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Eye for Eye/The Tunesmith
Mick Winger is only seventeen and already he's killed over a dozen people. Not on purpose; he never meant to hurt anyone. But when Mick gets angry, people die, even the people he loves the most. Now he's on the run from his own terrible talent, and from those who would use his power for their own obscene purposes. But Mick is not alone. There are others like him. And if he will not join them, they will make him pay.
Orson Scott Card is one of the world's best-loved writers, winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards two years in a row. He is author of Ender's Game and many New York Times bestsellers. Card's latest novels are Shadow of the Giant and Magic Street.
Orson Scott Card is one of the world's best-loved writers, winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards two years in a row. He is author of Ender's Game and many New York Times bestsellers. Card's latest novels are Shadow of the Giant and Magic Street.
This recording features Stefan Rudnicki, narrator on numerous audiobooks and recipient of an Audie for his solo narration on Orson Scott Card's Lost Boys and an Earphones Awards for his productions of Card's Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead and Crystal City.
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 15, 1990
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About the author
Orson Scott Card
892 books20.7k followersOrson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is (as of 2023) the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003).
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 11, 2022
Although Orson Scott Card's name is emblazoned on the top of the cover, this double volume contains two novellas, only one by Card (Eye for an Eye) and the other by Lloyd Biggle (The Tunesmith). Those of us who only quickly glanced at the cover in the dim used bookstore are in for a surprise in that way. The Tunesmith includes a foreword by Card, explaining that it was a short story or novella he read as a youth and that it heavily influenced him. That, by way of explanation, is why these two stories are bound together in one short little volume. That being said, it seems most readers favor one or the other of the stories which might just be a matter of the writing style of the two authors. For this reader, Eye for an Eye was the gem of the pair and the Tunesmith rather dull.
Eye for an Eye has a great narrative voice, believable, down to earth, and one that makes the reader understand and sympathize with the main character's point of view. Mick Winger is one of those superpowered teenagers we hear so often about. Raised in an orphanage (just like Annie), Mick has a problem which he is trying to control. You see when Mick gets angry, he reaches out, sparking, and the person who pissed him off gets sick. Like long-term cancer sick. Mick can reach out and screw around with the liver, the kidneys, or whatever organs. He is not happy with his superpower. It makes it very difficult for him to be around people and to have any kind of relationships at all. After all, how often do we all get pissed off over little things, things that do not seem so important in the long run, things that should just be passed off without a fuss. Mick, like a twelve-stepper trying to quit drinking, has gone nearly eight months without hurting anyone, that is until a bus driver is rude and pisses him off. And it is at this point which he realizes that someone or some people are after him for some reason to utilize his power for some purpose and it is time for Mick to go on the run again. While much of this is a common story for those youths who cannot control their superpowers, Card tells a very interesting story because of the narrative voice and because Mick is so basically a decent person who cannot control what is going on around him.
The second selection in this two-pack of novellas is a science fiction story about a guy who wants to play real music, not pre-programmed jingles.
Eye for an Eye has a great narrative voice, believable, down to earth, and one that makes the reader understand and sympathize with the main character's point of view. Mick Winger is one of those superpowered teenagers we hear so often about. Raised in an orphanage (just like Annie), Mick has a problem which he is trying to control. You see when Mick gets angry, he reaches out, sparking, and the person who pissed him off gets sick. Like long-term cancer sick. Mick can reach out and screw around with the liver, the kidneys, or whatever organs. He is not happy with his superpower. It makes it very difficult for him to be around people and to have any kind of relationships at all. After all, how often do we all get pissed off over little things, things that do not seem so important in the long run, things that should just be passed off without a fuss. Mick, like a twelve-stepper trying to quit drinking, has gone nearly eight months without hurting anyone, that is until a bus driver is rude and pisses him off. And it is at this point which he realizes that someone or some people are after him for some reason to utilize his power for some purpose and it is time for Mick to go on the run again. While much of this is a common story for those youths who cannot control their superpowers, Card tells a very interesting story because of the narrative voice and because Mick is so basically a decent person who cannot control what is going on around him.
The second selection in this two-pack of novellas is a science fiction story about a guy who wants to play real music, not pre-programmed jingles.
January 30, 2021
This is Tor Double #27, of a series of 36 double books published from 1988 to 1991 by Tor Books. It contains two novellas. Unlike most of the volumes in the series, this one is not bound tête-bêche (back-to-back and inverted). There is only one cover. The novellas are listed here alphabetically by author; I feel neither should be considered “primary.”
The Tunesmith, by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. (1957) ***
This was originally published in the August 1957 issue of If Magazine. A lot of Biggle’s work was published before the advent of science fiction awards. The story is included in Biggle’s 1972 collection The Metallic Muse.
In a world where commercial jingles have replaced true music, Erlin Baque has a gift for music. But the owners of the industry have a stranglehold, and try to suppress him. But Erlin’s music has a certain irresistible power over people. A strong story for its time, I feel it has lost some of its stylistic appeal for a modern reader.
