The Polish Boy and Teachers Pest really only served to make me like John Paul and Theresa a bit less. It was interesting to finally read the original short story that started it all, the parts Card changed were definitely for the better.

The saving grace is Investment Advisor, it serves as a pretty solid bridge between Ender in Exile and Speaker. Would recommend.

Teacher's Pest was not in my edition. I will have to fix that later. I am just so done with all the religon in these few books I've read recently in the 'verse. Also the short story version of Ender's Game doesn't have much different that I caught from the full novel. One is just actually fleshed out.

I've been reading and enjoying the Enderverse for seven-ish years now, but since I'd never read any of Card's short stories, I picked up a cute little hardcover version when I saw it at a library book sale. Sure, I'd read the biggest selling point of the collection - the original "Ender's Game" story - multiple times before, but since I semi-recently went through some of the Enderverse for the first time in five-or-so years, I thought that rereading it now would be a different reading experience. I was right, but... it wasn't quite for the better.

--The collection starts with "The Polish Boy," a short story about Ender Wiggin's father Jan Pawel Wieczorak, whose family disregards the International Fleet's population-regulating laws. Graff - the same one from *Ender's Game* - leads an effort to recruit Jan into the I.F.'s Battle School and offers his family protection in America if he agrees to go to the Battle School, knowing full well that Jan will back out of his commitments, only hoping that his children will be American-born and be forced into the Battle School. This story recontextualizes *Ender's Game* and makes everything seem a bit deeper, especially the strategy behind Graff's actions in that book. At the same time, it does make me wonder why the interactions between Jan and Graff in *Ender's Game* were the way they are, besides the obvious fact that Card hadn't dreamt this story up when he first wrote the novel. The other complaint is that the prose in this story seems... simpler than Card's usually is. It's almost like this was written for children compared to the more complex, all-seeing prose of his novels. And the cartoonish doodles just made things seem... dumb. This will be a complaint for the whole book, but it was probably the most forgivable here our of the three "new" stories.
--"Teacher's Pest" looks at the meeting of Jan and his future wife, Theresa Brown, who are the titular pest and teacher, respectively. Brown is teaching "Human Communities" and spars with her "star" pupil several times, gradually losing her footing because A) she's a student teacher who's not really any older than him, and B) her father is world-famous for refusing to obey population control laws and sharing his last name is getting her removed from research projects she came up with herself. This gives a little more weight to Ender's pedigree, but that honestly wasn't needed. The emotional story that runs through this story is alright, but at the end of the day, it didn't make me feel much of anything besides "this writing still isn't too good" and "why did Card have to write a story to explain this?"
--"Ender's Game," the story that became the novel, is at least interesting. Card once wrote that when turning a short story into a novel he, unlike most authors, like to keep a short story's beginning, middle, and end and prefers to flesh out everything the short story glossed over. "Ender's Game" confirms that writing philosophy (spoilers for the original book incoming). It starts with Battle School, shows Ender's army get pitted in unfair matches, introduces his mentor Mazer Rackham, and ends with his eventual winning of the Bugger War, all in one piece. It misses all the familial and psychological alleys that the adaption goes through, but it's still a good story with a good twist that gets Bean and the Battle School across. I find it more enjoyable as a study than a piece because the novel is so good, but I'd still recommend it for fans of the book.
--Finally, "Investment Counsellor" introduces Ender and Jane (the AI from *Speaker for the Dead*) to each other. It's another okay story... it doesn't explain where Jane came from or anything or genuine interest to me, but it does show Ender coming-of-age a long time after *Ender's Game* (I say "long time" because of relativity) and having to file his first tax return. During the process, a weaselly tax collector tries to blackmail him after finding out he's *the* Ender Wiggin, which ends up in Jane the AI blackmailing him right back and saving Ender. I mean, it's okay, but the prose isn't great and as I've said already... what's the point again?

