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Orson Scott Card

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Orson Scott Card
Card at Life, the Universe, & Everything at Brigham Young University in 2008.
Card at Life, the Universe, & Everything at Brigham Young University in 2008.
OccupationAuthor, professor, public speaker, critic, essayist, columnist, playwright, political activist, apologist
GenreScience fiction, fantasy, horror, LDS fiction, satire
Notable worksEnder's Game series,
The Tales of Alvin Maker
Website
http://www.hatrack.com/

Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951)[1] is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986) both won Hugo[2][3] and Nebula Awards,[2][4] making Card the only author to win both of American science fiction's top prizes in consecutive years. He is also known as a political commentator and as an advocate and apologist for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Early life

Card is the son of Willard and Peggy Card, third of six children and the older brother of composer and arranger Arlen Card.[5][6] Card was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Santa Clara, California as well as Mesa, Arizona and Orem, Utah. He served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brazil and graduated from Brigham Young University and the University of Utah; he also spent a year in a Ph.D. program at the University of Notre Dame. Card lives in Greensboro, North Carolina,[5] an environment that has played a significant role in Ender's Game and many of his other works.

Career

See also: List of works by Orson Scott Card

Card began his writing career primarily as a poet, studying with Clinton F. Larson at Brigham Young University. During his studies as a theatre major, he began "doctoring" scripts, adapting fiction for readers theatre production, and finally writing his own one-act and full-length plays, several of which were produced by faculty directors at BYU. He also explored fiction writing, beginning with stories that eventually evolved into The Worthing Saga.

After returning to Provo, Utah from his LDS mission in Brazil, Card started the Utah Valley Repertory Theatre Company, which for two summers produced plays at "the Castle," a Depression-era outdoor amphitheater behind the state mental hospital in Provo; his company's were the first plays ever produced there. Meanwhile, he took part-time employment as a proofreader at BYU Press, then made the jump to full time employment as a copy editor. In 1976, in the midst of a paid acting gig in the Church's musical celebrating America's Bicentennial, he secured employment as an assistant editor at the Church's official magazine, Ensign, and moved to Salt Lake City. It was while working at Ensign that Card published his first piece of fiction. His short story "Gert Fram" appeared in the July 1977 fine arts issue of that magazine under the pseudonym Byron Walley.

Science fiction

He first wrote the short story "Ender's Game" while working at the BYU press, and submitted it to several publications. The idea for the later novel, of the same title came from the short story about a school where boys can fight in space. It was eventually purchased by Ben Bova at Analog Science Fiction and Fact and published in the August 1977 issue. Meanwhile, he started writing half-hour audioplays on the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the New Testament, and other subjects for Living Scriptures in Ogden, Utah; on the basis of that continuing contract, some freelance editing work, and a novel contract for Hot Sleep and A Planet Called Treason, he left Ensign and began supporting his family as a freelancer.

He completed his master's degree in English at the University of Utah in 1981 and began a doctoral program at the University of Notre Dame, but the recession of the early 1980s caused the flow of new book contracts to temporarily dry up. He returned to full-time employment as the book editor for Compute! magazine in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1983. In October of that year, a new contract for the Alvin Maker "trilogy" (now up to 6 books) allowed him to return to freelancing.

Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead were both awarded the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, making Card the only author (as of 2009) to win both of science fiction'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, "First Meetings in the Enderverse", Shadow of the Giant, the 2007 release of A War of Gifts, and the 2008 release of Ender in Exile, a book that takes place after Ender's Game and before Speaker for the Dead. Card has also announced his plan to write Shadows in Flight, a book that connects the "Shadow" series and "Speaker" series together. In 2008 Card announced that Ender's Game would be made into a movie, but that he did not have a director lined up. (Wolfgang Petersen had previously been scheduled to direct the movie but has since moved on to other projects.) It was to be produced by Chartoff Productions, and Card was writing the screenplay himself.[7] Other works include the alternate histories The Tales of Alvin Maker, Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus, The Homecoming Saga, and Hidden Empire, a story about a near-future civil war in the United States, based on the Xbox Live Arcade video game Shadow Complex. He collaborated with Star Wars artist Doug Chiang on Robota and with Kathryn H. Kidd on Lovelock.

