Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is an American science fiction author best known for Ender's Game, a 1985 novel following a child military prodigy trained to command Earth's defense against an alien threat, which won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards and remains one of the most widely read science fiction novels of its era, particularly popular as an entry point for younger and reluctant readers. Card expanded the story into a large series branching in two directions: the more introspective Speaker for the Dead sequence following Ender himself, and the Shadow series retelling parallel events from the perspective of his fellow student Bean.

Card worked in theater and as an editor before his writing career took hold, and Ender's Game itself began as a 1977 short story he later expanded into the novel once he needed Ender's backstory established for its sequel, Speaker for the Dead. Card has written extensively across science fiction, fantasy, and other genres beyond the Ender universe, and has also drawn public controversy over his personal political and religious views, which some readers weigh alongside his fiction.

A new reader should start with Ender's Game itself, which stands reasonably well alone even for readers who go no further into the wider series. The novel was adapted into a 2013 film starring Asa Butterfield as Ender and Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff.