Synopsis
A psychiatrist inteviews Tim, a very precocious young boy.
History
First publication: Astounding, November 1948
Review
The title refers to the fact that Tim hides himself from everyone and only very slowly reveals himself to the psychiatrist. Much like Flowers for Algernon, this story is about the loneliness and alienation of those who are different from the rest. Not as powerful as Flowers for Algernon, but still speaks to how outsiders are treated and how they must hide. More remarkable is that this was published in Campbell’s Astounding in the 1940s. Sure Campbell was interested in potential mind powers and The Players of Null-A was being serialized in the same issue. But this is more of a character story than Astounding normally published, less of an idea story. Still pretty relevant today and written by one of the women who were publishing in the genre back then. This is recommended to all.
Videos
We have the story in these editions:
The Great SF Stories 10 (1948), edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, paperback, DAW Books, 1983-08-00
The Future Is Female!, edited by Lisa Yaszek, hardcover, The Library of America, 2018-10-09
All of the stories in the Children of the Atom series:
In Hiding
Opening Doors
New Foundations
Children of the Atom
Problems
