#book: ender's game

[haveyoureadthispoll]

Andrew "Ender" Wiggin thinks he is playing computer simulated war games; he is, in fact, engaged in something far more desperate. The result of genetic experimentation, Ender may be the military genius Earth desperately needs in a war against an alien enemy seeking to destroy all human life. The only way to find out is to throw Ender into ever harsher training, to chip away and find the diamond inside, or destroy him utterly. Ender Wiggin is six years old when it begins. He will grow up fast. But Ender is not the only result of the experiment. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway almost as long. Ender's two older siblings, Peter and Valentine, are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. While Peter was too uncontrollably violent, Valentine very nearly lacks the capability for violence altogether. Neither was found suitable for the military's purpose. But they are driven by their jealousy of Ender, and by their inbred drive for power. Peter seeks to control the political process, to become a ruler. Valentine's abilities turn more toward the subtle control of the beliefs of commoner and elite alike, through powerfully convincing essays. Hiding their youth and identities behind the anonymity of the computer networks, these two begin working together to shape the destiny of Earth-an Earth that has no future at all if their brother Ender fails.

[meat-loving-meat]

Nona the Ninth // Songmaster

Nona the Ninth // Ender’s Game

Harrow the Ninth // Ender’s Game

Tamsyn Muir // Orson Scott Card parallels

[r3n0-5]

A Minecraft Poem

Spiders crawl out of their caves at night Making my way out of their sight Sword in hand, I'm not afraid The light of the torch would keep me safe

Defying my strength through the mold covered ways I can sense my heart wanting to rip my cage The darkened eyes positioned in the right place Looking at me as I enter the gate

The dragon gazed with malicious intents A world so rare, as purple, insane My bow as tense as the weight on my legs Would put an end to the reptile evilness

Orbs colored green was what remained As I escaped free to a city silhouette Lights sparkled bumping my shield Fought to gain wings to plane back to my realm

Nothing changed the days I left I began to understand this journey was for myself Great adventures waited out there For me to be aware of the hero I am

[azure-clockwork]

How Does it Feel to Read Classic Sci-Fi?

Orson Scott Card: Two of the most interesting books you’ll ever read if you’re willing to look past a handful of things. And then you find the planet of Chinese people who worship having debilitating OCD. And the Mormonism. And the fact that the author is wildly homophobic and ought to read his own books.

Robert Heinlein (or at least the Wikipedia Summaries): I guess that’s a neat concept—oh, it’s a sex thing. Um. Gotcha.

Ray Bradbury: Man, I gotta read this thing for class huh. Well here’s hoping it’s good! *three hours later* oh. that’s why he’s famous. this will stick with me forever and I will never look at the phrase ‘soft rain’ the same again. christ. And then repeat 3x.

Isaac Asimov: Wow, this is such an interesting concept! I wonder how the exploration of it will influence the plot! Wait, hey, are you going to add any characters? Any of em? No like, with character traits other than ‘robot psychologist’ and ‘autistic’ and ‘woman’? None of em? No, ‘detective’ isn’t a character trait. Those are all just facts. Aaaand now I’m bored.

Ursula K. Le Guin: Hah, get a load of this guy! He’s never heard of nonbinary people before. Lol, what a riot; how dumb do you have to be to comprehend that these people aren’t men *or* women actually? Oh, wait, what’s happening. Oh shit, it was about society and love and learning to understand each other? And now I’m crying? And perhaps a better human being for it??

Andy Weir: Alright, this guy’s a really good writer. Funny, creative, knows so much engineering stuff…ooh, a new book! …I guess he can’t write women. Well, he wouldn’t be the first sci-fi writer…ooh another new book! And it’s more engineering problem solving and—wow. It’s not just women he can’t write. Please stop letting your characters talk to each other.

Lois Lowry: Oh, I remember this being fun when I was a kid! Wouldn’t it be fucked up to not see color? …upon reread, it would be fucked up to have your humanity stripped away, replaced with a tepid, beige ‘happiness’ for all time. Yeah.