Other genres

He has since branched out into other areas of fiction with novels such as Lost Boys, Treasure Box and Enchantment. Other works include the novelization of the James Cameron film The Abyss and the comic book Ultimate Iron Man for Marvel Comics' Ultimate Marvel Universe series. Outside the published fiction world, Card contributed dialog to at least three video games: Loom, The Secret of Monkey Island and The Dig in the early 1990s.[8]

In 2000, Card published the first novel in The Women of Genesis series. This series explores the lives of the principal women mentioned in the first book of the Bible and includes Sarah (2000), Rebekah (2002), and Rachel and Leah (2004).

In the fall of 2005, Card also launched Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show.[9] He edited the first two issues, but found that the demands of teaching, writing, and directing plays for his local church theatre group made it impossible to respond to writers' submissions in a timely manner; former Card student and experienced freelance writer and editor Edmund R. Schubert took over as editor on June 1, 2006.

The dialog and screenplay (but not the story) for the Xbox video game Advent Rising was written by Card and Cameron Dayton.[10]

Reviews and critiques

Card authors "Uncle Orson Reviews Everything," a weekly editorial for the Greensboro Rhinoceros Times, which features personal reviews of movies, books, restaurants in the greater Greensboro area, and a variety of other topics. The column also later appears on his website, Hatrack River.

Pseudonyms

Over the years Orson Scott Card has used at least seven pseudonyms.

The names Frederick Bliss and P.Q. Gump were used by Card when he was asked to write an overview of Mormon playwrights "Mormon Shakespears: A Study of Contemporary Mormon Theatre" for Spring 1976 issue of Sunstone magazine. According to Card he used these pseudonyms because the article included a brief reference to himself and his play "Stone Tables".[11]

The name Byron Walley was used by Card on his first published piece of fiction "Gert Fram" which appeared in the July 1977 fine arts issue of Ensign magazine. According to Card he used this name because he had a non-fiction article, "Family Art", a poem, "Looking West", and a short play, "The Rag Mission", appearing in the same issue.[11] Card also used the name Byron Walley in stories he published in Friend magazine, New Era magazine and in the anthology Dragons of Darkness. Stories by Byron Walley include: "Gert Fram", Ensign magazine, July 1977; "Bicicleta", Friend magazine, October 1977; "The Best Family Home Evening Ever", Friend magazine, January 1978; "Billy's Box", Friend magazine, February 1978; "I Think Mom and Dad Are Going Crazy, Jerry", New Era magazine, May 1979; and "Middle Woman", Dragons of Darkness, Ace Books, 1982.

The name Brian Green was also used by Card in the July 1977 fine arts issue of Ensign magazine. He used this name for his short play "The Rag Mission" because he had three other pieces appearing in the same issue.[11]

The name Dinah Kirkham was used to write the short story The Best Day, in 1983.[12]

The name Noam D. Pellume was used by Card for his short story "Damn Fine Novel" which appeared in the October 1989 issue of The Green Pages.[13]

Card wrote the novel "Zanna's Gift" (2004) under the pen name Scott Richards, saying, "I was trying to establish a separate identity in the marketplace, but for various reasons the marketing strategy didn't work as we'd hoped."[14]

On writing

Teaching

In 2005, Card accepted a permanent appointment as "distinguished professor" at Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista, Virginia, a small liberal arts college run based on the principles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Card has cited his frustration with dismal teaching methodology for creative writing in most universities as a reason for accepting this position, along with his desire to teach the techniques of effective fiction writing to writers whose values are more harmonious with his own.[15] 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. After being affected by stories of his students' parents in some of their essays, he decided to stop teaching regularly at the university to spend time with his youngest child who still lives at home.[16] However, Card returned to teaching for the spring semester of 2009.

