139-501: Witch Week is a children's fantasy novel and school story by the British writer Diana Wynne Jones , published by Macmillan Children's Books in 1982. It was the third published of seven Chrestomanci books . Witch Week is set during the last four days of October 1981 at Larwood House, a boarding school in southern England, in a world parallel and close to ours. Many people have magical powers ("witches", male or female) but their use
278-678: A missionary for the LDS Church in Brazil starting in 1971. During his mission, he wrote a play called Stone Tables . He returned from his mission in 1973 and graduated from BYU in 1975, receiving a bachelor's degree with distinction in theater. After graduation, he started the Utah Valley Repertory Theatre Company, which for two summers produced plays at "the Castle", a Depression-era outdoor amphitheater. After going into debt with
417-607: A Hugo finalist in 1979—both in the "novelette" category. Card won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978 for his stories published that year; the award helped Card's stories sell internationally. Unaccompanied Sonata was published in 1979 issue of Omni and was nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards for a short story. Eighteen Card stories were published in 1979. Card's first published book, "Listen, Mom and Dad...": Young Adults Look Back on Their Upbringing (1977)
556-682: A character trait that could be erased or reversed. However, he does positively depict a character who actively repress it : while Zdorab marries and has children, he sees his choice to become a father as very deliberate and not "out of some inborn instinct". Card's 2008 novella Hamlet's Father re-imagines the backstory of Shakespeare's play Hamlet . In the novella, Hamlet's friends were sexually abused as children by his pedophilic father and subsequently identify as homosexual adults. The novella prompted public outcry, and its publishers were inundated with complaints. Trade journal Publishers Weekly criticized Card's work, stating its main purpose
695-421: A circle of opposing forces, one focal character must decide whether or not to become, like Ender Wiggin, 'something of a savior, or a prophet, or at least a martyr' ." The original short story Ender's Game is reminiscent of Heinlein's young adult novels because it is about a young person with impressive gifts who is guided by a stern mentor whose choices affect all of humanity. The situations and choices in
834-461: A city in the clouds with the birds and challenges Zeus 's authority. Ovid 's Metamorphoses and Apuleius 's The Golden Ass are both works that influenced the development of the fantasy genre by taking mythic elements and weaving them into personal accounts. Both works involve complex narratives in which humans beings are transformed into animals or inanimate objects. Platonic teachings and early Christian theology are major influences on
973-608: A critic who acknowledges his "unabashed appreciation" of Card, knowledge of Mormon theology is vital to completely understanding Card's works, stating the life stages of the "piggies" in Speaker for the Dead correspond to phases of life in the LDS's plan of salvation . In an article in Sunstone , Christopher C. Smith also noticed this parallel, noting that the "piggies" procreate "more or less eternally" in
1112-456: A declaration of principles. Family and community problems arise when individuals are not fully accepted or when communities do not work with others in larger units. Often one group tries to kill or enslave another group, but their conflict is alleviated when they try to understand each other. Protagonists make choices that save a person or a group of people. In The Porcelain Salamander , a girl
1251-436: A development that drew criticism for a possible conflict of interest. Nine of Card's science fiction stories, including Malpractice , Kingsmeat , and Happy Head , were published in 1978. Card modeled Mikal's Songbird on Ender's Game , both of which include a child with special talents who goes through emotional turmoil when adults seek to exploit his ability. Mikal's Songbird was a Nebula Award finalist in 1978 and
1390-671: A feudal society hindering the modernization of China. Stories of the supernatural continued to be denounced once the Communists rose to power, and mainland China experienced a revival in fantasy only after the Cultural Revolution had ended. Fantasy became a genre of pulp magazines published in the West. In 1923, the first all-fantasy fiction magazine, Weird Tales , was published. Many other similar magazines eventually followed, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ; when it
1529-522: A government were to say otherwise, heterosexually "married people" would "act to destroy that government" as their "mortal enemy", and "it is that insane Constitution, not marriage, that will die." In 2012, Card supported North Carolina Amendment 1 , a ballot measure to outlaw same-sex marriage in North Carolina, saying the legalization of gay marriage was a slippery slope upon which the political left would make it "illegal to teach traditional values in
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#17330850105291668-591: A judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer , Brandon Sanderson , and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence. Orson Scott Card was born on August 24, 1951, in Richland, Washington . He is the son of Peggy Jane (née Park) and Willard Richards Card, and
1807-564: A large audience. Lord Dunsany established the genre's popularity in both the novel and the short story form. H. Rider Haggard , Rudyard Kipling , and Edgar Rice Burroughs began to write fantasy at this time. These authors, along with Abraham Merritt , established what was known as the "lost world" subgenre, which was the most popular form of fantasy in the early decades of the 20th century, although several classic children's fantasies, such as Peter Pan and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , were also published around this time. Juvenile fantasy
1946-477: A large effect on his life. Card often refers to works by Robert A. Heinlein and J. R. R. Tolkien as sources of inspiration. Card credits C. S. Lewis's apologetic fiction in the Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters as influences that shaped his life and career. In 2014, Card stated that Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury were conscious influences on his writing, along with Early Modern English from
2085-471: A main plot element, theme , or setting . Magic, magic practitioners ( sorcerers , witches and so on) and magical creatures are common in many of these worlds. An identifying trait of fantasy is the author's use of narrative elements that do not have to rely on history or nature to be coherent. This differs from realistic fiction in that realistic fiction has to attend to the history and natural laws of reality, where fantasy does not. In writing fantasy
2224-560: A main theme, addressing ways humans affect the environment in the Americas. Alvin Maker's life has many parallels with Joseph Smith's. Seventh Son won the 1988 Mythopoeic Fantasy award, and the two following books were nominees. The awards are given to books that exemplify "the spirit of The Inklings ". Critics praised Seventh Son for creating an American mythology from American experience and belief. According to literary critic Eugene England ,
2363-460: A medical thriller co-written with Aaron Johnston, is based on a screenplay Johnston wrote, which is based on Card's novel Malpractice . In the 1990s, Card contributed dialogue to the point-and-click adventure video games The Secret of Monkey Island , The Dig , and NeoHunter , an early first-person shooter. His collaboration on videogame scripts continued in the 2000s, when he worked with Cameron Dayton on Advent Rising and outlined
2502-421: A modern-day Inquisition . At Larwood House, a boarding school where many of the children of executed witches are sent, a note claiming "Someone in this class is a witch" is found by a teacher. This launches an internal investigation of the more unpopular students at the school (Nan Pilgrim and Charles Morgan), who are gradually coming to terms with the fact that they are witches. Mayhem gradually ensues as magic
