THE FOLK OF THE FRINGE by Orson Scott Card

Finished Su 7/7/19

This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I found on the shelf downstairs. No note as to when I got it.

This is a collection of novellas that Card wrote after 'ENDER'S  GAME' and he was trying to hone his short story writing skills.

The stories are set in a future America after some kind of nuclear exchange. 'The War' is never explained, but although nuclear weapons were used, the biggest damage was done by 'bio-engineered' plagues.

A large portion of the West has been resettled by the Mormons. Card makes a point to present Mormonism in the best possible light. He feels that their strict adherence to their biblical interpretations make for safe and dependable government. However, the characters are a little too 'black or white', all good or all bad.

Orson Scott Card is a Mormon and this is a kind of SciFi tale with a mix of pro-Mormon propaganda.

The first story is about a man who lives in the Smokey Mountains who is on a scavenger mission to The Carolina's. He meets a group of Mormons who have escaped persecution. There had been a pogrom in the area similar to the Jews during WWII (And, I guess throughout history. Card feels that Mormons are the 'chosen people' and subject to persecution). There are several children and Blacks and Whites, all believe in the Mormon faith.

They convert the scavenger to the Mormon faith, and use his skills to guide the group to the Mormon area of the West.

The next story is many years in the future and concerns one of the boys in this group.

I skimmed the middle part of the book, and the last section is why the author wrote the book and his feelings about the short story genre. The book was of some interest since I'd never seen Mormonism portrayed in such a positive light, and I thought that they didn't believe in racial equality, but apparently, at least Card does.

'ENDER'S GAME' is on disc at Netflix, but I think that I'll pass.