"Time To Think and Dream"

"Planet of Dreams."

By James McKimmey, Jr. (1923-2011).

Illustration by Paul Orban (1896-1974; HERE).

First appearance: IF, Worlds of Science Fiction, September 1953.

Reprints page (HERE).

Short short story (7 pages as a PDF).

Online at Project Gutenberg (HERE).

(Parental caution: Brief profanity.)

     "The climate was perfect, the sky was always blue, and—best of all—nobody had to work. What more could anyone want?"

Suppose that, after centuries of ceaseless toil, humankind finally achieves an earthly Paradise. Would that bring contentment—or something else . . . .

Main characters:

~ Daniel Loveral:

  "I envy you, George."

~ George Atkinson:

  "Oh, like hell you do."

~ Mrs. Atkinson:

  "George, I told you. Why didn't you listen, George? You should have listened to me."

Resources:

- James Earl McKimmey, Jr. was most active publishing SFF in the early '50s to the late '60s, branching out to crime fiction for AHMM, Cosmopolitan, Shell Scott, and Mike Shayne; see the FictionMags Index (HERE), the Point Blank site (HERE), and the ISFDb (HERE).

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