Speaker For The Dead.

[EllenMaksoud]

So, looking around for some happy, giggly, romantic Science Fiction to read, and what pops up but Mr Card's "Speaker for the Dead".  After "Ender's Game" the author says that it would be imposible for a 13 year old boy to return to Earth to live. Hmmmm. Boys are boys and my thought is that he would move into swimming in the lake, and playing ball at "Light Speed", blocking all that out completely for at least a few years.

 

Perhaps I am going to have to write some "happy, romantic Sci Fi"?   Why do people write such serious books? I'm confused.

[applepansy]

I read one of Orson Card's books.  That was enough for me.  I have no desire to see the movie.

[EllenMaksoud]

I read one of Orson Card's books.  That was enough for me.  I have no desire to see the movie.

Apparently he has written several Mormon books, on being "Saints", about a woman who converted at 8 and later married Joseph Smith.

[altersteve]

He also writes many articles and op-eds about the Church.

[The Nehor]

He also writes many articles and op-eds about the Church.

 

Many of them make him an embarrassing supporter.

 

I liked some of his books. Too many of them though were the retelling of LDS stories with a pastiche thrown over them. Book of Mormon told as a sci-fi story and Joseph Smith recast as a miracle worker in 19th century America with faerie magic woven in. Then post-apocalyptic Mormonism with the Saints gathering to Salt Lake in the aftermath followed by a Mormon boy and a hispanic woman giving birth to a new Quetzalcoatl who basically makes the Lamanites blossom as the rose.

 

I enjoyed some of them as a teenager but I would never go back to them. I still regret that the first books I read that described sex were his stuff (with all the weird homoeroticism Card does so well) and Atlas Shrugged. I think I am still recovering.

[strappinglad]

That's why I no longer read fiction. The last fiction I read was over 20 years ago , some of Leon Uris' stuff and that was historical fiction. My son writes sci-fi fantasy but hasn't published yet.

I must admit I did like the Tarzan series by Burroughs in my youth.

[EllenMaksoud]

That's why I no longer read fiction. The last fiction I read was over 20 years ago , some of Leon Uris' stuff and that was historical fiction. My son writes sci-fi fantasy but hasn't published yet.

I must admit I did like the Tarzan series by Burroughs in my youth.

David Weber's, "Honor Harrington Series", was lovely, but since he has gone off the rails for me.

[cinepro]

Apparently he has written several Mormon books, on being "Saints", about a woman who converted at 8 and later married Joseph Smith.

 

"Saints" is a really good book.  It's like "The Work and the Glory", but for grown ups.

[Rincewind]

I didn't care for "Speaker for the Dead," nor for its follow-up "Xenocide".  There were some interesting ideas there, but they got kind of bogged down with other stuff.

 

OSC wrote a book entitled "Folk of the Fringe", which is (if I recall correctly) a post-apocalyptic book that starts off with a non-LDS man leading a group of Saints to SLC, and goes from there. 

 

One final note regarding OSC:  Some years ago I started reading the first book in his "Call of Earth" series - I believe that is what the arc is called, anyway - and about halfway through, I realized that it was the Book of Mormon set in space.  I set the book down and never read it again; I already have the Book of Mormon. 

 

MRR

[cinepro]

I didn't care for "Speaker for the Dead," nor for its follow-up "Xenocide".  There were some interesting ideas there, but they got kind of bogged down with other stuff.

 

OSC wrote a book entitled "Folk of the Fringe", which is (if I recall correctly) a post-apocalyptic book that starts off with a non-LDS man leading a group of Saints to SLC, and goes from there. 

 

One final note regarding OSC:  Some years ago I started reading the first book in his "Call of Earth" series - I believe that is what the arc is called, anyway - and about halfway through, I realized that it was the Book of Mormon set in space.  I set the book down and never read it again; I already have the Book of Mormon. 

 

MRR

 

If you want to continue reading about the "Ender" universe, there is another line of sequels based on Bean starting with "Ender's Shadow".  My son is a fan of the Ender universe and really liked these books.

 

"Folk on the Fringe" is only interesting now as an 80's era Cold War relic.  If I recall, the story about the group of Mormons walking from North Carolina to Utah after nuclear war intimates that places in the south had rounded up Mormons and killed them.  I read the book before my mission and thought that was a little extreme, but after serving in the south, it doesn't seem quite as far-fetched.

 

The "Call of Earth" series is actually called the "Homecoming" series, and it's pretty good.  There's plenty of non-Book of Mormon story lines (especially the second book, if I recall), and it's fun to see the different ways he works Book of Mormon characters and settings into the narrative.  The series of books really only cover 1st and 2nd Nephi, and some of Mosiah.  It's a five book series, and I don't think they even get to "the Promised Land" (aka Earth) until book four.

[Buckeye]

If you want to continue reading about the "Ender" universe, there is another line of sequels based on Bean starting with "Ender's Shadow". My son is a fan of the Ender universe and really liked these books.

 

"Folk on the Fringe" is only interesting now as an 80's era Cold War relic. If I recall, the story about the group of Mormons walking from North Carolina to Utah after nuclear war intimates that places in the south had rounded up Mormons and killed them. I read the book before my mission and thought that was a little extreme, but after serving in the south, it doesn't seem quite as far-fetched.

 

The "Call of Earth" series is actually called the "Homecoming" series, and it's pretty good. There's plenty of non-Book of Mormon story lines (especially the second book, if I recall), and it's fun to see the different ways he works Book of Mormon characters and settings into the narrative. The series of books really only cover 1st and 2nd Nephi, and some of Mosiah. It's a five book series, and I don't think they even get to "the Promised Land" (aka Earth) until book four.

 

My 13-year old son read Ender's Game because I promised to take him to the movie. For Christmas I gave him the 4-volume Ender's Shadow series. He finished it off in 6 weeks and is now nearly finished with the "Speaker for the Dead" sequal line. There must be something about those books that intrigues young teenage boys because he'd rather read OSC than play minecraft, and that's saying something.

[EllenMaksoud]

My 13-year old son read Ender's Game because I promised to take him to the movie. For Christmas I gave him the 4-volume Ender's Shadow series. He finished it off in 6 weeks and is now nearly finished with the "Speaker for the Dead" sequal line. There must be something about those books that intrigues young teenage boys because he'd rather read OSC than play minecraft, and that's saying something.

In the circumstances I was in, there was just lots of time to read, and no TV or Video games. I think that Andre Norton was one of the first; then Heinlein. Amazingly I managed a trudge through Asimov's, "Foundation Trillogy", which I now understand is 6 books. Then there was the whole "Dragon Riders of Pern" series.  "Sassinak" is in my opinion a classic. There was of course Weber, and some John Ringo, though he went macho war maker on me, so I lost interest.

 

My early reading also included a version of the Bible that had Black men as the henchmen of Satan; no idea whose. And then a couple different versions of the legitimate Bible. I may have read the BOM when I was around 13, but I do not know where I got it and am now disappointed that who ever gave it to me did not follow up. At that time, an active, caring God would have been a welcome addition in life.