Bizarrely Connected Stories: In which I find a strange theme connecting several previously reviewed short stories. Today’s feature: Seven Science Fiction Stories About Powerful Children!
I always wanted to be a “powerful” kid when I was growing up. I tried lifting weights, and exercising, and studying hard, and eating my Wheaties and all that stuff – but I’m not quite sure I made it. Oh well, maybe that is just the price I have to pay for growing up in the 80′s!
What constitutes a “powerful child?” Well, for the purposes of this list it is children who have some special ability, are super intelligent, have political clout or are tactical geniuses. How’s that? Hopefully it works for you because here are 7 Science Fiction Stories About Powerful Children:
- It’s a Good Life by Jerome Bixby – a small boy uses his special powers to terrorize the town in which he lives.
- Star Light, Star Bright by Alfred Bester – powerful people search for a boy with some amazing knowledge.
- The First Men by Howard Fast – a group of gifted children are raised in a controlled environment and eventually evolve into super humans.
- Burn by James Patrick Kelly – a farmer accidentally summons the young ruler of a distant world to help fight forest fires.
- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card – The 11 year old military genius and his fateful game.
- None So Blind by Joe Haldeman – a brilliant boy and a talented girl who join forces to change the intelligence paradigm.
- Jeffty is Five by Harlan Ellison – a five year old boy who never ages.
What other science fiction stories have you read that are about powerful children?
If you liked this article be sure to check out my other posts about Bizarrely Connected Stories.
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3 users responded in this post
One of the most memorable I can recall off hand is “Absalom” by Henry Kuttner & C L Moore; it’s among their very few really dark stories.
“When the Bough Breaks” by the same authors is also generally on the same theme, but is much less powerful.
Thanks Tinkoo! Those stories sound really good, I’ll be sure to check them out.
[...] few weeks ago when I was researching stories about powerful children I discovered that I had also read several short stories about kids who possessed some sort of [...]