Weekly Geeks: Secret pasts and peculiar presents

Weekly Geeks:

Does an author's politics matter to you? Do you have a favourite book or series written by someone you know to be your political opposite? Or have you stopped reading works by a particular author after discovering that their politics was radically different from your own? What about their personality? Have you ever stopped reading an author's work after seeing or hearing them talk because you didn't like what you saw or heard. And how about that secret past? How would you feel if you found out your favourite author was a murderer or some other kind of criminal? Are there some crimes that you would be OK about and others that would stop you following their work? Do you know about the pasts of 'your' authors? Do you want to?

I never used to give much importance to the author's personal life, or to his/her political views. Maybe because I never felt the need to explore their lives. But that was before the internet times. Now at the click of a mouse, you can find out all you want. I too look out for details about authors and have been truly put off by some. Anyone with a criminal background totally freaks me out and I don't wish to read their books. Political views don't matter but personal traits do. Any dark secret which is not related to any crime, has no effect on my reading. We all have quirks, so an author's quirks shouldn't really matter. Values and ethics do matter and those do reflect in the works of the author.