Lost Boys
Encyclopedia
Lost Boys is the first horror
novel and short story by author Orson Scott Card
.
and his family. His claim to fame is a fictional Atari computer
game called Hacker Snack. Step Fletcher, a devout Mormon
, moves his pregnant wife DeAnne and their three children (Stevie [7], Robbie [4] and Elizabeth [a toddler]) from Indiana
to Steuben, North Carolina
so he can start a new job as a technical writer
. Fletcher must deal with several unpleasant situations. His manager, Dicky Northranger, is a greedy, petty and manipulative
man who does everything he can to undermine Step's position, while the owner of the company Ray Keene asks him to cross check whatever technical job Dicky does as it seems he is not very comfortable about Dicky's competence.
Then there is Glass, a young programmer at work who is very friendly towards Step and always offering to babysit his kids. Later on, Step comes to realize that Glass is a child molester who loves washing little girl's privates. This nauseates Step and he vows that Glass shall never get near his children.
Meanwhile, his new house is periodically invaded by hordes of different types of insects. Bappy, the elderly father of the owner of the Fletcher's rented house, is always ready to lend a hand with things as he has lots of 'time' nowadays.
Meanwhile, Stevie's teacher at his new school hates him and Stevie becomes withdrawn. Step confronts the teacher and she leaves, but Stevie becomes even more withdrawn, playing only with his imaginary friend
s in the garden and on his computer. As Stevie's group of imaginary friends, who are all boys, grows, his parents become increasingly concerned and eventually take him to a psychiatrist
, against their better judgment. Then they see a newspaper article about young boys who are disappearing. The names of Stevie's imaginary friends are exactly the same as the missing children, except that Stevie also knows the boys' nicknames. They notify the police, who come over to the house and question Stevie briefly, but they left with little to go on other than the confirmation that the boys are indeed dead, as opposed to simply missing. Step, who is a computer games expert, notices that the computer game that Stevie uses to play with his imaginary friends has graphics that are way beyond anything that could actually run on the computer but fails to investigate further.
At a company outing, Glass manages to get Elizabeth on her own and Step, who has suspected Glass of being a child molester for some time, yet has not told his wife, manages to rescue his daughter just in time.
He confronts Glass directly and feels that he has added another enemy after having moved to Steuben.
The Fletchers receive a packet containing a record by the band The Police with the song "Every Breath You Take". The song is about a stalker with the lyrics "Every breath you take/Every move you make/Every bond you break/Every step you take/I'll be watching you". Step later learns that this was a prank of Stevie's embittered teacher who had to leave her job after Step's confrontation.
As the mystery about Stevie's friends increases, Step one day discovers that the game with a very advanced graphics, that Stevie plays on the computer with his friends, does not run in front of anyone else but Stevie.
The pest infestation continues in their house and Step and De Anne are confirmed that the soul of their son is so pure that he is surely able to gauge the disturbance in the fabric of the cosmos due to something bad happening in and around this house or this town.
On the 22nd of December Bappy arrives and fits the Christmas lights for them and lingers for quite sometime. DeAnne notices that Stevie has eaten very little during these days. Finally on Christmas eve Stevie brings in his friends to introduce them to their parents and to celebrate Christmas.
Step and DeAnne are happy that they have finally seen Stevie's friends. When Stevie is asked as to why he didn't bring in his friends earlier, he confesses that he himself was surprised as to why others were not able to see them. Then, he says that now that he is finally like them, he has shown them the way to make others see them. Everyone is confused with what he says. He then narrates that the disappearance of the little boys at Steuben had got everything to do with Bappy and he had confronted him directly on the day he had been fixing lights. Bappy was too fast for him and had murdered him before he could come running in. He said that the underspace below the house had eight graves among which his was the last. He also says that he had done what his parents had taught him, which was to do what he felt was right. He had felt that he was the one whose job it was to stop Bappy from doing this thing to other boys.
His soul was strong enough to bring him to everyone's notice even after death and now he felt ready to go. At the end he was alone with his parents like so many years back when their family had just started. He says that he will miss his parents very much and Step and DeAnne bid him farewell with a proud heart and moist eyes.
Bappy is arrested and charged with the murder of the boys. Years later, Robbie and Betsy regard their elder brother like a legend and the family wait to unite with their lost child once again on the 'Other Side'.
. In the short story version, Card assumes Fletcher's role as the protagonist. Some minor plot details are different as well in this story, such as the protagonist's occupation (an editor for a computer game magazine) and the story is told from a first-person perspective instead of the novel's third-person perspective. Though he refers to many real events (such as his writing of Ender's Game
), the short story is also completely fictional. Because of his use of himself and his real occupation, real locations and real people, Card had to append a special note stating that the story is fictitious.
Card has stated that this book was one of his hardest to write due to the emotional nature of the subject material. This comes across in the writing, widely regarded by those who have read it as some of his most intense, personal writing.
's The Sixth Sense
were copied from Lost Boys, although he realized that enough had been changed that there was no point in suing.
The 2007 Spanish movie The Orphanage
also has a very similar plot.
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
novel and short story by author 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...
.
Plot summary of novel
The novel, set in 1983, revolves around a game programmerGame programmer
A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebase for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines all of which fall under the umbrella term of "game programmer"...
and his family. His claim to fame is a fictional Atari computer
Atari 8-bit family
The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992. All are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips...
game called Hacker Snack. Step Fletcher, a devout Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
, moves his pregnant wife DeAnne and their three children (Stevie [7], Robbie [4] and Elizabeth [a toddler]) from Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
to Steuben, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
so he can start a new job as a technical writer
Technical writer
A technical writer is a professional writer who designs, creates, and maintains technical documentation...
