realised there were kzinti to be found within its pages. A few months later, "Ringworld Engineers" came out in paperback, and I was in seventh heaven.

I had a chance to meet Larry Niven in Sydney at a convention, and then chat with him at a book signing, and found him to be humorless and abrupt, with a boring, dry delivery that I just couldn't equate with the liveliness and pace of his SF writings.

However, a few years later, I ran into him again at a different convention. This time he was in the bar. Laughing, joking, telling anecdotes. Wonderful! Like a totally different person. So don't write off an author on one brief, underwhelming encounter.

 

[Count Zero]

I don't think I'd be put off of someone's work just because he's an ass. Many artists aren't very agreeable and nice people. My favourite author, Thomas Mann, was a bit of an ass in real life, but that doesn't taint his works at all for me.

 

[Snaploud]

I met Al Franken in 2004 (not a nice fellow). He turned me off his books and had me seriously hoping for a major independent bid during his Senate race (despite my being a Democrat and not a fan of the Republican candidate).

On the other hand, Orson Scott Card sounds like a jerk (based upon his political writings), but I still manage to purchase his books (even with the decline in quality).

 

[Dark Gilligan]

I had a chance to meet Larry Niven in Sydney at a convention, and then chat with him at a book signing, and found him to be humorless and abrupt, with a boring, dry delivery that I just couldn't equate with the liveliness and pace of his SF writings.

Niven's had bouts of very poor health over the years, which of course will effect his moods. I remember meeting him at a con several years back, and a friend of mine (who worked with Niven on a number of projects) pulled me aside and advised "Don't ask for his autograph, he doesn't feel well today." Later, I met Niven again at a Christmas party and we was jolly and laughing, so yeah, it really depends on his health at the time.

 

[Smitty]

Authors, actors, musicians, etc. are just human and all that entails. I love to hear their views on the subjects within or related to the area of their work and the insights in the profession etc. But outside of that I have no interest. I don't care what their personal beliefs are, their politics or anything like that. When they use their stardom to start preaching those things at me my reaction is to tell them to shut up and perform for me. I do not mean to come off harsh but get tired of people telling me what god to worship, who to vote or not vote for or what brand of toilet paper to buy. :-)
When I see them at a promotion etc I would hope they are friendly etc but like someone else mentioned you can catch them on a bad day.

 

[Daneel]

If I can still enjoy Ender's Game after reading some of Card's more... polemical rants, then I think I can safely say this will never happen to me

Hmmmm, I'm almost afraid to google that. Ender's Game was a great book.

Let me put it this way: Card's rants have pretty much ensured that I will never read any of his fictional works. With some artists (be they writers, actors, etc.), I can separate their works from their personality, but Orson Scott Card really rubs me the wrong way, so I don't think I could do that with him.

 

[David R. George III]

Have you ever been turned off of an author's books...

...Because you met him in real life and found out he was a dick?

Yes.

 

[ronny]

I met Larry Niven years ago and he was nice to me. I had this 4 book set of Known Space books that came in a card board box type thing and he laughed and said no one had ever asked him to sign that before.

My comic book store won't stock Enders comics, or anything else by Card anymore since he joined the board of directors for the National Organization for Marriage.

I haven't met that many authors but none of the ones I have met have come even close to acting in a way that would cause me to not want to read there stuff.

 

[seigezunt]

Naw. It's about the art, not the artist.

 

[Garm Bel Iblis]

well Harlan Eillsion is probably one of the biggest dicks i've ever seen(who what a sentence) and I still Love COTEOF, but i would RELALY like that Cruible hardcover!

 

[David Mack]

Have you ever been turned off of an author's books...
...Because you met him in real life and found out he was a dick?

Yes.

Aw, c'mon, Dave, I said I was sorry. I had no idea she was your sister...

 

[PaulSimpson]

Have you ever been turned off of an author's books...
...Because you met him in real life and found out he was a dick?

Yes.

Aw, c'mon, Dave, I said I was sorry. I had no idea she was your sister...

Hell, I thought that was me he meant! I suppose I asked for it with the goat though...

 

[ronny]

I'll also say that I was turned ON to an author's books because of the way he acted in person. I was at Science Fiction in San Francisco, a monthly gathering where a couple of authors usually read. I was there for another author and Joe R. Lansdale was there as well doing a reading. I was at the sale table thumbing through a book that collected the script for Bubba Ho-Tep and the short story that inspired the movie, written by Lansdale. I heard someone say behind me "That book is awesome, you ought to get it". They way he said it I started laughing and I looked around but the guy had already walked off and was chatting with someone else. I was on the edge any so decided to get it. Later on I saw it the guy at the authors table and figured out it was Lansdale and I laughed again. His reading was great and the question session was a lot of fun. After words I asked him to sign it and he said something along the lines of "Oh great, you took my advice".

Later on I picked up one of his books just because seeing his name reminded of that that night. I enjoyed the book and have been reading him since.

This is probably one of those "guess you had to be there" kind of things but I'm just saying an author can influence people to read his books too...