About the Author

Orson Scott Card is best known for his science fiction novel "Ender's Game" and it's many sequels that expand the Ender Universe into the far future and the near past. Those books are organized into the Ender Quintet, the five books that chronicle the life of Ender Wiggin; the Shadow Series, that follows on the novel "Ender's Shadow" and are set on Earth; and the Formic Wars series, written with co-author Aaron Johnston, that tells of the terrible first contact between humans and the alien "Buggers."

Card has been a working writer since the 1970s. Beginning with dozens of plays and musical comedies produced in the 1960s and 70s, Card's first published fiction appeared in 1977 -- the short story "Gert Fram" in the July issue of "The Ensign," and the novelet version of "Ender's Game" in the August issue of "Analog."

The novel-length version of "Ender's Game," published in 1984 and continuously in print since then, became the basis of the 2013 film, starring Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, and Abigail Breslin.

Card was born in Washington state, and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. Besides his writing, he runs occasional writers' workshops and directs plays. He frequently teaches writing and literature courses at Southern Virginia University.

He is the author many sf and fantasy novels, including the American frontier fantasy series "The Tales of Alvin Maker" (beginning with "Seventh Son"), There are also stand-alone science fiction and fantasy novels like "Pastwatch" and "Hart's Hope." He has collaborated with his daughter Emily Card on a manga series, Laddertop. He has also written contemporary thrillers like "Empire" and historical novels like the monumental "Saints" and the religious novels "Sarah" and "Rachel" and "Leah." Card's recent work includes the Mithermages books ("Lost Gate," "Gate Thief"), contemporary magical fantasy for readers both young and old.

Card lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card, He and Kristine are the parents of five children and several grandchildren.

Reviews

An absorbing, near-flawless performance. "Kirkus" The wonders of Battleschool and flashsuits and children's armies should keep readers turning pages. "Publisher's Weekly (starred review)" An exceptional work. "School Library Journal""

"An absorbing, near-flawless performance."-"-Kirkus"
"The wonders of Battleschool and flashsuits and children's armies should keep readers turning pages."-"-Publishers Weekly (starred review)"
"An exceptional work." --"School Library Journal"

You can't step into the same river twice, but Card has gracefully dipped twice into the same inkwellÄonce for Ender's Game and again for this stand-alone "parallel novel." The course readers will follow this time is of the superhuman child Bean. Raised on streets ruled by starving children's gangs, he was too weak, at age four, to hold peanuts in his hand, but ingenious enough to trick the other children into civilizing themselvesÄand to keep himself alive. When his genius and uncanny understanding of individuals' motivations are discovered, he is sent to Battle School, where children learn to command fleets for the war with the alien BuggersÄthe smallest kid ever to do so. Bean is not as perfect as Ender WigginÄhero of the Ender Quartet, begun with Ender's Game and concluded with Children of the MindÄbut he becomes Ender's ally. Though Bean is cold at first, the kind of child who weighs the costs of hugging the nun who saved him from the streets, he wants to understand the respect and love that Ender wields. Thus, Bean's story is twofold: he learns to be a soldier, and to be human. Devotees of the Ender saga will delight in the revelations about the formation of Ender's Dragon army and about the last of Ender's games. Though newcomers to the series may miss many of the novel's points, the wonders of Battle School and flashsuits and children's armies should keep them turning pages. As always, everyone will be struck by the power of Card's children, always more and less than human, perfect yet struggling, tragic yet hopeful, wondrous and strange. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

An absorbing, near-flawless performance. "Kirkus" The wonders of Battleschool and flashsuits and children's armies should keep readers turning pages. "Publisher's Weekly (starred review)" An exceptional work. "School Library Journal""