Consider Her For Free

I’m a massive fan of futuristic dystopian fiction. In fact, my biggest regret on my deathbed will undoubtedly be not knowing which method the Earth chose to screw itself over (please God, let it somehow involve mutant rodents). And one of my favorite science fiction authors is John Wyndham, whose “Day of the Triffids” and “Midwich Cuckoos” rank among his masterpieces.

So imagine my glee in discovering a novella of his that I had missed — one called “Consider Her Ways” that was published as part of “Sometime, Never,” a collection of three pitch-black science-fantasy novellas in the 1950s (William Golding and Meryvn Peake provide the other gems). It’s a genuinely disturbing and unpredictable tale of a woman who wakes up to find herself in a future dystopia — one in which her own body has been altered in frightening ways. To say any more would ruin the reader’s sense of discovery.

And therein lies the beauty of this post — much to my surprise, the novella is available in its entirety for free online at at scifi.com as part of their defunct Sci Fiction area. It’s a bit hard to read on the dark background, but it’s still there to read for free. Or just dig up a used copy of “Sometime, Never” or John Wyndham’s later collection “Consider Her Ways and Others.” Either way, if you’ve somehow missed it, as I did, the time is right to rectify that situation.