Project Gutenberg 2007-12-20 Public domain in the USA. 239 Donovan, Francis The Short Life Produced from Astounding Science Fiction October 1955. Produced by Greg Weeks, David Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "The Short Life" by Francis Donovan is a science fiction novel written in a contemporary style that likely reflects mid-20th century sensibilities. The story explores themes of identity, intelligence, and the complexities of communication through the eyes of Timmy, a child with a mental disability, and an alien consciousness that inadvertently takes control of his life. The novel delves into Timmy's unique relationship with his mother, Helen, and the struggles they face as they navigate a world filled with conflicting expectations and unspoken truths. At the start of the book, we witness the intricate dynamics of Helen Douglas's emotional turmoil regarding her child, Timothy, who is a congenital idiot. The narrative shifts from Timmy’s early experiences as he awakens to the world around him, culminating in Helen’s desperate attempts to connect with and understand her son. As Timmy grows, he begins to exhibit signs of unexpected intelligence, raising questions about his true nature and the potential of his mind. Meanwhile, an alien intelligence, referred to as the Challonari, faces its own existential challenges and ultimately intertwines with Timmy’s consciousness, setting the stage for a profound exploration of what it means to be human—and the moral implications of identity and autonomy. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 73.4 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Novels 156700 2025-06-10T05:38:51.359092 text/html 154347 2007-12-20T08:59:58 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 407241 2007-12-20T09:00:00 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 468388 2025-06-10T05:38:56.651581 application/epub+zip 470476 2025-06-10T05:38:53.253096 application/epub+zip 120767 2025-06-10T05:38:51.953096 application/epub+zip 471966 2025-06-10T05:38:59.086636 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 457914 2025-06-10T05:38:55.803095 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 172488 2022-09-11T07:43:26.160776 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 143142 2025-06-10T05:38:50.950116 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 143058 2007-12-20T08:59:58 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 56465 2007-12-20T09:00:00 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 143053 2007-12-20T08:59:58 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 56447 2007-12-20T09:00:00 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 20638 2025-06-10T05:38:59.222561 application/rdf+xml 10367 2025-06-10T05:38:52.489091 image/jpeg 3114 2025-06-10T05:38:52.222093 image/jpeg 462795 2025-06-10T05:38:51.389097 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog