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This is my first time posting, but I have been lurking for many months. I don't know how much discussion this thread will evoke, but it should be interesting nonetheless to see how others got started reading books by OSC.
For me, he is pretty much the reason I started becoming an avid reader. Before I read his novels, I mainly stuck to graphic novels and comic books as my literature intake. Once upon a time, when browsing through a magazine, I came across and incredible piece of artwork from a graphic novel called Robota. It was aparently the work of one of the Star Wars concept art guys if I remember correctly with the prose of one Orson Scott Card. So I went to my local library at some later point and was very pleased to see they happened to have it (what luck!). To be honest, the artwork remains my favorite part of the book simply because it is so extroidinary, but I liked the story and decided I'd see what else was offered by this OSC.
I ran an internet search and one thing just kept popping up. Ender. Not really sure where to start I decided the dates of publication on the series would be my best bet. I loved Ender's Game and ended up reading the entire series from start to finish in a couple of months (although I had to wait a bit longer for Shadow of the Giant). My favorite is by far is Speaker for the Dead, which I understand, from the Author's Definitive Edition, is the book he wanted to write to begin with but required Ender's Game to set it up. I love all the books, but the first two are the best, I think. Since then I have picked up the Homecoming series, which is good too (I'm on book 4). I also read Pastwatch and some of Maps in a Mirror. I absolutely LOVED the story about the multiple deaths and subsequent memory transfers to new bodies.
Thank you, Mr. Card, for getting me reading (something I had planned to do eventually but was taking my sweet time doing). Since then I have taken a simple way out in deciding what books to read next by browsing the list of all Nebula and Hugo award winners and seeing which ones were available at my local libraries. I plan to branch out of science fiction eventually, but I'm addicted for the moment.
I also commend OSC for posting on his forums so much, it is incredibly refreshing to see something like that occur. It also seems to be the best way to get information on what he is working on. What are you writing these days anyway (if it isn't a secret). I'm also glad to see you getting into the comic books, movie, and videogame (although from what I read Advent Rising isn't as OSC heavy as I had hoped) scenes. Perhaps you will draw even more readers through this. I look forward your future work and your past work I have not stumbled upon yet.
I'm aware this has been a bit long-winded, but I guess that happens when one waits this long to post. By the way, anyone who has not read Robota , I highly recommend doing so.
Posts: 29 | Registered: May 2005
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My first OSC book was "Treason". It didn't capture my attention enough to get me to read anything else until "Ender's Game" was recommended to me about a year later.
I remember reading "Treason" and thinking "this guy sounds like a Mormon!" I dismissed that idea, because the very thought that he could actually be a Mormon was a laughable one.
Posts: 751 | Registered: Apr 2005
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For me it was Ender's Game about three years ago. I saw the book on the summer reading table at Barnes and Nobel and the price was right ($3.99 I recall). I had heard it was good, so I bought it. Wow! I have now read everything OSC has written (I think).
Posts: 514 | Registered: May 2005
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I quit reading in 5th grade, under the assumption that I already knew how to read and wouldn't gain anything by doing it over and over again. Someone from an English class in my freshman year of college gave me Ender's Game and said I had to read it, even if I never read anything else ever again. About six hours later I returned it to him and said, "Give me more." I've been reading relatively avidly ever since, and have read all of OSC's novels (not all his short stories, and probably won't until he comes out with another collection *crosses fingers*).
Posts: 6213 | Registered: May 2001
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In 6th grade (3 years ago) My friend was reading Ender's Game and I was soo confused by the picture on the cover and he said read it read it. So I read it and it was AMAZING, first book i seriously considered writing to Mr. Card for a few weeks but decided that he was aware he had fans. After that i read some shadow books then looked for speaker for the dead for months, finally found it and have now read all the Ender and Shadow books.
Posts: 655 | Registered: May 2005
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ah the first Book by Orson Scott Card i read was Enders Game, and yes like so many others him and his books have kept me reading them as much as possible.
do u guys think osc's books will become more popular as time passes? i hope so, i want to be able to say "oh Enders Game, yea ive read all the books before they were movies and all this.."
Posts: 62 | Registered: May 2005
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I read Xenocide first. I ran across it in my parents bookshelf. Somehow the other books got misplaced over the years (or taken to a used bookstore) but that one stuck around.
I actually didn't know it was part of a series until much later.
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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Ender's Game was the first OSC book I read as well. I was in grade 5 or 6 (so this would have been around 1991/92), and at the time, a company had a deal with my school whereby, each month or so, we'd get a 2 page leaflet with an assortment of books that we could order by mail. I think the company had recently redesigned their layout and added some little markers to signify various things like CanCon (Canadian content, I'm in Newfoundland), and mature themes, or something like that... Anyway, I skimmed through the list, and there was a big red "M" next to a book about a kid who's good at video games. I was sold. I don't think I was very impressed on my first read-through, I think I even went so far as to skip most of the dialogues that started each chapter (big mistake), and I didn't understand what Peter and Val were doing... a year or two later, I picked it up again and got hooked. I read it 3 or 4 more times in as many years. For Christmas '97 or '98 we got internet access, and shortly thereafter, I found hatrack.com, and was heard to exclim: "Oh my God, there are sequals"... I got all three not long after that.
