Why enderminh?
My username "enderminh" is based upon a fictional character named "Ender" from a science fiction classic called "Ender's Game".
"Ender's Game" was published by Orson Scott Card in the late 70s as a short story, but the full novel wasn't published until 1985. In a nutshell, it's about a gifted, intelligent boy who fights through his military career as he is being trained to save the world from aliens. While this sounds like the dullest storyline ever, this novel turned out to be one of the most successful books ever published in the science fiction world. It's a very short and easy read, but somehow this book is so well written that you simply cannot put it down once you start it.
I've read "Ender's Game" in German several times, before I ended up reading the English original. By now, I believe I have read "Ender's Game" at least seven times, and I am sure that I will always return to this book every once in a while in the future again. The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula Award in 1986 (the two most prestigious science fiction awards). Its sequel "Speaker for the Dead" also won both the Hugo and the Nebula Award in 1987, making Orson Scott Card not only one of the few authors to win both awards in a same year, but the only author to do this twice for two consecutive years.
"Speaker for the Dead" is a novel that is extremely different from "Ender's Game", yet Orson Scott Card again has managed to write a novel full of great quotes, great dialogues, touching characters and a storyline that forces you to read the novel in one single sitting. I am not kidding when I say that parts of the book was so exciting that I almost felt an adrenaline rush and wish I can read this book faster.
I also recommend the third book of this quartet. It's called "Xenocide" and is also an amazing and intricate novel. I often wish that Orson Scott Card has ended the Ender saga with that third book. I don't like the fourth and last book "Children of the Mind" much, as it becomes more esoteric and simply weird.
The Ender quartet is more than just four science fiction novels though. To me, it's a tale that teaches you about ambition, resiliency, morals, tolerance and how humans think and interact. The fictional character Ender has become a sort of religion for me, because I partly identify with Ender's struggle of being picked on by other kids, but more so because I wholeheartedly idolize him. Ender is a character I look up to for his determination, his ambition, his amazing problem-solving and people skills. In short, Ender is someone I want to strive to be.
Orson Scott Card has published a lot more books in this Ender's Game universe (or Enderverse as fans call it), but I don't recommend them. It seems that the author tries to squeeze every single cent he can get from his huge success of "Ender's Game" and by doing so has produced a lot of novels that don't even come close to the original four books that make up the Ender quartet.
The "Ender's Game" success continues as the novel has become required reading in most English classes in American high schools these days and is currently in pre-production as a full-length movie directed by Troy-director Wolfgang Peterson. I am very excited about this, because Orson Scott Card himself wrote the screenplay, but as a die-hard fan, I am sure that it cannot live up to the novel. Movies rarely can.
So in case you haven't noticed already, I really want you to read it. Most of the people I have recommend this to have learned to love it. Read it while you can. Read it before the movie comes out and destroys your imagination.
Until then, salaam and remember that the Enemy's Gate is Down.