Here is Card's greatest strength in The Folk of the Fringe, as it is in most of his works after the publication of his LDS historical novel, Saints (Tor, 1988; as A Woman of Destiny, Berkley, 1984). In his earlier works, he carefully excluded specific references to his own beliefs and religious heritage, although there are many allusions and stylistic connections in such novels as Treason and The Worthing Chronicle. Even Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead—justly recognized as major achievements through their receiving the highest awards the science fiction community can bestow on its own—consciously avoid specifically LDS references, although the church is referred to in both, and in terms of style and symbolic content neither could have been written by a non-Mormon.
With "Salvage" and "The Fringe," however, Card became more overt in incorporating his worldview into his fictions. His Alvin Maker series, beginning with Seventh Son, continues this direction as it builds on his LDS background to create a fantastic world that entertains while communicating specific values; a second series under contract, Homecoming, will transform Book of Mormon history into science fiction, denying neither the truth of the former nor the artistic integrity of the latter. More and more, Card skillfully blends what has been called a uniquely American literary form, science fiction, with what has been called the only indigenous American religion, to create an entirely new perspective on speculation and extrapolation.
The Folk of the Fringe may be of greatest interest in that it includes the earliest manifestations of Card's combined vision. Throughout, the tales speak to science fiction readers as well as to Mormon readers, using a vocabulary appropriate to both.
Mormon readers unfamiliar with the conventions of science fiction may not understand at first what has happened prior to the opening paragraphs of "West," for example, but the post-holocaust setting resonates immediately for science fiction readers. The fact of nuclear exchange—if not the particulars of cause and extent—communicates readily through Card's control over the conventions of one branch of science fiction. Only later may such readers discover that this small band of survivors are in fact "left-over Mormons."
Non-Mormon readers, on the other hand, may initially have difficulties with references to Primary and bishoprics, to Lehi and the Liahona, or with the snatches of songs the children sing. But LDS readers will recognize the terms and, more importantly, the songs. We know at once that this story concerns our people, our history, our epick... no matter that it is disguised as future-oriented, speculative fiction. "West" contains suffering, but is not about suffering; it is instead life-asserting, showing how faith unfolds even within a desperate struggle for survival. As did the Mormon exodus in the nineteenth century, this story of expulsion and death ultimately affirms that there are things more important than death.
The Folk of the Fringe is not myopic, however. Not all Mormons are saints, not all are wise. In "West," the Christian Saints bear the burden of guilt for unjust acts; in "America," that burden is shared by all, including Mormons, now caught between the mistakes of the past and the irrevocable, irresistible fulfillment of their own scriptures.
Here is the essence of science fiction—and of LDS science fiction: What if? The Folk of the Fringe speaks resoundingly to both audiences. The tales warn of human folly even as they affirm the value of human existence; they speculate about possible futures even as they refine and redefine our understanding of our past and of our present.
Copyright © 1989 by Orson Scott Card
ISBN: 0-812-50086-5
"West" first appeared in slightly shorter form in Free Lancers: Alien Stars IV (Baen Books), edited by Elizabeth Mitchell. Copyright © 1987 by Baen Publishing Enterprises.
"Salvage" first appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, February 1986, edited by Gardner Dozois. Copyright © 1986 by Davis Publications.
"The Fringe" first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 1985, edited by Edward L. Ferman. Copyright © 1985 by Mercury Press. "The Fringe" was a finalist for the Hugo and Nebula awards.
"Pageant Wagon" appears in print for the first time in this book.
"America" first appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, January 1987, edited by Gardner Dozois. Copyright © 1987 by Davis Publications.
"On Sycamore Hill" first appeared in slightly different form in Science Fiction Review, edited by Richard Geis. Copyright © 1985 by Orson Scott Card.
"Afterword: The Folk of the Fringe" copyright © 1988 by Michael Collings.
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