Posts: 70 | Registered: May 2005
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I picked up Enders Shadow for 5 dollars in my local supermarkets book section when I was 10. I enjoyed it but didn't grasp a lot of it until I picked it up again off of my bookshelf 2 years later. I found Enders Game at the library and read it, not enjoying it as much as I did Enders Shadow, even though there was a lot more descriptions of what battle school is like in Enders Game. Anyways, while reading the prolougue and epolougue's of one or the other, I came across the fact that there were sequals! After a two week wait for my library to get them from another one, I read Xenocide and Speaker for the Dead. Then, while at Barnes and Nobles, I found out that Children of the Mind was written, and that there were sequals for Ender's Shadow. One year later, and I'm now trying to track down Shadow of the Giant and some of OSC's fantasy
Posts: 34 | Registered: May 2005
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My 8th grade Language Arts teacher had us read Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. She was the best English teacher I've ever had, because whenever we read books we reaaad them. We'd stop in the middle and discuss the story in depth- the characters' relationships with one another, how certain events might effect the course of the story, things like that. Needless to say, it was the perfect introduction to the work of OSC.
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Ender's Game. I was actually trying to remember the name of the guy who had written The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which was recommended to me by an adult, I didn't find it, but I did find Ender's Game. Read it. Loved it. Started writing. Loved it. A few years later I found the sequels read them. Loved them. Waited patiently for Shadow of the Giant. Read it. Loved it. The only other OSC I've read at this point are the first two Alvin Maker books. And First Meetings.
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I did not know it at the time, but it was the novelization to James Camron's The Abyss.
Card chose an odd format I have not seen before or since that had the characterizations of the three main players at the front of the book before the story even began.
He almost lost me doing it that way, but I have since used those three chapters to study characterization.
I read Ender's Game several years later after a friend suggested it to me.
Posts: 339 | Registered: Mar 2005
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Well, I suppose my first was actually Monkey Island with the insults... But my first knowing experience was when my father tossed a copy of Ender's Game at me to read for a long trip.
Posts: 1831 | Registered: Jan 2003
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Everyone on the web was reccomending Ender's Game, so I was wandering in the Library one day and I looked at the carts and there was Ender's Game, sitting there. I picked it up and checked it out. I immediately fell in love with it. I checked out the Speaker timeline in sequential order and loved those. Then I checked out the Shadow timeline in order and loved those. So, Ender's Game was my first OSC experience. I tried to get into Alvin, but I couldn't. I read Homecoming and loved it. As a 6'3 14 year old at the time, I identified with Nafai very much.
For me, the fact that I could identify with so many of his characters is what attracts me to OSC. The weird thing is that I feel more similar to Peter than I do to Ender.
Posts: 6 | Registered: May 2005
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Fifth grade: I was browsing the discard bin at my local library and picked up Ender's Game along with a couple other sci-fi books for 25 cents apiece.
(I'm a cheapskate when it comes to buying books, you see. Unfortunately that quarter-dollar of a book ended up costing me a lot more than I bargained for, as I consequently have bought for many allowance-dollars the rest of the Ender books along with the Alvin Maker series.)
Posts: 973 | Registered: Apr 2005
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I read Enders Game the summer after ninth grade. Enders game is the reason I started reading for enjoyment. I can say without any doubt in my mind that OSC altered my life for the better.
Posts: 473 | Registered: Sep 2001
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The first OSC book I came across was "Enders Game" on Swedish. Found it by accident in the library. It is actually nearly as good in Swedish as in English, amazingly enough.
Posts: 32 | Registered: Mar 2005
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My first OSC book was his novelization of The Abyss. I spotted it on the bookstore shelf shortly after seeing the movie. His handling of the story made me glad I'd bought it, and by the end, I had to read his other books. I started with Ender's Game and spent the next few months devouring his books. Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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I can't remember. I don't remember when I first read Ender's Game - I can't remember the beginning of the most of the major relationships and influences in my life. That makes sense - I didn't know how important it would be.
Most likely, I was eleven or twelve and read it at my older brother's suggestion. It was when I read Speaker and Xenocide that I knew I was home.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Hey... I've never actually posted but I've been reading here for about a year.
I found "Ender's Game" in the library on accident during my 7th grade summer. I wasn't sure whether it looked interesting or not.
Started reading it at a friend's house I was "cat sitting" for on July 3rd (Why do I remember this?) and didn't put it down or leave their house 'till I was finished.
Ever since I've been trying to balance my OSC reading with all other reading. It's difficult when all I WANT to read is OSC's stuff when I know there is more good stuff out there!
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My awareness OSC's work came on slowly. I had heard of him when I was a student at BYU but I felt stubborn that I wasn't going to read a SF writer just because he was a mormon. Then I bought Living Scriptures audio plays on tape about LDS church history. It turns out he wrote the hours and hours of dramatized church history that I visted to and his name seemed vaguely familiar. My brothers and sisters were reading Xenocide together and still I could not be persuaded to actually read any OSC book. Finally, while looking for an audiobook at the library, I picked up Call of Earth. I could not believe how good it was! And was I in luck! The library had an extensive OSC collection. I read the Homecoming series, Ender's series, Treason, Wyrms, Folk of the Fringe, Maps in the Mirror and every other OSC book I could get my hands on. I have read just about every OSC published book (I could'nt stomache Hart's Hope and I haven't read his book on characterizations .) Some of my favorite titles are: Enchantment, Wyrms, Xenocide, Ender's Shadow, Sarah, Stone Tables and Storyteller in Zion. I love that OSC seems to always have a story to tell and that I don't have to wait too long for the next delicious bite!
Posts: 26 | Registered: Jan 2005
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Ender's Game is my bible since I was 14 years old. I wrote Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide and Children of mind 2 years ago and was so happy that I studied biotech in the uni and have enough understanding to enjoy these wonderful ideas. I believe there is a reason to read right books at the right time.
Posts: 22 | Registered: May 2005
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My first OSC experience was in Korea in 1986 while in the US Army. I checked out Speaker For the Dead from a bookmobile while I was stationed in the DMZ and read it one afternoon within 25 feet of the MDL (Military Demarcation Line) sitting in Ghost Post #9.
I loved the book, but the bookmobile didn't have anything else of OSC's, so I forgot about it for several years.
Luckily I found Ender's Game in a co-worker's lending library in '90 and since then I've read most everything he's published.
Posts: 2 | Registered: Jun 2005
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The first OSC book I read was Ender's Game and i only read it because my friend would not leave me alone. so I took it and started reading. I couldent stop I loved it about 6 hours later after the last page I fliped the book over and started again. sence then I have read all the Ender books (not First Meetings), all the Alvin Maker books and a lot of his stand alones.
Posts: 9 | Registered: Mar 2005
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Summer before my sophmore year my then-11 year old brother got Ender's Game for his birthday. He read it and liked it a lot, so eventually I read it and I LOVED it. I'm ashamed to say it drove me to thievery, because I stole his copy and only gave it back to him this year because I bought a trade paperback version for 25 cents at a garage sale run by crazy people who would willingly get rid of Ender's Game.
Posts: 866 | Registered: Dec 2003
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My first OSC experience was in 197x when Jerry Pournelle told a panel audience never to write a story about life as a video game because Orson Scott Card had pretty much conquered that genre. It took me 20 years to read the original story, but I never forgot the admiration in Pournelle's voice.
Posts: 80 | Registered: Jun 2005
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My first OSC experience was *gasp!* Ender's Game about a year ago. I had heard it mentioned occasionally when I began to surf around on predominantly video game forums (nerd!). Everything I heard was good, and I was interested, but I never got around to finding it for a while.
Eventually I found out there was a movie of the novel to be made, so I vowed to read it before it came out. I looked around on the internet for some more info (I like to know more about a book than "its good" before I commit to reading it) and eventually went ot the library to check it out.
I then went and bought it from Waldenbook's before I had even finished it, plus Speaker for the Dead.
I read through the whole Enderverse novels fairly quickly (though I'm waiting until its released in paperback before I go into Shadow of the Giant). I tried the Alvin and Homecoming series, but really wasn't able to get into either of them...
And that's about it...
Posts: 450 | Registered: Nov 2004
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The funniest part of my slow descent into OSC fandom was when I was in the psych ward and someone thought Cruel Miracles would be just the book to get my mind off my troubles.
I don't quite remember when I really started reading OSC. I guess it must have been when I was a freshman in college. My brother told me the story while we walked to the Gas company to pay our bill before our service got shut off. I was fascinated by his description of the Bonso fight scene and read the book. But if we count conversations with family, then I had a protracted argument (Moi? ) with my sister about whether the characterizations the the novelization were adequate excuse for me to try to like the movie. Anyways, when I married my husband he had volume III of everything. Only volume III. It was really annoying. Then when we moved to Greece for some reason the library on the tiny base had a lot of OSC. I know I've mentioned that in another thread in the last week.
Posts: 2010 | Registered: Apr 2003
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) with my sister about whether the characterizations the the novelization were adequate excuse for me to try to like the movie. Anyways, when I married my husband he had volume III of everything. Only volume III. It was really annoying. Then when we moved to Greece for some reason the library on the tiny base had a lot of OSC. I know I've mentioned that in another thread in the last week.
