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The Ender Saga: A Noteworthy Science Fiction
series
January 1985 marks the beginning
of America’s love affair with Ender Wiggin. It
was that month that Ender’s Game was published,
becoming an instant blockbuster, and “probably
the most popular science fiction novel published
in the last twenty years” (John Kessel). The child
prodigy and ultimate savior of the earth, Ender
Wiggin, had appeared seven years earlier in a
short story published in the science fiction magazine
Analog. Writer Orson Scott Card had spent much
of his young life working in print, but had only
set to writing science fiction when his meager
salary as copy editor at a small press failed
to pay a debt incurred from a failed business
attempt. His magazine article won instant attention,
and Orson Scott Card won the 1978 John C. Campbell
Award for best new writer at the World Science
Fiction Convention. But little Ender was destined
for bigger things.
Orson Scott Card saw potential in
his young protagonist and instantly set to work
developing the short fiction into a longer work.
Already he had two novels in mind, Ender’s Game
and its sequel Speaker for the Dead, published
the following year in 1986. Card made history
by winning both the prestigious Nebula and Hugo
Awards in both consecutive years. No other author
has managed this feat to date (2006.) Since that
time, Ender’s Game has been translated into sixteen
languages, and spawned two series.
The first series includes Ender’s
Game (1985), Speaker for the Dead (1986), Xenocide
(1991), Children of the Mind (1996), and First
Meetings (2002). The saga follows Ender as he
grows into adulthood and deals with the moral
and ethical issues presented in his childhood.
The second series starts with a
parallel telling of the original Ender’s Game,
but from the eyes of Bean. Titled Ender’s Shadow
(1999), it is the first of the Shadow Series,
followed by Shadow of the Hegemon (2001), Shadow
Puppets (2002), and Shadow of the Giant (2005).
Ender’s Game has been called “the
science fiction novel for people who don’t think
they like science fiction.” Truly it appeals to
a vast audience. It is on the list of top books
for college-bound students, and has been adopted
as required reading in numerous secondary schools
and university classes. Card explains that the
focus on the human story as it unravels, rather
than the science fiction elements, is what gives
the novel power among its readers. Essentially,
Card says, readers must relate and care deeply
about the characters. Beyond that, he admits that
the use of computer networks and the “mind game”
are features in the book that appeal to many readers.
Ender claimed the spotlight again
in the late 1990s when rumor caught wind that
a film was slated. Indeed, Warner Brothers announced
in 2002 its plans to produce the film. Director
Wolfgang Peterson, known for his most recent films
Poseidon, Troy and The Perfect Storm, is joined
by screenwriter David Benieff (Troy). The movie
is expected to hit the theaters in 2008. After
winning the top prizes offered in science fiction
literature, one wonders what is still in store
for Ender Wiggen.
About the Author
Francesca Black has always enjoyed Science Fiction
and she manages the content at: Science Fiction
Corner http://www.science-fiction-corner.com
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