Ender's Stocking (short story)

Infobox short story |
name = Ender's Stocking
title_orig =
translator =
author = Orson Scott Card
country = United States
language = English
series = Ender's Game series
genre = Science fiction
published_in = "Intergalactic Medicine Show"
publication_type =
publisher = Hatrack River Enterprises
media_type = Electronic (HTML)
pub_date = 2007
english_pub_date =
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Ender's Stocking" is a story by Orson Scott Card set in his Ender's Game universe. It tells the story of how Ender’s brother Peter figures out how he can get people to do what he wants. It appears in Card's Webzine "InterGalactic Medicine Show".

Plot summary

"Ender's Stocking" is the story of Peter Wiggin while he was a boy in high school. Two days before Christmas Peter was in the library and he decided to try and act friendly to one of his classmates. After the girl rejected him, Peter went home and had a fight with his mother because she was sad about Ender being away at Battle School. Later that day Peter went for a walk and began to think about why people didn't like him. He came to the conclusion that people hated him because they were afraid of him and because he frequently tried to use force to get people to do what he wanted. It then occurred to Peter that the best way to get people to do what he wanted was to convince them that he cared about them and that he wanted to help them. He tried this out on his family and found that it worked. As a result he started doing it to other people as well.

Characters

*Peter Wiggin
*Father – unnamed in this story
*Mother – unnamed in this story
*Valentine Wiggin - Peter's sister
*Mirabella "Bell" - Peter's classmate
*Bell's friends - unnamed
*Classmates - mostly unnamed
*Teachers - unnamed
*Principal - unnamed

Connection to "A War of Gifts"

The first part of this short story where Peter fights with his mother over the Christmas stocking she has prepared for Ender while he is away at Battle School became Chapter 2 Ender’s Stocking of Card’s book "".Orson Scott Card, "A War of Gifts", Tor Books, November 2007.] However, this chapter seems to be unrelated to the rest of the book and has been criticized for detracting from the rest of the story. [http://www.sfsite.com/02b/wg266.htm Steven H Silver, "A War of Gifts: A review"] "SF Site", 2008.]

Publication

"Ender's Stocking" was published in the October 2007 issue of "Intergalactic Medicine Show". [http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com/cgi-bin/mag.cgi?do=issue&vol=i6&article=_card Orson Scott Card, "Ender's Stocking"] "Intergalactic Medicine Show", October 2007.]

References