Literary Boot Camp

Since 2001, Card has run an annual, one-week intensive critique workshop for aspiring writers called "Literary Boot Camp." Participants are picked from applicants who submit a sample of their fiction writing. The week-long workshop is paired with a weekend lecture-style workshop open to all comers. Graduates have gone on to win major science fiction and fantasy contests (for instance, the now-defunct Phobos contest and the Writers of the Future contest), sell many stories to the SF and fantasy magazines such as Asimov's Science Fiction and Realms of Fantasy, sell books to major publishers (Judson Roberts' Strongbow Saga trilogy is one of many examples), etc.[17]

Books on writing

Card has written two books on the subject of creative writing. The first of these books was Characters and Viewpoint published in 1988. The second was How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy published in 1990. Both of the books were published by Writer's Digest Books and remain in print. He was also a co-writer for How to Write a Million (though his contribution is actually a reprint of an earlier work).

Writers of the Future

Card also serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest.[18] Writers of the Future is a science fiction and fantasy story contest for amateur writers originated by L. Ron Hubbard in the early 1980s and continues to be funded and organized by the Church of Scientology.

Personal views

Faith

Card's immersion in the Mormon faith has been an important facet of his life from early on. His great-great-grandfather was Brigham Young, an important leader in the Latter Day Saint movement, and all of Card's ancestors from at least three generations have been members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). His ancestors include several other figures notable in the LDS Church, including the Cardston colony founder Charles Ora Card. As such, his faith has been a source of inspiration and influence for both his writing and his personal views.[6]

Politics

In 2006, one day before the 2006 midterm elections in the United States, Card wrote an opinion piece for RealClearPolitics, in which he (while being a Democrat) encouraged voters to support the Republicans.[19] In another article written for the Mormon Times, he voiced strong condemnation of any government that recognized gay marriage stating, "Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition..."[20] In 2009, Card became a member of the board of directors of the National Organization for Marriage, a group that seeks to prevent the legalization of same-sex marriage.[21] Card has called for laws against homosexual behaviour to "remain on the books",[22] and a return to the "strong society" of pre-1960s America.[23]

Environment and science

Although he supports government-funded research into alternative energy sources and the phasing out of fossil fuel use, Card has also frequently criticized precipitate 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.[24] 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 claiming that Darwinism explains "completely how evolution works," Card also said that "real science does not—and never can—prove or even support" Intelligent Design.[25]

Personal life

Card and his wife Kristine have had five children, each named after one or more authors he and his wife admire. Their children's names are Michael Geoffrey (Geoffrey Chaucer), Emily Janice (Emily Brontë and Emily Dickinson), Charles Benjamin (Charles Dickens), Zina Margaret (Margaret Mitchell) and Erin Louisa (Louisa May Alcott). Charles, who had cerebral palsy, died shortly after his 17th birthday and their daughter, Erin, died the day she was born.[5] Currently Card and his wife live with their youngest living child, Zina, in Greensboro, North Carolina.[5]

The life of their son Charles influenced some of Card's fiction, most notably the Homecoming series, Lost Boys and Folk of the Fringe. Their daughter, Emily, along with two other writers adapted Card's short stories "Clap Hands and Sing", "Lifeloop" and "A Sepulchre of Songs" for the stage in Posing as People.[26]

In 2008, he appeared in the short film The Delivery, which starred his daughter Emily. He plays an author reading an audiobook in this film, which won First Place in Fantasy at Dragon*Con Film Festival. He wrote an original story, "The Emperor of the Air," specifically for the short film by Gabrielle de Cuir and Stefan Rudnicki.[27]

Card is an avid fan of the sci-fi television series Firefly and makes an appearance in the documentary Done the Impossible about Firefly fandom.

