The Fringe (short story)

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"The Fringe"
Author Orson Scott Card
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Publication type Periodical
Media typePrint (Magazine)
Publication date 1985

"The Fringe" is a science fiction short story by American writer Orson Scott Card, originally published in the October 1985 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction . It was later reprinted in his short story collection The Folk of the Fringe and in Future on Ice , a short story collection edited by Card.

Orson Scott Card American science fiction novelist

Orson Scott Card is an American novelist, critic, public speaker, essayist, and columnist. He writes in several genres but is known best for science fiction. His novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986) both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the only author to win both science fiction's top U.S. prizes in consecutive years. A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013.

<i>The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction</i> digest magazine

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Fantasy House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas had approached Spivak in the mid-1940s about creating a fantasy companion to Spivak's existing mystery title, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. The first issue was titled The Magazine of Fantasy, but the decision was quickly made to include science fiction as well as fantasy, and the title was changed correspondingly with the second issue. F&SF was quite different in presentation from the existing science fiction magazines of the day, most of which were in pulp format: it had no interior illustrations, no letter column, and text in a single column format, which in the opinion of science fiction historian Mike Ashley "set F&SF apart, giving it the air and authority of a superior magazine".

<i>The Folk of the Fringe</i> book by Orson Scott Card

The Folk of the Fringe (1989) is a collection of post-apocalyptic stories by American writer Orson Scott Card. These stories are set sometime in the near future, when World War III has left America in ruins. The stories are about how a few groups of Mormons struggle to survive. Although all of these stories in this book were meant to stand alone, they each include at least one character from one of the other stories which helps to make them a cohesive collection.

Contents

Plot summary

In a post-apocalyptic United States, Timothy Carpenter is a wheelchair-using teacher in a small farming community. When he discovers that the farm foreman, the bishop and some other men are stealing food from the other farmers, he reports this to the authorities. On the day that the marshals are scheduled to show up, he talks to his students about how wrong it is for people to steal. After class is over, the son of the foreman threatens Mr. Carpenter and tells him to keep his mouth shut. Later that day, the authorities show up and arrest the thieves. An hour later, their sons show up at Mr. Carpenter's house and take him out to a dry riverbed that will flood with the coming rain and dump him into it so that he will drown. Just as he is about to drown, he is rescued by a group from a traveling pageant show. When the police show up at his house, Mr. Carpenter refuses to name the boys who attacked him because he feels sorry for their families. However, when he sees them in school the next day, they behave.

Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction sub-genre of science fiction taking place after the end of human civilization

Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of science fiction, science fantasy or horror in which the Earth's technological civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; natural, such as an impact event; man-made, such as nuclear holocaust or resource depletion; medical, such as a pandemic, whether natural or man-made; eschatological, such as the Last Judgment, Second Coming or Ragnarök; or imaginative, such as a zombie apocalypse, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics or alien invasion. The story may involve attempts to prevent an apocalypse event, deal with the impact and consequences of the event itself, or it may be post-apocalyptic, set after the event. The time frame may be immediately after the catastrophe, focusing on the travails or psychology of survivors, the way to maintain the human race alive and together as one, or considerably later, often including the theme that the existence of pre-catastrophe civilization has been forgotten. Post-apocalyptic stories often take place in a non-technological future world or a world where only scattered elements of society and technology remain.

United States federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Bishop is the highest priesthood office of the Aaronic priesthood in the Latter Day Saint movement. It is almost always held by one who already holds the Melchizedek priesthood office of high priest. The Latter Day Saint concept of the office differs significantly from the role of bishops in other Christian denominations, being in some respects more analogous to a pastor or parish priest. Each bishop serves with two counselors, which together form a bishopric.

After Mr. Carpenter is rescued from drowning, he learns that the acting group that saved him is called the "Sweetwater Miracle Pageant". The story "Pageant Wagon" by Orson Scott Card is about how a young man named Deaver Teague meets up with and joins that same group. Mr. Carpenter is the narrator of the story "America". In that story, he tells about how the governor of Deseret, Sam Monson, met and had a baby with an American Indian woman when he was a teenager.


"Pageant Wagon" is a short story by American writer Orson Scott Card. It first appeared his in his short story collection The Folk of the Fringe, and was followed by a release in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (August, 1989)

"America" is a science fiction short story by American writer Orson Scott Card, originally published in the January 1987 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. It was reprinted in Card's short story collection The Folk of the Fringe.

Indigenous peoples of the Americas Pre-Columbian inhabitants of North, Central, and South America and their descendants

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the Pre-Columbian peoples of North, Central and South America and their descendants.

Influences

As with many of Card's other literature, a Christian/Mormon influence is present in this story.

Christianity is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament. Its adherents, known as Christians, believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and savior of all people, whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Depending on the specific denomination of Christianity, practices may include baptism, Eucharist [Holy Communion], prayer, confession, confirmation, burial rites, marriage rites and the religious education of children. Most denominations have ordained clergy and hold regular group worship services.

See also

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References

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