Windsor, as a very young writer, was strongly influenced by such science fiction writers as Isaac Asimov and Theodore Sturgeon. For that reason, perhaps, elements of the bizarre and paranormal—as in The Hero—often crop up in her books, novels which otherwise strive to deal realistically with the wrenching problems faced by her teenage protagonists. For example, in her Killing Time (1980), a teenager moves with his father from New York City to a small town, where they witness the haunting rites of latter-day Druids. Moreover, Windsor spent much time in England as a counselor of troubled youth at a "walk in" social services clinic. It is not surprising, therefore, that the problems characteristically encountered by young people loom large as thematic concerns in her novels. Mad Martin, for instance, treats the title character's extreme loneliness and sense of isolation; Killing Time involves a...