work of science fiction, although it strongly re-
sembles a fantasy. In the aftermath of a devastat-
ing war, a young girl travels through the much
altered landscape and has a series of low-key ad-
ventures. The Child Garden(1989), also science
fiction, won the John W. Campbell Award and
the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and it appeared that
Ryman was firmly established in that genre.
Ryman did not produce much work for the
next few years but returned to fantasy for the novel
Wa s(1992), still considered his single most impres-
sive work. It is only marginally fantastic, cast in the
form of a realistic look at the young girl who was
the supposed prototype for the protagonist of The
WIZARD OF OZ(1906). Her retreat into fantasy—
the land beyond the rainbow—is a psychological
escape from a colorless, impoverished background
and an abusive guardian.
His most recent fantasy novel is Lust(2001), a
witty but comparatively weaker story of a man who
discovers that he has the power to wish people in
and out of existence. Wa shas been produced for
the stage, and Ryman has himself been involved
with a number of dramatic productions. His small
body of very fine short stories are collected in
Coming of Enkidu(1989) and Unconquered Coun-
tries: Four Novellas(1994), but both are predomi-
nantly science fiction.Ryman, Geoffrey 299