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Sunday, August 16, 2015

Orson Scott Card's "Lost Songs--The Short Fiction Of Orson Scott Card"...A Book Review

Lost Songs: The Short Fiction of Orson Scott Card, Vol. 5*

If you're like me, you download audiobooks from the local library and listen to them at work. Okay, maybe you're not like me and can't listen to audiobooks at work, but if you can, you're blessed.

Except for the fact that when it comes to checking out audiobooks at the library, you must either wait for the more popular books--put them on hold--or download those available to you at the time. When it comes to books written by Orson Scott Card, most of the time they must be put on hold. When I do a search of Card's books on the library website and hit the "Available" option, many times you will see one or more of Card's short story collections. Last week I decided to give one a shot and I'm glad I did.

I spent the past year reading all the novels in the Enderverse. What a fantastic world Card created and the first story from Lost Songs--the Short Fiction of Orson Scott Card tells us again of Ender Wiggins and it reminded me of why I loved Ender's Game (and all the others...) when I first read it. Included also in the compilation is a full-length poem centered around Alvin Marker. The poem reminded me of something in the vein of Walt Whitman.

Many of the later stories in the book deal with Mormonism in a way. Cards gives us slices of life of what it's like (at times...) to live within the Mormon culture. I can relate, having grown up in--and still practicing--the same religion.

For me, the best part of this book was Card's words that ended the anthology. As long as I've been an adult, Orson Scott Card was a famous writer. His words at the end of this book give us a lot of background information concerning the stories. I found what he said fascinating because it gave me an insight of what it takes to be a writer and what he had to go through to become the author he is today.

I liked this book very much and so when I do a search of "Orson Scott Card" on the local library website and I see other short story collections by Mr. Card, I'll be sure to check them out.

* Photo used without permission from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/9969827-lost-songs

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