A very brief modern graphic commentary on an episode from "Ender's Game"

Link. [via Johnny Tindalos at rasfw]

Related: Main post of novel version of "Ender's Game"; download full text of original short story version of "Ender's Game".

SF Signal's Top 5 recent genre novels for those not into the genre

Link.

I have only read Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" from the list; I've a feeling its original short story version (download) might be a better read since that is supposed to be about the really interesting parts in the novel - the space war training room & associated leadership issues. But I'm only guessing - I've only read the longer novel version.

A word of caution on Gene Wolfe. He's not for everyone. Read a few of his short stories first. Sometimes, I've found him to be utterly incomprehensible.

PS: I personally have been in genre less than 2 years; in February of 2007, I'd not even heard the names "Ray Bradbury" & "Hugo award"!! It's been several hundred genre stories since, including may be 50 novels, but I guess I still look at the genre as an outsider.

PS 2: On first year birthday of Variety SF, I'd compiled a list of online short fiction for genre newbies (from the perspective of another newbie - ha ha). Mostly light reads, some outright funny. But these aren't constrained to "recent works".

Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" (novel): On leadership & winning

First three quarters of this somewhat over-hyped military novel contains the interesting parts, with caveats. Last 5% prepares the background for sequels, & could have otherwise been dropped from the book. Rest is predictable.

On the positive side, it's a very readable & generally fast paced novel. Not always plausible when insisting a 7 year old behaves like a 27 - but add 10 or 20 years to specified age, & it becomes plausible. Occasional kid bullies & psychopaths left a bad taste, but they are unimportant.

To me, the really interesting part of the story was the dramatization of leadership, & the winning attitude.

I collect some quotes from the book here.

Story summary.
Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is the third of the three sibling, all uper-smart - Peter (10), Valentine (8), & Andrew (6). Peter is a very violent bully, Valentine is "too mild" & protective of Andrew, & Andrew is somewhere in between. By the time main story ends, Andrew will be 11. By the time the preparation for sequels ends, Peter will be in his 70s & the ruler of a country on earth, but Andrew & Val will be in their twenties because of the time they spent traveling near the speed of light to another solar system.

Andrew is born in a society where only "the first two children had a free education. Taxes steadily rose with each new child." The shameful label of Third is attached to Andrew.

This also is a rather autocratic society. Each of the 3 kids was claimed by military - if found suitable to their purpose.

"Monitor", a small device attached at the back of your neck & surgically interfaced directly with the brain, can be used by government to directly monitor your deepest thoughts. Each of the three children will get it implanted at very young age, while the military observes them for their suitability! Two older kids get it removed before the age 5 because they are not suitable. Andrew is allowed to be born without third-child taxes because the older siblings were unsuitable to military! Andrew will get his monitor removed at age 6, & nearly die while it is being removed. But he is a winner, & is claimed by military at that tender age; he will never again see his family except Valentine, & that too after many years - military need!

Sol has been invaded twice in the past - last time 70 years ago - by "buggers", interstellar sentient species of hive-beings variety & with telepathic ability. First visit was exploratory, & humans were unprepared. Second was for colonization of Sol, but humans won. Now a third invasion is being talked of - only, this time humans are going to raid & finish them off.

Human military ships are already approaching their worlds, & war will begin in 5 years; Andrew is being looked upon as 11 year old commander of this invasion!!! Silliest & most juvenile parts of the story relate to government big shots handling this aspect.

Anyway, Andrew lands at Battle School, a space station with facilities training in zero-gravity fighting, among other things. It is here that he will show leadership skills that can do a 30 year old corporate executive proud. And he will leave this school when barely 9 (or is it 10?)! Of course, he excels at everything.

After Battle School, he lands at Command School, a facility on an asteroid named Eros; facility was originally built by buggers. Here, much of his time will be spent playing very sophisticated computer games with his friends & junior partners from Battle School.

Until the eventual joke - final "examination" game watched by top military leaders that he wins, & is told this was no game at all. He was actually directing the human military fleet at buggers' home world via "ansible" (officially called "Philotic Parallax Instantaneous Communicator") - a faster-than-light instant communications device. When the game is over, the battle is over, & so is bugger home world & every bugger!

While Andrew is at Battle School, Peter with Val's help, has been planning to become ruler of earth once the bugger war is won. By developing two personalities on the "nets" - Demosthenes will be played by Val, Locke by Peter. Locke is the sane voice; Demosthenes is the rabble rouser. Little after the end of war, he will actually become the ruler, & will remain so at least till he is in his 70s (we are not told his later story).