2641-412: A new style of "fuzzy" supernatural texts. The fantastic is on the dividing line between supernatural and not supernatural, Just as during this time period the women were not respecting the boundary of inequality that had always been set for them. At the time, women's roles in society were very uncertain, just as the rules of the fantastic are never straightforward. This climate allowed for a genre similar to
2780-587: A novel with the same title and told the backstory of the adult Ender in Speaker for the Dead . In contrast to the fast-paced Ender's Game , Speaker for the Dead is about honesty and maturity. Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead were both awarded the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award , making Card the first author to win both of science fiction's top prizes in consecutive years. According to Card, some members of
2919-586: A particular body of work for "significant and lasting contributions to young adult literature", in 2008 for his contribution in writing for teenagers; his work was selected by a panel of YA librarians . Card said he was unsure his work was suitable for the award because it was never marketed as "young adult". In the same year, Card won the Lifetime Achievement Award for Mormon writers at the Whitney Awards . The Harold B. Lee Library has acquired
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#17330850105293058-407: A particular historical accident. They work to outwit the local inquisition and to merge their history, thus their world, with ours. It turns out that most of the schoolchildren are witches and all must lose any such powers by revising history in that way. The Chrestomanci books are collectively named after a powerful enchanter and British government official in a world parallel to ours, who supervises
3197-557: A positive change in the world. Larwood House may be a reference to Lowood School from Charlotte Brontë 's Jane Eyre , although in Witch Week the miserable conditions of the school are often used for comic effect. In almost every version of the book published, the class the story focuses on has a different name, according to the age group the publishers were aiming the book at the time. For instance: In 1991, Ruth Waterhouse, for Children's Literature Association Quarterly , wrote "for
3336-662: A reprint of his essay, Card wrote that since 2003, when the US Supreme Court had ruled those laws unconstitutional, he has "no interest in criminalizing homosexual acts". Card had stated there is no need to legalize same-sex marriage and that he opposed efforts to do so. In 2008, he wrote in an opinion piece in the Deseret News (a newspaper of the LDS Church) that relationships between same-sex couples would always be different from those between opposite-sex couples, and that if
3475-543: A series of shorter stories, First Meetings in the Enderverse , and novels A War of Gifts , and Ender in Exile . Aaron Johnston and Card conceptualized the stories that make up the prequel to Ender's Game , realizing many of them would work best in novel format but first publishing the comics through Marvel . The Burning Earth and Silent Strike comic series were published in 2011 and 2012. Card and Johnston co-wrote
3614-426: A series of six Dragon Age comics. In 2017, Card wrote, produced, and co-created a television series called Extinct for BYU TV that ran for one season before it was canceled. Many of Card's works have been adapted into comic books. Dabel Brothers Productions published comic-book adaptations of Red Prophet and Wyrms in 2006. Aaron Johnston wrote comic-book versions of Ender in Exile and Speaker for
3753-607: A single source. The Welsh tradition has been particularly influential, due to its connection to King Arthur and its collection in a single work, the epic Mabinogion . There are many works where the boundary between fantasy and other works is not clear; the question of whether the writers believed in the possibilities of the marvels in A Midsummer Night's Dream or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight makes it difficult to distinguish when fantasy, in its modern sense, first began. Although pre-dated by John Ruskin 's The King of
3892-780: A spin-off "shadow" series in the Ender's Game universe that is told from the point of view of other characters. These novels are Ender's Shadow , Shadow of the Hegemon , Shadow Puppets , Shadow of the Giant and Shadows in Flight , the latter serving as a bridge to the final book The Last Shadow , which is also a sequel to Children of the Mind . Westfahl praised the Shadow series, stating they were "executed with panache and skill". Card wrote other spin-offs:
4031-632: A story. Though Card was initially classified as a hard science fiction writer for publishing in Analog , his science fiction focuses more on his characters than on the details of future technology. One critic said Card is poor at characterization, stating the characters Peter and Valentine in Ender's Game are "totally unbelievable". While noticing that some of Card's early stories were formulaic, Westfahl praised many of Card's early stories as showing "conspicuous originality". The graphic violence in his early fiction
4170-449: A strictly advisory capacity to the children, who are the true main characters". Witch Week was named a School Library Journal Book of the Year. Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction which involves themes of the supernatural , magic , and imaginary worlds and creatures . Its roots are in oral traditions, which became fantasy literature and drama. From
4309-403: A text; and the self-reflexive nature of a novel, as it plays with our presuppositions about how a fictional world relates to the one we are stuck with, especially as regards such seemingly inflexible features as its history and geography". Early in 1992, the science fiction writer Orson Scott Card reviewed reissues of several Diana Wynne Jones novels. He wrote concerning Witch Week : Thus it
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4448-659: A wide audience, with the success of Robert E. Howard 's Conan the Barbarian and Fritz Leiber 's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories. However, it was the advent of high fantasy , and most of all J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , which reached new heights of popularity in the late 1960s, that allowed fantasy to truly enter the mainstream . Several other series, such as C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia and Ursula K. Le Guin 's Earthsea books, helped cement
4587-476: A writer to explore with and for children sophisticated concepts such as how fiction is encoded and decoded is a bold venture. Yet encoding and decoding is an area that Diana Wynne Jones tackles with great panache and hilarious humor in Witch Week (1982). If one were to advertise the book by saying that she is drawing on theoretical concepts developed by Saussure , Foucault , and others, most readers would be discouraged, to put it mildly. In fact Wynne Jones develops
4726-491: A young man who can change the past. Card has also written several urban fantasies, including Magic Street (2005) and Lost and Found (2019), both of which are about teenagers with special powers. Card wrote the Christmas novel Zanna's Gift (2004), which was originally published under a pseudonym. A Town Divided by Christmas and a "Hallmark Christmas movie in prose" were published in 2018. Invasive Procedures (2007),
4865-615: Is One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) , which is a compilation of many ancient and medieval folk tales. Various characters from this epic have become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin , Sinbad and Ali Baba . Hindu mythology was an evolution of the earlier Vedic mythology and had many more fantastical stories and characters, particularly in the Indian epics . The Panchatantra ( Fables of Bidpai ), for example, used various animal fables and magical tales to illustrate