At the end of day, unlike books like *Speaker for the Dead* or *Ender's Shadow*, *First Meetings in the Enderverse* doesn't add anything meaningful to Card's mythos, besides - possibly - the increased depth of Ender's father. Maybe I'm just a curmudgeon who likes things they way they used to be, but... this only gets a 6/10 from me. It was *okay* - not offensive beyond the blandness of the prose, and you should give the original "Ender's Game" a try because it's a lot of fun. Without it, I probably would've given this collection a 5 or a 5.5. I suppose I'll get back to re-reading the *Speaker for the Dead* stuff down the line, but for now, I should be done with Card for the rest of the year. But then again, that's what I always say...

I'm not sure why I avoided this book for so long. I think because I'm not a fan of short story collections. But the stories in this collection are not random; they're not old short's by Card that happened to occur in Ender's universe. They're connections. They tie together various threads in the series that I didn't even know were loose.

There are four stories. The first two give backstory to Ender's parents, their own genius, and even their connection with Graff and the IF. The third is the original Ender's Game novella - sort of a short, highlights version of the best parts of the novel. And the final story forms a well-crafted bridge between Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead.

These stories reminded me why Ender's Game is one of my all-time favorite books. If you like Ender's Game, you'll like this collection.

An enjoyable read, but only if you're already familiar with the Enderverse.

I'd also advise skipping the "Ender's Game" novella unless you really want to compare it with the original book; they're very similar, and the discrepancies are distracting. The actual novel is much better.

---
reread 2/14/2020

I LOVE John Paul Wiggin. Guys, John Paul and Theresa Wiggin have actually been the best characters in the Enderverse this whole entire time. The Shadow series made this increasingly clear, and now these short stories just drive the point home.

It got a little silly in places, since Graff and Chamrajnagar have apparently been in charge of everything that's ever happened in the IF since Ender's dad was six years old. And since Graff apparently orchestrated Ender's birth by sending John Paul to America expressly to meet a genius girl and have a genius baby to save the world. Who knew Graff was actually the one signed on as God. But I don't really care. I love John Paul and I would absolutely read an entire book about both of them.

The one about Ender's taxes, too, was PRICELESS. I adore Ender's interactions with Valentine. I long for more of them. I dream about them every night. I salivate for them. Anyway, this was great and I'm so glad I got to read it. I can't believe Jane got that scamming official murdered in prison for trying to cheat Ender; she and Ender are truly meant for each other I guess.

A collection of interesting but frivolous stories set in the Enderverse. Find out why Ender's father immigrated to America. Find out how Ender's parents first met. Find out how Ender hooked up with Jane. And read the story of ENDER'S GAME back before it got fleshed out into a novel.
Or don't. Because these stories aren't necessary to fully understand and enjoy the rest of the series. Still, fans of the Enderverse will find FIRST MEETINGS a treasure trove of world-building.

Reseña

Este libro se compone de 4 cuentos relacionados con el universo de Ender, relatados en orden cronológico:

El niño polaco: cuenta la infancia del padre de Ender, John Paul, y de cómo descubrieron su talento.

La peste del maestro: trata de cómo se conocieron los padres de Ender, en la universidad, donde su madre era profesora de su padre.

El juego de Ender: corresponde al cuento corto, en el que se basó Orson Scott Card para después desarrollar su novela del mismo nombre.

La asesora financiera: trata de cómo Ender conoce a Jane en el momento en el que Ender pone el pie en un planeta llamado Sorelledolce y debe hacer su declaración de impuestos, luego de haber cumplido 20 años relativos durante el viaje interestelar. Además, se hace Portavoz de los Muertos.

Crítica

Para alguien que ya es seguidor de Orson Scott Card, estos cuentos no tienen pérdida. Todos van añadiendo información relacionada a la saga del Juego de Ender, excepto quizás el cuento largo, que se presenta como la tercera historia de este libro. Aún así, aunque ya se haya leído la novela, el cuento es dinámico y entretenido, va a lo importante, a la acción y a mostrarnos el carácter de Ender junto a las batallas que mantiene con la ayuda de su equipo.

