Stopover

by William Gerken

First published in 1957:
"When he opened the door to the shed that day, and saw the axe suspended in mid-air, he understood what was wrong." What will the world be like, the day after Tomorrow, for the lonely ones who will have talents that others will half fear, half envy? William Gerken describes this strange world in which young and old will have to find new values and pursue new dreams, as they search for the answer....

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories

11 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 9, 2009

Reviews

[Ralph McEwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

What will the world be like, the day after Tomorrow, for the lonely ones who will have talents that others will half fear, half envy? William Gerken describes this strange world in which young and old will have to find new values and pursue new dreams, as they search for the answer....

Interesting tale of post atomic war, mental powers and acceptance, well read with a good voice.

Text published from Analog February 1963

Audio Book MP3 downloaded from Librivox.org
http://librivox.org/short-science-fic...

Public Domain stories from Project Gutenberg, that are read by volunteers.
I listen to these short stories while walking to and from work.

Play Duration: 00:22:57
Read by: Bellona Times

[Akrabar · Rating 5 out of 5]

uplifting story

https://librivox.org/short-science-fi...

[Zen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A satisfying piece of filler for a monthly sci-fi magazine. Nothing special though.

It is written in bland, unexciting prose. Add that to the less than interesting subject matter and one finds it a bit of a dull, boring read.

A young drifter comes to town after a WWIII, which was a blast I hear. An atomic one. He has developed psy powers. He is accepted in town whereas most towns are prejudiced against psy people. Apparently they hold much responsibility for WWIII. He teaches young children to develop their latent psy powers, which the adults think will make for a better future, since this one is fizzling out. He leaves town like a Saint, his work done

Pretty much a chapter that could fit in any dustbowl, depression era narrative. Just change the names, dates and places.

So why 2 stars. Well the drifter is likened to a personification of Jesus, who is spreading the word among the outcat and the needy. A maudlin metaphor if there ever was one.

And a bit of a sticky one too when you realize just how many wars have been fought in the name of some sort of religion or other. WWIII, in the story, was obviously a war between Capitalism and Communism. And what are these two ideologies but religions in everything but name.

Anyways, seems some readers like this story. I found it a bit boring. It was written in bland, unexciting prose.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Stopover” by William Gerken

Ok story but not worth getting excited about.
"When he opened the door to the shed that day, and saw the axe suspended in mid-air, he understood what was wrong."
..

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this as part of the Eigtht Science Fiction Megapack. All the books were interesting. 2023

[Chris Aldridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Librivox SSF Collection Vol ??? n 019. A young waif arrives in a post apocalyptic mid western US town. He’s apparently a bit too precocious to seem normal but a family takes him in - he eventually teaches other kids his psi skills after the town outvotes
its most xenophobic citizen, and try to rebuild society to avoid another world war. Despite falling in love though the boy decided to move on to find his missing Dad or others with strong psi and grow the psi peace movement. The family patriarch wonders if the boy was a reincarnation of Jesus. Not bad but not very exciting either.