"Gert Fram" is a short story that by American author

Orson Scott Card Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both ...

. It appears in his short story collection ''

Maps in a Mirror ''Maps in a Mirror'' (1990) is a collection of short stories by American writer Orson Scott Card. Like Card's novels, most of the stories have a science fiction or fantasy theme. Some of the stories, such as "Ender's Game", " Lost Boys", and ...

'', but it originally appeared in the July 1977 fine arts issue of ''

Ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

'' magazine under the pen name Byron Walley. It is Card's first published work.Lifetime Achievement Awards: Orson Scott Card and Susan Elizabeth Howe
by Andrew Hall, at the Association of Mormon Letters; published April 8, 2017; retrieved May 31, 2017

Plot summary

A clumsy and imaginative thirteen-year-old girl named Susan Parker is having a very bad day. At school she pokes one of her classmates with a pencil and breaks her teacher's fishbowl. At home things get worse - she continues to make mistakes, knock things over and get into trouble. Although her parents are patient with Susan, she becomes convinced that they all hate her. Upset with herself, Susan begins writing a short novel called ''Susan the Jerk'' using her pen name Gert Fram. When Susan's father later goes to her room to talk to her, she lets him read ''Susan the Jerk''. Realizing how badly she feels, her father tells her how much she is loved and that she is not a “jerk”. When Susan says that she is having a hard time believing this, her father begins to cry and she realizes how much he loves her. Feeling better, she gives her novel a happier ending and goes to bed.

Byron Walley

In the Q&A section of his website, Card said that he published the short story "Gert Fram" under the name Byron Walley because he had a non-fiction article “Family Art”, a poem “Looking West” and a short play "The Rag Mission" (published under the name Brian Green) appearing in the same issue of ''Ensign'' magazine.Pseudonyms
"Orson Scott Card's website The Hatrack". He used the pseudonym to avoid appearing overrepresented in the single issue of the periodical. Card used the pseudonym again while editing '' Dragons of Darkness'', an anthology. He wanted to include two of his short stories: "

A Plague of Butterflies "A Plague of Butterflies" is a short story by American writer Orson Scott Card. It was originally published in Amazing, in 1981, and shortly afterwards in an anthology, edited by Card, entitled '' Dragons of Darkness''. His short story " ...

" and "

Middle Woman "Middle Woman" is a short story by American writer Orson Scott Card, originally published in the '' Dragons of Darkness'', edited by Card himself, under the name Byron Walley. It also appears in his short story collections '' Cardography'' and '' ...

". Both stories appeared in the book, but "Middle Woman" was under the Walley pen name.

Origins of Gert Fram

In his short story collection ''Maps in a Mirror'', Card said that Gert Fram was the childhood pen name of his sister-in-law, Nancy Allen Black, and that while the idea for the story was his own, the character Gert Fram and all the "novels" she wrote (except ''Susan the Jerk'') were created by his sister-in-law as a child.

Relationship to ''Gert Fram'' by Nancy Allen Black

Card wrote that, although his short story "Gert Fram" was based on his sister-in-law Nancy Allen Black, her young adult book ''Gert Fram - A Kid's Book for Grown-ups'' (1991) is not based on his short story but on her own childhood experiences.Nancy Allen Black
"Orson Scott Card's website The Hatrack".

References

External links