5004-446: Is a capital crime and convicted witches are burnt to death. The story begins with a teacher's discovery of an ambiguous note and dilemma whether to take it as a joke. "The note said: SOMEONE IN THIS CLASS IS A WITCH." Witch Week is set in an alternative modern-day Great Britain, identical to our world except for the presence of witchcraft. Despite witches being common, witchcraft is illegal and punishable by death by burning, policed by
5143-531: Is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young , was born in Richland, Washington , and grew up in Utah and California . While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won
5282-449: Is a horror story with a semi-autobiographical background. Treasure Box (1996) and Homebody (1998) represent Card's foray in horror. Enchantment (1999) is a fantasy novel based on the Russian version of Sleeping Beauty . It deals with a couple who learn to love each other after they marry. Card stated: "I put all my love for my wife into [ Enchantment ]." In 1999, Card started
5421-1090: Is a novel about civil war between progressive and conservative extremists in America. It was a finalist for the Prometheus Award , an award given by the Libertarian Futurist Society. Publishers Weekly stated that "right-wing rhetoric trumps the logic of story and character" in the novel. Another review from Publishers Weekly noted that "Card's conservative bias seeps into" the novel. At SFReviews , Thomas Wagner took further issue with Card's tendency to "smugly pretend[...] to be above it all", or claiming to be moderate while espousing conservative views of news media. In an interview with Mythaxis Review in April 2021, Card stated that he writes fiction "without conscious agenda". In Card's fiction writing, homosexual characters appear in contexts that some critics have interpreted as homophobic. Writing for Salon , Aja Romano lists
5560-619: Is about child-rearing. He received advances for the manuscripts of Hot Sleep and A Planet Called Treason , which were published in 1979. Card later called his first two novels "amateurish" and rewrote both of them later. A publisher offered to buy a novelization of Mikal's Songbird , which Card accepted; the finished novel is titled Songmaster (1980). Card edited fantasy anthologies Dragons of Light (1980) and Dragons of Darkness (1981) and collected his own short stories in Unaccompanied Sonata and Other Stories (1981). In
5699-818: Is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is (as of 2024) the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years , winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game , which Card coproduced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award -winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003). Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism. Card, who
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5838-448: Is another place and another way that they’re able to imagine that things could be different, and to find purpose. [...] By gaining access to another world, the children are able to make their own world anew, to undo a whole history of violence, to know themselves and be free. I’m glad that the next generation have more ways to reach these other worlds where they can see themselves; I’m also glad I had this book". In October 2020, Witch Week
5977-681: Is highly autobiographical, but contains the death of a fictional child. One of Card's workshop readers, Karen Fowler, said that Card had pretended to experience the grief of a parent who has lost a child. In response, Card realized that the story expressed his grief and difficulty in accepting Charles's disability. Card stated that he rarely discusses Charles and Erin because his grief has not faded over time. Card and his wife live in Greensboro, North Carolina ; their daughter Emily, along with two other writers, adapted Card's short stories Clap Hands and Sing , Lifeloop , and A Sepulchre of Songs for
6116-488: Is saved by a magical salamander; this action restores her ability to move but she takes on some attributes of the salamander. In Kingsmeat the Shepherd painlessly excises meat from humans to save them from being completely eaten by their alien overlords. The violence of removing parts of people is like the violence of repentance. Collings states part of this story "could serve as an epigram of all Card's fictions; trapped within
6255-496: Is that underneath what seems to be rather low comedy—brooms that demand to be taken riding by witches (and hoes and rakes and mops that can be ridden, but behave more like mules and pigs than noble steeds); prankster spells at about the level of magic spitwads—there is a continuous foundation of truth. Children need powerful adult intervention to help them get control of their powers and keep their powers from taking control of them. Instead of using them for immediate self-gratification,
6394-419: Is the daughter of Mormon historian James B. Allen . The two met when Kristine was in the chorus of a roadshow Card directed before his mission. They courted after Card's mission, and Card was impressed with her intellectual rigor. After their marriage, they had five children; their son Charles had cerebral palsy and died aged 17; their daughter Erin died the day she was born. Card's short story Lost Boys
6533-560: Is the genre best suited to exploring theological and moral issues. Also in the Homecoming Saga , Card imagines backstories and explanations for "anomalies" in the Book of Mormon, making the fictional work function as a work of Mormon apologetics . While women are not prominent in the Book of Mormon, Card makes them prominent in his retelling. One non-LDS critic described the saga as "readable" but lacking in new ideas. Unaware of its relation to
6672-401: Is the third of six children and the older brother of composer and arranger Arlen Card . Card's family has Mormon pioneer heritage. His ancestors include Brigham Young , Charles Ora Card , Zina P. Young Card , Zina Young Card Brown , and Hugh B. Brown . When Card was one month old, his family moved to San Mateo, California , so Willard Card could begin a sign-painting business. When he
6811-663: Is titled "Hatrack River". From 2008 to 2015, Card wrote a column of Latter-day Saint devotional and cultural commentary for the Nauvoo Times , which was published through Hatrack River. During his childhood, Card read widely. He read children's classics and popular novels. His favorite book was Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper , and he read his family's World Book Encyclopedia in its entirety. He read science fiction stories in anthologies and science fiction novels. He especially credits Tunesmith by Lloyd Biggle Jr . as having
6950-740: Is unusual. His characters feel "real" and must grow and take on responsibilities and often sacrifice themselves to improve their own societies. This sacrifice is a difficult choice in which none of the options are obviously good. These protagonists have unusual abilities that are both a blessing and a curse. The protagonists, who are isolated from family and friends, relate better to adults than to other young people; when they grow up, they often mentor other precocious youths. Alvin Maker follows this pattern; his magical abilities are very unusual and he uses them to redeem his people. According to Collings, Card's protagonists are "lonely and manipulative Messiah-figures" who make sacrifices that can be interpreted as
7089-406: Is used to make birds appear in the classroom, to rain shoes, to curse a classmate into having his words always be true, and other pranks. When the magic gets totally out of control, one of the students runs away, leaving notes that blame the witch for controlling him. The headmistress of the school calls in an Inquisitor to find the missing student and locate the source of the trouble. Four more of
