I'm glad Hegemon worked for you. My confidence in it is starting to grow ... it's so different from Ender's Shadow and Ender's Game - kid heroes, yes, but not in space, no alien threat, a future international politics thing ... So to know it's working is a relief!
Best, osc
Well there ya have right from the man himself:)
4/12/00Again its been a long time since news has been available so here it is. On Hatrack.com there are the first 5 chapters available for your reading of "Shadow of the Hegemon" This book is sceduled to be released in December of 2000. I personally have read the chapters already and wow are they great.
12/15/99Well its been a while but here goes....I went and saw osc in denver around the end of november and he told me that Shadow of the Hegemon..sequal to Enders Shadow...should be coming out in the spring of 2000. Also He talked about his other book from the eyes of petra. He said something about that almost being finished as well. He said that he has been working on both all the time.
6/17/99 an update on the update below
Sorry, I should have made it more clear. Ender's Game will most likely be a big budget, studio release. However, Fresco Pictures is an independent production company who will be involved in making the movie. The usual term "independent" as it is used in the film community today means a company with it's own funding doing it's own movies (usually low budget). While we (Fresco) are independent, we do not yet have the cash to self-fund our own films. In reality, being truly independent (relying on yourself and your own resources) and being an indepedent film company (putting together your own projects, but dependent on others for funding, etc.) can often mean two vastly different things. Hope this clears up a rather murky definition and never fear, I doubt you'll see Ender's Game doing the film festival circuit as we beg for funding or distribution. You're more likely to see OSC become a plumber.(Though that could provide funding for our next film.....OSC whatta
Sean Kennelly
Fresco Pictures
6/16/99AN UPDATE??? I'm afraid there isn't an update to speak of. OSC is deep into his script (which we all hope will be done any day now), rumors about Jake Lloyd continue to fly (even from OSC's mouth) and we're still close to getting the movie into production. It all hinges on the script. I haven't read the latest version (obviously it's being written as I write), but it will focus more on Ender and actually be more satisfying than any previous drafts (i.e. more like the book) For those of you who know about "Ender's Shadow", the current plan is to sweet talk the studio (whichever one gets Ender's Game) into shooting the other story at the same time or back to back in order to utilize the same actors and sets. We just have to convince them that this movie is going to be a blockbuster. Not an easy thing to do, but we'll get it done. Even the number crunchers will see that they can get two movies for the price of 1 1/2. A bargain. For now though, sit back, pray for a great script from the master storyteller OSC and we'll give you an update.......when there is one to give. For questions in the interim, email me and I'll do my best to answer. Sean Kennelly Chairman of Development Fresco Pictures
In answer to your question/comment, yes, OSC has been writing an addition to the Ender's Game universe. The book takes place at the same time as Ender's Game and features Bean as the main character. It's basically Bean's story and his version of the events in Ender's Game. It's shaping up to be just as good as Ender's Game and should debut in bookstores sometime around August. I know that's a long wait, but it does give everyone something to look forward to. Sean Kennelly Chairman of Development Fresco Pictures
Dear All, My hat is off all the loyal fans! Despite the lack of info, etc., you continue to make the forum interesting and engaging. To give you a bit of an update: OSC is completing his rewrite of the script. Ethan's quote was dead on. Every studio in Hollywood is anxiously awaiting the script and things are looking better than ever! It looks like our fight to make the movie right will pay off and we all have a film we can cheer about. Of course things could continue on the snail's pace they have been since we first announced the project over two years ago, but we're hoping (and praying) that "Ender's Game" will finally get the funding and talent necessary to pull this off in grand fashion. Finally, THANK YOU for your patience with these sparce updates. There really hasn't been much to say and so I've been silent, but you are all welcome to email me anytime and I'll try to respond as soon as time allows. Your Friend at Fresco, Sean Kennelly Chairman of Development Fresco Pictures
Okay, I know it's been a while and amazingly enough.......nothing new to report. OSC is still in the midst of a rewrite, but I have heard his new book (out in August) that follows Bean throught his experience is equal to "Ender's Game" and that sounds exciting. As before, most of Hollywood is eager to read the new draft of the screenplay (as is yours truly) so anticipation is high. There are some actors expressing interests in being part of the film, so it may actually get made soon. Of course you've heard me say "soon" for what....2 and a half years. I'm hanging in there with you all though. In some circles, Ender's Game is being picked as the next big sci-fi movie. That's comforting for now, but like you, I can't wait. Thanks again for hanging in there and.....play nice. It's okay to disagree, but not to condemn. No one likes to be criticized and (if you've noticed) the person being criticized rarely converts to your way of thinking unless he sees truth and has the wisdom to acknowlege it through a cloud of arrogance. We're all Ender's fans and we all love the book, but no two people have the same experience reading the book, we just share the passion. Let's share the passion and not the criticism. It makes for a happy smiley universe. One that includes Ender Wiggins. Catch 'ya in the Battle Room, Sean Kennelly
