"The Wishes We Make" (1943) by E. Mayne Hull

A genie suddenly appears before a condemned man in his death cell and offers him not just one wish but six - what is the problem? you might ask. Well, avoiding one’s destiny is not as easy as it sounds, as this quite brilliant and very amusing golden-age tale with the most sombre of overtones, first published in the June 1943 issue of Unknown Worlds, shows us.

(6,700 words)

Its author, Edna Mayne Hull was born and brought up in Manitoba, Canada, as was her husband, our favourite science-fiction writer A. E. van Vogt.

There is an interesting comment on her upbringing in her biographical notice on the cover of the 1948 anthology Out of the Unknown [1]: "Edna Mayne Hull is the daughter of J.T. Hull, Canadian economist, editor and Wheat Pool executive. Her father’s idea for bringing up children was to let his six youngsters read at will in one of the largest private libraries in Western Canada. Then when they expressed an opinion, he would take the opposite viewpoint. Result: fireworks."

Another extremely interesting comment in that biographical notice is about her role in A.E. van Vogt’s literary activities: "Mayne", as she is called, has worked on virtually every story written by her husband since their marriage [2]". Many thanks, Edna Mayne!

An e-book is available for downloading below.

"One is the principle, two is the word. The monad is Bohas; the duad is Jakin. The triad is formed by union, which is doubled by ignorance to become a sesad. Six wishes."

The Wishes We Make (e-book)