Card Orson Scott

Follows the life of Ender Wiggin's comrade Bean, from his escape from the mean streets of Rotterdam, to his student days at the Battle School, and to his role as Ender's right hand ally, strategist, and friend in the epic struggle to save Earth from alien invaders.

An anthology of the most innovative and talented science fiction writers of the 1980s includes eighteen revealing stories by Orson Scott Card, Nancy Kress, Gregory Benford, Octavia E. Butler, Lewis Shiner, Karen Joy Fowler, Greg Bear, David Zindell, John Crowley, and George R. R. Martin. Reprint. K

Out of deep space, a mysterious alien race known as "The Givers" came to Earth. They gave the human race the greatest technology ever seen-four giant towers known as Ladders that rose 36,000 miles into space. Each tower culminated in a space station that harnessed the energy of the Sun to power the entire planet. As suddenly as the Givers arrived, they vanished, leaving the human race with one solemn instruction: maintain and preserve the Ladders at all costs. Due to the unique alien construction of the Laddertop space stations, however, only a skilled crew of children could perform the maintenance necessary to keep the stations running. Twenty-five years later, back on Earth, competition is fierce to enter Laddertop Academy. Robbi and Azure, two eleven-year-old girls who are best friends, are among those vying for a spot at the prestigious academy. While one is rejected, the other takes off into space for the adventure of a lifetime. Yet soon, their destinies will collide, as they must decipher an alien message and solve an ancient mystery that could either save the Earth from invasion...or trigger its imminent destruction.

"The Authorized Ender Companion" is a complete and in-depth encyclopaedia of all the persons, places, things, and events in Orson Scott Card's Ender Universe. Written by Jake Black under the editorial supervision of Card himself, "The Authorized Ender Companion" will be an invaluable resource for readers of the series. If you ever wondered where Ender went after he left Earth, before he arrived at Lusitania, you'll find the answer here. If you ever wondered how the battle room worked, you'll find the answer here. If you forgot the names of the people were who discovered the descolada, the answer is here. The history of Gloriously Bright's world? Here. "The Authorized Ender Companion" contains all that and more. There are character biographies, time-lines, colony histories, and family trees.

Twenty-five years ago, the alien Givers came to Earth. They gave the human race the greatest technology ever seen - four giant towers known as Ladders that rise 36,000 miles into space and culminate in space stations that power the entire planet. Then, for reasons unknown, the Givers disappeared. Due to the unique alien construction of the Laddertop space stations, only a skilled crew of children can perform the maintenance necessary to keep the stations up and running. Back on Earth, competition is fierce to enter Laddertop Academy. It is an honour few students will achieve. Robbi and Azure, two eleven-year-old girls who are the best of friends, are candidates for the Academy. They will become entangled in a dangerous mystery that may help them solve the riddle of the Givers...if it doesn't destroy the Earth first.

In "Enders Game", the world's most gifted children were taken from their families and sent to an elite training school. At "Battle School", they learned combat, strategy, and secret intelligence to fight a dangerous war on behalf of those left on Earth. But they also learned some important and less definable lessons about life. After the life-changing events of those years, these children - now teenagers - must leave the school and readapt to life in the outside world. Having not seen their families or interacted with other people for years - where do they go now? What can they do? Ender fought for humanity, but he is now reviled as a ruthless assassin. No longer allowed to live on Earth, he enters into exile. With his sister Valentine, he chooses to leave the only home he's ever known to begin a relativistic - and revelatory - journey beyond the stars. What happened during the years between "Ender's Game" and "Speaker for the Dead"? What did Ender go through from the ages of 12 through 35? The story of those years has never been told. Taking place 3000 years before Ender finally receives his chance at redemption in "Speaker for the Dead", this is the long-lost story of Ender. For twenty-three years, millions of readers have wondered and now they will receive the answers. "Ender in Exile" is Orson Scott Card's moving return to all the action and the adventure, the profound exploration of war and society, and the characters one never forgot. On one of these ships, there is a baby that just may share the same special gifts as Ender's old friend Bean...

Lanik Mueller's birthright as heir to planet Treason's most powerful ruler ship will never be realised. He is a "rad" - a radical regenerative, a freak who can regenerate injured flesh...and trade extra body parts to the Offworld oppressors for iron. On a planet without hard metals - or the means of escape - iron is power in the race to build a spacecraft. Iron is the promise of freedom - which may never be fulfilled as Lanik uncovers a treacherous conspiracy beyond his imagination. Now charged with a mission of conquest - and exile - Lanik devises a bold and dangerous plan...a quest that may finally break the vicious chain of rivalry and bloodshed that enslaves the people of Treason as the Offworld never could.

When ten-year-old Dinah Kirkham saw her father leave their Manchester home in the middle of the night, she basked when he would be back. "Soon," he replied. But he never came back. On that night in 1829, John Kirkham laid the foundation of his daughter's certainty that the only person Dinah could ever really trust was herself.From that day forward, Dinah worked to support her family, remaining devoted to their welfare even in the face of despair and grinding poverty. Then one day she heard a new message, a new purpose ignited in her heart, and new life opened up before her.

The novel that launched the bestselling Ender's Shadow series. The human race is at War with the Buggers, an insect-like alien race. As Earth prepares to defend itself from total destruction at the hands of an inscrutable enemy, all focus is on the development of military geniuses who can fight such a war, and win. The long distances of interstellar space have given hope to the defenders of Earth--they have time to train these future commanders up from childhood, forging them into an irresistible force in the high orbital facility called the Battle School. Andrew Ender Wiggin was not the only child in the Battle School; he was just the best of the best. In Ender's Shadow, Card tells the story of another of those precocious generals, the one they called Bean--the one who became Ender's right hand, part of his team, in the final battle against the Buggers. Bean's past was a battle just to survive. His success brought him to the attention of the Battle School's recruiters, those people scouring the planet for leaders, tacticians, and generals to save Earth from the threat of alien invasion. Bean was sent into orbit, to the Battle School. And there he met Ender.... THE ENDER UNIVERSE Ender seriesEnder's Game / Ender in Exile / Speaker for the Dead / Xenocide / Children of the Mind Ender's Shadow seriesEnder's Shadow / Shadow of the Hegemon / Shadow Puppets / Shadow of the Giant / Shadows in Flight Children of the Fleet 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 novellasA War of Gifts /First Meetings