War Beneath the Tree
Publication(s)
- First publication
- Wolfe collection(s)
- Gene Wolfe’s Book of Days (1981) -- called 'The War Beneath the Tree'
- Endangered Species (1989)
- Castle of Days (1992)
- Other anthologies
- The Omni Book of Science Fiction #3, ed. Ellen Datlow, Zebra 1985
- Christmas on Ganymede and Other Stories, ed. Martin H. Greenberg, Avon 1990
Wolfe's comments from the Introduction to Endangered Species
This is simple truth: Tonight you and I, with billions of others, are sitting around the fire we call "the sun," telling stories; and from time to time it has been my turn to entertain. I have occasionally remembered that though you are not a child, there is a child alive in you still, for those in whom the child is dead will not hear stories. Thus I wrote "War Beneath the Tree," and certain others.
Summary
On Christmas eve, a boy's new robotic toys wage war against the old ones.
Analysis
- The excesses of consumerism and robotic toys are reminiscent of Frederik Pohl's "The Man Who Ate the World" and his other Midas World stories.
- The old toys fear the new ones just like Robin at the end of the story fears the arrival of a sibling.
Unresolved Questions
- Was it A or was it B, or was it X or Z?
- Was it he or was it she, or was it you or me?
- Who dunnit?
- Did the Star Child really start WWIII at the end of 2001?
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