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December 13[edit]

SF novel with black hero[edit]

Does someone remeber a SF novel, maybe from the 1950s, maybe by Vonnegut or van Vogt, whose (supposedly white) reader identifies more and more with the main character to discover at the end that said main character is black? Thank you. BTW I didn't read it, I just read about it and I don't know more details. 2003:F5:6F16:D400:350C:81BC:9568:9AD (talk) 17:12, 13 December 2020 (UTC) Marco PB[reply]

Not a perfect match, but the brown skin of Ged, the hero of Ursula Le Guin's 1968 fantasy novel A Wizard of Earthsea is, IIRC, only incidentally mentioned once, quite near the end of the novel. The cover artist for the edition I read had failed to notice this. But I'm sure the same thing has been done several or many times, in and out of science fiction, e.g. in Anthony Burgess's mainstream novel M/F. --Antiquary (talk) 18:36, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

In Robert A. Heinlein's ouvre, the space marine protagonist "Johnny" Rico of Starship Troopers (1959) is only belatedly revealed to be a native Filipino who speaks Tagalog at home, and in I Will Fear No Evil (1970), the aged male billionaire protagonist's brain is transplanted into the donor body of a murder victim, by sheer coincidence his young female secretary, and only an inconspicuous sentence reveals her to be/have been black.

In my experience (as an SF&F fan and book collector for half a century), racial mismatches between non-white characters and their cover depictions used to be quite common. I have always assumed this to be because many SF and not a few Fantasy writers have progressive attitudes and agendas (which I share), but publishers wish to maximise sales and avoid triggering the conscious or unconscious prejudices of the majority of their market, which historically at least was, or appeared to be, predominantly white.

(To answer a possible query: as an active fan and also a some-time professional bookseller and publisher's editor, I have long known that, in the 20th century at least, very few writers had any input into or say over the cover artwork given to their books.) {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.122.56.237 (talk) 21:22, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Got the V / Van right perhaps. The hero, Claude Glystra, of Jack Vance's Big Planet, is clearly described as black at the beginning - and shown so on some old covers. Might be mentioned somewhere at the end of the book too. But not mentioned in our article. Vance's descriptions are so profuse and ornate, often with footnotes, that one can easily pass over such things on a first reading, I did. I think it has some thematic importance too, the prosperity of Earth being contrasted with the poverty and chaos of Big Planet.John Z (talk) 21:37, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Another Heinlein example is from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985) where the fact that Colin Campbell is black is revealed only by his telling another black character that it was a good thing their skins were the same color, as otherwise his opinions of the second man would be racist and by comparison of his skin color to that of a foot transplanted onto him. --Khajidha (talk) 14:10, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

PS - what was the hint that Eunice was black? I seem to have overlooked it even after multiple readings. --Khajidha (talk) 14:11, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

At some point well into the (>400-page) book, the character checks her appearance in a full-length mirror (I think in a hallway before leaving a residence) and the third-person narration mentions her skin colour. As you yourself know, the story is from page one replete with descriptions of Eunice Branca/Joan Eunice Smith's (and others') physical appearance, clothes and makeup (often full-body as is the fashion of the era) both before and after the transplant, but this is the first explicit mention (that I noticed) of her natural skin colour, which I recognised at the time (44 years ago, and yes, I still have that copy to hand) as a typical Henlein ploy.

On a quick skim of the text (quite challenging because of the layout of the copious and complex internal dialogue) I haven't managed to spot the passage, and now need to attend to other matters. I'll try again later this week, and will post here and/or on your Talk page, Khajidha if I find it. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.122.56.237 (talk) 00:42, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

For yet another Heinlein example, see Tunnel in the Sky#Rod's ethnicity.

Regarding Colonel Colin Campbell (AKA Richard Ames) in The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (mentioned above by Khajidha), see this discussion of the cover art by Michael Whelan. -- ToE 14:49, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

So, is Heinlein the master of doing this or have we just managed to have multiple Heinlein fans come by and no fans of other authors pointing out their examples? --Khajidha (talk) 17:55, 16 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Something similar is a famous and very pointed short comic originally published in 1953, "Judgement Day". --47.152.93.24 (talk) 21:55, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Also not quite on the point, but similar, is Arthur C. Clarke's short story "Reunion". --Khajidha (talk) 19:18, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Although 1971, Jerry Cornelius is black in A Cure for Cancer--TrogWoolley (talk) 12:52, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks to everybody, I think "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls" or "Tunnel in the Sky" could be the answer to my question. 2003:F5:6F19:4300:40E1:C2AF:BF93:B804 (talk) 13:01, 20 December 2020 (UTC) Marco PB[reply]

Donations[edit]

I donated £15 on my mobile phone about a week ago. I don't log in, I don't have an account. Tonight I tried logging in on my laptop and I am being hounded to make a £2 donation. I feel like I am being bullied and as I have already donated, how do I stop this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.148.107.128 (talk) 22:27, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You aren't being bullied, this is just a website. It has no motive to hurt you. Have you tried dismissing the box? Elizium23 (talk) 22:31, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If you create an account, you can hide the fundraising banners. If you have feedback on the donation drive you can contact donate (at) wikimedia.org RudolfRed (talk) 23:43, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I never edit while logged out, so I have to ask this ignorant question: When you made the donation, was there any provision for identifying what your IP address was? If so, then maybe some intelligence should be added to the process. If not, how would they know to suppress the ads, even if they could? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:14, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Baseball Bugs, cookies are used, not IP addresses. It is not possible to uniquely identify website visitors using an IP address, mostly because of proxies, CGNAT, dynamic addressing, etc. Elizium23 (talk) 00:16, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

So if I'm reading your right, unless the developers were to make it possible for IP's to suppress those ads, the OP here (and in the previous section, farther up) will just have to keep X-ing out of the annoying ads when they turn up. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:19, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

....or register. HiLo48 (talk) 01:35, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Sure, but registration is not required. However, it doesn't seem like such a big deal to simply X out of the ad. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:03, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Download and install Adblock Plus. (I wouldn't be without it.) When you see a page with the banner, select "Block element" from the ABP dropdown, and select the banner. The banner will no longer appear on any Wikipedia pages. Other adblockers are available.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 10:03, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

One for each device, presumably. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:45, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]