The Ender's Game series- Now discussing ENDER IN EXILE

Hmm, it seems that the Mazer novel has been scrapped in favour of Ender in Exile. The short story Mazer in Prison was basically what the novel was going to be. Too bad, I was looking forward to it.

 

Looks like the Battle School Christmas book won't be coming out until next year because Card didn't get it finished in time.

I hope it focuses on Dink Meeker, as I feel he was one of the most underused of Ender's jeesh in the Shadow series, along with Crazy Tom.


Speaking of Xmas at Battle School, here's a post by someone on the Hatrack.com message boards:

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the wheel,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a Achilles.
The shower towels were hung by the 'toon bunks with care;
Bean hoped that brother Nikolai soon would be there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of battle room danced in their heads.
Anderson in his 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a 19:00 nap,
When in the battle room there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bunk to see what was the matter.

To the first level I flew like a rocket,
Palmed open the door, drew the hook from my pocket.
The LED on the breast of the new-waxed walls
Gave a sparkling glow to the target-practice balls.
When, what should my wondering eyes then render,
But an eight-year-old boy by the name of Ender,
With a lad beside him, so full of aplomb,
I knew in a moment it must be Crazy Tom.
More rapid than eagles his army they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

Now, Dumper! now, Hot Soup! Now, Petra and Vlad!
On, Carby! On Meeker! Our battle scores are rad!
To the top of the star! Now don't stop to clown!
Which way is the enemy's gate? It is down!

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So down to the far gate his army they flew
With their light guns a-blazing, and flash suits lit, too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard from the vent
The prancing and pawing of Bean as he went.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Off the wall Ender came with a bound.

He was dressed in his flash suit, with lights that did blink,
And a glint in his eye that showed he could think.
His eyes -- how they twinkled! His face, how sweet!
I knew he could lead us to the Buggers' defeat!

He called to his army with all of his haste,
And the deadline encircled him 'round his young waist.
His army assembled on the north of the star,
Took hold of the deadline, a thing most bizarre.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
Leaped down off the star; then turned with a jerk,
And crashing quite hard into the other side,
And rebounding violently, circling wide,
Richocheted off the walls, to his army gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he went back to work,
"Happy Christmas to you, Graff! You fat, mean, old jerk!"

 

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[image=http://www.dabelbrothers.com/plugins/p17_image_gallery/images/37.jpg]

By popular demand, Marvel, Dabel Brothers and Orson Scott Card elaborate on what may become the sci-fi event of the year.

Following on the heels of their announcement about the planned publication of an original comic book story written by Orson Scott Card that takes place in the universe popularized by his Hugo and Nebula winning novels Ender?s Game and Speaker for the Dead, Marvel Comics and the Dabel Brothers have released additional details about the story due to the overwhelming response they?ve received from readers and media.

The story, entitled Gold Bug, begins just after the Formic Wars (also known as the ?Bugger Wars?), when Andrew ?Ender? Wiggin arrives in a colony ship on one of the former formic worlds as the new governor.

The story follows a former pilot named Sel Menach, a xenobiologist who has spent the bulk of his life after the war in the fledgling colony working with the terrestrial plants the colonists brought along, learning to protect them from parasites and helping them to adapt to the climate patterns of the new world. Eventually, he is elected governor, until a replacement arrives ? Ender Wiggin.

Due to the technical aspects of relativistic space travel, fourteen-year-old Ender finds himself in charge of a colony that has existed for decades without him, and many of the younger colonists resent the fact that the Fleet has sent a ?mere child? to be their governor. But the older generation, comprised of former pilots and ships? officers who fought under Ender?s command during the war, ensures that the younger colonists know that this is the mind who made everything possible.

Upon Ender?s arrival, Sel realizes that there is still much to learn about the rest of the planet, and obtains permission from Ender to explore past the reaches of the colony and see what lies beyond in the cold reaches of the south. But what Sel finds in his journey is something that may change the way the formics are understood by human scientists? and something that may give him a lifetime of new frontiers to explore.

?Part of the reason the Enderverse stories are so beloved is because they offer more than just great science fiction,? said Ernst Dabel, President of Dabel Brothers Productions. ?Orson Scott Card has used books like Ender?s Game and Speaker for the Dead as a platform to explore some fascinating concepts, and ?Gold Bug? is very much in the spirit of offering a fresh new perspective on the evolution of an unnatural sort of creature that is quite useful as a tool, but unable to survive on its own when it?s abandoned by its masters.?