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#17330850105297228-612: The Epic of Gilgamesh . The ancient Babylonian creation epic, the Enûma Eliš , in which the god Marduk slays the goddess Tiamat , contains the theme of a cosmic battle between good and evil, which is characteristic of the modern fantasy genre. Genres of romantic and fantasy literature existed in ancient Egypt. The Tales of the Court of King Khufu , which is preserved in the Westcar Papyrus and
7367-509: The Elder Edda and the Younger Edda , includes such figures as Odin and his fellow Aesir , and dwarves , elves , dragons , and giants . These elements have been directly imported into various fantasy works. The separate folklore of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland has sometimes been used indiscriminately for "Celtic" fantasy, sometimes with great effect; other writers have specified the use of
7506-466: The Ender series invoke a number of philosophical topics, including the rules of war, embodiment psychology , the ethics of anthropology and xenology , and the morality of manipulating children. Though Card described Happy Head (1978) as an embarrassment, it anticipated cyberpunk fiction with an investigator judge who can experience memories with witnesses. Both A Thousand Deaths (1978) and Unaccompanied Sonata feature protagonists who rebel against
7645-606: The John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, nonfiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories. Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University ; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as
7784-485: The Joseph Smith story. In the alternate history novel, Alvin Maker, the seventh son of a seventh son, is born with unusual magical abilities that make him a "Maker". Alvin has many similarities to Joseph Smith. Following Seventh Son , he wrote Red Prophet and Prentice Alvin , which focus on settlers' interactions with indigenous peoples and slaves, respectively. The series has sustainable environmental ethics as
7923-706: The King James Version of the Bible and the works of William Shakespeare . As a college student, Card read classic literature, science fiction, and fantasy. Spenser's poetry inspired the original Prentice Alvin and the No-Good Plow . Influences from Portuguese and Brazilian Catholicism, which Card learned about during his LDS mission to Brazil, are evident in his Shadow and Speaker novels. Card stated his writing improved after teaching writing workshops with Jay Wentworth and from Algis Budrys 's workshops at Writers of
8062-712: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) resented his receiving of the Nebula award while editing the Nebula Awards Report . Subsequently, Card left the SFWA. Card attended many science fiction conventions in the late 1980s. He held several "Secular Humanist Revival Meetings" at the conventions, satirizing Evangelical revival meetings. Card continued to write short stories and columns and published two short story collections: Cardography (1987) and The Folk of
8201-402: The school story formula. Like Kipling , [Diana Wynne Jones] uses characteristic elements of the genre, but subverts them"; "we might read Witch Week as a reaction to Thatcherism " and "that Diana Wynne Jones' fiction might be read as magical realism ". Pesold highlights this school story subversion by what the school lacks: an ancient school building, clear class distinctions, admiration for
8340-487: The "hold your nose, vote Trump" hashtag and voted accordingly. According to Salon , Card's views are close to neoconservative . Card has described himself as a moral conservative, Card was a vocal supporter of the U.S.'s War on Terror . In a 2020 interview with Ben Shapiro , Card stated that he was not a conservative because he has beliefs that do not align with typical conservative platforms, including desiring liberal immigration laws, gun control, and abolishing
8479-447: The "homophobic subtext" of characters in four of Card's books. In Songmaster , a man falls in love with a 15-year-old castrato in a pederastic society. Their sexual union has "creepy overtones" that makes the teenager "unable to have sex again". On the topic of Songmaster , Card wrote that he was not trying to show homosexual sex as beautiful. Romano wrote that the book's "main plot point revolve[d] around punishing homosexual sex". In
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#17330850105298618-432: The 1990s, including many books and the short story omnibus Maps in a Mirror (1990). Card continued the Ender's Game series with Xenocide (1991) and Children of the Mind (1996), which focus on Jane, an artificial intelligence that develops self-awareness. These books were considered inferior to their predecessors and were, according to science fiction critic Gary Westfahl , "overly prolonged". While Children of
8757-733: The 2000s; Space Boy (2007) is a children's story, Hamlet's Father (2008) is a retelling of Shakespeare 's Hamlet , and Stonefather (2008) is the first story set in the Mithermages universe. The Crystal City (2003) is the sixth book in The Alvin Maker series. Card wrote two young-adult fantasy trilogies in the 2010s. Mithermages is about a teenager growing up on a magical estate in rural Virginia; it includes The Lost Gate (2011), The Gate Thief (2013), and Gatefather (2015). The Pathfinder trilogy consists of Pathfinder (2010), Ruins (2012), and Visitors (2014), and follows
8896-486: The Book of Mormon as an important influence on his writing; his habit of beginning sentences with conjunctions comes from the book. Literary devices in Hot Sleep parallel those of the Book of Mormon. Collings said Hot Sleep 's mimicry of Book of Mormon language makes it an "inherently" Mormon novel. Card combined several Worthing stories and revised Hot Sleep to create The Worthing Chronicle , which does not mirror
9035-433: The Book of Mormon, another critic said it is similar to the Bible. Because Card began his writing career in screenplays, his early work is considered accessible and fast-paced with good characters but stylistically unremarkable. According to biographer Richard Bleiler, a number of critics described his tone as emotionless or conversely, as nonjudgmental, leaving readers to come to their own conclusions about how to feel about
9174-502: The Dead . Marvel published two Ender's Game miniseries, which were collected in the graphic novel version of Ender's Game ; Christ Yost wrote the script and Pasqual Ferry was the artist. Two sets of comic miniseries were adapted by Mike Carey for Ender's Shadow and the comics collected in Ender's Shadow Ultimate Collection . A series of one-shots, some of which are based on Card's Enderverse short stories, were collected in Ender's Game: War of Gifts . Since Ender's Game
9313-614: The Fringe (1989). The novella Eye for Eye was republished with another novella by Tor and won the Hugo Award for best novella in 1988. Between 1987 and 1989, Card edited and published a short science fiction review magazine called Short Form . He also wrote Characters & Viewpoint (1988) and How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy (1990). Card also offered advice about writing in an interview in Leading Edge #23 in 1991. He wrote
9452-399: The Future . Card's membership of the LDS Church has been an important influence on his writing, though he initially tried to keep his religious beliefs separate from his fiction. Susanne Reid, a science fiction scholar, stated Card's religious background is evident in his frequent messiah protagonists and the "moral seriousness" in his works. Card's science-fiction books do not reference
9591-585: The Golden River (1841), the history of modern fantasy literature is usually said to begin with George MacDonald , the Scottish author of such novels as Phantastes (1858) and The Princess and the Goblin (1872); the former is widely considered to be the first fantasy novel ever written for adults. MacDonald was a major influence on both J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis . The other major fantasy author of this era
9730-497: The Headmaster, school traditions, house and school pride. Pesold wrote, "What is more, whereas the ordinary school story shows boarding school as a safe place where children grow up, make friends and acquire skills that are seen as vital for their future lives, Larwood School is a bleak place, where the pupils are kept under surveillance, true friendship is not to be found and alterity is dangerous, even lethal". When Chrestomanci enters