Eye For Eye, by Orson Scott Card (1987) ***
This was originally published in the March 1987 issue of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. It won the 1988 Hugo Award for Best Novella. It is included in Card’s 1990 collection Maps in a Mirror: The Short Fiction of Orson Scott Card, which itself won the 1991 Locus Award for Best Collection.
When Mick Winger gets angry, he gets “sparky” and his psychic power gives people cancer. Sometimes they die. After he runs away from the orphanage he grew up in, he meets a young woman who has her own power of “calling” people to her. Things really blow up when he finds his birthparents, living in an isolated village. There is an ending to the action, but a conclusion to the emotional arc is only implied. Is there actually a community of people with such powers?
The Tunesmith, by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. (1957) ***
This was originally published in the August 1957 issue of If Magazine. A lot of Biggle’s work was published before the advent of science fiction awards. The story is included in Biggle’s 1972 collection The Metallic Muse.
In a world where commercial jingles have replaced true music, Erlin Baque has a gift for music. But the owners of the industry have a stranglehold, and try to suppress him. But Erlin’s music has a certain irresistible power over people. A strong story for its time, I feel it has lost some of its stylistic appeal for a modern reader.
Eye For Eye, by Orson Scott Card (1987) ***
This was originally published in the March 1987 issue of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. It won the 1988 Hugo Award for Best Novella. It is included in Card’s 1990 collection Maps in a Mirror: The Short Fiction of Orson Scott Card, which itself won the 1991 Locus Award for Best Collection.
When Mick Winger gets angry, he gets “sparky” and his psychic power gives people cancer. Sometimes they die. After he runs away from the orphanage he grew up in, he meets a young woman who has her own power of “calling” people to her. Things really blow up when he finds his birthparents, living in an isolated village. There is an ending to the action, but a conclusion to the emotional arc is only implied. Is there actually a community of people with such powers?
June 26, 2011
I bought this book (used) because the first story was written by Orson Scott Card, who's writing I've enjoyed since reading Ender's Game. It's a twin SF paperback (published by Tor as 'SF Double #27'), with a second story ' The Tunesmith' by Lloyd Biggle Jr. Both stories are short, approximately 100 pages, larger than usual fonts.
'Eye For Eye' by Scott Card was interesting at first. The strong writing of the main character drawing me in. 'Who is this kid? Why are people getting killed? Why is he on the run?' But by the end of the story I was a bit disappointed. The story seemed so clique and trite. Boy growing with unusual deadly power, that he has difficulty controlling, and everyone around him is wary of him (with good reason as people around him usually die), finally runs away, as the 'corporation' tracks him down. But who are good guys, and who are really the bad guys? It seems I've read versions of this plot several times, and it was typical, with no real surprise in the last paragraph.
'The Tunesmith' however, I really enjoyed. The irony being I never would have read the story if not for the first Card story. The includes an Introduction and Afterward to The Tunesmith, written by Card, who loved the story himself as an eager SF reader as a child.
I was intrigued to learn this story was originally written in 1957 - as it seems to fit and work so well in 2008. When this futuristic takes place, it's difficult for the musically inclined and talented to find work or express themselves. The only market is... writing ditties for (the equivalent of) TV commercials. Our main character Baque (intentionally, ironically pronounced 'Bach') is so passionate about his craft, he can barely survive. What sells best is a continual outpouring of mindless drivel and senseless jingles. Sound familiar? Unable to produce this garbage, he's forced to accept work as a Tunesmith as a local bar to entertain customers. The twist is that his music so impassioned that he makes a bit of a name for himself, so of course the 'establishment', in the form of the Performers Guild ,comes down on him. The story does have a bit of a good ending and... a bit of a sad ending.
I highly recommend 'The Tunesmith'!
'Eye For Eye' by Scott Card was interesting at first. The strong writing of the main character drawing me in. 'Who is this kid? Why are people getting killed? Why is he on the run?' But by the end of the story I was a bit disappointed. The story seemed so clique and trite. Boy growing with unusual deadly power, that he has difficulty controlling, and everyone around him is wary of him (with good reason as people around him usually die), finally runs away, as the 'corporation' tracks him down. But who are good guys, and who are really the bad guys? It seems I've read versions of this plot several times, and it was typical, with no real surprise in the last paragraph.
'The Tunesmith' however, I really enjoyed. The irony being I never would have read the story if not for the first Card story. The includes an Introduction and Afterward to The Tunesmith, written by Card, who loved the story himself as an eager SF reader as a child.