Fue interesante conocer más a los padres de Ender en su niñez y juventud, aunque también me gusta mucho el relato final, ya que Jane es uno de mis personajes favoritos de la saga y conocer sus inicios es atractivo.

Estos cuentos se disfrutarán más después de haber leído al menos los dos primeros libros de la saga, "El juego de Ender" y "El portavoz de los muertos". Pero el cuento corto del Juego de Ender también sirve como un puntapié inicial, un relato introductorio para alguien neófito en esta saga (o en la ciencia ficción en general).

Aún me falta seguir con la saga de los inicios (cuando los insectores atacaron la Tierra), y la Sombra, pero sí o sí los leeré. Me gusta mucho el trasfondo filosófico que Scott Card agrega a sus novelas... como lo hizo Frank Herbert con su saga Dune.

Con este libro termino la saga del Juego de Ender, que la recomiendo a quienes gusten de la ciencia ficción mezclada con filosofía. Si no les gusta la filosofía, quédense sólo con el primer libro. "El juego de Ender".

4 / 5 estrellas

Overall rating: 4 stars.

Individual ratings:

The Polish Boy: FIVE WELL DESERVED STARS.

Teacher's Pest: One of the best short stories I've ever read. 5 out of 5 stars. My favorite of the compendium.

Ender's Game: The Original Short Story: 3 stars. It was underwhelming when compared to the actual book and felt like a less-well-written repeat of information. Also, Petra and Valentine were excluded from the story, meaning that this story did not contain any female characters, which automatically drops a star in my rating system.

Investment Counselor: 3 stars. This story was really clever, but it just did not do it for me. The ambiguously sexual relationship between Ender and Jane wigged me out (Wiggin, wigged, haha we love puns) simply because she chose to let him hold all the reins and retained less power for herself. This is a toxic and unequal relationship, especially since the one submitting is a computer!! Grow up, Orson Scott Card, women aren't supposed to submit to men, stop holding back your characters with your dated ideals.

All in all, a pretty normal anthology, however, each story had likable elements for me. :)

I would definitely reread the first and second stories, though, and would even buy a copy if it only included those two.

It's comprised of four short stories that take place in the Ender-verse.

The first two stories, "The Polish Boy" and "Teacher's Pest, " occur before Ender's Game. The third story is the original "Ender's Game" short story. "Investment Counselor" is the oddest one of the lot. Taking place long after Ender's Game, Ender now goes by Andrew and must file his taxes as an adult. It's the spark of his interest in Speakers of the Dead, which I'm sure leads into the following books (which I haven't read yet).

I liked "The Polish Boy," and I'd already read and enjoyed "Investment Counselor" in another collection (though I think it does re-write some of the main characters' histories a bit). "Teacher's Pest," however, irritated me quite a bit. I liked and admired Ender's parents in the series proper, but I found John Paul insufferably smug and condescending in this story. And Theresa just...gave in to it! The story took two characters I admired and made me really dislike them both.

Let me preface this review by saying that Ender's Game is my favorite book and has been for almost 20 years. As such Orson Scott Card is one of my favorite authors, First Meetings, a collection of meetings of primary charters in the Enderverse is a good example of just how good of a writer Card is. Oddly I had thought I had read the book already but when I picked it up I realized it was made up of several short stories, some of which I had yet to read. The book is made up of "The Polish Boy", the story of Ender's Father, great story about a character I often felt wasn't flushed out enough before. "Teacher's Pest" - by far my favorite in the series, is the story of how Ender's parents met. "Ender's Game" the original novella that the landmark book is based on. The Final installment is "The Investment Counslor" - the story of how Ender met Jane. Since I read all 208 pages in one sitting I guess I have to rate this book very highly. Its always nice to get to revisit with your favorite worlds and then to find out new things really made for an enjoyable experience