It's a Good Life

"It's a Good Life" is a short story by American writer Jerome Bixby, written in 1953. In 1970, the Science Fiction Writers of America selected it for The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, as one of the 20 best short stories in science fiction published prior to the Nebula Award. The story was first published in Star Science Fiction Stories No.2. The story was adapted in 1961 into an episode of The Twilight Zone. Plot summary Anthony Fremont is a three-year-old boy with near-godlike powers: he can transform other people or objects into anything he wishes, think new things into being, teleport himself and others where he wishes, read the minds of people and animals and even revive the dead. His appearance is never completely described: the story mentions his "odd shadow" and "bright, wet, purple gaze", and the obstetrician at his birth was said to have "screamed and dropped him and tried to kill him". The town's children are told that Anthony is a "nice goblin", but they must never go near him. Anthony's powers were present at birth, as he was able to kill the obstetrician and then, instinctively, separate his birthplace, the town of Peaksville, Ohio, from the rest of Earth moments after he was born. Nobody knows whether Anthony transported Peaksville somewhere or whether the rest of the world was destroyed and only the town remains. There is no electricity, and the residents have to make their own things and grow their own food; the latter is somewhat difficult as Anthony changes the weather according to his whims. The adults must satisfy Anthony's every whim, or risk displeasing him. Nobody is safe from Anthony, not even his own family, although they can sometimes influence him slightly; after a "smiling" suggestion from his father, Anthony sends the remains of his victims into graves in the family cornfield, after he has finished with them.