They are like parts of a single body, yet, as it emerges in the third section (and that makes you look back closely over the first two) they lack a critical part of their functioning, a conscience.īut I can’t summarize the elements of the story without pointing to the destructively dated language. I love all sorts of stories about collective minds, but More Than Human is one of the few in which all members of the group have equally necessary roles. This consists of a group of humans with extraordinary powers: a strange “baby” who is the brain, a strong man whose limited mind comes to include extraordinary powers when linked to the “brain”, teleporting twins who can retrieve anything the group needs to survive, and a young girl capable of telekinesis who is the vital link to the brain and who communicates baby’s insights and instructions to the others. Together these three segments describe different phases of the emergence of a new life form, Homo Gestalt. Aside from a few serious reservations, which I’ll get to in a minute, More Than Human is a riveting story told through three interwoven novellas, “The Fabulous Idiot”, “Baby is Three” (this was the first written) and “Morality”. Forget genre, this is just great fiction writing. From the beginning, it’s clear you’re in the hands of a master. This was my introduction to Sturgeon’s work, and I’m in awe of his accomplishment. Continuing on my list for Vintage Science Fiction Month, I read Theodore Sturgeon’s 1953 novel, More Than Human.
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