"Damn Fine Novel" is a short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 by Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...

. It appears in his short story collection Maps in a Mirror

Maps in a Mirror

Maps in a Mirror is a collection of short stories by Orson Scott Card. Like Card's novels, most of the stories have a science fiction or fantasy theme...

. Card originally published this story in the October 1989 issue of The Green Pages under the pseudonym Noam D. Pellume.

Plot summary

The story is about the narrator's plan to write a book that will launch him into the pantheons of celebrity. Initially he plans to call his book F—— Good Read, but later settles on Damn Fine Novel. Though no one will ever read the book, critics and literary students will hail it as "holy writ".

External links

• The official Orson Scott Card website