I read Ender's Game some years ago, following with the sequel, Speaker for the Dead. Very good bit of science fiction, but I wouldn't really consider it suitable for children.

A couple of decades ago, I attended a Norwescon at which Orson Scott Card was one of the visiting writers, and he conducted an excellent workshop on "building" a believable alien species, along with that species' civilization and culture. A couple of hours of really fascinating discussion. Most valuable!

But Orson Scott Card himself, although quite personable face to face. is more that just a bit controversial. There are a fair number of people out there who do not wish to support the movie(s), or Card, in any way.

He is a devout Mormon, which, in itself is okay if that's what turns his crank. And, in fact, he is one of the many descendants of Brigham Young himself. Although I haven't followed his latest doings very closely, there are those who maintain that he is a bit of a nut case. A racist who allegedly maintains that 9/11 was a good thing, giving George Bush an opportunity to obliterate Muslims and the Muslim religion, which we know is of the Devil.

He is also a frothing-at-the-mouth homophobe, and not only does he not approve of gay marriage, he tends to favor a somewhat Hitlerian approach to ridding the world of homosexuals.

In the main, I have liked what science fiction of his I have read, but I certainly condemn his attitudes of racism, religious bigotry, and homophobia.

I would like to see what they have done with the movie(s), but—I'm thinkin'. . . .

Don Firth