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I found the story “Travels with Walter” though-provoking, moving, and good in so many ways. 

It made use of the tools of science fiction to investigate in a novel way what must be going on in the head of a man with Alzheimer’s. In particular it showed his yearning to return to a time when he felt independent, powerful, in control of his destiny. As a result readers were able to learn more about him and what the disease had done to him than they could have learned from a more clinical description. That kind of indirect revelation is something many writers of fiction attempt, but few do as well.

The author created two well-rounded characters with just a few details and then let them grow in a satisfying way through the story. Walter was quickly established as a dementia sufferer by his abrupt manners, the repetition of one phrase we thought was random (although it proved to have a connection to his past), the mention of a few crucial things he could remember and some he couldn’t. The aide Sarah began as a dull sort of girl leading an uninspired life. We then witnessed her becoming a more interesting person as she learned about Walter and his past through the stories told by his alien friends. Once she knew of his former accomplishments, she couldn’t look at him without seeing the hero he once had been. He became more of a whole person to her and to the reader, not just the embodiment of a set of disabilities. She progressed from hired caretaker to friend and admirer and finally to courageous advocate. What seemed a depressing situation at the beginning looked positively inspiring by the end.   

The story was full of optimism about technology and the future, a characteristic I associate more with classic, mid-20th Century science fiction than modern sf. My father, born in 1926, was a fan of the classic era. The last time he visited my husband and me before he passed away, we took him out driving past the first Tesla factory, which had recently opened in Fremont. We told him about the all-electric vehicles being produced there, like things out of an F&SF story from the ’50’s. Dad was quiet for a few moments, then asked “So are there any people on Mars, yet?” He didn’t live long enough to see men land on Mars, but I believe I may. I was glad this story gave Walter a chance to experience some of the wonders people of the Greatest Generation never encountered, yet believed were within reach. As my husband said when he read this story, “Your dad would really have enjoyed this. -Kim Thomas, retired college professor and sister of the author. 4/01/2023 

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