Winston K. Marks 15 min read

In Italy they called it a tumor, in Paris cancer, and now these fat-headed doctors are trying to tell the furious Miss Caffey she's six months pregnant, though she insists it's utterly impossible.

Winston K. Marks's 1953 story is a wry first-contact and social-SF tale. Clever, funny golden-age SF. Read it for a genial medical-mystery comedy where an indignant spinster's impossible pregnancy opens onto something strange and wonderful, in a light, well-turned golden-age piece that spins an outrageous premise with warmth and a sly sense of humor.

In its time

Published in 1953, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

15 min read (a short story, a single idea, delivered and gone).

Illustrated by

Vidmer