Something AWESOME to end the week on a high note...

You see that picture of a book cover up there? That book is called "The Authorized Ender Companion" and the author on the spine is Jake Black. Of course, you probably read that already since it's written in large text in the picture, but I digress...

This book is something of a novelty. It was created for fans of Ender's Game. And did I mention that I'm in it?

But let's back up a second. Everyone knows that I love, love, love the novel "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. I fell in love with the book in high school, I've purchased at least 10 copies over the years and given them away, I even had a t-shirt that said "The Enemy's Gate Is Down" that I bought from the author's website.

I'm a big fan.

What you might not know, however, is how extensive the 'Enderverse'(a made-up but useful word!) really is. You see, "Ender's Game" had four sequels: "Speaker for the Dead," "Xenocide," "Children of the Mind," and "Ender In Exile." It also had a parallel novel written from the point of view of another character ("Ender's Shadow") that had several sequels: "Shadow of the Hegemon," "Shadow Puppets," and "Shadow of the Giant." Plus there have been several 'extra' Ender stories written for anthologies and Card's online SF magazine The Intergalactic Medicine Show. Then there are the comics...

The Enderverse is massive and spans thousands of years, yet when you read it, the books don't seem complex or far-flung. Everything fits.

"The Authorized Ender Companion" is an encyclopedia of sorts, but with some extra goodies. It details every character, city, technology, and major event from all of these stories and includes timelines and schematics even. In short, it is like a concordance for these books.

I read through most of the encyclopedia portion and was surprised at how many plot points I had forgotten. I've read ALL of these stories - most of them multiple times - yet details had slipped from my old man brain. It was fascinating to see how all of the pieces fit together from all of the books.

This book has other sections - one talks about the recent momentum to have Ender's Game turned into a movie. One discusses specifically the technology in the Enderverse. But the part I'm in (hooray for me?) is called "Friends of Ender." A request was made for fans of Orson Scott Card to send in letters about how the Ender books have affected their lives. I sent in a letter and they were nice enough to include it on pages 404-405. It's short, it contains a confession about my kleptomania, and I'm proud of it (if you can't tell).

Thank you, Mr. Card, for creating such a fantastic universe. Thank you for the stories and for the characters who are so real to me. And thank you for including me in this project.

Enough self-congratulations. Tomorrow I'll go back to talking about puke and stuff again. :-)