booktastic

I mentioned yesterday that Orson Scott Card is one of my favorite “straight Sci-Fi” authors. I use the term “straight Sci-Fi” to distinguish from the kind of Sci-Fi that Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett create: you know, humorous Sci-Fi. Mr. Card sticks to the serious, with the funny cracks very few and far in between. Since humor is one of the main things I used to look for in my reading, an author would have to be very good at other things (creativity, originality, dialogue, scenarios) to attract my attention.

Orson Scott Card’s writing has all of those things.

The first book of Mr. Card’s that I ever encountered was his book Wyrms. This is one of his earliest novels, I believe, if not his first. My encounter with this book was seeing it left on the coffee table when my mother checked it out from the library when I was about eleven. I didn’t read it at the time because it was in the “grown up” Sci-Fi section, and I was still steering clear of that and keeping to children’s and YA books.

A couple years later I had abruptly decided I was grown up (thirteen year olds will do that, you know) and was browsing the adult Sci-Fi section when I came across Wyrms again. It looked promisingly lurid (one had different priorities as a teenager), so I picked it up and read it.

I am not sure, in retrospect, that I should have been reading that book. Yes, it was about a girl about my age - but, really, it was not age appropriate reading. Certain scenes from that book remain with me vividly to this day. The flesh of a man’s hand slipping off like a glove…

No, I’m not crediting Orson Scott Card with my screwed-up subconscious (I reserve that credit for Stephen King). However, I am crediting him with creating a magnificently vivid, complicated, compelling story in that book. Absolutely not for children, of course - that particular book is riddled with sexuality and graphic violence, as I recall - but still an excellent read. I picked up a copy the other day and discovered that the first few pages of the book drew me in immediately. That’s a mark of good writing - when you flip it open idly, and find yourself not wanting to put it down.

Since then, Orson Scott has made an even bigger name for himself by writing the “Ender” series. Now, I had never heard of the Ender books until I was in my twenties and one of my boyfriends recommended the first book, Ender’s Game, to me. I vaguely recalled Orson Scott Card from my previous experience, so I figured it would at least be entertaining - if somewhat lurid - and read the thing.

What I discovered was not just YA fiction, not just Sci-Fi - and was definitely not lurid. Ender’s Game, I can confidently say, is a classic.

I’m not easily impressed with Sci-Fi, so don’t think that I’m praising it lightly. For me to use the term “classic” - it has to meet some strong criteria. It must have compelling characters, a believable situation, must be readable by a larger audience than just Sci-Fi geeks, and a story that transcends the time period that the book was written in and manages to resonate for years - decades - to come.

Ender’s Game does that.

I predict that this will be considered one of the classics of genre, if not one of the classic books of the generation: it kind of is already. It has more or less transcended the genre and is often carried in the “straight” fiction area of bookstores, and in both YA and adult.

Orson Scott Card has written sequels; there are the direct sequels, Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide, and also books about side characters, beginning with Ender’s Shadow (considered the fifth in the series, but really starting a series in itself). The direct sequels are worth reading if you liked Ender’s Game although not quite as compelling. The Shadow books went a bit further than I was interested in going: the only one I finished was the first, Ender’s Shadow, which was more or less Ender’s Game but told from a character who stood three feet to the side.

But I’m getting off the point, which is that whether or not you like Sci-Fi, if you like good reading, you could (and should) read Ender’s Game. It is a superb novel.

Now, for Sci-Fi and Fantasy buffs, there are several other series that you may want to check out; notably, the Alvin Maker books and the Homecoming series. The Alvin Maker books are a fantasy series that take place in an alternate version of the United States (think cowboys with magic); and the Homecoming series is about a group of people who live on a foreign planet who come to the conclusion that people used to live somewhere else (another planet) and want to get back there. I have only picked up the Alvin Maker books, but I read the entire Homecoming series while I was in college.

(Let me sidetrack a little bit to mention that Orson Scott Card is a Mormon. If that concerns you, don’t worry; he’s not slipping Mormons into everything he writes. In fact, there are all kinds of religions in there - even ones that directly contradict Mormonism [such as Catholicism, for instance] and are still presented favorably. However, I was rather surprised when, after reading the Homecoming series, on a random afternoon I picked up a copy of The Book of Mormon and started reading it… and found the opening story almost was almost identical to the scenary in Memory of Earth. There’s nothing really wrong with that, I suppose: I mean, people incorporate Biblical and mythic stories into their writing all the time… And it must be said - not casting aspursions on Mormons, you understand - The Book of Mormon makes decent Sci-Fi/Fantasy reading.)

I’m not saying that all Orson Scott Card’s books are classics. After reading the whole Homecoming series, they kind of began to blend into each other and I could see the patterns in his writing and characters and scenarios he likes to re-use. (I am particularly perplexed by the repeated theme of narrowly-avoided sibling incest). And, honestly, the reason I’ve never read the Alvin Maker series is that I’ve just never been able to get into it. I’ve picked up Seventh Son two or three times and got as far as chapter three, but always wound up putting it aside.

However, I’ve never read an author whose entire cannon of books has been classic (with the possible exception of Harper Lee). I love the books of E.F. Benson, but there are a few of his that I like more than others. I liked the Hitchhiker “Trilogy”, but I was never fond of the fourth book in it. In short, Orson Scott Card is like all other authors, in that some of his books are simply better than others.

However - unlike all other authors - some of his books exceed simply being “better” and enter into the realm of classic. I highly recommend Memory of Earth, Wyrms, and (for the writers amongst us) his very entertaining non-fiction work How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy.

And I INSIST that you read Ender’s Game. You’ll be glad you did. –Mrs. Hall

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