Turning Hearts: Short Stories on Family Life

by Orson Scott Card (Editor), David Dollahite (Editor)

Introduction : families in fiction / Orson Scott Card --
Possum funeral / David Dollahite --
Tim / Kristen D. Randle --
Father, forgive us / Randall L. Hall --
Birthday gift / Carroll Morris --
The color-blind bull / Jean Liebenthal --
Me and the Big Apple / Jaroldeen Edwards --
Mallwalkers / Jerry M. Young --
More than marks on the paper / Kathleen Dalton-Woodberry --
Flower girl / Herbert Harker --
Hanauma Bay / Margaret Blair Young --
That my soul might see / Richard H. Cracroft --
Your own people / Jack Weyland --
Still dancing / Susan Dean Strange --
Dad and the Studebaker / Richard M. Siddoway --
Sandwich filling / Sharon Downing Jarvis --
Now let's dance / Zina Peterson --
The door on Wickham Street / Robert England Lee --
Worthy to be one of us / Orson / Orson Scott Card --
Afterward: Family stories and family relationships / David Dollahite --
About the authors

Genres: Fiction, Religion, Church, Mormonism

307 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1994

About the author

Orson 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.

Reviews

[Ann Woodbury Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of stories about various aspects of family life, written by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was published in 1994. Given its age, then, it's not surprising that one of the things that struck me the most was how technology has become so embedded in our lives 26 years later. While some stories are still relevant, several could not exist today--particularly "Me and the Big Apple," where a stay-at-home mother takes her businessman husband's place in hand-delivering a proposal to New York City and runs the opaque projector during the meeting; and "More than Marks on Paper," about genealogy. Since I am old enough to remember what life was like pre-computers I understood them, but I wonder about the younger generation who will need to have everything explained in detail and will probably roll their eyes and give up. Unfortunately, the collection is also extremely uneven in quality and interest. A few stories shine in uniqueness, writing, or plot--"Tim," "Father, Forgive Us," "Now Let's Dance"--but the majority suffer either from poor, wordy writing (the first, "Possum Funeral," almost turned me off completely); stereotyped, predictable situations (angsty teen and newly sympathetic parent, frustrated mom realizing dad doesn't have it great either [or vice versa], homesick woman who is rejuvenated when she discovers her local history, Mom torn between caring for her children or grandmother, etc.); or being either too short or too long and drawn-out. And only one of the 18 has characters who are not standard white, middle-class, educated Mormons. Oh, well--collections by a variety of authors are often afflicted with issues like this.

[Mommywest · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was introduced to this little gem of a book when I took Family Science 160 at BYU. My professors used a few of the stories in the book to illustrate things we were learning at the time, and I have LOVED this book ever since then. Occasionally I will have a yearning to read the book all over again, and I am surprised to see new things I learn and pick out of the stories every time I read it.

Compiled by award-winning author Orson Scott Card and family science professor David Dollahite, this book contains many short stories written by well-known LDS authors on aspects of family life, including two written by the compilers. These stories are fresh, funny, tear-jerking, and thought-provoking. They invite you to dig deeper, to find yourself or your family in them, or to simply learn about the intricacies of our interactions with those we love and how those interactions shape us.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories by LDS authors about family life. The nice thing about an anthology is that if there's one story I didn't like I'll usually like the next one. And I liked the majority of stories here. Most of the families were pretty white American Mormon-y, but there were a diversity of narrators--one with a teenage girl as protagonist, one with an aging widower, etc. Some of the stories made me smile and some of them had me pondering my own family relationships.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the stories in this book were beautiful. Others were a little bit too much. I like that the stories celebrate families, commitment, and adult responsibility.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good collection of short stories on the theme of families. Some were touching, some were sad, were familiar and smacked of real life. Well done.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a story in this anthology, so I may be a little biased. I liked all of the stories except for one, and it felt preachy to me.

[Eliza · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a refreshing reality check on what it means to be an adult.