Card suffered a "mild stroke" on January 1, 2011 and was briefly hospitalized. He reports expecting to make a full recovery, although his use of his left hand was impaired, requiring "retraining his brain."[28]

Awards

Bibliography

Main article: Orson Scott Card bibliography

See also

References

  1. ^ "Orson Scott Card". The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved 2006-10-18.
  2. ^ a b c d e "1986 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15. Cite error: The named reference "WWE-1986" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b "1987 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  4. ^ a b "1985 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  5. ^ a b c d "Who Is Orson Scott Card?". Hatrack River Enterprises Inc. Retrieved 2006-10-18.
  6. ^ a b Willett, Edward (2006). Orson Scott Card: Architect of Alternate Worlds. New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0766023540.
  7. ^ "Ender's Game Movie Searching for New Director". Retrieved 2008-07-16.
  8. ^ "Interview with Author Orson Scott Card". Gaming Today. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
  9. ^ "Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show". Retrieved 2006-10-18.
  10. ^ Card's comments on working on Advent Rising from his official website
  11. ^ a b c Pseudonyms "Orson Scott Card's website The Hatrack".
  12. ^ Card bio from FantasticFiction.co.uk
  13. ^ The Locus Index to Science Fiction: 1984-1998, Locus Online, retrieved March 28, 2011
  14. ^ Card, Orson Scott (November 2, 2008), Uncle Orson Reviews Everything: Bean on Baseball and Parker's Trilogies, Hatrack River Enterprises Inc, retrieved March 28, 2011{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  15. ^ "Why I Am Teaching at SVU... and Why SVU is Important" from LDSMag.com
  16. ^ "Uncle Orson Reviews Everything: Politically Incorrect Literature, Audio Drama, "My American Culture"". Hatrack River Enterprises Inc. 2007-05-27. Retrieved 2007-06-07.
  17. ^ Roberts, Judson (November 2001), Former Boot Campers Published, Hatrack River Enterprises, Inc., retrieved March 28, 2011{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  18. ^ "Writers of the Future contest". Retrieved 2006-12-06.
  19. ^ "WorldWatch - November 4, 2008 - This Very Good Election Year - The Ornery American". Ornery.org. 2008-11-04. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
  20. ^ Card, Orson Scott (24 July 2008). "State job is not to redefine marriage". Mormon Times. Salt Lake City.
  21. ^ "NOM Latest News" (Document). National Organization for Marriage. April 27, 2009. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)
  22. ^ "The Hypocrites of Homosexuality". Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  23. ^ Sowby, Laurie Williams (01 May 2010). "LDS author cited for public service from BYU society". Mormon Times. Salt Lake City. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. ^ Card, Orson Scott (2007-04-29). "Civilization Watch: Don't You Dare Ask for Proof". The Ornery American. Retrieved 2007-05-08.
  25. ^ Card, Orson Scott (2006-01-08). "WorldWatch: Creation and Evolution in the Schools". The Ornery American. Retrieved 2006-10-18.
  26. ^ "Posing as People". Hatrack River Enterprises Inc.
  27. ^ "The Delivery". The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved 2011-3-28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  28. ^ http://www.locusmag.com/News/2011/01/orson-scott-card-suffers-mild-stroke/
  29. ^ "1984 AML Awards". Association for Mormon Letters. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  30. ^ a b c "1988 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  31. ^ a b "1989 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  32. ^ "1996 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  33. ^ Orson Scott Card's Whitney Award Speech, Mormon Times

Sources

Further reading

  • Card Catalogue: The Science Fiction and Fantasy of Orson Scott Card, Michael R. Collings, Hypatia Press, 1987, ISBN 0940841010
  • In the Image of God: Theme, Characterization and Landscape in the Fiction of Orson Scott Card, Michael R. Collings, Greenwood Press, 1990, ISBN 0-313-26404-X
  • The Work of Orson Scott Card: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide, Michael R. Collings and Boden Clarke, 1997
  • Storyteller: The Official Guide to the Works of Orson Scott Card, Michael R. Collings, Overlook Connection Press, 2001, ISBN 1-892950-26-X
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