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The Tales of Alvin Maker

March 03, 2023

The Tales of Alvin Maker is a series of six alternate history fantasy novels written by American novelist Orson Scott Card, published from 1987 to 2003 (with one more planned), that explore the experiences of a young man, Alvin Miller, who realizes he has incredible powers for creating and shaping things around him.

Book one in The Tales of Alvin Maker series, Seventh Son (1987)

Overview

The stories take place on the American frontier in the early 19th century, a fantasy setting based on early American folklore and superstition, in a world in which folk magic actually works and manifests differently by race, and many Caucasian characters have a limited supernatural ability, or “knack,” to do some task to near-perfection, while Native Americans manifest nature magic and people of African ancestry can work voodoo.

The stories involve a number of historical events and figures, but as a creation of alternate history. The primary divergence is the survival of Oliver Cromwell from the illness that killed him in reality, thanks to a physician secretly having a magical healing knack (Cromwell considered such knacks evil witchcraft). What was documented as the Colonial United States is divided in the books into a number of separate nations, including a smaller United States whose capital is Philadelphia and whose largest city is a Dutch-settled but increasingly English-speaking New Amsterdam. It displays much stronger Native American influence in its culture and society between New England and Virginia and extending westwards to Ohio. (New England is a colony of a Republican England where the Restoration never occurred thanks to Cromwell’s survival.) A monarchy on the southern portion of the Eastern Seaboard (where the real-world Carolinas, Georgia, etc. are) known as the “Crown Colonies” was founded by the House of Stuart in exile. An autonomous region known as Apalachee is centered on the Appalachian Mountains. Canada remains controlled by France while Florida and Nueva Barcelona (the real-world Louisiana) are colonized by Spain. Real-world Mexico is an indigenous empire but is facing the prospect of war from the United States and European powers. In addition, many of the historical figures are either presented as caricatures or bear only superficial resemblance to their historical persons.

Some of the historical figures are also accorded knacks, such as Benjamin Franklin (not a character, but repeatedly mentioned), who is said to have been a Maker, and Napoleon, who has the abilities both to make others adore and obey him and to see others’ great ambitions.

Famous Native American Indian figures include Tecumseh, who is called “Ta Kumsaw” in the books. His brother Tensquatawa is also featured, as “Tenskwa Tawa.” The characters in the book display features similar to the two famous Native Americans. The famous Battle of Tippecanoe, in which both brothers were involved, occurs in the second book, Red Prophet, although its outcome is different from the historic one.

Works

Books

Short works

  • "Hatrack River" - Novelette, published in Asimovs Magazine (Aug, 1986)
  • "Prentice Alvin and the No-Good Plow" - poem, published in Maps in a Mirror (1990)
  • "Grinning Man" - short story, published in Legends (1998)
  • "The Yazoo Queen" - short story, published in Legends II (2003)
  • "Alvin and the Apple Tree" - short story, published in Dead Man's Hand (2014)
  • "Naysayers" - short story, published in National Review (November 19, 2015 issue)[8]

Other works

Characters

Alvin Miller

Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son, discovers that his knack far surpasses that of everyone else. He can change both living and nonliving matter simply by force of will (hence the title "Maker"). This power comes at a cost, however; not only does Alvin feel a great responsibility to use his power for good, but there are forces that actively seek his death.

Alvin must discover how to use his abilities, and how to apply them for good, while struggling to survive. Along the way, he is helped by a number of people whose knacks are not as strong, but who see in Alvin a way to use their wisdom and abilities to contribute to a greater good. Some people try to misguide him or exploit his abilities for their own purposes.

Alvin Miller is Card's reimagining of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.[10][11][12]

Alternate history characters

Mentioned characters

These are characters who are mentioned, but do not appear.

  • Oliver Cromwell: His survival from the illness that killed him in reality because his physician (unknown to Cromwell) had a magical “knack” for healing meant that the monarchy wasn’t restored, which drastically altered the subsequent history of both Great Britain and British North America. This is the key divergence point of this alternative history.
  • Benjamin Franklin: He is described as a “wizard” and also as a possible “maker” himself (Appeared briefly in Seventh Son as “Old Ben.”)
  • George Washington: Described as “Lord Potomac,” who served under the British crown, but surrendered his army (and was subsequently beheaded for treason) in the series' alternate version of the American Revolution.
  • Thomas Jefferson: He serves as the first President of the United States in this timeline.
  • John Quincy Adams: Serves as Governor of Massachusetts during the events of Heartfire.

