Search Worlds Without End

Zenna Henderson is best known for her stories of The People, published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction from the early 1950s to the mid-1970s. The People, a group of human-appearing aliens, escaped the destruction of their home world only to be shipwrecked on Earth, where they struggled to hide their extra abilities. These stories were collected into one volume in 1995 when NESFA Press published Ingathering: The Complete People Stories of Zenna Henderson.

During the same period, Henderson published an equal number of non-People stories. Like the stories of The People, they range from comforting to unnerving. Fans of The People will recognize the same underlying belief in the goodness of people and other beings as they struggle for a chance at a better future.

These stories have a common theme -- belief. A girl believes that the hills are lost beasts and leads them home; a boy believes he can fight evil with a pocket piece made from Popsicle sticks; a boy believes he can build a noise-eating machine -- with fatal results.

Believing: The Other Stories of Zenna Henderson contains every non-People story, all long out of print. Thirty-three of the stories in this volume are from her collections, The Anything Box and Holding Wonder. The remaining five stories and three poems were previously published in other magazines and anthologies. Welcome to Zenna Henderson's world.

Table of Contents:

• 9 - The Universal Conversation - essay by Sharon Lee
• 13 - Belief in Zenna Henderson - essay by Brother Guy Consolmagn, SJ
• 19 - The Anything Box - (1956) - short story
• 31 - Subcommittee - (1962) - novelette
• 49 - Something Bright - (1960) - short story
• 63 - Hush! - (1953) - short story
• 73 - Food to All Flesh - (1953) - short story
• 81 - Come On, Wagon! - (1951) - short story
• 89 - Walking Aunt Daid - (1955) - short story
• 97 - The Substitute - (1953) - short story
• 109 - The Grunder - (1953) - short story
• 127 - Things - (1960) - short story
• 135 - Turn the Page - (1957) - short story
• 141 - Stevie and the Dark - (1952) - short story
• 151 - And a Little Child... - (1959) - short story
• 167 - The Last Step - (1958) - short story
• 181 - J-Line to Nowhere - (1969) - novelette
• 197 - You Know What, Teacher? - non-genre - (1954) - short story
• 207 - The Effectives - (1965) - short story
• 221 - Loo Ree - (1953) - short story
• 233 - The Closest School - (1960) - short story
• 243 - Three-Cornered and Secure - (1971) - short story
• 257 - The Taste of Aunt Sophronia - (1971) - short story
• 273 - The Believing Child - (1970) - short story
• 285 - Through a Glass--Darkly - (1970) - novelette
• 305 - As Simple as That - (1971) - short story
• 315 - Swept and Garnished - (1971) - short story
• 321 - One of Them - (1971) - short story
• 339 - Sharing Time - (1971) - short story
• 357 - Ad Astra - (1971) - short story
• 367 - Incident After - [The People] - (1971) - short story
• 373 - The Walls - [The People] - (1971) - short story
• 381 - Crowning Glory - (1971) - short story
• 391 - Boona on Scancia - (1971) - short story
• 397 - Love Every Third Stir - (1971) - short story
• 409 - Realize - (1957) - poem
• 409 - Afternoon Rain - (1957) - poem
• 410 - Gray - (1957) - poem
• 411 - Before the Fact - (1955) - short story
• 419 - Thrumthing and Out - (1972) - novelette
• 447 - The First Stroke - (1977) - short story
• 453 - There Was a Garden - (1978) - short story
• 459 - ...Old...As a Garment - (1982) - short story
• 467 - Acknowledgement (Believing: The Other Stories of Zenna Henderson) - essay by Patricia Morgan Lang
• 469 - Sources, or First Appearances (Believing: The Other Stories of Zenna Henderson) - essay by uncredited

Here are children who "believe"-- but what they believe and how they can realize their beliefs is only half the story.... Dismey, for example, believes she's a magician. Two little boys who teased her can prove it. But the can't tell-- she's turned them into rocks! And how do you explain an amazing child who believes in attending school--but is hundreds of years old? The explanation is simple... if you believe!

Table of Contents:

• The Believing Child - (1970)
• Through a Glass - Darkly - (1970)
• J-Line to Nowhere - (1969)
• The Indelible Kind - (1968)
• As Simple as That - (1971)
• You Know What, Teacher? - (1954)
• The Effectives - (1965)
• Loo Ree - (1953)
• The Closest School - (1960)
• Three-Cornered and Secure - (1971)
• The Taste of Aunt Sophronia - (1971)
• Swept and Garnished - (1971)
• One of Them - (1971)
• Sharing Time - (1971)
• Ad Astra - (1971)
• Incident After - (1971)
• The Walls - (1971)
• Crowning Glory - (1971)
• Boona on Scancia - (1971)
• Love Every Third Stir - (1971)

Don't open The Anything Box unless you're prepared for the unexpected.

The Grunder, a thing of horror which, if defeated, restores love...

The Noise-Eater, created by a child out of his fevered imagination, gobbles up anything--or anyone--that makes a sound...

The Coveti, residents of an alien world poisoned by the intrusion of the stranger from Earth...

The Beast Hill, an ordinary mound of earth, except that its grass resembles fur, and--doesn't it move?