"I thought I was just writing a good adventure story with an interesting character," said Mr. Card, "but it got away from me a little."

Gold Bug will be produced by Dabel Brothers Productions and published by Marvel Comics as a bonus story in the back of the hardcover edition of the comic book adaptation of Orson Scott Card?s The Tales of Alvin Maker: Red Prophet, available at bookstores and comic book retailers in North America in the summer of 2007. The story will be written by Orson Scott Card, scripted by Jake Black (Wyrms, TMNT, Smallville) and drawn by Jin Han, a conceptual artist personally hand-picked by Mr. Card. Currently, the Dabel Brothers are also planning to adapt additional short stories that will take place in the Enderverse; details will be released as they become available.

?I?m a huge fan of Mr. Card?s novels, and Ender?s Game in particular,? said Jin Han while hard at work laying out the pages. ?The story of The Gold Bug offers an intriguing look into the ongoing saga of Ender Wiggin, and Mr. Card continues to build upon an already legendary framework. He?s found an exciting and innovative way of telling this new story from the Enderverse, and it?s been an absolute thrill to be a part of it all! I?m very pleased to be working alongside Mr. Card in bringing the w

 

I have to say I have zero interest in a comic book.

 

I'll eventually read it, but I'm not expecting much. Card needs to get back to writing novels, and his second run on Ultimate Iron Man.

 

In general, or just for this one?

 

Could he not make his novels crazy?

I'm pretty sure Empire was a love letter to Ann Coulter.

 

"Ender's Game" has apparently defeated a legion of scriptwriters, but not the condensers at Book-A-Minute:

"Ender's Game
By Orson Scott Card
Ultra-Condensed by David J. Parker and Samuel Stoddard

Ender

The government let my parents conceive me because they hope to mold me into the ultimate military commander.

Government

Ender, become the ultimate military commander and go defeat the buggers.

(He does.)

Ender

Horror. I'm only nine years old, and I have already eradicated an entire species. I thought it was a game, but it was for real. I will fret about this in the sequels.


THE END"

Hee!

 

Both.

 

*Makes note*

 

They forgot to mention Ender is actually Hitler.

 

Uhh no he's not.

 

Alright. Sure. I mean he accidentally commits xenocide and then just happens to find refuge at a planet that's pretty much Brazil to make up for what he did. Theres no Nazi parallels there at all.

I like the books, but it's pretty obvious that Card is completely bat**** insane.

 

See the issue with your statement is saying Ender IS Hitler when if fact your point is that there are a few parallels. There are many many aspects to Ender's character that have nothing to do with Hitler, nor are they anything like Hitler.

 

I can't see any parallels between Ender and Hitler. One consciously chose to commit a great evil, the other was an unwitting pawn of the powers-that-be.

 

If anyone could be considered Hitler (which no one can) it'd be Bean, because he at least knew it was real. Then again, he admits himself that he would never have thought to kill 'em all. Even as Ender ordered it, it was more about giving up than trying to win. He was sending a message to Mazer and Graff that he quits and doesn't want to play their game anymore.

 

I'd also like to point out that Hitler never went to South America. He sort of died in Berlin...

 

I begin to see why this book series has defeated adaptation.

 

I think it's adaptable, but you'd need someone like James Cameron or Spielberg to do it correctly. And a really, really good screenwriter.

 

I think Ender's Game is adaptable. I think the Shadow series is adaptable. I do NOT think Speaker For the Dead and its sequels are adaptable. Seriously... it would be long stretches of people talking interspersed with violent disemboweling of aliens and humans.

 

Sounds like an art film to me, or some pretentious film student's final project.

 

I think Zaz wasn't saying it's unadaptable here; but rather why it's hard to adapt. And he's right, it's such a perfect balance that needs to be struck to deliver on this that really you're more likely to miss that hit with it.

E_S

 

The hardest part of adapting it is finding the right kids. And filming it in the proper way, because the general public would not like to see a 6 year old murdering another one.

 

Well that's very much in line with Zaz's assertion about the film defying adaptation.

They could just made Ender older and played by Freddie Prinze junior. That way when it tanks, a good director/writer will get behind it properly.

E_S

 

I definitely think the Battle School kids should be made older-- teens would probably be best if they want to find decent actors to play the roles.