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    First Meetings: In Ender's Universe
    First Meetings: In Ender's Universe
    First Meetings: In Ender's Universe
    Audiobook5 hours

    First Meetings: In Ender's Universe

    Written by Orson Scott Card

    Narrated by Gabrielle De Cuir, Stefan Rudnicki and Amanda Karr

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Welcome to the Enderverse.

    When Orson Scott Card first published "Ender's Game" as a novella in 1977, few would have predicted that it would become one of the most successful ventures in publishing history. Expanded into a novel in 1985, Ender's Game won both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for Best Novel. Never out of print and translated into dozens of languages, it is the rare work of fiction that can truly be said to have transcended a genre. Ender's Game and its sequels have won dozens of prestigious awards and are as popular today among teens and young readers as adults.

    First Meetings is an audiobook collection of three novellas-plus the original "Ender's Game"-that journey into the origins and the destiny of one Ender Wiggin.

    "The Polish Boy" begins in the wake between the first two Bugger Wars when the Hegemony is desperate to recruit brilliant military commanders to repel the alien invasion. In John Paul Wiggin-the future father of Ender -they believe they may have found their man. Or boy.

    In "Teacher's Pest"-a novella written especially for this collection-a brilliant but insufferably arrogant John Paul Wiggin, now an American university student, matches wits with an equally brilliant graduate student named Theresa Brown.

    It is many years since the end of the Bugger Wars in "The Investment Counselor." Ender's reputation as a hero and savior has suffered a horrible reversal. Banished from Earth and slandered as a mass murderer, twenty-year-old Andrew Wiggin wanders incognito from planet to planet as a fugitive. Until a blackmailing tax inspector compromises his identity and threatens to expose Ender the Xenocide.

    THE ENDER UNIVERSE

    Ender series
    Ender’s Game / Speaker for the Dead / Xenocide / Children of the Mind / Ender in Exile / Children of the Fleet

    Ender’s Shadow series
    Ender’s Shadow / Shadow of the Hegemon / Shadow Puppets / Shadow of the Giant / Shadows in Flight

    The First Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
    Earth Unaware / Earth Afire / Earth Awakens

    The Second Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
    The Swarm / The Hive

    Ender novellas
    A War of Gifts / First Meetings

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateApr 1, 2004
    ISBN9781593974732
    First Meetings: In Ender's Universe
    Author

    Orson Scott Card

    Orson Scott Card is best known for his science fiction novel Ender's Game and its many sequels that expand the Ender Universe into the far future and the near past. Those books are organized into the Ender Saga, which chronicles the life of Ender Wiggin; the Shadow Series, which follows on the novel Ender's Shadow and is set on Earth; and the Formic Wars series, written with co-author Aaron Johnston, which tells of the terrible first contact between humans and the alien "Buggers." Card has been a working writer since the 1970s. Beginning with dozens of plays and musical comedies produced in the 1960s and 70s, Card's first published fiction appeared in 1977--the short story "Gert Fram" in the July issue of The Ensign, and the novelette version of "Ender's Game" in the August issue of Analog. The novel-length version of Ender's Game, published in 1984 and continuously in print since then, became the basis of the 2013 film, starring Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, and Abigail Breslin. Card was born in Washington state, and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. Besides his writing, he runs occasional writers' workshops and directs plays. He frequently teaches writing and literature courses at Southern Virginia University. He is the author many science fiction and fantasy novels, including the American frontier fantasy series "The Tales of Alvin Maker" (beginning with Seventh Son), and stand-alone novels like Pastwatch and Hart's Hope. He has collaborated with his daughter Emily Card on a manga series, Laddertop. He has also written contemporary thrillers like Empire and historical novels like the monumental Saints and the religious novels Sarah and Rachel and Leah. Card's work also includes the Mithermages books (Lost Gate, Gate Thief), contemporary magical fantasy for readers both young and old. Card lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card. He and Kristine are the parents of five children and several grandchildren.

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    Reviews for First Meetings

    4.5/5

    53 ratings11 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Card is one of my favorite authors. As a long-time fan of the Ender's Game books, I was excited to see additional short stories related to the characters.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Strictly for fans of the Ender and Bean series. This is a collection of short stories that expand on the charcters from Ender's Game. Well written and entertaining, but it would probably be a mystery if you have not read Ender's War and Speaker for the Dead.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This is a nice collection of Ender-related stories, meant to give you a better feel for the Ender character and various aspects of who he is and how he came to be the character in the Ender-saga.My favorite stories are the ones about his father and mother, and how their lives shaped how they brought Ender up in the world. Perhaps this is because I am completely in love with the backstories of just about every piece of fiction that exists (cut-backs in television, prequels in literature, Episode I, II and II being the only Star Wars movies I've seen completely). Suffice it to say, this is a nice collection for any fan of Ender Wiggin, though it isn't something that every reader would want to pick up.This collection of short stories gives more insight into the character, but adds little in the way of plot or theme.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      First Meetings gives several different origin stories leading up to the events in Ender's Game and to Speaker for the Dead. Highlights include "The Polish Boy," about Ender's father when he was a boy, as well as the original short story version of Ender's Game. If you enjoyed Ender's Game and the other books in that series, then you will probably enjoy this book, but if you've never read any of those books, this is the wrong place to start.
    • 5/5
      I love all These book they are so exciting and interesting... This is great for science fiction lovers.
    • 4/5
      This is a quick and interesting look into the background and beginnings of Ender Wiggins. Those who enjoyed the previous journeys into the Enderverse, will be disappointed only by the length of this collection.
    • 3/5
      Not as good as the novels in the series. Some of the stories were alright while others were somewhat painful to read. There were no major revelations about characters of events in the Ender series. These short stories were filler, nothing more nothing less. Good to read in the interest of completion but serve no other real purpose and are not essential in understanding the rest of the Ender series.
    • 5/5
      Lo amé, sobre todo la historia de Jane. Maravilloso ?
    • 5/5
      My favorite stories are "The Polish Boy" and "Teacher's Pest."
    • 4/5
      This is a collection 4 novellas that either feature Ender Wiggin or his family. They have all been previously published except one "Teacher's Pest" is original to this volume."The Polish Boy" tells the story of Ender's father and how he was noticed by the government as a possible battle school student."Teacher's Pest" tells how Ender's parents met."Ender's Game" is the original story written in 1977 which inspired the novel of the same name."The Investment Counselor" is the story of how Ender first meets Jane.Due to the information found in these stories this book is best read anytime after "Xenocide", the third Ender book. I enjoyed all the stories and while I wouldn't call them brilliant, they were all enjoyable. A must for fans of the series.
    • 3/5
      Short stories giving background to "Ender's Game" (included) and "Speaker for the Dead". Interesting as filler.