Ingathering: The Complete People Stories

All titles were written by Zenna Henderson, except "Introduction" by Priscilla Olson, and "Chronology of the People Stories" by Mark L. Olson and Priscilla Olson.

• Titles 1–12 were previously collected in Pilgrimage: The Book of the People (1961)
• Titles 13–23 were previously collected in The People: No Different Flesh (1967)
• Title 26 was previously unpublished

Source: Internet Speculative Fiction Database[4]

Henderson's People are a group of benevolent human aliens stranded on Earth after fleeing their doomed homeworld. Their ship broke up in the Earth's atmosphere and the survivors crash-landed in escape pods, scattering them across rural southwestern United States, where the author lived and worked as a teacher.[2] They have psionic abilities, including levitation, telepathy, telekinesis, and healing. The People stories take place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are about these refugees trying to find each other and struggling to blend in with the local population who see them as being different.[10][11][12] Henderson's entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction states that the People's special abilities and moral superiority forces them to live as a wainscot society.[13]

In her essay "The People Series", included in this collection and originally published in 1980 in The Great Science Fiction Series, an anthology edited by Joseph Olander, Martin H. Greenberg and Frederik Pohl, Henderson wrote that her People began as "a weird group [of] refugees from a Transylvania-type country" who had used magic to cross the Atlantic Ocean.[14] But when she found these people too "unpleasant" to write about, she made them benign aliens from another planet. Henderson said, "I think one of the appeals of the People is that they are a possible forgotten side of the coin that seems always to flip to evil, violence, and cruelty."[14]

In a review of Ingathering at Tor.com, Welsh-Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer Jo Walton recalled the effect reading these stories had on her as a youngster. "[T]hey're the most comforting thing any lonely misunderstood teenager could possibly wish for. They’re about being special and finding other special people."[11] Walton noted that in retrospect the stories are "definitely very old-fashioned" and could even become "a little bor[ing]", but went on to say that "I do like them, even now."[11] She added: "The stories are filled with deep religious sensibility, a profound sense of joy ... [t]hey're beautifully written and very sweet".[11]

Writing in Booklist, Sally Estes also felt the stories may appear dated and "mawkish", but added that they have not lost their "emotional power", which she attributes to Henderson's "masterfully lucid prose".[10] Estes concluded that these are important science fiction stories because of their approach to the paranormal.[10] Science fiction critic Tom Easton concurred that these stories deserve a place in the history of science fiction. Easton wrote in Analog Science Fiction and Fact that Henderson reminded him of Clifford Simak, whose works have a similar "charming flavor and ability to influence others".[2] Sybil Steinberg stated in Publishers Weekly that in Ingathering "Henderson provides a warm, emotional voice, pre-feminist yet independent, examining issues of identity, loneliness, nostalgia and caring."[15] Steinberg wrote that despite the stories appearing "too sentimental" to some, "their emotional integrity and deeply moral core will ... please many."[15]

In a review of the collection in Locus, Shira Daemon also recalled reading these stories as an adolescent and noted the impact they had on youngsters struggling to fit in during the 1950s and 60s. She described the People stories as "sweet and lovely little gems", but added that reading all of them at once can overwhelm the reader with a "sugar shock" resulting from the stories' pervading "goodness", and suggested they be read a few at a time.[16] Daemon went on the say that while the plots do tend to become a little repetitive after a while, Henderson's "expressive writing" makes each story engaging on its own.[16] Daemon complimented NESFA Press in rescuing these stories that would otherwise have disappeared in "shrinking backlists".[16]

Reviewing the book in the Washington Science Fiction Association journal, Samuel Lubell said the success of these stories is Henderson's ability to merge the "ordinary with the extraordinary".[17] He felt that the stories from Pilgrimage, in particular "Ararat", are the strongest, whereas "Katie-Mary's Trip", "an attempt to bring The People into the [19]60s", deviates from the author's "normal, plain style" and is the only story that "does not work".[17] Lubell concluded:

If you ever thought you were different from everyone else ... if you ever wondered what it would be like to have special powers; if you ever wanted a family that understood you and accepted you ... then you owe it to yourself to discover The People through Ingathering. I cannot rate it highly enough.[17]

• Henderson, Zenna (1995). Ingathering: The Complete People Stories. Framingham, Massachusetts: NESFA Press. ISBN 0-915368-58-7.

• Ingathering: The Complete People Stories title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database