The Unmaker

The Unmaker is a supernatural force that breaks apart matter and aims to destroy and consume everything and everyone. Essentially, the Unmaker is entropy as a conscious, destructive entity. Aside from opposing all life, the Unmaker is the particular nemesis of Alvin Miller. Alvin is a Maker of exceptional power and prodigious creativity who enriches life by constructing both objects and social bridges, thereby threatening and thwarting the Unmaker. The Unmaker repeatedly attempts to do away with Alvin, at first by inducing accidents at Alvin's childhood (especially by drowning, since eroding water has a natural affinity to it), and later by influencing people to challenge and repudiate him.

To make something is to oppose the Unmaker, but a point often made is that this is futile. By natural law the Unmaker can tear down faster than any man can build. On the other hand, Making cares nothing about natural law. As Taleswapper reveals to a seven-year-old Alvin, the creation of what is known as the Crystal City could defeat, even destroy, the Unmaker. This then becomes Alvin's mission in life.

The Unmaker is usually undetectable to most people, though Alvin can detect its attention as a shimmering around his field of vision. It manifests when it needs to in order to tempt people into war and destruction, in which case it takes the most effective shape; a priest would see an avenging angel, a slave-owner a great overseer, etc. It will not appear to those who destroy willingly – they serve its cause already.

Themes

Mormonism

Alvin has some characteristics similar to Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Card is a member of this denomination, known informally as Mormons. Some of the events in Seventh Son are similar to stories about Smith's childhood. Alvin has visions of creating a Crystal City, which is similar to the Church settlement of Nauvoo, Illinois. Alvin has had premonitions that he may die after building the Crystal City, which suggests Smith's death in Carthage. Alvin was also the name of Joseph Smith's eldest brother.

Race

Race also plays a large part in the stories, particularly in the way that culture shapes the abilities that people of different groups develop. "Whites" have knacks or cultivated skills that appear to be derived from the folklore and traditions of colonial America and western Europe. "Reds" align themselves with the rhythms of nature but also use blood to perform some of their magic. "Blacks" channel their skills into creating objects of power, in a manner similar to the practices of voodoo.

Conflict

A recurring theme of the books is the conflict between Creators and Destroyers—namely, Making such as Alvin does, and Unmaking that he confronts.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "1988 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  2. ^ a b c "1989 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  3. ^ a b "1990 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  4. ^ "1996 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  5. ^ "1999 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  6. ^ . New Zealand Listener. 2013-10-30. Archived from the original on 2016-10-22.
  7. ^ ibid-11962 (2021-07-07). "Orson Scott Card has begun working on Master Alvin, the seventh and final book in The Tales of Alvin Maker series". r/ender. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  8. ^ "National Review Online". 19 November 2015.
  9. ^ "Hatrack River - eGenesis to Develop Alvin's World as a Multi-player Online Game".
  10. ^ Collings, Michael R. (1992). Card, Orson Scott (ed.). "Penetrating the Heart of Mormonism". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 25 (1): 178–180. ISSN 0012-2157. JSTOR 45236584.
  11. ^ Porschet, Alma (1994-01-01). "Orson Scott Card: Without Joseph Smith and Mormonism There Would Be No Seventh Son, No Red Prophet, No Alvin Maker". English Master's Theses.
  12. ^ Cracroft, Richard H. (1996). "Rendering the Ineffable Effable: Treating Joseph Smith's First Vision in Imaginative Literature". Brigham Young University Studies. 36 (2): 93–116. ISSN 0007-0106. JSTOR 43041991.

