psc@lzwi.UUCP (Paul S. R. Chisholm) (05/15/85)
< Smokey the Bar says, "Stamp out software pirates" [squish!] >
Let's begin at the beginning. Do the names John Campbell and Stanly Schmidt
mean anything to you? They're the original and current editors,
respectively, of Analog (nee Astounding). Between them served a gentleman
named Ben Bova. Do the names Greg Benford, Ed Bryant, Joe Haldeman, Dean
Ing, Donald Kingsbury, Vonda McIntyre, George R. R. Martin, Kevin O'Donnell,
Jerry Pournelle, Stephen Robinette ("Tak Hallus", and whatever became of
him?), Spider Robinson, Charles Sheffield, Somtow Sucharitkul, Joan Vinge,
or F. Paul Wilson mean anything to you? They're some of the writers whose
first (or early) stories were published in Bova's Analog.
Why is he telling us this? Because SONGMASTER and ENDER'S GAME started as
novellas in Bova's Analog. Because their author, Orson Scott Card, was an
established short story writer by the time "Mikal's Songbird" was published.
I read it eagerly; I'd grown to be a fan of Card's short fiction. (I never
read the novella "Ender's Game".)
Well, now he's a novelist, and not as well respected in the longer length.
I wouldn't presume to say why. I can talk about his two novels I read
recently.
Personally, I didn't like SONGMASTER as well as ENDER'S GAME, partially
because I heard the novella rattling around inside the former novel.
ENDER'S GAME strikes me as a stronger, more unified story. I'd guess a more
objective reader might think so, too.
SONGMASTER (1980) is a "startships and straw huts" story, ala Frank
Herbert's Dune. The basic environment is mostly low tech, with no obvious
amenities that don't exist today, and the implied absence of some that do
exist now. On the other hand, there is interstellar travel, and a few
gadgets beyond current ken. (As in Dune, this is to emphasize the forces of
the story, which are neither high-tech nor low-tech, but non-tech.)
Within the boundaries of Mikal's Empire, there are two institutions all
acknowledge as powerful. One is the Empire, of course. But the Empire is
twenty years younger than Mikal himself, who conquered all humanity in his
youth. It's doubted that the man's empire will much outlive the man.
The other force is the Songhouse. Dozens of generations old, it does
nothing but train exemplary singers. In particular, the Songhouse trains
Songbirds, prepubescent children whose voices enchant the appreciative.
Songbirds are loaned only to those who can really hear and be moved by the
music, and not all Mikal's blustering and threats can change that.
But Mikal turns out to be appreciative, and deserving of a Songbird.
SONGMASTER tells of the selection, training, service, and later years of
Ansett (sp?), Mikal's Songbird. It's the story of the Empire's effect on
him, and his on it. "Mikal's Songbird" is roughly the second quarter of the
novel, and tells of a subtle and original conflict: I won't spoil the
details. As an envelope for the original novella, SONGMASTER could be
better, and as someone who enjoyed "Mikal's Songbird" when it first
appeared, I find it hard to judge the novel objectively.
As Ansett is the most gifted singer ever to enter the Songhouse, so is Ender
Wiggin the most potentially gifted child ever found for another talent:
waging war. There have been two battles between humans and "buggers", an
alien race who invaded our solar system, most recently about a century ago.
A single human commander, one Mazer Rackham, snatched victory out of the
jaws of defeat during the Second Invasion. Not even the Interstellar Force
knows how Earth won. This, though, they believe: to win the next battle,
they need above all else another single man to lead the fleet to victory.
They believe they've found this man in Ender Wiggin. So, at the ripe age of
six years old, they recruit him to "Battle School", a space station where
normal studies are all but neglected for "the games", a zero-gee gymnastic
team sport. (Not at all incidentally, the games are really neat.) He's
taught never to expect anyone, especially not an adult, to get him out of a
problem. He's taught solve problems with ruthless finality. He's
constantly singled out as the best, long before he's given the training or
the skills to handle whatever situation he lands in. ENDER'S GAME is to
learn the lessons he's being taught, survive, and remain a human being.
This 1985 novel is gripping. Science fiction has often told tales of
childhood alienation. (Any relationship between SF characters being
alienated in stories, at any age, and SF fans being alienated from "normal"
society, at any age, is unlikely to be a coincidence.) This is a good one,
depicting children as much like adults, but emphasizing traits that are
considered extremely antisocial in adults. All of the games Ender plays
make him grow up, little by little, and the process advances the story while
building the character in the reader's mind.
A novel should build to a climax. ENDER'S GAME does. When I realized just
what Card was headed, it literally knocked the breath out of me. (Yes, I
know what the word "literally" means. The shock hit me harder than some
punches I've taken. Literally.) Card lays enough hints so you can probably
see it coming, too, and the suspense is damned effective.
It's easy for a war story to wind down and trickle off into nowhere. This
one winds down and rises to Myth. (SONGMASTER tried to; ENDER'S GAME
succeeds.) Good ending.
These two stories have a lot in common. They deal with super-children, each
the most talented in his field in all recorded history of the field. They
are faced with tremendous pressures, from their education, from their
talented but less able peers, from their loneliness, and from their loss of
childhood for a greater pursuit. They have enormous control over their
emotions, but that control is stretched past the breaking point many times.
And they undergo their hardships, not just for some abstract art's glory,
but for the betterment or survival of the entire human race. The necessity
of the suffering is clearer in ENDER'S GAME, which is one of the reasons I
thought it the superior novel.
After all these years, I was happy to come across fiction by Orson Scott
Card that was up to the short stories of a decade ago. SONGMASTER is a good
novel. ENDER'S GAME is a very good novel, and I recommend it strongly.
Watch for it in paperback, and watch for it in Atlanta on the Hugo ballot.
- 30 -
--
-Paul S. R. Chisholm
...!{pegasus,vax135}!lzwi!psc The above opinions are my own,
...!{hocsj,ihnp4}!lznv!psc not necessarily anyone else's,
...!{pegasus,cbosgd}!lzmi!psc including my employer's.