"The Root and the Ring" by Wyman Guin

First appeared in H.L. Gold's Beyond Fantasy Fiction. Reprinted by Thomas A. Dardis ,Kathryn Cramer, and David Hartwell. 

In 2013, Wyman Guin was awarded the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award "to honour notable sf and fantasy authors who in the view of the judging panel did not receive or no longer receive the attention they deserve."  --SFE


After the unemployed narrator marries, his employed wife wants children, so he has to get a job.  They marry without him having a wedding ring.  When employed, he has glimmers of ideas that might get himself promoted.  He suppresses these ideas because he does not want to be promoted and be forced to spend more time away from home and have to go in debt buying more things.

His wife finally gives him a ring, in the shape of a moebius strip, that gives its wearer the heightened powers of mathematics. His brain does scale the heights of mathematics.  Again the narrator fears being promoted.  Lucky for him, he loses his wedding ring while working beside an apple tree.

However, soon the entire family becomes mathematical geniuses. The husband creates a figure the disappear.  The wife becomes an investing guru.  The husband is not pleased, plots to destroy the ring while the wife disagrees.

An otherwise useful review on Amazon lumps "My Darling Hecate" and "The Root and the Ring" together.  While I don't agree (the first does not have to be a witch and this one certainly is not), they do have interesting resonances:

1. Beyond Fantasy Fiction followed the John W. Campbell's Unknown, which was to apply the rigor SF to fantasy.  In both this and "My Darling Hecate" hangs at the less plausible end of SF--at least SF standards at the time, which could include telekinesis usually from an evolved superman.
2. Both written in first person narratives from a male perspective about married life.  Both are positive.
3.  Both men introduce problems or challenges to the marriage.
4. The woman introduces the speculative or magic element.  The woman brings the literal/figurative magic to the relationship.

Edition:  Beyond Bedlam and Other Stories by Wyman Guin

"My Darling Hecate" by Wyman Guin

First appeared in H.L. Gold's Beyond Fantasy Fiction. Reprinted by Joseph D. Olander, Martin Harry Greenberg, and Barry N. Malzberg.  

In 2013, Wyman Guin was awarded the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award "to honour notable sf and fantasy authors who in the view of the judging panel did not receive or no longer receive the attention they deserve."  --SFE

This appeared in a conceptually interesting anthology, Neglected Visions, which highlights under-highlighted writers.  It honed me in on writers I might not have otherwise.

Before the TV program, Bewitched, was "My Darling Hecate".  Like many boys unable to express their attraction, the narrator throws a snowball at his future wife.  It veers and breaks a school window, which he has to pay for.  After this happens a second time, he suspects he's got a wicked curve-ball.

After he's married, he starts driving a young lady with him to and from work (at his wife's suggestion).  Some initial messing-around but they knock it off.  The town of Clearview gossips, embarrassing the wife, particularly.  When she decides the pair have done nothing she decides it's the town that has to go.  Twilight Zone moments follow--not only the missing town, but what it's replaced with.  A satisfying and somewhat surprising if undramatic ending.  An overall strong tale although a few moments wane in power.

This might be an interesting tale for gender studies.  On the one hand, it seems pretty well grounded in its culture.  On the other, it suggests acceptance of more contemporary mores (anticipating 60s counter-culture).  On the third hand (you have more than two, right?), nothing is laid at the Hecate's feet.  It's all the protagonist's fault.

Edition:  Beyond Bedlam and Other Stories by Wyman Guin