Tamsyn Muir (let me have this ok): Haha, “lesbian necromancers in space” sounds fun. Lemme read this. Oh wow, yeah, this is right up my alley. OH GOD WHAT. NO. FUCK. OH SHIT WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING AND WHY IS IT REFERENCING THE BOOK OF RUTH AND HOMESTUCK BACK TO BACK!!! AHHHHHHHHH!! Now give me more please.

[isa-belle1367]

I don't ever talk about enders game on here, but I love the books so much, and I feel like you guys need to be aware of this

[soomine-writes]

Transness in Ender’s Game

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is a classic science fiction novel depicting the horrors and brutality of war, juxtaposing these themes with the innocence of precocious children and how the coming-of-age narrative can be forced upon someone rather than volunteered. Card himself is a known homophobe, and many have boycotted his book and its later film adaption after news broke of his homophobia. Despite this, after reading Ender’s Game myself, I can’t help but wonder if this book still manages to unintentionally be something of a trans allegory.

The story opens with Andrew Wiggins, who has chosen the name Ender for himself. He is the third child within a society that has a strict two-child policy and is estranged from the other children due to his status. His family consists of two parents who have turned their backs to religion and two siblings: a psychopathic brother and an empathetic sister. Both were assessed for their aptitude to lead an army against an invading alien race known as the “Buggers”, but the brother was deemed too murderous, and the sister was deemed too kind. Ender is selected as the last hope for humanity, encompassing both the capacity to both kill and empathize in equal measures.

Throughout the story, Ender is manipulated to develop both sides of himself, to grow his capacity to murder and commit genocide as well as his ability to empathize with the enemy and understand their tactics. While reading this book, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking how much of a trans story this sounds like. Ender, a boy who has eschewed his given identity to be closer to his chosen, is being torn between the gender binary: from being a male stuck in his toxic masculinity, and being female stuck in their infinite kindness. Understanding that this is a very gross overstatement of the genders and lacks any nuance in how gender is presented, Ender’s Game stuck me as a story of a boy wanting to let go of society’s expectation of himself and be who he truly is: Ender Wiggins.

As a non-binary individual, I was struck by the ending of the book where Ender, after committing genocide of the Buggers, finds perhaps the last remaining survivor of the entire Bugger race: a queen egg. Ender, who finds himself lost after realizing he had been manipulated into committing mass murder of an entire species, takes this egg and leaves his kind behind to find a new home for the Buggers as an act of atonement. Ender, who throughout this entire book wanted to be kind and loved, takes the finally plunge into a mothering role as carrying this egg, this child, into space to find it a new home.

For me, Ender’s Game is a tragic story about a trans child who wants to be kind, loved, and accepted by his peers. In many cases, Ender’s transness makes him unique and valuable to the world with the fresh perspective he brings. However, society takes that usefulness, that uniqueness to him, and uses it for their own gain. By the end of it, Ender is used and worn out, and the only hope that he has to regain any semblance of ownership of his own identity again, is by escaping society’s grasp and trying again.

While the author of the book maintains his stance on LGBTQ+ themes, that does not stop that LGBTQ+ stories are universal. Themes of being othered, of wanting to subvert society’s expectations, of being used, are all themes that every LGBTQ+ person has felt among other minorities. It makes me reflect that authors must relinquish control of controlling their audience. They simply present the art and must trust the audience to keep it alive with new interpretations like this one to keep it in the zeitgeist.

[yoonyia]

I need to draw more enders game stuff, if you don't have content create your own and die with grief that there's no fandom.

be the fandom

become the hoard of brains

I need help I stayed up way to late last night

[intriga-hounds]

the barnes & noble by me is moving, so everything was 40% off!!! i got 17 books for under $200 😎 so heppy 🥲

[captain-ultimat-doggo]

I want whatever the fuck Orson Scott Card was on when he wrote the enders game books because when I was younger my suspension of disbelief was big enough but now? Mans was theorizing about empty multiverses, aliens that turn into trees, and whatever the fuck a filotic bond is.

The second book makes a big deal about your D.N.A being unraveled and it sounds good til you take bio 101. Where that's kinda how cell division works and we have stuff in place to stop that happening.

