A Wrinkle in Time: Madeleine L'Engle

This is the story of Margaret Murry (called Meg) and her younger brother Charles Wallace Murry, and their friend, Calvin. Calvin just shows up one day, out of the blue. Calvin is two years older than Meg, and Charles Wallace is much younger than either of them, but the three children become friends almost immediately.

As the story opens, Meg is very unhappy because she is having trouble in school; she is acting out in classes and is mad at everyone. The real problem is that her father has been missing for over a year, and no one will tell her why, not even her mother. Meg's mother doesn't know where her husband is, and she is trying to hold the family together. Charles Wallace is too young to go to school, and people think that he is mentally slow, and he lets them think that so they will leave him alone.   

My thoughts:

The author just jumps into the story and lets the characters tell the story without excessive exposition. That worked well for me. Meg is the point of view character but she does not narrate the story. I loved all three of the main characters, once I got to know them. They had flaws; we all have flaws, even as adults. But they learned from their experiences.

I did not know what to expect from this book. Before I read it, I assumed that it was a fantasy and a time travel book. After reading it, I think it is science fantasy and I did not get any sense of time travel in it. There were a few times when I had difficulty suspending disbelief. Regardless, none of that impacted my enjoyment of the story. Once I got into the book, I was focused most on the characters and character development.

This book is very short, under 200 pages. By the time I was 40 or 50 pages in, I was totally caught up in the story and did not want to stop reading. That, and the fact that I cared about the characters, even when I did not exactly understand what was going on, were my favorite parts.

This is the first book in the Time Quintet; I have a very nice edition of the second book, so I will be reading it sometime.

Short Story Wednesday: The Vintage Anthology of Science Fantasy, 1966

In the last few days, I have read six stories from The Vintage Anthology of Science Fantasy, edited by Christopher Cerf. The last of those was a novelette, and those six stories covered 108 pages.

Rick Robinson at Tip the Wink read some stories from this book in July, see his post here. Once he finished reading the anthology, he sent me his copy to read, for which I am very grateful. 

I enjoyed all of the stories, some more than others.

Here are brief notes about the stories:

"The Great Automatic Grammatisator" by Roald Dahl

First published in Someone Like You, Knopf 1953.

Adolph Knipe is a genius computer programmer who figures out how to create a giant computer to generate short stories, and then later full novels. He really wants to write short stories but cannot get them published. He figures out an algorithm to include all the elements publishers are looking for, and even molds short stories specific to magazine publishers' preferred types of stories. I assume this is poking fun at book publishing. I liked this story and found the ending interesting.

"An Egg a Month from All Over" by Idris Seabright 

First appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Oct 1952.

This one I liked most for the title. It seemed to be a horror story. I liked the writing and the atmosphere but it did not seem to go anywhere.

However, Rich Horton at Blackgate liked it much more than I did and tells why in this post about three stories written by Idris Seabright. “Idris Seabright” was a pseudonym used by Margaret St. Clair, and the post tell more about her also.

"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury 

From The Martian Chronicles, 1950.

A sad story of a dead city after a nuclear holocaust, focusing on the one house left standing. Clearly an antiwar story, which cites a poem by Sara Teasdale that starts with the title of this story.

"And Now the News..." by Theodore Sturgeon 

First published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Dec 1956.

Another depressing story, about a man who is addicted to the news. He has a job and a family but when he is reading or hearing the news he ignores everything else that is going on. Over time he recedes from normal life and his wife tries to break the cycle. Very well written.

"No-Sided Professor" by Martin Gardner 

First appeared in Esquire, Jan 1947.

A fantastical story using mathematical theory as a basis. A lot of fun to read.

"Random Quest" novelette by John Wyndham

From Consider Her Ways and Others, 1961.

TV Tropes calls this an Alternate History Romance Novelette. Clifford Trafford has been trying to find a woman named Ottilie Harshorn, whom he meets in an alternate reality which he finds himself in after an accident. When he returns to his reality, he meets Dr. Harshorn, who has relatives with that name but both are dead. This is a very complex story, my favorite in the book so far. The differences between the two realities he was in are interesting.

So the first six stories were interesting and a pleasure to read. I read some authors that were new to me and some that I had read before. Based on these stories, I will enjoy the rest also.