Review of The Dreaming Jewels
by Emily Stewart

The Dreaming Jewels was originally published in 1950 as Theodore Sturgeon's first novel, making it eligible for a 'retro' Hugo award this year. In addition to his talent and skill as a writer, Theodore Sturgeon is probably best known for Sturgeon's Law - "95% of Science Fiction is crap, but then again, 95% of everything is crap."

This book was also published under the title The Synthetic Man in 1961. As I write this, Hugo nominations have been closed and the nominees will be announced shortly.

The story begins with young Horton Bluett suffering the consequences of eating ants. His socially egregious mishap sets the stage for the consequences he suffers at home from his abusive adoptive father, Armand Bluett and Armand's passively consenting wife Tonta Bluett. When Armand severs three of Horty's fingers trying to lock him in a closet, Horty runs away. Horty says goodbye only to a neighbor girl, Kay Hallowell, who returns later in the story.

Horty quickly finds refuge in the back of a truck and is taken in by a trio of carnival midgets, who disguise his identity, rename him "Kiddo" and provide him with friendship and acceptance. The theme of acceptance plays strongly throughout the book, to include the carnival workers.

Sturgeon's skill at expressing the feelings of an abused, tormented child and his desire for belonging are well communicated.

Horty looked out at the starlit highway racing away beneath the rumbling wheels, the blaze of yellow-white which turned to dwindling red taillight eyes as a car whisked by on the other side of the road. The fog was gone and a lot of the pain was gone from his hand, and most of all, he was gone from Armand and Tonta. Kay had given him a feather touch of kindness, and this odd boy, who talked in a way he had never heard a boy talk before, had given him another sort of kindness. There were the beginnings of a wonderful warm glow inside him, a feeling he had had only once or twice before in his whole life - the time he had won the sack race and they gave him a khaki handkerchief, and the time four kids had whistled to a mongrel dog, and the dog had come straight to him, ignoring the others....

Horty's only possession, a jack-in-the-box named "Junky" with crystal eyes follows him throughout the story into adulthood and to his eventual reunion with Armand Bluett. Junky's eyes turn out to be much more than crystals, and their story is developed slowly and as definitively as other characters in the story. The jewels are also a fascination for the carnival boss, "The Maneater", who has chosen a life of hatred and resentment.

Sturgeon artfully crafts a story that has clear definitions of good and evil, well developed characters and the importance of human kindness. This story is another good example of classic Science Fiction and the escape it provides for the reader.

Though somewhat violent, I would recommend this story to adolescents or late pre-teens as well as adult readers. The content and undertone of acceptance and what it is to 'fit in' are very comforting for any misfit..

The Dreaming Jewels by Theodore Sturgeon (1918-1985)