To save Andrew's exploitation from Peter, Val takes Andrew to colonize one of the bugger worlds, now empty. Andrew will later discover the seeds left for him by telepathic buggers - to restart their breeding; he will presumably do so in sequels. We will also be told that buggers meant humans well, & the Wars were due to communication gap.

There appears to be a bit of a loose end in the story. During the final battle, only the bugger home world was destroyed, along with their fleet defending it - but with a machine called "Dr Device" that does a molecular disintegration of planet. So this planet is not available for colonization later. If human colonists are going to other bugger planets, how come they are also void of buggers? But this doesn't really come in the way of the story.

Major characters.

1. Andrew "Ender" Wiggin: The hero who does much of his heroics between the age 6 & 11, & is instrumental in destroying buggers & their worlds. His two books - "Hive Queen" & the "Hegemon" - under the pseudonym "Speaker for the Dead" will eventually become the bible of human colonies on bugger worlds, & will presumably play a part in sequels. "Hive Queen" tells the story from bugger's point of view - as told to Ender telepathically by the bugger seed he found. Hegemon is the story of Peter, Andrew's elder brother.
2. Peter Wiggin: Andrew's eldest sibling, & a very smart psychopath. Also plays the role of Locke. He will eventually rule much of earth for decades.
3. Valentine Wiggin: Andrew's elder sister. Very smart. Protects him from Peter. Plays the role of Demosthenes, under which name she will eventually write a multi-volume history of bugger wars. I have a feeling these history books will play a role in the sequels.
4. Colonel Hyrum Graff: Andrew's main mentor in military ("Internation Fleet" aka IF). Also, for a while, the principle of Battle School.
5. John Paul Wieczorek: Dad of Andrew, Peter & Val. Took Wiggin name later in life - to save taxes because he was born in a large family. He actually has only an unimportant bit role in the story.
   
6. Mazer Rackham: Has a bit role in the story. Hero of Second Invasion. He commanded the human fleet that won the war in a very Russellian way. He has spent much of his life roaming in stellar vessels to slow down his time, & hence aging - so he will be ready to train the child commander of Third Invasion 80 years after Second Invasion!! He spends a bit of time with Andrew near end.

See also.

1. This novel is based on Card's earlier short story, also named "Ender's Game" (download
   full text), Analog, August 1977, according to author's note. But I haven't read the shorter version.
   
   Update 14 September 2009: Download link above ("http://www.incwell.com/ipulp/endersGAME/issue1.html", deleted above to avoid confusing search engines) seems to have gone dead, but this archived version at Internet Archive appears ok.
   

Fact sheet.
"Ender's Game", novel, review
First published: 1985
Rating: A
Winner of Hugo Award 1986, & Nebula Award 1985, both in novel category

Quotes from Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" (novel)

I collect some quotes from Card's novel, "Ender's Game", here:

1. "There's only one thing that will make them stop hating you. And that's being so good at what you do that they can't ignore you."
2. "A small reserve, held back until the end of the game, can be decisive."
3. "soldiers can sometimes make decisions that are smarter than the orders they've been given."
4. "commanders have just as much authority as you let them have. The more you obey them, the more power they have over you."
5. "he could always see what other people hated most about themselves, and bully them, while Val could always see what other people liked best about themselves, and flatter them."
6. "I'll tell you how to get a toon. Prove to me you know what you're doing as a soldier. Prove to me you know how to use other soldiers. And then prove to me that somebody's willing to follow you into battle."
7. "Most armies practiced mass maneuvers, preformed strategies. Ender had none. Instead he trained his toon leaders to use their small units effectively in achieving limited goals. Unsupported, alone, on their own initiative."
8. "Ender liked having the announcement of the extra fifteen minutes come from the toon leaders. Let the boys learn that leniency comes from their toon leaders, and harshness from their commander - it will bind them better in the small, tight knots of this fabric."
9. "Win first, ask questions later."
10. "The only way to end things completely was to hurt Bonzo enough that his fear was stronger than his hate."
11. "the power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can't kill then you are always subject to those who can, and nothing and no one will ever save you."
12. "They have influence, but no power." "In my experience, influence is power."
13. "Real respect takes longer than official respect."
14. "Perhaps it's impossible to wear an identity without becoming what you pretend to be."
15. "I've been through a lot of fights in my life, ... Every time, I've won because I could understand the way my enemy thought. From what they did. I could tell what they thought I was doing, how they wanted the battle to take shape. And I played off of that. I'm very good at that. Understanding how other people think."
16. "power will always end up with the sort of people who crave it".
17. "Human beings didn't evolve brains in order to lie around on lakes. Killing is the first thing we learned. And a good thing we did, or we'd be dead, and the tigers would own the earth."