"Pretty Boy" is a story 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...

 set in his Ender's Game universe

Ender's Game series

The Ender's Game series is a series of science fiction books by Orson Scott Card. The series started with the novelette "Ender's Game", which was later expanded into the novel Ender's Game. It currently consists of eleven novels and ten short stories...

. It tells the story of how "Bonzo" Madrid got into Battle School. It appears in Card's Webzine InterGalactic Medicine Show

Intergalactic Medicine Show

InterGalactic Medicine Show is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine. It was founded by multiple award-winning author Orson Scott Card. An anthology also called Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show was published by Tor in August, 2008, featuring selected stories from...

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Plot summary

"Pretty Boy" is the story of Bonito "Bonzo" Madrid as a child. Bonito was born in Toledo, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 and given a name that means "pretty boy". His father Amaro was a lawyer and Spanish patriot who adored his son. Because Bonito was very smart the International Fleet came to test him when he was less than two years old. After that Amaro took Bonito everywhere and gave him anything he wanted. As he grew older Bonito started to observe his family and discovered that they needed him to be happy so he decided not to go to Battle School. However while studying his parents to find out how to make them happier he discovered that his father kept a second apartment in the city and told his mother. When he and his mother went to see his grandmother Bonito learned that his father was having an affair with another woman and had broken his mother's heart. Because Bonito didn't want to be like his father he changed his mind and went to Battle School.

Characters

• Tomas Benedito Bonito de Madrid y Valencia
• Amaro de Madrid - Bonito's father
• Tester from the International Fleet - unnamed
• Bonito's mother - unnamed
• Visitor who liked mother's flatbread - unnamed
• Amaro's secretary - unnamed
• Grandma - mother's mother

Publication

"Pretty Boy" was published in the March 2006 issue of Intergalactic Medicine Show. It also appears in the anthology Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show

Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show

Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show is an anthology edited by Edmund R. Schubert and Orson Scott Card.Originally published in paperback by Tor Books in August 2008 , It contains eighteen stories from Card's online magazine InterGalactic Medicine Show including four from Card set in his...

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