I was intrigued to learn this story was originally written in 1957 - as it seems to fit and work so well in 2008. When this futuristic takes place, it's difficult for the musically inclined and talented to find work or express themselves. The only market is... writing ditties for (the equivalent of) TV commercials. Our main character Baque (intentionally, ironically pronounced 'Bach') is so passionate about his craft, he can barely survive. What sells best is a continual outpouring of mindless drivel and senseless jingles. Sound familiar? Unable to produce this garbage, he's forced to accept work as a Tunesmith as a local bar to entertain customers. The twist is that his music so impassioned that he makes a bit of a name for himself, so of course the 'establishment', in the form of the Performers Guild ,comes down on him. The story does have a bit of a good ending and... a bit of a sad ending.
I highly recommend 'The Tunesmith'!
July 2, 2015
This book contains two stories.
The first is of a boy with a unique power: when Mick is angry he can cause all kinds of havoc to the human body - generally directed at the person who made him angry - resulting in cancer, or more immediate health problems. He despises himself as he cannot fully control it, and many have already died from this ability. Others have a similar "sparkiness" as Mick calls it, and if he will not join him then they will end him.
The second is set in a futuristic world, where the only music left are cheap jingles used in commercials. Perhaps the last musician is a man named Erlin Baque, who has a knack for music that moves people. His goal is to return music to this world.
Both are excellent, especially the first. I was frankly sad when it ended. The voice Card uses is excellent for the main character, Mick, and even though people die because of him, he is a sympathetic character. I consider Mick as kind, though fearful of himself. The story is written well.
Tunemaster has a bittersweet ending I'm not sure I like, but it fits well, and I guess you could say it is a happy ending?
Content Warning:
- violence = in Eye for Eye, the results of what happens to people is not pretty. It ranges from creating cancer,
- Sexual content = both are suggestive, though mainly the Tunemaster has music that basically embodies lust. Neither is explicit, or even descriptive, but the point is made.
The first is of a boy with a unique power: when Mick is angry he can cause all kinds of havoc to the human body - generally directed at the person who made him angry - resulting in cancer, or more immediate health problems. He despises himself as he cannot fully control it, and many have already died from this ability. Others have a similar "sparkiness" as Mick calls it, and if he will not join him then they will end him.
The second is set in a futuristic world, where the only music left are cheap jingles used in commercials. Perhaps the last musician is a man named Erlin Baque, who has a knack for music that moves people. His goal is to return music to this world.
Both are excellent, especially the first. I was frankly sad when it ended. The voice Card uses is excellent for the main character, Mick, and even though people die because of him, he is a sympathetic character. I consider Mick as kind, though fearful of himself. The story is written well.
Tunemaster has a bittersweet ending I'm not sure I like, but it fits well, and I guess you could say it is a happy ending?
Content Warning:
- violence = in Eye for Eye, the results of what happens to people is not pretty. It ranges from creating cancer,
- Sexual content = both are suggestive, though mainly the Tunemaster has music that basically embodies lust. Neither is explicit, or even descriptive, but the point is made.
July 9, 2019
I liked the Tunesmith better than an Eye for Eye. Eye for Eye was just ok. short stories
July 22, 2012
Okay there are two short stories in this. The first, Eye for Eye by Orson Scott Card was not one of his best. I felt that it ended abruptly. I do hope that he continues it though. It's not an extremely unique idea, but I think Card could really make a go of it.
The second is The Tunesmith by Lloyd Biggle Jr. with a forward by Card. Although the forward helped explain why the two stories were included in the same book, I found it was rather more interesting that Card opened himself up to tell us about this story and it's very personal effects on his life. I really liked The Tunesmith even if Card hadn't given his personal voucher. It was a complete short story and you felt completely fulfilled. You felt sorry for Baque only because of what happened to the bulk of his life, not for what his life was given for. He was able to see the effects of his love even if the effects didn't recognise his part in it. I thank Card for sharing this once forgotten story.
The second is The Tunesmith by Lloyd Biggle Jr. with a forward by Card. Although the forward helped explain why the two stories were included in the same book, I found it was rather more interesting that Card opened himself up to tell us about this story and it's very personal effects on his life. I really liked The Tunesmith even if Card hadn't given his personal voucher. It was a complete short story and you felt completely fulfilled. You felt sorry for Baque only because of what happened to the bulk of his life, not for what his life was given for. He was able to see the effects of his love even if the effects didn't recognise his part in it. I thank Card for sharing this once forgotten story.
February 28, 2009
This short piece by Card examines what would happen if certain individuals had the power to kill just by thinking ill of someone. Interesting.
May 28, 2009
This book is about rednecks giving each other cancer with sparklies. Also incest. I wish I were kidding.
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May 29, 2009Eye For Eye / The Tunesmith (Tor Science Fiction Double, No 27) by Orson Scott Card (1990)
January 4, 2011
I only read Eye for Eye and not The Tunesmith on this one. The story was okay, but if was any longer I probably wouldn't have finished it. It just wasn't that interesting to me.
July 26, 2013
I only read "The Tunesmith" so...yeah.
April 12, 2014
Tunesmith was one of the best hidden gems I've reading in quite a while! Lloyd Biggle Jr was completely unknown to me.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews