Keeper of Dreams by Orson Scott Card

Keeper of Dreams by Orson Scott Card. New York: Tor, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-7653-0497-1

I am a huge Orson Scott Card fan. I’ll read anything he’s written. This collection of short stories being no exception. This is by far and away the best of the several collections I’ve read recently. By definition, and by experience as well.

Card has divided his collection into five sections, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Literary, Hatrack River and Mormon Stories. The Hatrack River stories are the best, of course. Kind of like eating dessert. Anyone who’s read any of The Tales of Alvin Maker will want to read these two stories. In one of them Alvin and Arthur Stuart run into Davy Crockett a-grinning a bear. That one is quite funny. The ending especially, had me literally really truly LOL (laughing out loud).

In the other one they meet up with Jim Bowie, Stephen Austin, and more importantly, Abe Lincoln. According to Card’s comments about the story, which is titled “The Yazoo Queen,” it is actually the beginning (Chapter Zero, so to speak) of The Crystal City, the penultimate book in the Alvin Maker series. But because it was specifically written for Robert Silverberg’s second Legends anthology, and was under exclusive contract for that collection, it couldn’t even be reprinted as part of Crystal City. So it’s definitely a must read for all Hatrack River/Alvin Maker fans.

But I’ve given you the good stuff first (not really) and there are several other stories worthy of a mention. The very first story in the book, “The Elephants of Poznan,” is a very good post-holocaust kind of story, with a totally new and unexpected variant on why and how mankind is vanishing off the earth.

The next story, “Atlantis,” is one of my all-time favorite Card stories. I’ve read it at least twice before, but that didn’t stop me from reading it again here, once I came across it, nosirree. This story purports to tell the true tale of the original Noah, the person, people, and events that formed the basis for all of the ancient flood tales, from the one in the Bible, to the one in the Gilgamesh epic, not to mention all of the Atlantis legends. And it’s a most persuasive version. If it’s not really true, it SHOULD be. If you’ve not read it yet, you’re in for a treat. For those who read all of Card’s stuff, it is worth mentioning that “Atlantis” is connected to his novel, Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus.

In the fantasy section of the book, “Dust,” is definitely worth a mention. It’s the kind of fantasy story I always enjoy, in which someone stumbles through an unusual doorway, or portal of some kind, and ends up in fairly land, or some other reality. This one is as good as any of them, incorporating elements of the Fisher King or related stories.

“In the Dragon’s House” was another favorite. It involves one of the more unusual dragons you’re ever likely to meet. It’s also a wonderful childhood to adolescence coming of age kind of story, which has always been one of my favorite genres.

There are two “literary” stories, and “Feed the Baby of Love,” is a bona fide winner, another of the truly outstanding stories to be encountered in this collection.

Finally, Card ends the book with four “Mormon” stories. I’m glad he included them, because they help to show the real man, the person who’s at the heart of all of Card’s writing, and it’s a man you can’t help but respect, even though you may not agree with all of his views and opinions about issues. Not that there is really anything in these stories themselves to disagree with, mind you. That’s not what I meant. One of them, “Christmas at Helaman’s House,” is, indeed, a Christmas card kind of story. As is “Dust,” incidentally, back in the fantasy section. Someday, Card may have to put out a collection of “Christmas Card” stories (pun intended), since the one I recently reviewed on this blog makes at least the third one that I’m currently aware of, and I don’t doubt there may be others.

All in all, this book is a treasure house of stories waiting to be unlocked. I’ve mentioned my favorites, but there weren’t any that I aggressively disliked. Highly recommended for all fans of Mr. Orson Scott Card, long may he live and prosper, and continue to give us excellent stories like these.

A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card

A War of Gifts (an Ender Story) by Orson Scott Card. New York: Tor, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-7653-1282-2

For fans of Orson Scott Card's science fiction, especially his Enders Game (1985) and its sequel, Speaker for the Dead (1986), both of which won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, making Card the only author (up to now) to win both awards in successive years, this Ender story will definitely be a "must read." This story will also be of interest to those who enjoy the literary genre of Christmas stories, as it most certainly falls into that category, as well. I have to wonder if he wrote it as a kind of extended Christmas card for someone or other, or for his fans.

Well, anyway, suffice it to say that it's a charmingly sweet story on the one hand, but not without its dark side, on the other. Zeck (short for Zechariah, one assumes), is the 5-year-old son of an ultra-fundamentalist Christian father, who frequently feels the need to purify young Zeck through the means of corporal punishment.

Zeck has a particularly brilliant mind, replete with a perfectly photographic memory, not just for what he reads, but for all words he encounters, spoken or written. He can repeat his father's sermons back, word for word, by the time he's three years old.

When his mother discovers this talent, she cautions him not to tell anyone, because some might think this gift comes from Satan. She tells him that Satan does not give good gifts, so this one comes from God, but that some people look so hard to find Satan, that they see him even where he isn't.

Later, when he's four, his father tells him that there are those who will tell him a thing is from God, when really, it's from Satan. When Zeck asks why they would do this, his father tells him that those people are deceived by their own desires. They want the world to be a better place, so they pretend that polluted things are pure, so they won't have to fear them.

Even at this young age, Zeck understands that each of his parents is warning him about the other. This is part of the terrible conflict that wars inside his young head, and leads him into conflict with his fellow young soldiers, when he is taken to the off-planet Battle School, where the Earth's most brilliant children are in training to fight the Formics, the alien race that has attacked the earth, and against which the entire human race is at war.

Zeck's religious background forces him to become a conscientious objector, and to refuse to participate in the Battle School's mock battles, making him first unpopular, and then a basic nonentity in the society of his fellows. Eventually he subtly attempts to foment a struggle between the various religious elements that still remain in the minds of the child soldiers which are humanity's best and brightest hope for survival.

How this dilemma is eventually resolved naturally involves Ender Wiggen, the most brilliant of all the children. This is a story with real heart at the heart of it. It may make you laugh; it may make you cry; it will definitely touch your heart, if you have one. This is one of the reasons I enjoy Orson Scott Card's writing so much.

Highly recommended, although it will make more sense if you've read Ender's Game. If you haven't, shame on you! Especially if you're a science fiction fan, but even if you aren't, Ender's Game is a book that everyone should read, and that pretty much everyone will probably enjoy. I doubt if you can pick it up without becoming instantly hooked. It's one of those books that if I pick it up even now, years after originally reading it, I'm instantly hooked, and want to read it again.

Invasive Procedures by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston

Invasive Procedures by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston. New York: Tor, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-7653-1424-6

“This novel,” writes co-author Aaron Johnston in the “Acknowledgments” at the front of the book, “is based on my screenplay adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s short story ‘Malpractice,’ which was first published in Analog Science Fiction in 1977.” He then goes on to explain the process by which he and Card expanded the short story into a full-length screenplay, and then into this novel.

The book itself is a medical viral contagion thriller much in the vein of Michael Chrichton’s Andromeda Strain, brought up-to-date (and beyond) with current developments in DNA and genome science. The plot involves your typical megalomaniacal mad scientist type with a plot to make over the world’s DNA, and replicate himself genetically, memory and all, in the process, rendering himself effectively immortal.

The story is based in extrapolations from current genetic, DNA and viral research developments, taken presumably just a few years into the future, since the milieu in which the story takes place could easily be today, or anytime within the next decade or two. But the actual science involved seems quite a bit beyond current developments, and some of it, frankly, is not all that believable, especially the bits where a computer chip gets implanted in your brain, with the ability to download the mad doctor’s memories on top of yours.

So, while I had difficulty in suspending my sense of disbelief at times, the story is nevertheless very well written, quite suspenseful, full of good characterizations, people you can identify with, and a good, solidly entertaining read. I wouldn’t have expected less from anything associated with Orson Scott Card, who remains one of my all time favorite authors. Definitely recommended for anyone looking for a good medical oriented scifi thriller.