Kevin Kuhn's Reviews > More Than Human

“More than Human” was published in 1953 by American Science Fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon. This novel was a fix-up of three novellas. It was awarded a retro-Hugo in 2004 and also won the 1954 International Fantasy Award. I found it to be a frustrating read, but ultimately rewarding.

I want to start with Sturgeon, who’s life I find fascinating. He was a merchant marine sailor, a door-to-door refrigerator salesman, a Jamaican hotel manager, and a construction worker. All of those jobs happened before he was 25! During that time, he was writing and had some short stories published. Eventually, he found his home in the literary world, starting as an advertising copywriter, and then opening his own literary agency. His work was varied and important. He published dozens of short stories and over ten speculative fiction novels & novelizations. He ghostwrote a well-loved Ellery Queen mystery novel. Sturgeon wrote several Star Trek episodes which introduced the Vulcan blessing, “live long and prosper,” as well as the Vulcan mating ritual – pon farr. Two of his short stories were adapted for “The New Twilight Zone.”

Back to the story (“More than Human”) at hand, I found the first third to be muddled and intentionally ambiguous. I don’t mind vague elements in my stories, I dislike predictable stories. But this felt like Sturgeon was trying too hard to be literary and abstract and it took me out of the story. We also jump in and out of multiple character perspectives and timelines, which for me, resulted in a challenging read. It wasn’t until the final third of the book, that I found enough footing to enjoy the story. I’m glad I pushed on, because everything is eventually satisfactorily explained, and I found the ending to be gratifying.

Looking back, the story almost feels like a super-hero origin story and being published in 1953, it makes me wonder what it might have influenced (e.g., X-Men). It has elements you see in many superhero stories – superintelligence, clairvoyance, teleportation, telekinesis, etc. I’m not going to summarize the plot, but the themes explored are also often explored with superheroes such as loneliness, belonging, power, and morality.

Four and a half levitating stars for this challenging read (at least for me), written with stylistic prose and intentionally ambiguous story-telling that ultimately delivers in a satisfying examination of what it means to be human (or more than human!).