9869-504: The Homecoming series, a gay male character, Zdorab, marries and procreates for the good of society. Romano notes that Zdorab does not stop being gay after his marriage, but that procreation is paramount in the book's society. Eugene England defends Zdorab, arguing that he is a sympathetic character who discovered that his homosexuality was determined by his mother's hormone levels during pregnancy. Therefore, Card does not depict homosexuality as
10008-503: The LDS religion directly but "offer careful readers insights that are compelling and moving in their religious intensity". Non-LDS readers of A Planet Called Treason did not remark on religious themes; however, LDS reviewer Sandy Straubhaar disliked the novel's explicit violence and sex and stated LDS connections were "gratuitous". Dick Butler criticized A Planet Called Treason for its lack of Gospel themes and ideas, and two other LDS reviewers defended Card. According to Michael Collings,
10147-528: The Mind concluded the initial Ender's Game series, Card started another series of books and continued writing in The Tales of Alvin Maker series. The Homecoming Saga is a science-fiction adaptation of The Book of Mormon . The series' volumes; The Memory of Earth , The Call of Earth , The Ships of Earth , Earthfall , and Earthborn were published between 1992 and 1995. Alvin Journeyman (1995),
10286-589: The RPG products sold in 2005. The science fantasy role-playing game series Final Fantasy has been an icon of the role-playing video game genre (as of 2012 it was still among the top ten best-selling video game franchises ). The first collectible card game , Magic: The Gathering , has a fantasy theme and is similarly dominant in the industry. Fantasy encompasses numerous subgenres characterized by particular themes or settings, or by an overlap with other literary genres or forms of speculative fiction. They include
10425-676: The Rings film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson , and the Harry Potter films, two of the highest-grossing film series in cinematic history. Fantasy role-playing games cross several different media. Dungeons & Dragons was the first tabletop role-playing game and remains the most successful and influential. According to a 1999 survey in the United States , 6% of 12- to 35-year-olds have played role-playing games. Of those who play regularly, two thirds play D&D . Products branded Dungeons & Dragons made up over fifty percent of
10564-470: The Supernatural in the 1890s and 1920s , Lizzie Harris McCormick, Jennifer Mitchell, and Rebecca Soares describe how the social climate in the 1890s and 1920s allowed for a new era of "fantastic" literature to grow. Women were finally exploring the new freedoms given to them and were quickly becoming equals in society. The fear of the new women in society, paired with their growing roles, allowed them to create
10703-456: The absence of scientific or macabre themes, although these can occur in fantasy. In popular culture , the fantasy genre predominantly features settings that emulate Earth, but with a sense of otherness. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy consists of works by many writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians from ancient myths and legends to many recent and popular works. Many works of fantasy use magic or other supernatural elements as
10842-505: The air of uncertainty in its narratives as described by Todorov. Jackson also introduces the idea of reading the fantastic through a psychoanalytical lens, referring primarily to Freud's theory of the unconscious, which she believes is integral to understanding the fantastic's connection to the human psyche. There are however additional ways to view the fantastic, and often these differing perspectives come from differing social climates. In their introduction to The Female Fantastic: Gender and
10981-438: The author uses worldbuilding to create characters, situations, and settings that may not be possible in reality. Many fantasy authors use real-world folklore and mythology as inspiration; and although another defining characteristic of the fantasy genre is the inclusion of supernatural elements, such as magic, this does not have to be the case. Fantasy has often been compared to science fiction and horror because they are
11120-459: The book editor of Compute! magazine that was based in Greensboro, North Carolina, for nine months in 1983. In October of that year, Tom Doherty offered a contract for Card's proposed Alvin Maker series, which allowed him to return to creative writing full-time. Card's 1977 novella Ender's Game is about a young boy who undergoes military training for space war. Card expanded the story into
11259-542: The book, Ender's Game still manages to offer a commendable number of well-acted, solidly written sci-fi thrills." Since 2001, Card's commentary includes the political columns "War Watch", "World Watch", and "Uncle Orson Reviews Everything", which were published in the Greensboro Rhinoceros Times until 2019. "Uncle Orson Reviews Everything" features personal reviews of films and commentary on other topics. The column also appears on Card's website, which
11398-530: The central Indian principles of political science . Chinese traditions have been particularly influential in the vein of fantasy known as Chinoiserie , including such writers as Ernest Bramah and Barry Hughart . Beowulf is among the best known of the Old English tales in the English speaking world, and has had deep influence on the fantasy genre; several fantasy works have retold the tale, such as John Gardner 's Grendel . Norse mythology , as found in
11537-645: The children instead have to create and respect certain limits to avoid destroying themselves and others. Not that anyone ever says such a thing outright. Rather the stories are that lesson, learned over and over again, yet with such humor and extravagant imagination and devastating satire that few readers will imagine that they are being civilised as they read. In the book The Other in the School Stories: A Phenomenon in British Children’s Literature (2017), Ulrike Pesold wrote, " Witch Week hardly follows
11676-631: The circular effect that all fantasy works, even the later The Lord of the Rings , were therefore classified as children's literature . Political and social trends can affect a society's reception towards fantasy. In the early 20th century, the New Culture Movement 's enthusiasm for Westernization and science in China compelled them to condemn the fantastical shenmo genre of traditional Chinese literature. The spells and magical creatures of these novels were viewed as superstitious and backward, products of
11815-468: The community theatre's expenses, Card took part-time employment as a proofreader at BYU Press , moving on to full-time employment as a copy editor. In 1981, Card completed his master's degree in English at the University of Utah where he studied with François Camoin and Norman Council. He began a doctoral program at the University of Notre Dame but dropped out to pursue his more lucrative writing projects. In 1977, Card married Kristine Allen, who
11954-646: The convention. The first WFC was held in 1975 and it has occurred every year since. The convention is held at a different city each year. Additionally, many science fiction conventions, such as Florida's FX Show and MegaCon , cater to fantasy and horror fans. Anime conventions, such as Ohayocon or Anime Expo frequently feature showings of fantasy, science fantasy, and dark fantasy series and films, such as Majutsushi Orphen (fantasy), Sailor Moon (urban fantasy), Berserk (dark fantasy), and Spirited Away (fantasy). Many science fiction/fantasy and anime conventions also strongly feature or cater to one or more of