External links

  • The official Orson Scott Card website

March 03, 2023
tales, alvin, maker, series, alternate, history, fantasy, novels, written, american, novelist, orson, scott, card, published, from, 1987, 2003, with, more, planned, that, explore, experiences, young, alvin, miller, realizes, incredible, powers, creating, shapi. The Tales of Alvin Maker is a series of six alternate history fantasy novels written by American novelist Orson Scott Card published from 1987 to 2003 with one more planned that explore the experiences of a young man Alvin Miller who realizes he has incredible powers for creating and shaping things around him Book one in The Tales of Alvin Maker series Seventh Son 1987 Contents 1 Overview 2 Works 2 1 Books 2 2 Short works 2 3 Other works 3 Characters 3 1 Alvin Miller 3 2 Alternate history characters 3 3 Mentioned characters 3 4 The Unmaker 4 Themes 4 1 Mormonism 4 2 Race 4 3 Conflict 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksOverview EditThe stories take place on the American frontier in the early 19th century a fantasy setting based on early American folklore and superstition in a world in which folk magic actually works and manifests differently by race and many Caucasian characters have a limited supernatural ability or knack to do some task to near perfection while Native Americans manifest nature magic and people of African ancestry can work voodoo The stories involve a number of historical events and figures but as a creation of alternate history The primary divergence is the survival of Oliver Cromwell from the illness that killed him in reality thanks to a physician secretly having a magical healing knack Cromwell considered such knacks evil witchcraft What was documented as the Colonial United States is divided in the books into a number of separate nations including a smaller United States whose capital is Philadelphia and whose largest city is a Dutch settled but increasingly English speaking New Amsterdam It displays much stronger Native American influence in its culture and society between New England and Virginia and extending westwards to Ohio New England is a colony of a Republican England where the Restoration never occurred thanks to Cromwell s survival A monarchy on the southern portion of the Eastern Seaboard where the real world Carolinas Georgia etc are known as the Crown Colonies was founded by the House of Stuart in exile An autonomous region known as Apalachee is centered on the Appalachian Mountains Canada remains controlled by France while Florida and Nueva Barcelona the real world Louisiana are colonized by Spain Real world Mexico is an indigenous empire but is facing the prospect of war from the United States and European powers In addition many of the historical figures are either presented as caricatures or bear only superficial resemblance to their historical persons Some of the historical figures are also accorded knacks such as Benjamin Franklin not a character but repeatedly mentioned who is said to have been a Maker and Napoleon who has the abilities both to make others adore and obey him and to see others great ambitions Famous Native American Indian figures include Tecumseh who is called Ta Kumsaw in the books His brother Tensquatawa is also featured as Tenskwa Tawa The characters in the book display features similar to the two famous Native Americans The famous Battle of Tippecanoe in which both brothers were involved occurs in the second book Red Prophet although its outcome is different from the historic one Works EditBooks Edit Seventh Son 1987 Locus Award winner 1988 1 Hugo and World Fantasy Awards nominee 1988 1 Red Prophet 1988 Nebula Award nominee 1988 1 Locus Award winner 1989 2 Hugo Award nominee 1989 2 Prentice Alvin 1989 Nebula Award nominee 1989 2 Locus Award winner 1990 3 Hugo Award nominee 1990 3 Alvin Journeyman 1995 Locus Award winner 1996 4 Heartfire 1998 Locus Award nominee 1999 5 The Crystal City 2003 Master Alvin in progress 6 7 Short works Edit Hatrack River Novelette published in Asimovs Magazine Aug 1986 Prentice Alvin and the No Good Plow poem published in Maps in a Mirror 1990 Grinning Man short story published in Legends 1998 The Yazoo Queen short story published in Legends II 2003 Alvin and the Apple Tree short story published in Dead Man s Hand 2014 Naysayers short story published inNational Review November 19 2015 issue 8 Other works Edit Red Prophet The Tales Of Alvin Maker a comic book series Alvin Maker Game a MMORPG that was in development in 2005 but never published 9 Characters EditAlvin Miller Edit Alvin Miller the seventh son of a seventh son discovers that his knack far surpasses that of everyone else He can change both living and nonliving matter simply by force of will hence the title Maker This power comes at a cost however not only does Alvin feel a great responsibility to use his power for good but there are forces that actively seek his death Alvin must discover how to use his abilities and how to apply them for good while struggling to survive Along the way he is helped by a number of people whose knacks are not as strong but who see in Alvin a way to use their wisdom and abilities to contribute to a greater good Some people try to misguide him or exploit his abilities for their own purposes Alvin Miller is Card s reimagining of Joseph Smith founder of the Latter Day Saint movement 10 11 12 Alternate history characters Edit William Blake as the major character Taleswapper William Henry Harrison Andrew Jackson Napoleon Bonaparte Marquis de La Fayette Daniel Webster Denmark Vesey John Adams Abraham Lincoln Honore de Balzac John James Audubon Ralph Waldo