Why? Ender has played his game, he has had his shadows, he has spoken for the dead. The book that needs to be written isn’t Ender's Adolescence, Ender's Fabulous Voyage, or Why Ender and Valentine Flew. Get to the point. Who is this young man named Ender? Somewhere between child savior, speaker for the dead, and xenocide, there is a man. Ender.
What is the point of this meeting? That there is no escape from the connections of personal history? Two degrees separation from anyone, maybe three? Is this story for the sake of telling, or is there something that must be said, some part of Ender and the complex web of his world that must be revealed?
I’m sure you have many stories to tell, but why this one? If you publish Ender as a Young Man, Speaker’s Shadow, etc. etc., I promise that I will buy and read it. But what of it? What made your previous books so notable was that they pushed the reader. Will this push us? Or will it just be filler, grasping onto a safe and relatively interesting storyline about a character locked in mind and heart. I hope not, but that is what I fear. I fear that Ender will become common, no more than a young man on a space age adventure. Ender the child was haunting, ground breaking. Why make common the most uncommon of heros?
I’d rather go back a ways and read Hiding in Shadow, Future’s Shadow, Shadow of Brilliance, Graff’s Game, whatever one might call it. What story? The story that gave birth to Peter the Hegemon, Ender the Xenocide, Locke, Lincoln, Valentine, Demosthenes, Speaker for the Dead.
The Enderverse, if you will, has leapt from a young John Paul in Poland to Ender’s Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. So while I am very curious about what sort of adventures and entanglements Ender might have as a young adult, I’d love some more history. We know very little about John Paul, and even less about Theresa. So I’m asking you for that story, the less inevitable story. The dangerous story, because we already anticipate its outcome. How did they become the people they were, where they were, and bring into the world the children they did. These two are something of a mystery both to other characters and to the reader.
I'm throwing that out into the ether, and awaiting what will be thrown back. There are so many stories that might be told, and I hope that many of them are.
m.
[ March 26, 2005, 02:39 AM: Message edited by: Miranda ]
Posted by Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged (Member # 7476) on :
Have you read First Meetings in the Enderverse yet? It has the story of John Paul's and Theresa's first meeting. The short story is called "Teachers Pet." It lays out exactly what you want. As for Ender, have you read the Speaker books yet? I'm sorry to say Ender's just not the same after becoming the Xenocide. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Posted by Miranda (Member # 7647) on :
I have read (and enjoyed) all of the works you mentioned. (Wasnt the first meeting titled Teacher's Pest?)The first part of my post was in response to the thread about the title of the next book. As for the rest, I want more. Its the difference between Ender's Game the short story and Ender's Game the book, which lead to the whole Enderverse. I believe that while an Ender and Randi collision would be interesting, a longer book about John Paul and Theresa would be more than merely interesting.
m. being more provocative than she means to
Posted by Gosu (Member # 5783) on :
Wait....I thought First Meetings only had "Investment Counselor", "Ender's Game" Short Story, and "The Polish Boy." Is there another First Meetings Book? If so then what stories does it have?
Posted by Miranda (Member # 7647) on :
I think that the original hardcover did only have the three, but there is also a more recent version here that has the fourth story as well.
m.
Posted by Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged (Member # 7476) on :
Poor OSC. He writes characters way to well. Everybody has a favorite side character that he HAS to write a book about. I have my doubts about a book about the Wiggin parents. From a book selling stand point what the hook? I believe OSC could squeeze another short story out of the Wiggin parents, but that's about it. IMHO the Mazer story would make for a much better read. That's just my opinion though.
Posted by Miranda (Member # 7647) on :
He does do characters much to well. I guess I'm attached to the idea of a story about the parents because it couldnt be the same sort of story. A Mazer story would probably be very good, but it seems to me that its in the same groove as so many stories in the Enderverse. Mazer, young, brilliant, and missunderstood. Not that those stories are bad; quite the opposite. When it comes down to it, I really want to read a book about Graff, the grand manipulator. Still, I'll read anything OSC writes even remotely related to the Enderverse. Some storylines just intreague me more than others.
m.
Posted by definitelynotvichysoisse (Member # 7559) on :
The fourth story in "First Meetings" is just the original Ender's Game story.
Posted by Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged (Member # 7476) on :
I don't think Mazer was all that young, he had a wife and kids.
Posted by Miranda (Member # 7647) on :
Everyone was young once. I wonder if it would be the story of the man who saved the world, the story of the man who would save the world, or the story of the man who is currently in the process of saving the world.