The Authorized Ender Companion

by Black, Jake

  My mother died two years ago—I am twenty years older than I was when I first took my stepfather’s copy of Ender’s Game from his hands. One of the side effects of the grief of losing her, the most tenacious and limiting, has been my anger at her for leaving. A cold distance from my real memories of her, replaced with questioning blame. Another side effect: this year has been the first since I learned to read in which I did not sit down at some point and lose myself in page after page of enveloping text. I have lost my mother, books have offered me no relief.

  So Friday night I dug through boxes and boxes, not looking for anything in particular, just attending to the chore of sifting through another person’s lifetime of artifacts, until I found a tattered copy of Ender’s Game in with toys and clothes my mother packed away years ago. I’ve had other copies of Ender’s Game since then, loaned to friends, left on airplanes—I didn’t realize the first copy was so near me. I sat down in front of my computer and opened to the first page. Four hours later I was finished and I wept, because something inside me had unclenched and some silvery thread had linked me to the sensitive little girl I once was, linked me to my earliest sensations of my mother who I understood best when my love for her was a child’s: unstinting, unanalyzed, unafraid of all the places in which my mother’s mistakes have become my own mistakes. I love us both for it.

  Brianna Privett, programmer

  Crestline, California

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This portion of any book seems an awful lot like an acceptance speech at an awards show. However, the people listed here are deserving of my most sincere thanks as they each helped bring this book to pass.

  First and foremost, thank you to my wife, Michelle, for giving me the space, time, and ability to research and write the encyclopedia of the Ender Universe. During this time, our son, Jonas, was born, cut his first teeth, and even started walking. Without Michelle’s support for me and her care for our son, this book would never have happened.

  Kathleen Bellamy deserves as much credit as anyone. She consulted with me on points in the manuscript and has been a patient colleague and aide as I brought the manuscript to its finished form. She must also be thanked for securing the graphics that augment the entries.

  Kristine Card was also incredibly sweet and unwaveringly positive as we put the Companion together.

  Aaron Johnston was a terrific resource when it came to questions about Hyrum Graff, about whom he is cowriting a novel, as well as the Ender’s Game movie.

  Ami Chopine and Andy Wahr provided invaluable clarifications on items from the Ender Universe I didn’t catch, making the encyclopedia as accurate as possible.

  Nick Lowe, Jordan White, and Lauren Sankovitch at Marvel Comics were the first real tests of the Companion’s usefulness as they edited the Ender’s Game comics. They helped me make sure I knew what I was talking about.

  Thank you to Beth Meacham at Tor for believing in this project, and getting it launched at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2007.

  Brad Meltzer reinforced my sometimes-shaky confidence in heroic fashion. I will be forever in his debt.

  Thanks to Chris Cerasi, a friend always and a championing force in my life and career. And also to Jordan Hamessley for her commitment to all things Ender.

  Finally, thank you to Orson Scott Card for inviting me over to play with his toys.

  —J.B.