"Drop Dead!"

THE THEME of someone suddenly gaining extraordinary power and having problems dealing with it is an old one (e.g., King Midas, the sorcerer's apprentice, etc.), which has been beaten into the ground more recently by Hollywood and Spandex superhero fiction. The question of the moment is whether the nebbish in today's story will be able to cope when he gets . . .

"The Power."

(a.k.a. "Rebound" in reprints).

By Fredric Brown (1906-72; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the SFE HERE; and the IMDb HERE).

First appearance: Galaxy, April 1960.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short short short story (3 pages).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE).

   ". . . he decided to take his time planning it so there would be no possibility of his making a careless mistake."

A once well-known public person observed, "The power to do good is also the power to do harm." Are you listening, Larry?

Main characters:

~ Larry Snell ("Why shouldn't he really use what he had?") and a top dame ("Rich men and handsome playboys were after her"). 

References:

- "the whammy" (Merriam-Webster HERE).

- "a relatively uncrowded part of the Catskills" (Wikipedia HERE).

Resources:

- Our story isn't to be confused with Frank M. Robinson's 1956 novel with a similar theme (HERE) or the 1968 movie made from it (Wikipedia; WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE), much 

less the 2021 British film (HERE).

- Our latest contact with Fredric Brown wasn't so long ago, namely his "The Jabberwocky Murders" (HERE).

The bottom line:

  Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati.

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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