Orson Scott Card

From Free net encyclopedia

Orson Scott Card (born August 24 1951) is a prolific and best-selling author working in numerous genres.

Image:Orson.scott.card.png Card's launch in the publishing industry was with science fiction (Hot Sleep and Capitol) and later fantasy (Hart's Hope). He remains best known for the seminal Ender's Game, which has been among the most popular SF novels ever since its publication in 1985. Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead were awarded both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, making Card the only author (as of 2005) ever to win both of SF's top prizes in consecutive years for a novel and its sequel. Card continued the series with Xenocide, Children of the Mind, Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, and the 2005 release of Shadow of the Giant. Card has also announced a 'Christmas in Battle School' book, a book that connects the "Shadow" series and "Speaker" series together, and a book that takes place after Shadow of the Giant and before Card's short story "Investment Counselor". Furthermore, Card recently announced that Ender's Game will soon be made into a movie (see Ender's Game (film)).

He has since branched out into contemporary fiction, such as Lost Boys, Treasure Box and Enchantment. Other works demonstrating his versatility include the novelization of the James Cameron film The Abyss, the alternate histories The Tales of Alvin Maker and Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus, the comic book Ultimate Iron Man for Marvel Comics' Ultimate Marvel Universe series, and Robota, a collaboration with Star Wars artist Doug Chiang.

His writing is dominated by detailed characterization and moral issues. As Card says, "We care about moral issues, nobility, decency, happiness, goodness—the issues that matter in the real world, but which can only be addressed, in their purity, in fiction."

Some of his novels, for example Stone Tables, about the life of the Biblical prophet Moses; his Women of Genesis series; The Folk Of The Fringe stories; and Saints, about Latter-day Saint pioneers, have explicit religious themes. In his other writings, the influence of his Mormon beliefs is less obvious; Card's Homecoming and Alvin Maker sagas are partly retellings of the Book of Mormon and the life of LDS founder Joseph Smith, Jr.

In addition to his novels and short stories, Card has had an active career as a nonfiction writer. He helped create the scripts for the "Dramatized Church History" series radio play type productions telling the story of the LDS church from its inception to the mid 1980s.

During the 1980s he wrote many technical articles and columns, primarily for Compute!'s Gazette and Ahoy!, two magazines covering Commodore home computers.

Contents

[edit]

Early life, family, and career

Card is descended from Charles Ora Card, a son-in-law of Brigham Young who founded the town of Cardston, Alberta, the first Mormon pioneer settlement in Canada. Card was born in Richland, Washington; raised in Palo Alto, California, as well as Arizona and Utah; served an LDS mission in Brazil; graduated from Brigham Young University and the University of Utah; and now lives in Greensboro, North Carolina. He and his wife Kristine are the parents of five children: Geoffrey (a published author in his own right), Emily (who adapted his short story "A Sepulchre of Songs" to the stage in Posing as People), Charlie Ben (deceased), Zina Margaret, and Erin Louisa (deceased). The children are named for the authors Chaucer, Brontë and Dickinson, Dickens, Mitchell, and Alcott.

In 2005, Card accepted a permanent appointment as professor at Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista, Virginia, a small liberal arts college with a Mormon atmosphere. (It is run by a group of LDS people, but unlike the BYU schools, is not owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.) Card has justified this action by citing his frustration with pervasive and dismal teaching methodology for creative writing. Card has worked closely with colleagues to develop new and effective ways to educate aspiring writers and has published two books on the subject. He was eager for the opportunity to apply these techniques in a university environment—his assorted workshops did not allow the follow-through he desired. Card splits his time evenly between writing and teaching.

Card has stated that one of the most important elements of writing is gauging reader interest. This can be achieved by having someone be a specially "trained reader" who makes a note of every time attention flags. This allows him to spot weak sections and shore them up. But he cautions that this "training" ruins the ability of this person to just go with the flow and enjoy good books, without constantly making mental notes of places where interest lags.

[edit]

Personal views

Card is also active as a critic, political writer and speaker. Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks Card began to write a weekly "War Watch" (renamed to "World Watch" and then to "Civilization Watch") column for the Greensboro Rhino Times, as well as an "Uncle Orson Reviews Everything" column, both of which are archived on Card's websites. A self-described Moynihan, Tony Blair, Zell Miller Democrat, Card is a vocal supporter of George W. Bush, the war on terror, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the USA PATRIOT Act, and U.S. support of Israel. Card argues that a continuing strain of tolerating racism within the Republican party in the South morally obligates him to be a Democrat. Card also publicly endorses children of illegal immigrants receiving in-state college tuition rates and is opposing tax cuts, unfettered deregulation and same-sex marriage.

He has written columns condemning liberals as being what's wrong with America, and praises Zell Miller for trying to save the Democratic Party. At one point, he has stated that he's a "Tony Blair" Democrat, saying he has to look outside the U.S. for someone representative for his views now that Moynihan has died and the Democrats oppose Bush. Partly due to his Mormon upbringing, he is opposed to pre-marital sex (castigating Smallville for interjecting sensuality into a teen-oriented show) and gay rights (believing homosexuality to be a sin.) He has also been a staunch defender of Fox News, stating that he likes his news to share an "American" viewpoint.

During the 2004 election Card wrote many articles supporting the Bush/Cheney ticket and lambasting his own state's senator, John Edwards, as being absurd, insincere, and an opportunistic shill. Prior to the 2004 presidential race, Card had written that his state needed to regain control from people like Edwards and advocated running a strong primary opponent against Edwards should he run for reelection to the Senate.[1]

Card is pro-gun control/anti-NRA, and is highly critical of free-market capitalism. He has cited these as the prime reasons why he has not changed his voter registration from Democrat to Republican.

