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Revision as of 01:12, 5 November 2005

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

File:Orson.scott.card.png
Orson Scott Card often gives lectures to aspiring writers.

Card's launch in the publishing industry was with science fiction (Hot Sleep and Capitol) and later fantasy (Songmaster). He remains best known for the seminal Ender's Game, which has been among the most popular sci-fi 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 2004) ever to win both of sci-fi's top prizes in consecutive years. 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 The Investment Counselor. Furthermore, Card recently announced that Ender's Game will soon be made into a movie (see Ender's Game (movie)).

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

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, Zina Margaret, and Erin Louisa. The children are named for the authors Chaucer, Brontë and Dickinson, Dickens, Mitchell, and Alcott. While Geoffrey attended Brigham Young University, he asked at least some people who knew he was Card's son not to disseminate that information to others.

In 2005, Card accepted a permanent appointment as professor at Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista, Virginia. 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.

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" (later renamed "World 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 has also alleged a continuing strain of tolerating racism within the Republican party in the South that morally obligates him to be a Democrat. Card is also publicly opposed to same-sex marriage, to blocking the children of illegal immigrants from receiving in-state college tuition rates, to tax cuts which favor the rich, and to unfettered deregulation.

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 past away 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 terrible sin). He has also been a staunch defender of Fox news, stating that he likes his news to share an American viewpoint.

Card is pro-gun control and has cited this as the prime reason 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. Ever since early 2002, he has maintained a link on his ornery.org website to an article by Amy Ridenour purporting to disprove global warming. Originally he endorsed it with the caption, "It looks like the global warming doubters may have the facts on their side. Check out this link to Amy Ridenour's report on Antarctic research showing a strong likelihood of global cooling." However, in early 2004, he apparently signaled a reappraisal of his views, when he toned down his endorsement to a more uncertain assessment, reading "It looks like the global warming doubters may have the facts on their side. Check out the following links •Amy Ridenour's report on Antarctic research. ..." He also introduced a second link to a study by an attorney, showing that the Ridenour article had seriously misrepresented its sources. (Compare his previous endorsement of Ridenour's article with his current, more moderated note.)

Incidentally, he also protrays scientists fearing to pursue research because it would run counter to a scientific orthodoxy in his short story, "Angles".

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 anonymous postings on the "Nets" is an early and uncannily accurate prediction of the Internet and the popularity of Blogs.

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. They have also provoked frequent contrast with his positive treatment of homosexual characters in his earlier fiction, particularly in the novel Songmaster.

With respect to homosexuality, Card follows the "hate the sin, love the sinner" approach. He does not hate gay people and has even been cordial and well acquainted with some on occassion. But he believes that homosexuality is a terrible sin and that the sinners must repent, and is against gay marriage or the enshrinement of any gay rights. This dichotomy of "hate the sin"(homosexuality) and "love the sinner"(people he considers goodhearted but misguided who commit what he considers the terrible sin of homosexuality) has confused many as to how a writer who sometimes portray gays positively in his fiction can be so virulently anti-gay rights in his nonfiction writing. He believes it is not evil to be attracted to members of one's own gender, but that it is evil to act on those impulses. This concept is depicted in "Songmaster" where the gay title character chooses a life of abstinence. And also, in his Ender Shadow series where a gay male scientist renounces his past and chooses to marry a woman and have a child in order to "rejoin the web-of-life."

Selected bibliography

Pre-Ender's Game works

The Ender saga

The Shadow series

The Tales of Alvin Maker

The Homecoming Saga

The "Women of Genesis" series

Other post-Ender's Game works

Plays

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

Non-fiction works

Books on writing

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

Columns

  • World Watch (formerly known as War 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 [2] (an LDS online magazine)

Other projects

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Orson Scott Card.
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