Get off the Unicorn

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"Daughter" and "Dull Drums" were specifically slanted for the young adult market, but the original yam concerning Nora Fenn and the futuristic university system is far, far out.

I had submitted a story called "A Pocket to Mend" at the Pennsylvania Milford SF Writers' Conference, chaired by Damon Knight and Kate Wilhelm. It was savaged by the assembled writers as sentimental, impossible, and stupid! And after I had the opportunity to try to explain my intentions, I was told that I had done all the wrong things for all the wrong reasons. They suggested I go home and really think the basic idea through. From the original premise I retained the term "Wendy," meaning a girl with tolerance and understanding (in my story, training), who acts as housemother to and bears the children of men with homosexual proclivities.

I had enough homosexual male friends—even before the Gay Liberation developed—who were bitter that they could not adopt children because of their sexual preferences. I have never felt capable of writing a full-length novel about this situation as it should be written. So only these three stories exist, and they involve a futuristic society in which all citizens may have a "legal" child.

"Changeling" has never before been published. This story deals with one aspect of the "Wendy" theme. I wrote it originally in response to Harlan Ellison's request for a story for his Dangerous Visions anthology. Frankly, I think this one has a far more dangerous vision than "The Bones Do Lie," the story Harlan finally accepted.