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This post contains some spoilers (just warning you guys and gals, in case someone else hasn't read this yet..).
I just recently read most of First Meetings for the first time (got it via Library loan).
I read " The Polish Boy ", " Teacher's Pest ", and " The Investment Counselor ".
I started to read the " Ender's Game " novella, but I decided that I wanted to read " The Investment Counselor " instead. I still have the book, so I may read Ender's Game, but maybe not. I've read the book (my least favorite of the Ender books), so I don't know..
As for the other short stories, I liked " The Polish Boy " quiete a bit (I found Ender's dad as a kid more likable then Ender as a kid. I like how he tried to outsmart the adults. though he didn't win in the end...well ok, he sort of won...). I also thought " The Investment Counselor " was really good. I liked seeing how Ender and Jane met and how Ender became a Speaker (Speaker For the Dead is my favorite Ender book! ).
" Teacher's Pest " was good, not great. It was cool and interesting to find out how Ender's parents met though!
Anyway, its a good collection of short stories (novellas really). I'm glad I got to read (most) of them.
I also got 'How to Write Science Fiction And Fantasy " from the library loan. I've read a little bit of it, but not all yet. Its an interesting book.
I'm still waiting on Characters and Viewpoint though (ordered that via library loan too). Hope they get it!
DF2506 " Is planning to read The Lost Boys, Treasure Box, and Homebody next (after I finish How to Write..and hopefully Characters & Viewpoint if it comes in). Though, I'd like to read Shadow of the Giant next, but that'll have to wait a little bit."
Posts: 128 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I thought Polish Boy and Teacher's Pest were very interesting. And I found Teacher's Pest to be very, very sad, actually. The first meeting of Ender's parents was so full of life and their future so full of possibilities and hope. And the whole time we, as the audience, know that as a result of the bargain John Paul made when he was six, their child will be taken to Battle School. I found those two stories together to be very fun to read but incredibly Faustian and depressing.
Posts: 2267 | Registered: May 2005
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Ya, I do agree with you, TL, that Teacher's Pest is sad and a little depressing (in a way). Even " The Polish Boy " is a little because of Graff's hint at what he's going to do to John later on (aka take one of John's kids).
I liked these stories. It really tells you that Ender was doomed (or fated if you will) to come to Battle school and do what he did. He really had no choice in the matter. John really made the choice (and so did Graff) when he choose not to go to Battle school. Though IF he had gone, Ender, Valetine, and Peter prob wouldn't have been born. Or maybe they would have. Who knows? Maybe John would have spared Ender his fate..
DF2506 " I also like " Investment Counselor " quiete a bit. Its my second favorite story in the collection (Polish Boy is prob my first). OF course, I'm a big fan of Speaker For the Dead. Its my favorite Ender novel."
Posts: 128 | Registered: Sep 2004
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There's something I don't like about 'Investment Counselor' actually. And it is, in fact, the same thing that I don't like about the 'Shadow' series.
I think the way that computers are used in the far future will be vastly different from the way we use them today. So all the references to uninstalling programs, checking emails, quoting emails complete with ".com" addresses -- I think cause the stories to be dated in a way that Ender's Game and Speaker (for example) weren't. (Why weren't they dated? Because they don't make those specific references: they are vague in a way that allows me to suspend my disbelief.)
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Technologies only change when there's a compelling reason, a substantial improvement. It's hard to imagine a time when computers won't involve loading and unloading multiple programs. Some things change; some things don't. The Brits still drive on the left; Americans still don't use metric. Do you live on a street or avenue or road or way? Any move to change those names? There's no reason to imagine that .com will go away, not completely. But maybe it will. But then, maybe it won't. But it's as absurd to say that the story is weaker because I show it NOT going away - you don't know any more than I do which things will change and which ones won't!
After all, people still name their babies using saints names that are two thousand years old. But they ALSO make up names out of whole cloth. You just can't predict with certainty which things society will be conservative about, and which it will throw away with abandon. .com still feels new to us, so it can make a story feel contemporary, which makes it feel "wrong" when it's set in the future. But I believe in following James Blish's "shmeerp" rule: If it looks like a rabbit, acts like a rabbit, and reproduces like a rabbit, but lives on an alien planet, don't call it a shmeerp, call it a rabbit.
