The World of Author Orson Scott Card is Coming to America – Was ENDER'S GAME Real?

And Does an Author Get License Fees When His Sci-Fi  Work Is Brought to Life by the Department of Defense?

One of the great science fiction works of the past century is Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.  In this book set sometime in the future, a young man is recruited by the military to be trained in cyber fighting.  The young man and his fellow recruits are selected because of their expertise in computer games.  This is a work of fiction.

But fiction has a way of become fact, and now the story is emerging that the Defense Department is actively engaged in training part of the military to fight using computers.

U.S. Air Force

The Air Force's Weapons School at Nellis 

Air Force Base, Nev., pictured, long known

 for advanced pilot training, now has

 a cyberwarfare program..

In June, the U.S. Air Force's elite Weapons School—the Air Force version of the Navy's famed "Top Gun" program—graduated its first class of six airmen trained to fight in cyberspace. The new course, at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, trains airmen working at computer terminals how to hunt down electronic intruders, defend networks and launch cyberattacks.

"While cyber may not look or smell exactly like a fighter aircraft or a bomber aircraft, the relevancy in any potential conflict in 2012 is the same," said Air Force Col. Robert Garland, commandant of the Weapons School. "We have to be able to succeed against an enemy that wants to attack us in any way."

One hopes that Mr. Card is indeed receiving payment or at least recognition for his contribution to national defense.  And we hope that the rest of Ender’s story does not come to pass, but if you want to know what we mean you will have to read the book.  And that’s okay, it’s a great read.