AXLER.Upenn-1100%Rand-Relay@sri-unix.UUCP (10/31/83)
From: AXLER.Upenn-1100@Rand-Relay (David M. Axler - MSCF Applications Mgr.)
I have very fond memories of Zenna Henderson's works. However, the entry
in sfl on her had a few errors and a few omissions. Here's the "official" info,
straight from the Science Fiction Encyclopedia:
Henderson, Zenna (1917--) [I seem to recall a Locus obit within the last
year, however....]
American writer and schoolteacher, who has very frequently used her teaching
experience in Arizona and elsewhere as a base for her stories. Her first story
was "Come on, Wagon!" for FSF in 1951; soon after, with "Ararat" for FSF in
1952, she began publishing, in the magazine with which she is most strongly
associated, the series of stories about the "People", her central work.
Assembled as "Pilgrimage: The Book of the People" (1952-59 FSF; fix-up 1961)
and "The People: No Different Flesh" [ONE BOOK, NOT TWO!] (1961-65 FSF; coll.
of linked stories 1966), the sequence recounts over a long time-span the
arduous experiences of a group of aliens with psi powers, who are outwardly
indistinguishable from humans but morally superior. They are shipwrecked on
Earth, and are forced to try to survive as well and fully as possible. A
further story, "The Indelible Kind" (1968), appears with unconnected stories
in "Holding Wonder" (coll. 1971); this collection, along with "The Anything
Box" (coll. 1965), assembles most of ZH's stories independent of the "People"
tales. The same decorous warmth infuses all her work, sometimes overly
reducing tensions and contrasts, but usually demonstrating her humane talent
to advantage, though her wholesomeness has been criticized as over-sentimental
and mildly religiose in manner. [John Clute]
The only thing missing from the SFE article is the fact that several of the
"People" stories were combined into a made-for-TV movie a few years back;
the title escapes me at the moment...perhaps some other SFL reader will
recall it.
Dave Axler