"The Martian Child" is a novelette by David Gerrold. It won the 1995 Hugo Award for Best Novelette, Locus Award and HOMer Award and the 1994 Nebula Award for Best Novelette, and was nominated for the Theodore Sturgeon award for best short fiction.
The original novellete has been expanded into a novel, and a film of the same name was subsequently produced.
A single man who writes science fiction books and screenplays for a living, adopts a son who...
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"The Martian Child" is a novelette by David Gerrold. It won the 1995 Hugo Award for Best Novelette, Locus Award and HOMer Award and the 1994 Nebula Award for Best Novelette, and was nominated for the Theodore Sturgeon award for best short fiction.
The original novellete has been expanded into a novel, and a film of the same name was subsequently produced.
A single man who writes science fiction books and screenplays for a living, adopts a son who claims he is from Mars. The adoptive father comes to be intrigued by the possibility his son might really be a Martian. Ultimately, the father realizes that he loves his son if he is a Martian, or is not, and the son uses a magical "Martian wish" to be a human so he can remain with his father.
The story is based on the author's own experiences as a single adoptive parent, with most of the key moments drawn from actual events.
The main difference between the story and Gerrold's own experience is that David Gerrold's son, Sean Friedman, never...
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