. Fletcher must deal with several unpleasant situations. His manager, Dicky Northranger, is a greedy, petty and manipulative
Psychological manipulation
Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics. By advancing the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative,...
man who does everything he can to undermine Step's position, while the owner of the company Ray Keene asks him to cross check whatever technical job Dicky does as it seems he is not very comfortable about Dicky's competence.
Then there is Glass, a young programmer at work who is very friendly towards Step and always offering to babysit his kids. Later on, Step comes to realize that Glass is a child molester who loves washing little girl's privates. This nauseates Step and he vows that Glass shall never get near his children.
Meanwhile, his new house is periodically invaded by hordes of different types of insects. Bappy, the elderly father of the owner of the Fletcher's rented house, is always ready to lend a hand with things as he has lots of 'time' nowadays.
Meanwhile, Stevie's teacher at his new school hates him and Stevie becomes withdrawn. Step confronts the teacher and she leaves, but Stevie becomes even more withdrawn, playing only with his imaginary friend
Imaginary friend
Imaginary friends and imaginary companions are a psychological and social phenomenon where a friendship or other interpersonal relationship takes place in the imagination rather than external physical reality. Imaginary friends are fictional characters created for improvisational role-playing. They...
s in the garden and on his computer. As Stevie's group of imaginary friends, who are all boys, grows, his parents become increasingly concerned and eventually take him to a psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
, against their better judgment. Then they see a newspaper article about young boys who are disappearing. The names of Stevie's imaginary friends are exactly the same as the missing children, except that Stevie also knows the boys' nicknames. They notify the police, who come over to the house and question Stevie briefly, but they left with little to go on other than the confirmation that the boys are indeed dead, as opposed to simply missing. Step, who is a computer games expert, notices that the computer game that Stevie uses to play with his imaginary friends has graphics that are way beyond anything that could actually run on the computer but fails to investigate further.
At a company outing, Glass manages to get Elizabeth on her own and Step, who has suspected Glass of being a child molester for some time, yet has not told his wife, manages to rescue his daughter just in time.
He confronts Glass directly and feels that he has added another enemy after having moved to Steuben.
The Fletchers receive a packet containing a record by the band The Police with the song "Every Breath You Take". The song is about a stalker with the lyrics "Every breath you take/Every move you make/Every bond you break/Every step you take/I'll be watching you". Step later learns that this was a prank of Stevie's embittered teacher who had to leave her job after Step's confrontation.
As the mystery about Stevie's friends increases, Step one day discovers that the game with a very advanced graphics, that Stevie plays on the computer with his friends, does not run in front of anyone else but Stevie.
The pest infestation continues in their house and Step and De Anne are confirmed that the soul of their son is so pure that he is surely able to gauge the disturbance in the fabric of the cosmos due to something bad happening in and around this house or this town.
On the 22nd of December Bappy arrives and fits the Christmas lights for them and lingers for quite sometime. DeAnne notices that Stevie has eaten very little during these days. Finally on Christmas eve Stevie brings in his friends to introduce them to their parents and to celebrate Christmas.
Step and DeAnne are happy that they have finally seen Stevie's friends. When Stevie is asked as to why he didn't bring in his friends earlier, he confesses that he himself was surprised as to why others were not able to see them. Then, he says that now that he is finally like them, he has shown them the way to make others see them. Everyone is confused with what he says. He then narrates that the disappearance of the little boys at Steuben had got everything to do with Bappy and he had confronted him directly on the day he had been fixing lights. Bappy was too fast for him and had murdered him before he could come running in. He said that the underspace below the house had eight graves among which his was the last. He also says that he had done what his parents had taught him, which was to do what he felt was right. He had felt that he was the one whose job it was to stop Bappy from doing this thing to other boys.
His soul was strong enough to bring him to everyone's notice even after death and now he felt ready to go. At the end he was alone with his parents like so many years back when their family had just started. He says that he will miss his parents very much and Step and DeAnne bid him farewell with a proud heart and moist eyes.
Bappy is arrested and charged with the murder of the boys. Years later, Robbie and Betsy regard their elder brother like a legend and the family wait to unite with their lost child once again on the 'Other Side'.
Short story
Like many of Card's works, the novel is an expansion of a short story, his "Lost Boys", which can be found in his short story compilation Maps in a MirrorMaps 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...
. In the short story version, Card assumes Fletcher's role as the protagonist. Some minor plot details are different as well in this story, such as the protagonist's occupation (an editor for a computer game magazine) and the story is told from a first-person perspective instead of the novel's third-person perspective. Though he refers to many real events (such as his writing of Ender's Game
Ender's Game
Ender's Game is a science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. The book originated as the short story "Ender's Game", published in the August 1977 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. Elaborating on characters and plot lines depicted in the novel, Card later wrote additional...
), the short story is also completely fictional. Because of his use of himself and his real occupation, real locations and real people, Card had to append a special note stating that the story is fictitious.
Card has stated that this book was one of his hardest to write due to the emotional nature of the subject material. This comes across in the writing, widely regarded by those who have read it as some of his most intense, personal writing.
Charges of plagiarism
Card has claimed that many elements of M. Night ShyamalanM. Night Shyamalan
Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan,known professionally as M. Night Shyamalan, is an Indian-born American screenwriter, film director, and producer known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots that climax with a twist ending. He is also known for filming his movies in and around...
's The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...
were copied from Lost Boys, although he realized that enough had been changed that there was no point in suing.
The 2007 Spanish movie The Orphanage
The Orphanage (2007 film)
The Orphanage is a 2007 Spanish-Mexican horror film and the debut feature of Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona. The film stars Belén Rueda as Laura, Fernando Cayo as her husband, Carlos, and Roger Príncep as their adopted son Simón. The plot centers on Laura, who returns to her childhood home, an...
also has a very similar plot.