It has come to our attention here at Fresco, that a number of rumors are flying in about Jake Lloyd being cast as Ender. Let me first state that no one has been cast as of yet. (sorry) OSC is completing what we hope will be "the" script and most of Hollywood is anxiously awaiting the opportunity to read this new draft. Once the script is done, we can seriously talk to possible directors, actors, etc. Until then (and you'll hear it first at FrescoPix.com) please know that everything else is a rumor, nothing more. However, we could use your help as fans. If you do hear such news stories (one person said they heard it on the radio in Atlanta), please email me with any info you have (station or newspaper, show or section and the date). Though no one would be in any kind of legal trouble at all, these rumors could seriously jeopardize any future casting selections. Imagine what an egotistical, self-serving actor thinks when he reads that he's starring in a movie before he's even been approached by the studio or production company. It's like someone annoucing you'll babysit your next door neighbor's kids and you never got the chance to say "yes" or "no". See my point? The actor will either be ticked off and refuse the part (even if he would be the perfect person for the movie/part) OR he (or his manager) will ask for more money than normal (since he thinks we want him in our movie) and we may not be able to afford someone who would have been affordable before. At any rate, you could all help us in a major way by letting us know where these rumors are originating from. We promise we won't send an army of lawyers to reprimand the instigators (we couldn't afford them if we wanted to), we just want to ask them to come to us for more official(and factual) information on "Ender's Game" the movie. So-o-o-o-o, email me at the address above and I'll be in touch with you. And let me thank you in advance for helping us make Ender's Game the best movie on the planet! THANKS!!! Sean Kennelly Chairman of Development Fresco Pictures
Unless something changes soon, OSC has stipulated in his contract that the movie must be no worse than a PG-13 rating. Honestly, I think PG-13 can do Ender's Game justice. More often than not, R is a rating for sloppy, uncreative filmmaking. Hitchcock kept us in suspense by NOT showing all the graphic stuff. What would the shower scene in "Psycho" be like if it were filmed by a typical Hollywood director today? There would definitely be nudity and graphic stabbing all over the place showered in blood. Not nearly as entertaining as the umpteen edits that Hitchcock carefully crafted to maximize the suspense and horror. That is creativity at it's hight. Auditions? They'll probably be only in LA, unless they have a problem finding the right actor(s) for the parts. We'll post the info on the website in time for everyone to make plane reservations. Sorry if that won't work for you, but don't stop chasing your dreams just because you ran into a few obstacles. Ender never let that stop him. For more info on all of this, go to the bottom of the page and use the search engine. Enter my name, Sean Kennelly, and you'll be able to read everything I've posted on this and other topics. All the Best, Sean Kennelly Chairman of Development Fresco Pictures
In August, 1999, a new book by Orson Scott Card is scheduled to be published. It is part of the Ender Series and revisits the events that occured in Ender's Game. The events are seen through the view a boy named Bean. Here is the foreword to the book:
*********************************************************************** This book is, strictly speaking, not a sequel, because it begins about where Ender's Game begins, and also ends, very nearly, at the same place. In fact, it is another telling of the same tale, with many of the same characters and settings, only from the perspective of another character. It's hard to know what to call it. A companion novel? A parallel novel? Perhaps a "parallax," if I can move that scientific term into literature.
Ideally, this novel should work as well for readers who have never read Ender's Game as for those who have read it several times. Because it is not a sequel, there is nothing you need to know from the novel Ender's Game that is not contained here. And yet, if I have achieved my literary goal, these two books complement and fulfil each other. Whichever one you read first, the other novel should still work on its own merits.
For many years, I have gratefully watched as Ender's Game has grown in popularity, especially among school-age readers. Though it was never intended as a young-adult novel, it has been embraced by many in that age group and by many teachers who find ways to use the book in their classrooms.
I have never found it surprising that the existing sequels -- Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind -- never appealed as strongly to those younger readers. The obvious reason is that Ender's Game is centered around a child, while the sequels are about adults; perhaps more importantly, Ender's Game is, at least on the surface, a heroic, adventurous novel, while the sequels are a completely different kind of fiction, slower paced, more contemplative and idea-centered, and dealing with themes of less immediate import to younger readers.
Recently, however, I have come to realize that the 3,000-year gap between Ender's Game and its sequels leaves plenty of room for other sequels that are more closely tied to the original. In fact, in one sense Ender's Game has no sequels, for the other three books make one continuous story in themselves, while Ender's Game stands alone.
For a brief time I flirted seriously with the idea of opening up the Ender's Game universe to other writers, and went so far as to invite a writer whose work I greatly admire, Neal Shusterman, to consider working with me to create novels about Ender Wiggin's companions in Battle School. As we talked, it became clear that the most obvious character to begin with would be Bean, the child-soldier whom Ender treated as he had been treated by his adult teachers.
And then something else happened. The more we talked, the more jealous I became that Neal might be the one to write such a book, and not me. It finally dawned on me that, far from being finished with writing about "kids in space," as I cynically described the project, I actually had more to say, having actually learned something in the intervening dozen years since Ender's Game first appeared in 1985. And so, while still hoping that Neal and I can work together on something, I deftly swiped the project back.