Emerson Tecumseh as Ta Kumsaw Tensquatawa as Lolla Wossiky Tenskwa Tawa Stephen F Austin James Bowie Mentioned characters Edit These are characters who are mentioned but do not appear Oliver Cromwell His survival from the illness that killed him in reality because his physician unknown to Cromwell had a magical knack for healing meant that the monarchy wasn t restored which drastically altered the subsequent history of both Great Britain and British North America This is the key divergence point of this alternative history Benjamin Franklin He is described as a wizard and also as a possible maker himself Appeared briefly in Seventh Son as Old Ben George Washington Described as Lord Potomac who served under the British crown but surrendered his army and was subsequently beheaded for treason in the series alternate version of the American Revolution Thomas Jefferson He serves as the first President of the United States in this timeline John Quincy Adams Serves as Governor of Massachusetts during the events of Heartfire The Unmaker Edit The Unmaker is a supernatural force that breaks apart matter and aims to destroy and consume everything and everyone Essentially the Unmaker is entropy as a conscious destructive entity Aside from opposing all life the Unmaker is the particular nemesis of Alvin Miller Alvin is a Maker of exceptional power and prodigious creativity who enriches life by constructing both objects and social bridges thereby threatening and thwarting the Unmaker The Unmaker repeatedly attempts to do away with Alvin at first by inducing accidents at Alvin s childhood especially by drowning since eroding water has a natural affinity to it and later by influencing people to challenge and repudiate him To make something is to oppose the Unmaker but a point often made is that this is futile By natural law the Unmaker can tear down faster than any man can build On the other hand Making cares nothing about natural law As Taleswapper reveals to a seven year old Alvin the creation of what is known as the Crystal City could defeat even destroy the Unmaker This then becomes Alvin s mission in life The Unmaker is usually undetectable to most people though Alvin can detect its attention as a shimmering around his field of vision It manifests when it needs to in order to tempt people into war and destruction in which case it takes the most effective shape a priest would see an avenging angel a slave owner a great overseer etc It will not appear to those who destroy willingly they serve its cause already Themes EditThis section possibly contains original research Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations Statements consisting only of original research should be removed November 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message Mormonism Edit Alvin has some characteristics similar to Joseph Smith the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints Card is a member of this denomination known informally as Mormons Some of the events in Seventh Son are similar to stories about Smith s childhood Alvin has visions of creating a Crystal City which is similar to the Church settlement of Nauvoo Illinois Alvin has had premonitions that he may die after building the Crystal City which suggests Smith s death in Carthage Alvin was also the name of Joseph Smith s eldest brother Race Edit Race also plays a large part in the stories particularly in the way that culture shapes the abilities that people of different groups develop Whites have knacks or cultivated skills that appear to be derived from the folklore and traditions of colonial America and western Europe Reds align themselves with the rhythms of nature but also use blood to perform some of their magic Blacks channel their skills into creating objects of power in a manner similar to the practices of voodoo Conflict Edit A recurring theme of the books is the conflict between Creators and Destroyers namely Making such as Alvin does and Unmaking that he confronts See also Edit Novels portalList of works by Orson Scott Card Orson Scott CardReferences Edit a b c 1988 Award Winners amp Nominees Worlds Without End Retrieved 2009 07 15 a b c 1989 Award Winners amp Nominees Worlds Without End Retrieved 2009 07 15 a b 1990 Award Winners amp Nominees Worlds Without End Retrieved 2009 07 15 1996 Award Winners amp Nominees Worlds Without End Retrieved 2009 07 15 1999 Award Winners amp Nominees Worlds Without End Retrieved 2009 07 15 Orson Scott Card interview the extended version New Zealand Listener New Zealand Listener 2013 10 30 Archived from the original on 2016 10 22 ibid 11962 2021 07 07 Orson Scott Card has begun working on Master Alvin the seventh and final book in The Tales of Alvin Maker series r ender Retrieved 2021 11 08 National Review Online 19 November 2015 Hatrack River eGenesis to Develop Alvin s World as a Multi player Online Game Collings Michael R 1992 Card Orson Scott ed Penetrating the Heart of Mormonism Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 25 1 178 180 ISSN 0012 2157 JSTOR 45236584 Porschet Alma 1994 01 01 Orson Scott Card Without Joseph Smith and Mormonism There Would Be No Seventh Son No Red Prophet No Alvin Maker English Master s Theses Cracroft Richard H 1996 Rendering the Ineffable Effable Treating Joseph Smith s First Vision in Imaginative Literature Brigham Young University Studies 36 2 93 116 ISSN 0007 0106 JSTOR 43041991 External links EditThe official Orson Scott Card website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Tales of Alvin Maker amp oldid 1134825826, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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