Consider Her Ways and Others

Like any collection of unrelated stories, this is a mixed bag.

Of the stories, I particularly like and periodically reread “Odd” and “Stitch in Time”, which are both rather poignant little time-travel stories. In the first case, an accidental time-jump seems to have a beneficial effect; in the second case, its effect is unfortunate in at least one way, although the overall balance of effects is hard to assess (a common problem).

“Random Quest” is a somewhat similar story, although the jump is sideways in time, rather than forwards: it's an alternative-world story. I like it a little less, but I also reread it.

“A Long Spoon” is a light-hearted fantasy story, mildly amusing, with a little twist at the end.

“Oh, Where, Now, is Peggy MacRafferty?” is a tedious story that may have seemed more original when it was written than it does now.

And finally we have the title story, the novella called “Consider Her Ways”, which I usually avoid because I find it repulsive. It's about a future world with no men, only women; but that's not inherently repulsive. I think it's repulsive because Wyndham (a male writer, born in 1903) deliberately made it so. Sigh.