Down to Business

FROM TIME TO TIME different stories end up with the same title. It could be the result of repeating a commonly used phrase that might echo the stories' themes in some way. Here are two such items published eight years apart, both of which are determined to give us . . .

(1) "The Business, As Usual."

By Mack Reynolds (1917-83; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; and the SFE HERE).

First appearance: Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 1952.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short short short story (4 pages).

Online at SFFaudio (HERE).

   "I'm a time traveler. They picked me to send into the future. I'm important."

WE'RE not sure that Barnum was right when he said there's one born every minute, but our story does prove there's at least one born every ten centuries . . .

Main characters:

~ The time traveler, the pedestrian, and Marget.

References:

- The title is explained (HERE; The Free Dictionary).

- "an original Al Capp" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the natural flow of the dimension" (HERE; Wikipedia).

Resources:

- Our last Mack Reynolds story was "The Guy Who Remembered Ahead" (HERE).

- One of the many time travel tales that we encounter which caught our eye just recently is Danny F. Santos's "Seeking Time Traveller" (HERE).

- If you want to spend some time with a time-traveling detective, there's Warren M. Salomon's Ben Hardy trilogy (HERE).

(2) "The Business, As Usual."

By Jack Sharkey (1931-92; Wikipedia HERE; ISFDb HERE; and the SFE HERE).

Illustration by Trattner (ISFDb HERE).

First appearance: Galaxy, August 1960.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short story (9 pages).

Online at SFFaudio (HERE).

   "Okay, so what do we do?"

   "We drop an agent!"

LOCKED in a Cold War that could end with the total destruction of civilization, each side anxiously looks for some way to end the stalemate without precipitating Armageddon—and that's where Agent X-45 comes in . . .

Main characters:

~ The Secretary of Defense, the President, Jenkins, Agent X-45, and Professor Blake.

References:

- "a radar resistant airplane" (HERE and HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the Cyrillic lettering" (HERE and HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the Kremlin" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the Politburo" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the new Chief of Propaganda" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "What do you suppose would happen to an agent that was caught . . ." One was, at just about the same time that our story saw publication (HERE; Wikipedia). 

- "little cracks in the Iron Curtain" (HERE; Wikipedia).

The bottom line:

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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