of bullies and then again to drive Pennywise back
into his periodic torpor. When the only one of
their number who remained in their hometown
calls them back, they respond in a variety of
ways—suicide, disbelief, determination, and even
renewed hope. Ultimately, each must face the crisis
in his or her own way, discovering the truth about
themselves and finding the courage to go forward.
The story also demonstrates the impossibility of
ever truly going home but paradoxically implies
that there is an inevitable pressure on each of us to
try. Although the adaptation took considerable lib-
erty with some of the subplots, the 1990 television
miniseries was a surprisingly effective translation.
“It” Theodore Sturgeon(1940)
Sometimes the most difficult part of writing a mon-
ster story is finding a new and interesting creature,
which explains why so many writers fall back on
the old standards, ghosts, vampires, werewolves,
and other overly familiar figures. Theodore Stur-
geon, a marvelously talented writer best known for
his science fiction, came up with a particularly re-
pulsive monster for this story, but what truly makes
it remarkable is that he invites the reader to peer
inside the creature’s brain.
The “It” of the title is a nameless thing that
spontaneously comes to life composed of decaying
bits and pieces gathered around the long-dead
skeleton of a man who died in a secluded part of a
forest. The creature has a mind of sorts, is curious
about itself and its environment, but is almost
completely ignorant of the world. When it kills a
small animal and notices that its eyes dim with the
passing of life, it assumes that death is the same as
the loss of sight, and when darkness falls, it decides
it, too, has died and lies down to wait for whatever
might come next. Although Sturgeon describes his
monster as evil, that is not really the case. It is
merely indifferent and self-centered because it has
no experience of pain and no moral sense.
Not far away is the farm of the Drew family,
three adults and a child, Babe, another of Stur-
geon’s several precocious youngsters. Alton Drew
is puzzled by the disappearance of his hunting dog,
finds its dismembered body in the forest, and vows
to track down the party responsible. Unfortunately,
since the monster has no vital organs, no organs at
all, in fact, gunshots fail to affect it, and Alton be-
comes its next experiment in anatomy. Predictably,
Babe wanders off in search of her uncle and stum-
bles across the monster, and after a harrowing in-
terlude she escapes, inadvertently leading her
tormentor to an unusual but well-deserved doom.
In the hands of a less talented writer, this
would have been a minor story. It is the characters
who bring it to life and the passionate way in
which they interact with one another. Also, there
is no simple happy ending. Although the identity
of the mysterious skeleton is revealed and the out-
look for the Drew family becomes significantly im-
proved financially, it is clear that Babe has been
permanently affected by her experience. Even
Sturgeon’s happy endings often have an ambiva-
lent tone, for life itself rarely offers unambiguous
answers.“It’s a Good Life”Jerome Bixby (1953)
Although Jerome Bixby was a prolific short story
writer, particularly in the science fiction field, only
one of his stories has remained consistently popu-
lar since it first appeared. It became one of the very
best episodes of the original Twilight Zonetelevision
series and was later remade as a segment of Twilight
Zone: The Movie(1983).
The story opens in the small town of Peaksville,
which we soon discover has been cut loose from the
rest of the world and is suspended in a reality all its
own. Everyone in town is afraid of little Anthony,
the child responsible for the change. Anthony has
extraordinary powers that make him invincible and
omniscient, a virtual god. He can read people’s
minds, alter the laws of nature, and transform physi-
cal objects. He can teleport himself from one place
to another instantaneously and make other objects
move or vanish entirely without touching them. It is
not a good idea to upset Anthony, because he might
kill you or change you in some fashion, either your
body or your mind. Everyone pretends at all times
that things are good and that they are happy, or at
the very least insist that it is a good thing that they
are unhappy. They also fight against boredom, since
nothing new ever comes into their world; Anthony
is a destroyer, not a creator. The few unusual items178 “It”