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davecreek's review
4.0
Will F. Jenkins is better known as SF writer Murray Leinster nowadays. He wrote the first alternate universe story, "Sidewise in Time," coined the term "First Contact" in the story of that title for humanity's first encounter with alien beings, and in "A Logic Named Joe" anticipated the internet.
But, as I learned in TEN UNIQUE STORIES FROM WILL F. JENKINS, SF was only a small part of his literary output. He wrote mysteries, adventure stories, and family dramas for the "slick" magazines and other markets. This volume is an attempt by his daughter Billee Stallings to bring some of those stories to a modern audience.
Highlights include "The Little Terror," a Twilight-Zone-ish story (published decades before the show existed) about a little girl who gains the ability to make anything she wants disappear. It starts with a penny and a caterpillar, but when the irritating kid next door suddenly isn't anywhere to be found, the story takes a darker turn. "No Road Too Hard" tells the story of a father who discovers his son has been keeping a big secret from him. In discovering that secret, he also learns something about himself.
For me, the true gem was "The Man Who LIved Alone," about a man's seemingly irrational devotion to his wife, even after he informs his co-workers and friends that she's left him.
Here's hoping that Billee Stallings keeps unearthing otherwise unknown gems from the Jenkins/Leinster catalog!
But, as I learned in TEN UNIQUE STORIES FROM WILL F. JENKINS, SF was only a small part of his literary output. He wrote mysteries, adventure stories, and family dramas for the "slick" magazines and other markets. This volume is an attempt by his daughter Billee Stallings to bring some of those stories to a modern audience.
Highlights include "The Little Terror," a Twilight-Zone-ish story (published decades before the show existed) about a little girl who gains the ability to make anything she wants disappear. It starts with a penny and a caterpillar, but when the irritating kid next door suddenly isn't anywhere to be found, the story takes a darker turn. "No Road Too Hard" tells the story of a father who discovers his son has been keeping a big secret from him. In discovering that secret, he also learns something about himself.
For me, the true gem was "The Man Who LIved Alone," about a man's seemingly irrational devotion to his wife, even after he informs his co-workers and friends that she's left him.
Here's hoping that Billee Stallings keeps unearthing otherwise unknown gems from the Jenkins/Leinster catalog!
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