Table of Contents:

• The Anything Box - (1956)
• Subcommittee - (1962)
• Something Bright - (1960)
• Hush! - (1953)
• Food to All Flesh - (1953)
• Come On, Wagon! - (1951)
• Walking Aunt Daid - (1955)
• The Substitute - (1953)
• The Grunder - (1953)
• Things - (1960)
• Turn the Page - (1957)
• Stevie and the Dark - (1952)
• And a Little Child... - (1959)
• The Last Step - (1958)

Hugo Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 1958. The story can also be found in the anthology The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction, Eighth Series (1959), edited by Anthony Boucher. It is included in the collections Pilgrimage: The Book of the People (1961) and Ingathering: The Complete People Stories of Zenna Henderson (1995).

Zenna Henderson is best remembered for her stories of the People which appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction from the early 50s to the middle 70s. The People escaped the destruction of their home planet and crashed on Earth in the Southwest just before the turn of the century. Fully human in appearance, they possessed many extraordinary powers. Henderson’s People stories tell of their struggles to fit in and to live their lives as ordinary people, unmolested by fearful and ignorant neighbors. The People are “us at our best, as we hope to be, and where (with work and with luck) we may be in some future.”

Ingathering contains all seventeen of the People stories, including one, “Michal Without,” which has never before been published.

Table of Contents:

• ix - Introduction (Ingathering: The Complete People Stories) - (1995) - essay by Priscilla Olson
• 1 - Lea 1 - [The People - 1] - (1961) - short fiction (variant of I (Pilgrimage: The Book of the People))
• 13 - Ararat - [The People] - (1952) - novelette
• 33 - Lea 2 - [The People - 2] - (1961) - short fiction (variant of II (Pilgrimage: The Book of the People))
• 39 - Gilead - [The People] - (1954) - novelette
• 65 - Lea 3 - [The People - 3] - (1961) - short fiction (variant of III (Pilgrimage: The Book of the People))
• 67 - Pottage - [The People] - (1955) - novelette
• 97 - Lea 4 - [The People - 4] - (1961) - short fiction (variant of IV (Pilgrimage: The Book of the People))
• 103 - Wilderness - [The People] - (1957) - novelette
• 137 - Lea 5 - [The People - 5] - (1961) - short fiction (variant of V (Pilgrimage: The Book of the People))
• 141 - Captivity - [The People] - (1958) - novella
• 181 - Lea 6 - [The People - 6] - (1961) - short fiction (variant of VI (Pilgrimage: The Book of the People))
• 191 - Jordan - [The People] - (1959) - novelette
• 217 - No Different Flesh - [The People] - (1965) - novelette
• 249 - Mark & Meris 1 - [The People] - (1995) - short fiction
• 253 - Deluge - [The People] - (1963) - novelette
• 283 - Mark & Meris 2 - [The People] - (1995) - short fiction
• 287 - Angels Unawares - [The People] - (1966) - novelette
• 319 - Mark & Meris 3 - [The People] - (1995) - short fiction
• 321 - Troubling of the Water - [The People] - (1966) - novelette
• 351 - Mark & Meris 4 - [The People] - (1995) - short fiction
• 353 - Return - [The People] - (1961) - novelette
• 385 - Mark & Meris 5 - [The People] - (1995) - short fiction
• 387 - Shadow on the Moon - [The People] - (1962) - novelette
• 423 - Tell Us a Story - [The People] - (1980) - novella
• 461 - That Boy - [The People] - (1971) - novelette
• 497 - Michal Without - [The People] - (1995) - novelette
• 525 - The Indelible Kind - [The People] - (1968) - novelette
• 555 - Katie-Mary's Trip - [The People] - (1975) - short story
• 569 - The People Series - (1980) - essay
• 573 - Chronology of the People Stories - (1995) - essay by Mark L. Olson and Priscilla Olson

They were feared as witches and demons...

They possessed superhuman powers...

They could read minds, free objects from gravity, fly through the air...

They lived alone and outcast in an isolated canyon...

They were THE PEOPLE!

Table of Contents:

• [vi] - Introduction (The People Collection) - essay by Anne McCaffrey
• 1 - Pilgrimage - [The People] - (1967) - novel (variant of Pilgrimage: The Book of the People 1961)
• 265 - The People: No Different Flesh - [The People] - (1966) - collection
• 267 - No Different Flesh - [The People] - (1965) - novelette
• 311 - Deluge - [The People] - (1963) - novelette
• 351 - Angels Unawares - [The People] - (1966) - novelette
• 391 - Troubling of the Water - [The People] - (1966) - novelette
• 430 - Return - [The People] - (1961) - novelette
• 472 - Shadow on the Moon - [The People] - (1962) - novelette
• 519 - The Indelible Kind - [The People] - (1968) - novelette
• 557 - Incident After - [The People] - (1971) - short story
• 567 - The Walls - [The People] - (1971) - short story
• 579 - Katie-Mary's Trip - [The People] - (1975) - short story

Table of Contents:

• No Different Flesh - (1965)
• Deluge - (1963)
• Angels Unawares - (1966)
• Troubling of the Water - (1966)
• Return - (1961)
• Shadow on the Moon - (1962)