of unusual beauty". Josif falls in love with Ansset the first time he meets him. He tries to avoid seeing the boy again, but this is impossible. As he slowly starts to mature, growing 17 centimetres, Ansset starts to seek out Josif's company more and more. Josif and Kyaren have a baby boy by now, but Ansset begins to realise that Josif is sexually attracted to him, as many people have been before. He recognises however, that Josif's love is different from the lust he has seen so often. Ansset starts to feel new longings. He knows that the drugs cause problems for Songbirds, particularly boys, but he has lost his songs and wants to know what happens next. Ansset eventually offers himself to the young man, saying, "I know what you want, and I'm willing". Josif lovingly brings the boy to his first climax. As Ansset experiences his first ever orgasm, he experiences enormous pain. The Songhouse drugs have almost killed him and he is forever impotent. Josif runs to find help and is captured by security forces, who take him to the palace at Susquehanna where Riktors has him drugged and castrated for his relations with Ansset. He then commits suicide by stuffing a bed sheet down his throat. Conclusion After many further developments, Ansset is back at the Songhouse, where he spends the remainder of his life. Author's commentary Card, a Mormon and social conservative who has written a number of essays condemning homosexuality, responded to conservative criticism of his novel in an article "The Hypocrites of Homosexuality". He wrote: Literary significance and criticism The fantasy writer Alma Alexander characterized Songmaster as "Quite possibly Card's best published work, ever." The publisher characterised the story as "...a haunting story of power and love—the tale of the man who would destroy everything he loves to preserve humanity's peace, and the boy who might just sing the world away". Awards and nominations As with some other Card novels (Ender's Game, for example), this book started out as a shorter story "Mikal's Songbird", which was a Nebula Award finalist in 1978 and a Hugo finalist in 1979, both in the "novelette" category. Songmaster received the Hamilton-Brackett Memorial Award 1981. See also List of works by Orson Scott Card References External links About the novel Songmaster from Card's website 1980 American novels Novels by Orson Scott Card 1980 science fiction novels American