Bewildering Stories welcomes...

J. F. Sebastian

J. F. is originally from France but now lives in Toronto and is a university professor. J. F. has published academic articles on Caribbean-French literature and magicaql realism. J. F. has also written many stories in French but says they remain unfinished because writing in English is “incredibly enjoyable” and has even won recognition in a contest.

Indeed, J. F. deserves commendation for a very unusual achievement: advanced proficiency in English as a second language. Anglophones have the opposite experience in learning French, where the phonetics and grammar create a steep learning curve for English-speakers attempting to acquire novice and intermediate proficiency. But once at the high-intermediate stage, advanced proficiency in French comes easily. In English, acquiring intermediate proficiency is a piece of cake but, once again, phonetics and grammar make advanced proficiency a very steep climb in unfamiliar mountains.

“In the Shadow of the Stars” might be said to take an early article of Bewildering Stories — Space Aliens as Metaphor — and turn it upside down. Do Martians scare each other with “Invasion from Earth” stories? One might conjecture that they probably do not. They may leave paranoia to Earthlings and say we’ve earned it.

J. F. Sebastian’s bio sketch can be found here.

Welcome to Bewildering Stories, J. F. We hope to hear from you again soon and often!