12093-503: The death penalty. In 2000, Card said he believed government has a duty to protect citizens from capitalism. Card has publicly declared his support of laws against homosexual activity and same-sex marriage . Card's 1990 essay "A Changed Man: The Hypocrites of Homosexuality" was first published in Sunstone and republished in his collection of non-fiction essays, A Storyteller in Zion . In
12232-469: The difference of critical traditions of each country have led to controversies such as the one led by Stanislaw Lem . Rosemary Jackson builds onto and challenges as well Todorov's definition of the fantastic in her 1981 nonfiction book Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion . Jackson rejects the notion of the fantastic genre as a simple vessel for wish fulfillment that transcends human reality in worlds presented as superior to our own, instead positing that
12371-541: The dystopias they inhabit. In a May 2013 essay called "Unlikely Events", which Card presented as an experiment in fiction writing, Card described an alternative future in which President Barack Obama ruled as a " Hitler - or Stalin -style dictator" with his own national police force of young unemployed men; Obama and his wife Michelle would have amended the U.S. Constitution to allow presidents to remain in power for life, as in Nigeria , Zimbabwe , and Nazi Germany . In
12510-437: The early 1980s, Card focused on writing longer works, only publishing ten short stories between 1980 and 1985. He published a few non-fiction works that were aimed at an LDS audience; these include a satirical dictionary called Saintspeak , which resulted in him being temporarily banned from publishing in church magazines. Card wrote the fantasy-epic Hart's Hope (1983) and a historical novel, A Woman of Destiny (1984), which
12649-481: The editor of Analog , rejected a rewrite of the story but asked Card to submit a science fiction piece. In response, Card wrote the short story " Ender's Game ," which Ben Bova published in the August 1977 issue of Analog . Card left Ensign in 1977 and began his career as a freelance writer in 1978. Ben Bova continued to work with Card to publish his stories, and Bova's wife, Barbara Bova, became Card's literary agent,
12788-582: The essay, first published in The Rhinoceros Times , Card attributed Obama's success to being a "black man who talks like a white man (that's what they mean by calling him "articulate" and a "great speaker")." The essay drew criticism from journalists for its allusions to Obama's race and its reference to "urban gangs". Vice author Dave Schilling featured the article in his "This Week in Racism" roundup several months after its publication. Empire (2006)
12927-513: The essay, he argued that laws against homosexual behavior should not be "indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but [used only] when necessary to send a clear message [to] those who flagrantly violate society's regulation". Card also questioned in a 2004 column the notion that homosexuality was a purely innate or genetic trait and asserted that a range of environmental factors also contributed to its development, including abuse. However, in an introduction to
13066-510: The fantastic is a liminal space , characterized by the intrusion of supernatural elements into the realistic framework of a story, accompanied by uncertainty about their existence. However, this precise definition is not the predominant one in English critical literature, and the French term fantastique is used to differentiate the French concept from the broader English term of fantastic, synonym of fantasy. The restrictive definition of Todorov and
13205-429: The fantastic represents the unspoken desire for greater societal change. Jackson criticizes Todorov's theory as being too limited in scope, examining only the literary function of the fantastic, and expands his structuralist theory to fit a more cultural study of the genre—which, incidentally, she proposes is not a genre at all, but a mode that draws upon literary elements of both realistic and supernatural fiction to create
13344-554: The fantasy publisher Tor Books , men outnumber women by 67% to 33% among writers of historical, epic or high fantasy. But among writers of urban fantasy or paranormal romance, 57% are women and 43% are men. Fantasy is studied in a number of disciplines including English and other language studies, cultural studies , comparative literature , history and medieval studies . Some works make political, historical and literary connections between medievalism and popular culture. French literature theorists as Tzvetan Todorov argues that
13483-418: The first time, women started to possess more masculine or queer qualities without it becoming as much of an issue. The fantastic during this time period reflects these new ideas by breaking parallel boundaries in the supernatural. The fantastic breaks this boundary by having the readers never truly know whether or not the story is supernatural. Orson Scott Card Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951)
13622-526: The following: In her 2008 book Rhetorics of Fantasy , Farah Mendlesohn proposes the following taxonomy of fantasy, as "determined by the means by which the fantastic enters the narrated world", while noting that there are fantasies that fit none of the patterns: Publishers, editors, authors, artists, and scholars with interest in the fantasy genre get together yearly at the World Fantasy Convention . The World Fantasy Awards are presented at
13761-433: The fourth book in The Tales of Alvin Maker series, won a Locus Award, and Heartfire (1998) was a nominee for the same award. Card wrote several stand-alone novels in the 1990s. Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (1996) examines time travel and Christopher Columbus . Card collaborated with Star Wars artist Doug Chiang on Robota and with Kathryn H. Kidd on Lovelock . Lost Boys (1992)
13900-528: The genre is inseparable from real life, particularly the social and cultural contexts within which each work of the fantastic is produced. She writes that the "unreal" elements of fantastic literature are created only in direct contrast to the boundaries set by its time period's "cultural order", acting to illuminate the unseen limitations of said boundaries by undoing and recompiling the very structures which define society into something "strange" and "apparently new". In subverting these societal norms, Jackson claims,
14039-629: The genre's popularity. The popularity of the fantasy genre has continued to increase in the 21st century, as evidenced by the best-selling status of J. K. Rowling 's Harry Potter series, Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time series, George R. R. Martin 's Song of Ice and Fire series, Steven Erikson 's Malazan Book of the Fallen sweeping epic, Brandon Sanderson 's The Stormlight Archive series and Mistborn series, and A. Sapkowski 's The Witcher saga. Several fantasy film adaptations have achieved blockbuster status, most notably The Lord of
14178-402: The good of a community. Individuals making sacrifices for their community is a theme in his work. Card's Homecoming Saga is a dramatization of Book of Mormon . Eugene England called the first five novels "good literature". Card received criticism from members of the LDS church for "plagiarizing" the Book of Mormon and using it irreverently. He defended his choices and said speculative fiction
14317-485: The language of the Book of Mormon as much as Hot Sleep does. One theme in Card's works is that of a precocious child who is isolated from others but is uniquely positioned to help or save their community. These characters with exceptional abilities achieve their destiny "through discipline and suffering". Often, his gifted protagonists are introspective children. Card's work features children and adults working together, which
14456-482: The last stage of their development. Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead deal with religious themes common in LDS theology but without many surface references to the religion. The Alvin Maker series does not try to explain Mormon history but uses it to examine his characters' relationships with God. Card stated that his church membership influences his communitarian values, specifically, making personal sacrifices for
14595-415: The major categories of speculative fiction . Fantasy is distinguished from science fiction by the plausibility of the narrative elements. A science fiction narrative is unlikely, though seemingly possible through logical scientific or technological extrapolation, where fantasy narratives do not need to be scientifically possible. Authors have to rely on the readers' suspension of disbelief , an acceptance of
14734-502: The modern fantasy genre. Plato used allegories to convey many of his teachings, and early Christian writers interpreted both the Old and New Testaments as employing parables to relay spiritual truths. This ability to find meaning in a story that is not literally true became the foundation that allowed the modern fantasy genre to develop. The most well known fiction from the Islamic world
14873-574: The novels in the series between 2012 and 2019; these are Earth Unaware , Earth Afire , Earth Awakens , The Swarm , and The Hive . Children of the Fleet is the first novel in a new sequel series, called Fleet School . While Card was writing books in the Shadow series, he also wrote novellas, novels, and a series of books focused on women in the Bible. Card's The Women of Genesis series includes Sarah (2000), Rebekah (2002), and Rachel and Leah (2004). Card wrote three novellas in
15012-551: The pseudonym Byron Walley. Between 1978 and 1988, Card wrote over 300 half-hour audioplays on LDS Church history , the New Testament , and other subjects for Living Scriptures in Ogden, Utah. Card started writing science fiction short stories because he felt he could sell short stories in that genre more easily than others. His first short story, The Tinker , was initially rejected by Analog Science Fiction and Fact . Ben Bova ,
15151-431: The radio; almost all the characters’ parents have been executed or imprisoned. It’s an education in the banality of evil. [...] Reading again this year, I was struck by the fact that the characters of Witch Week save themselves in the end by finding help from other worlds, including one where witchcraft is practised freely. Until that point, they struggle even to articulate what they are. It’s only when they learn that there
15290-514: The same-sex marriage issue is moot because of the Supreme Court's decision on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Card's views have had professional repercussions. In 2013, he was selected as a guest author for DC Comics ' new Adventures of Superman comic book series, but controversy over his views on homosexuality led illustrator Chris Sprouse to leave the project. An online petition to drop
15429-541: The schools". In 2009, Card joined the board of directors of the National Organization for Marriage , a group that campaigns against same-sex marriage. Card resigned from the board in mid-2013. In July 2013, one week after the U.S. Supreme Court issued rulings in two cases that were widely interpreted as favoring recognition of same-sex marriages, Card published in Entertainment Weekly a statement saying
15568-469: The script for an updated Hill Cumorah Pageant in 1988. Inspired by Spenser's Faerie Queene , Card composed the long poem Prentice Alvin and the No-Good Plow , which uses colloquial language and diction common to Joseph Smith's time. The poem, along with the novelette "Hatrack River", became the basis for Seventh Son (1987), the first book in The Tales of Alvin Maker series, a fantasy retelling of
15707-510: The series and entire setting for some stories. There are other worlds with British governments, perhaps all of series 12 or even more. Our world is 12B, a next-door neighbour in some sense, and Witch Week is set entirely in one that is even closer to ours. The Chrestomanci has representatives in some worlds but does not know this one. One of the major themes in the story is overcoming prejudice . Like many other books by Jones, Witch Week encourages readers to think for themselves and seek to make
15846-430: The series brings up questions about what, exactly, the mission of a religious prophet is. The series also questions the difference between a prophet and magician, religion and magic. In the 1980s, Card also wrote Wyrms (1987), a novel about colonizing a planet, and revised A Planet Called Treason , which was published as Treason . He also novelized James Cameron 's film The Abyss . Card wrote prolifically in
15985-458: The several subcultures within the main subcultures, including the cosplay subculture (in which people make or wear costumes based on existing or self-created characters, sometimes also acting out skits or plays as well), the fan fiction subculture, and the fan video or AMV subculture, as well as the large internet subculture devoted to reading and writing prose fiction or doujinshi in or related to those genres. According to 2013 statistics by
16124-465: The social structure to emerge. The fantastic is never purely supernatural, nor can the supernatural be ruled out. Just as women were not equal yet, but they were not completely oppressed. The Female Fantastic seeks to enforce this idea that nothing is certain in the fantastic nor the gender roles of the 1920s. Many women in this time period began to blur the lines between the genders, removing the binary out of gender and allowing for many interpretations. For
16263-547: The stage in Posing as People . Card suffered a mild stroke on January 1, 2011, and made a full recovery. In 1976, Card became an assistant editor for the Ensign magazine produced by the LDS Church and moved to Salt Lake City . While working at Ensign , Card published his first piece of fiction, a short story called Gert Fram , which appeared in the July 1977 issue of Ensign under
16402-512: The story "he is too handsome, elegant and vain to be immediately recognized as the man who will save the children" and while over time the children come to trust Chrestomanci, he never occupies similar heights for the children as a character like Dumbledore does in Harry Potter . In 2019, A. K. Larkwood, for Tor , wrote, "The casual horror of the totalitarian setting is introduced in mundane detail which disturbed me much more as an adult than when I first read it: 'bone-fires' are announced on
16541-575: The story for Shadow Complex , a prequel to the events in his novels Empire and Hidden Empire . The novels and game are about a near-future civil war in the United States that occurs after civilians resist a left-wing coup in the White House . Card has written scripts for the two-volume comic-book series Ultimate Iron Man . He collaborated with his daughters Emily and Zina on the graphic novel Laddertop , and with Aaron Johnston to write
16680-500: The story received over 16,000 signatures, and DC Comics put Card's story on hold indefinitely. A few months later, an LGBT non-profit organization Geeks OUT proposed a boycott of the movie adaptation of Ender's Game , calling Card's views "anti-gay" and causing the movie studio Lionsgate to publicly distance itself from Card's opinions. Card won the ALA Margaret Edwards Award , which recognizes one writer and
16819-400: The students flee the school and two seek help from an "underground railroad" system that is known to save witches by sending them to a world where they are not persecuted. Instead they are given a spell to summon unknown help and all five students converge where they are able to use it, summoning the enchanter Chrestomanci. He and the children conclude that their world diverged from 12B (ours) by
16958-440: The text in such a way that the concepts are conveyed through a discourse which provides great fun for young readers, while also challenging adults to rethink some of the easily ignored yet problematic aspects of fiction-writing highlighted by recent theorists: Witch Week takes up matters such as the very nature of language as it functions via the arbitrary relationship between signifiers and what they signify, and so how we (mis)read
