# Tom Dorset — Short Fiction character guide

> Tom Dorset in Short Fiction by Fritz Leiber.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Tom

**First appearance:** 0009-ii

## Snapshot

A narrator and protagonist who fights to keep Mary from Kesserich, insisting her love is real even as the scientist's questions make her sway.

## Who they are

Jack Barr is the man who has shown Mary the lie her life has been and believes she loves him for it, standing between her and Kesserich on the island lawn. He trades blows and accusations with the biologist, refusing the claim that Mary has no father and that her whole life has been reconstructed, and he sweeps her away through the fence toward the roaring surf. His desperate certainty — 'It's me you love, isn't it, Mary?' — is the story's emotional hinge, and the doubt in her blink is what he cannot outrun.

## Relationships

### [Lois Wolver](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/characters/lois_wolver)

_friendship_

Lois and Tom are childhood friends who share a deep, platonic bond.

### [Lois Wolver](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/characters/lois_wolver)

_friendship_

Lois and Tom are childhood friends who share a deep, platonic bond.

### [Lois Wolver](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/characters/lois_wolver)

_friendship_

Lois and Tom are childhood friends who share a deep, platonic bond.

## In the story

### [Nice Girl with 5 Husbands](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/chapters/nice-girl-with-5-husbands)

A frustrated artist on a Tosker-Brown Fellowship who is transported into the future by a time wind.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/characters/tom_dorset
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/characters