Although he supports government-funded research into alternative energy sources and the phasing out of fossil fuel use, Card has also frequently criticized precipitous action on global warming, and has voiced the suggestion that scientific evidence against global warming is suppressed because global warming has become an academic orthodoxy that discourages opposing evidence. His short story "Angles" also features scientists fearing to pursue research because it would run counter to scientific dogma. Similarly, he has voiced distrust of Darwinism as dogma in opposition to Intelligent Design (which he also distrusts, for entirely different reasons). While criticizing scientists for (allegedly) purporting to explain "completely how evolution works," Card also acknowledged that "real science does not -- and never can -- prove or even support" Intelligent Design. [2][3]

[edit]

Other

In his short story "The Originist" (1989) he describes a research system that has a number of parallels with Wikipedia.

Card's description in Ender's Game (1985) of two precocious children achieving political prominence through pseudonymous postings on the "Nets" is an early and uncannily accurate prediction of the Internet and the popularity of Blogs.

Card has made reference to having lost 95 pounds without dieting (link), and nevertheless recently refers to his "over-abundant belly" (link).

Card's views on homosexuality, as conveyed in some of his non-fiction writing from more recently in his career, have generated a certain amount of controversy in the community of science fiction fandom. As a member of the LDS Church, Card believes that homosexuality is a violation of the law of chastity and that active homosexuals, as well as all others who violate this law, must repent. Card is opposed to gay marriage. This dichotomy of "hate the sin" (homosexuality) and "love the sinner" (people he considers goodhearted but misguided who commit what he considers the sin of homosexuality) has confused many as to how a writer who sometimes portray gays positively in his fiction can be so virulently opposed to the gay-rights movement in his nonfiction writing. He believes it is not evil to be attracted to members of one's own gender, but that it is wrong to act on that attraction. Card has also shown support for the idea that at least some homosexuals can be fulfilled by a heterosexual lifestyle in his Homecoming series, in which a gay man living within a tiny community of space colonists chooses to marry a woman and have a child in order to "rejoin the web of life" and perpetuate the human race in the new world.

Card has made many comments about homosexuality that are viewed as homophobic by the GLBT community and those who support gay rights:

“The argument by the hypocrites of homosexuality that homosexual tendencies are genetically ingrained in some individuals is almost laughably irrelevant. We are all genetically predisposed toward some sin or another; we are all expected to control those genetic predispositions when it is possible,” wrote Card. “The hypocrites of homosexuality are, of course, already preparing to answer these statements by accusing me of homophobia, gay-bashing, bigotry, intolerance; but nothing that I have said here — and nothing that has been said by any of the prophets or any of the Church leaders who have dealt with this issue — can be construed as advocating, encouraging, or even allowing harsh personal treatment of individuals who are unable to resist the temptation to have sexual relations with persons of the same sex” (Sunstone 14:1 February 1990: 44). Card remarks in that same column that for most gay people whom he knew as a theatre student, "their highest allegiance was to their membership in the community that gave them access to sex." He also writes, in the same essay, that he believes "Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books" and "Those who flagrantly violate society's regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society" (ibid).

These quotes were taken from an essay he wrote in Sunstone, a journal read by other members of the LDS church. There are some who maintain that the comments refer solely to Latter-day Saints who engage in a homosexual lifestyle, despite the church's policy that such acts are sinful and to be avoided; however, others point out that he talks about "laws" and mentions in the same essay "This applies also to the polity, the citizens at large", a comment that is clearly not confined to members of the LDS church.

[edit]

Selected bibliography

[edit]

Pre-Ender's Game works

[edit]

The Ender saga

[edit]

The Shadow series

[edit]

The Tales of Alvin Maker

[edit]

The Homecoming Saga

[edit]

The "Women of Genesis" series

[edit]

Other post-Ender's Game works

[edit]

Plays

  • Posing as People (2004) (three one-act plays based on short stories by Card, first production directed by Card)
[edit]

Non-fiction works

[edit]

Books on writing

  • Characters and Viewpoint (1988)
  • How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy (1990)
[edit]

Columns

  • Civilization Watch (formerly known as War Watch or World Watch) for the Rhinoceros Times (an independent Greensboro, NC newspaper)
  • Uncle Orson Reviews Everything for the Rhinoceros Times (an independent Greensboro, NC newspaper)
  • Hymns of the Heart for Meridian Magazine [5] (an LDS online magazine)
[edit]

Other projects

[edit]

See also

[edit]

External links

Template:Wikiquote


Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series
Ender Quartet Ender's Game | Speaker for the Dead | Xenocide | Children of the Mind
Bean Quintet Ender's Shadow | Shadow of the Hegemon | Shadow Puppets | Shadow of the Giant | Shadows in Flight
Short stories First Meetings: "The Polish Boy" | "Teacher's Pest" | "Investment Counselor"

Intergalactic Medicine Show: "Mazer In Prison" | "Pretty Boy"

Books | Characters | Miscellanea
ast:Orson Scott Card

bg:Орсън Кард cs:Orson Scott Card da:Orson Scott Card de:Orson Scott Card el:Όρσον Σκοτ Καρντ es:Orson Scott Card fr:Orson Scott Card he:אורסון סקוט קארד hu:Orson Scott Card nl:Orson Scott Card ja:オースン・スコット・カード pl:Orson Scott Card pt:Orson Scott Card sk:Orson Scott Card fi:Orson Scott Card sv:Orson Scott Card th:ออร์สัน สก็อต การ์ด

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Orson_Scott_Card"