17097-462: The twentieth century, it has expanded further into various media, including film , television , graphic novels , manga , animations , and video games . The expression fantastic literature is also often used to refer to this genre by the Anglophone literary critics. An archaic spelling for the term is phantasy . Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by
17236-494: The unbelievable or impossible for the sake of enjoyment, in order to write effective fantasies. Despite both genres' heavy reliance on the supernatural, fantasy and horror are distinguishable from one another. Horror primarily evokes fear through the protagonists' weaknesses or inability to deal with the antagonists. While some elements of the supernatural and the fantastic were a part of literature from its beginning, fantasy elements occur throughout ancient religious texts such as
17375-466: The use of magic —or the Chrestomanci, a British government office that requires a powerful enchanter and is responsible for supervising. Witch Week is set in the late 20th century during the tenure of Christopher Chant, who is the Chrestomanci in five of the seven books and is often called Chrestomanci as a personal name. The Chrestomanci is unique to what it calls "World 12A", the primary setting for
17514-500: The weirdos and the oddballs — which, Jones makes clear in her triumphant denouement, includes just about everybody. That’s why this book is so deeply endearing to readers of any age". Grady also highlighted that while Witch Week is the third volume in the Chrestomanci series, the book stands alone and when "Chrestomanci shows up in Witch Week , the book tells you straightforwardly everything you need to know about him. And he’s there in
17653-589: Was William Morris , an English poet who wrote several novels in the latter part of the century, including The Wood Beyond the World (1894) and The Well at the World's End (1896). Despite MacDonald's future influence with At the Back of the North Wind (1871), Morris's popularity with his contemporaries, and H. G. Wells 's The Wonderful Visit (1895), it was not until the 20th century that fantasy fiction began to reach
17792-855: Was about an intelligent child who is assaulted by bullies and sustains brain damage . Ender's confrontation with Stilson in Ender's Game is based on this story. In 1964, Card and his family moved to Mesa, Arizona , where he participated in mock debates in junior high school. In 1967, the family moved to Orem, Utah , where his father worked at Brigham Young University (BYU). Card attended BYU's laboratory school, where he took both high school and early college-level classes before graduating in one year. When beginning his college studies he intended to major in archeology, but after becoming increasingly more interested in theater, he began script-writing, writing ten original plays and rewriting other students' plays. Most of his plays were based on Mormon history and scriptures; one
17931-452: Was announced that Summit Entertainment had picked up the film's distribution, and Digital Domain joined Odd Lot Entertainment in a co-production role. Card wrote many versions of the script for the movie, but ultimately director Gavin Hood wrote the screenplay. Card was a co-producer of the film. On Rotten Tomatoes , the critical consensus states: "If it isn't quite as thought-provoking as
18070-477: Was considered more acceptable than fantasy intended for adults, with the effect that writers who wished to write fantasy had to fit their work into forms aimed at children. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote fantasy in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys , intended for children, although his works for adults only verged on fantasy. For many years, this and successes such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) created
18209-435: Was controversial; frequent appearances of naked men and boys raised "questions about homoerotic imagery", according to Westfahl. Collings stated that the early stories are "essential steps in the development of Card's fiction". Card uses a technique common in pulp fiction when he refers to characters by a quirk of their appearance or personality. Card's fantasy stories also use tropes that are common to fantasy. Card cites
18348-401: Was founded in 1949, the pulp magazine format was at the height of its popularity, and the magazine was instrumental in bringing fantasy fiction to a wide audience in both the U.S. and Britain. Such magazines were also instrumental in the rise of science fiction, and it was at this time the two genres began to be associated with each other. By 1950, " sword and sorcery " fiction had begun to find
18487-452: Was included in Vox 's "One Good Thing" recommendation series. Constance Grady wrote, "Witches at a boarding school will inevitably bring Harry Potter to mind, but Witch Week predates J.K. Rowling’s series by 15 years, and it’s a different kind of story entirely. It takes place somewhere grimier and sadder than Harry’s glittering wizard world, and the kids are meaner. [...] Witch Week is a book for
18626-499: Was later republished as Saints and won the 1985 award from the Association for Mormon Letters for best novel. He rewrote the narrative of Hot Sleep and published it as The Worthing Chronicle (1983), which replaced Hot Sleep and the short-story collection set in the same universe, Capitol (1979). The recession of the early 1980s made it difficult to get contracts for new books, so Card returned to full-time employment as
18765-548: Was probably written in the middle of the second half of the eighteenth century BC, preserves a mixture of stories with elements of historical fiction, fantasy, and satire. Egyptian funerary texts preserve mythological tales, the most significant of which are the myths of Osiris and his son Horus . Myth with fantastic elements intended for adults were a major genre of ancient Greek literature . The comedies of Aristophanes are filled with fantastic elements, particularly his play The Birds , in which an Athenian man builds
18904-463: Was published in 1985, Card was reluctant to license film rights and artistic control for the novel. He had two opportunities to sell the rights of Ender's Game to Hollywood studios, but refused when creative differences became an issue. Card announced in February 2009 that he had completed a script for Odd Lot Entertainment , and that they had begun assembling a production team. On April 28, 2011, it
19043-703: Was science fiction. By watching the body language of an audience, he could tell when an audience was interested in his scripts. During his studies as a theater major, he began doctoring scripts, adapting fiction for reader's theater production, and writing one-act and full-length plays, several of which were produced by faculty directors at BYU. Charles W. Whitman , Card's play-writing professor, encouraged his students to write plays with LDS themes. Card studied poetry with Clinton F. Larson at BYU. He also wrote short stories, which were later published together in The Worthing Saga . Before graduating, Card served as
19182-573: Was three years old, the family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah , so his father could finish his bachelor's degree. The family moved to Santa Clara, California , when Card was six; they stayed there for seven years while his father completed his master's degree and worked as a professor at San Jose State College . In school, Card took classes for gifted students, but he was more interested in studying music—he played clarinet and French horn. He read widely, including historical fiction, nonfiction, and literary classics. At age ten, he wrote his first story, which
19321-539: Was to attempt to link homosexuality with pedophilia. Card responded that he did not link homosexuality with pedophilia, stating that in his book, Hamlet's father was a pedophile that shows no sexual attraction to adults of either sex. Card became a member of the U.S. Democratic Party in 1976 and has on multiple occasions referred to himself as a Moynihan or Blue Dog Democrat, as recently as 2020. Card supported Republican presidential candidate John McCain in 2008 and Newt Gingrich in 2012. In 2016, he followed
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