I soon found that it's harder than it looks, to tell the same story twice, but differently. I was hindered by the fact that even though the viewpoint characters were different, the author was the same, with the same core beliefs about the world. I was helped by the fact that in the intervening years, I have learned a few things, and was able to bring different concerns and a deeper understanding to the project. Both books come from the same mind, but not the same; they draw on the same memories of childhood, but from a different perspective. For the reader, the parallax is created by Ender and Bean, standing a little ways apart as they move through the same events. For the writer, the parallax was created by a dozen years in which my older children grew up, and younger ones were born, and the world changed around me, and I learned a few things about human nature and about art that I had not known before.
Now you hold this book in your hands. Whether the literary experiment succeeds for you is entirely up to you to judge. For me it was worth dipping again into the same well, for the water was greatly changed this time, and if it has not been turned exactly into wine, at least it has a different flavor because of the different vessel that it was carried in, and I hope that you will enjoy it as much, or even more.
-- Greensboro, North Carolina, January 1999
*********************************************************************** You can view the first of four chapters at http://www.members.tripod.com/Peter_the_Hegemon/shadow1.html, or find the link on the main page. These four chapters are not the whole book, but only the first four chapters of the book.
In June, 1999, a book called Far Horizons is scheduled to be released. In that book there are many short stories by the top science-fiction authors. One of these authors is Orson Scott Card, and he has written a story called "Investment Counselor".
This story takes place when Ender arrives on the planet Sorelledolce and, because he has achieved legal adulthood during the previous starflight, has to pay taxes on the trust funds that have been accumulating for him for the past centuries of skipping through time. With a tax collector set to cheat him and tax laws designed to baffle him, he is an obvious target for a well-designed interactive software ad.
Here's an excerpt from the story "Investment Counselor" - the exact moment when Ender meets Jane for the first time:
*********************************************************************** A woman's head appeared in the display space above his computer. "You think I'm just a program unspooling on your computer," she said. "But I'm not. I'm the friend and financial adviser you've been wishing for, but I don't work for money, I work for you. You have to talk to me so I can understand what you want to do with your money, what you want it to accomplish. I have to hear your voice."
But Andrew didn't like playing along with computer programs. He pressed the Page key to get past this talking-head intro.
"Ouch," said the woman. "What are you trying to do, get rid of me?"
"Yes," said Andrew. Then he cursed himself for having succumbed to the trick. This simulation was so cleverly real that it had finally got him to answer by reflex.
"Lucky for you that you don't have a Page button. Do you have any idea how painful that is? Not to mention humiliating, Mr. Wiggin."
"If you're going to force me to use a verbal interface," said Andrew, "at least call me something other than Mister."
"How about Andrew?" she said.
"Fine."
"And you must call me Jane."
"Must I?"
"Or I could call you Ender," she said.
Andrew froze. There was nothing in his files to indicate that childhood nickname.
"Terminate this program and get off my computer at once," he said.
"As you wish," she answered.
Chartoff Productions has bought the rights to Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game". Chartoff Productions is in association with Fresco Pictures. Chartoff has payed Card 1 million dollars already, and payed him another $500,000 to write the screenplay. Jake Lloyd, playing Anakin Skywalker in the new Star Wars Episode 1, is said to be possibly playing Ender. Orson Scott Card had this to say about the movie: *********************************************************************** ".... Because we have a child actor of extraordinary talent and intelligence who is interested (but has NOT signed on), I am free to write a script that isn't child-proofed. i'm on page 42, and it's got the emotional wallop of the book, this time at last. Once we have a finished script, the actor and his family and advisers will make their decision; if he says yes and signs on, then we're in a strong position to go to a studio WITHOUT having to get an "amateur" director whose first act would be to fire me and hire his pet writer(s) to turn Ender's Game into a remake of the Last Starfighter or S-Troop. Wish me luck on that, too. Still and all, I have great hopes that Ender's Game will be put together and filmed in time for release in the summer of 2000. I EVEN have a tiny dream of having both Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow filmed at the same time, with the same cast. And then released in successive summers. But ... only in my dreams. And because you're going to ask, that brilliant young actor that i'm hoping will play Ender is Jake Lloyd, who plays young Anakin Skywalker in the Movie of May. Not since Roddy McDowell have we had a child actor so capable of carrying the emotional weight of a powerful film on his shoulders." *********************************************************************** For more information go to the official movie site at "http://www.frescopix.com".
Orson Scott Card has said that there will be a sequel to his new book "Ender's Shadow." This book's working title is "Shadow to the Hegemon." It will be about Bean leading Peter Wiggin's armies to unify the world. Here is what Orson Scott Card said about it: *********************************************************************** ".... The sequel to Ender's Shadow, "Shadow of the Hegemon" (working title), will deal with Bean's relationship with Peter Wiggin as Peter uses him as his commander in the wars that are part of his effort to unify the world under one government."