Oddly enough, I think naming Ender Ender shows how young and inexperienced I was. Names are the most conservative part of a society. Why in the world would people name their children weird name like Ender or Bean or Mazer? But I was stuck with those names when I created the novel; by then I knew these names were really absurd. I found decent justifications for Ender and Bean. None at all for Mazer. Just a dumb name.
For what it's worth, though, I didn't make the decision about .com ignorantly. I thought about inventing a whole new set of nomenclatures, but decided the three-character affix would persist. However, you'll note that I invented the %name format as a supplement in a world that was running out of names and addresses ... so it's not like I left it alone!
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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That's true. For the record, I wasn't saying the stories were weaker because of this, I was just saying that it bothered me personally. The stories are still a lot of fun to read.
And you know something else? In this future, there are probably laws in place to PREVENT radical changes and advances in computer technology (at least on a consumer level) because of all the FTL travel going on. If computers were advancing at anywhere near the speed they are now, irl, as soon as you came out of FTL travel, your computer would be a hunk of metal totally incapable of communicating or interacting with other computers. There, now I've gone and justified it for myself.
Posts: 2267 | Registered: May 2005
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I totally agree with Mr. Card. You just don't know what'll happen in the future. I mean, look at the 50s and 60s. In science fiction in those times, they thought by now we'd have flying cars, robots, and would be traveling to other planets (the moon doesn't count) and guess what....NONE OF THAT STUFF HAS HAPPENED. Well, ok, there are some robots, but definitly nothing as advanced as science fiction back then thought and they are definitly NOT common place like in those stories...
So for all we know, we'll still have .coms and we'll still have to load programs to our computer in the future. In fact, its the most likely thing that'll happen. The only difference will be: that all that stuff will be MUCH, MUCH, MUCH faster. Well..if you can afford it to be much faster anyway...
Oh and btw, I think its very nitpicky to not like a story because of the technology in the story. And its also a sign that the story and the characters just don't interest you. Your focusing on MINOR elements of the story when you should be focusing on the story and the characters. You should be so engrossed in the book that you don't even notice the technology. IF your not, well then, you prob should read another book..
Personally, I love the Shadow books (after Speaker and Xenocide, they are my favorite OSC books) and the Investment Counselor novella is my second favorite story in First Meetings!
DF2506 " Will prob be the last person on this board to ever read Shadow of the Giant! I just don't have the money to buy the book yet and my library is NEVER going to get it..*sigh* "
Posts: 128 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Ya, sorry. I know you said that in your other post. Even though my last post appears after yours, I wrote that post BEFORE you wrote yours. Just took me awhile to write it out and post. lol. Your third post made me think that you didn't like Shadow or Investment at all because of the technology...
Still, I do think its a bit nitpicky to be worried about the technology. If you like the stories, why worry about the technology? Well, I guess if your a big fan of futurisic type technology or technology in general you might focus in on that...I guess.
Me: I'm not worried about it at all.
DF2506 " I can suspend my disbelief quite a bit for stories if I love the story and the characters. The technology could be completly wrong in a realastic story and I wouldn't mind at all if the characters and story were great! Of course, usually if the tech is wrong in a realistic story, other things are wrong too..lol."
Posts: 128 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote: Oddly enough, I think naming Ender Ender shows how young and inexperienced I was. Names are the most conservative part of a society. Why in the world would people name their children weird name like Ender or Bean or Mazer? But I was stuck with those names when I created the novel; by then I knew these names were really absurd. I found decent justifications for Ender and Bean. None at all for Mazer. Just a dumb name. [/QB]
Don't be so hard on yourself about the young and inexperienced part. I think the explanation of why Ender was called Ender was perfectly justifiable and probably happens more than one would imagine. I have a good friend whose brother could not pronounce her name so her name turned to something that he could pronounce.
As far as Mazer goes, did you ever say that it was his real name? Does it need to be explained? As someone who has played on plenty of sports teams, the reasons why people have nicknames are endless. Most don't make sense and many stick to the point where we use those all the time in place of the person's real name (Tiger Woods comes to mind). The same mindset applies to people in tightly bonded situation such as the military. Maybe I am stretching it but that seems to be a perfect justification for Mazer. If anything, his name gave him the same certain uniqueness as Ender.
Posts: 117 | Registered: May 2005
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I enjoyed these stories though I was a little sad, because I thought that it was going to be about Mazer against the Buggers, but I got over it in about 2 seconds.
Also, is it a little strange that this book is in my library's children section?
Posts: 142 | Registered: Apr 2005
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