The man is insane and so is every part of the books.

[rubypomegranates]

"Because never in my entire childhood did I feel like a child. I felt like a person all along―the same person that I am today."

Orson Scott Card "Ender’s Game"

[meat-loving-meat]

[dare-to-dm]

So my favorite book is war of the worlds, i like a good alien invasion story, you got any recommendations for books about alien invasions of a similar tone?

It's been forever since I've read War of the Worlds, so I remember the plot but not the tone. Still, here are some books I'd recommend with perhaps similar themes:

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card:

Ender is a child prodigy who is recruited into the military and has all his skills honed at a very young age to defeat the alien enemy that earth is at war with. Though he excels at violence and strategy, these skills are at odds with his innate compassion and empathy for his enemy. Orson Scott Card is a homophobic asshole, so maybe don't buy this one if you can access it some other way. But this book is considered a classic for a reason and well worth your time if you haven't read it yet.

World War Z by Max Brooks:

Not an alien invasion, but a take on the zombie apocalypse. It's written as a series of interviews done in preparation for a documentary on the world wide campaign against the zombie threat. I know zombies are overplayed these days, but this is honestly a fantastic book written in a unique style with an interesting perspective. Though it lacks a traditional narrative with a main character, it still reads with a compelling arc.

Interworld by Neil Gaiman:

Joey is a kid who discovers the amazing ability to travel between dimensions. He discovers a bunch of alternate versions of himself from these different dimensions who must team up with each other to save the universe from an evil magical faction of would be conquerors.

[crocomom]

rip peter and valentine wiggin you would've loved discourse servers

[transrevolutions]

your enders game takes are so real

ty ty. like fr tho how the fuck does osc write such gay characters and then be so homophobic irl.

[createacamillahect]

harrow nova provoking cam into beating the shit out of her in a fair fight (this is sex, To Her)

Harrow Nova is, quite frankly, a bitch.

For this reason Camilla has been able to ignore everything she's said. It's gotten under her skin, sure, but she's been able to take it resiliently.

Until-

"I could put him out of his misery over Septimus, you know."

Camilla takes a deep breath. She looks the cavalier primary in the eyes. "You have 3 seconds to take that back." Camilla sees the gleam in Harrow's eyes as she says this. Like provoking Camilla was the goal. She fully understands what's about to happen.

3.

Harrow relaxes her shoulders.

2.

Camilla flexes her knuckles.

1.

Camilla grabs the chain of Samuel and yanks Harrow into her knee. She was aiming for her sternum but the grip pulled Harrow off balance and Camilla's knee slams into Harrow's face.

Her nose starts bleeding freely. Camilla digs her fingers into the short hair and yanks back, forcing the smaller girl to make eye contact with her.

Harrow's jaw shifts to spit on Camilla but the tread of her boot slams into her sternum before she gets the chance.

The spit lands on the exposed section of Camilla's chest, the red dripping down slowly, staining her top. Camilla walks over to her and kicks the rapier out of her grasp before pressing her boot into Harrow's sternum. The soft space at the crest of her ribs giving slightly under Camillas pressure. "Are we done here." she asks, but they both know it's a statement.

Harrow shines a bloody grin like she's won, all the same.

[elytra404]

I love enders game as a book. as a movie, i have complex feelings that are mostly negative.

but one of my favorite things about the book was the fact they rarely describe the characters, and leave the imagination to decide what they look like.

In my head, Ender's hair is dyed a dark blue that slowly grew out over the years into his natural light brown. In my head, his eyes where baby blue and we'll they lost their innocence too quick, they remained that bright baby blue.

In my head, Petra is dark skinned with short ginger curls. And her eyes where a dark brown, the opposite of Ender's in a way that made them almost burn. And the brown eyes and the ginger hair made her look like she was on fire sometimes.

In my head, Bean has a dark brown whisper of a bowl cut. And his face was a battlefield of freckles. His shoulders and arms where the wreckage of the freckles gentle battle.

and none of these are right, and none of them are quite the same as how anyone else see's them. and it's definitely not how the movie saw them. but i dont really care.