UPDATE: "Four Dr. Feather Mysteries"

Added Pulpgen Archive links and a linked FictionMags list (HERE).

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UPDATE: Ray Cummings's "Trapped by Astronomy"

Added a Pulpgen Archive link and a story headnote and a few text changes (HERE).

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UPDATE: William G. Bogart's "Murder on Santa Claus Lane"

Added a Pulpgen Archive link, a story headnote, swapped out a mag cover, and made other minor text changes (HERE).

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UPDATE: Johnston McCulley's "Ranger Santa Claus"

Added a Pulpgen Archive link and a story headnote (HERE).

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UPDATE: Robert E. Glendinning's "The Light Fingered Santa"

Added a Pulpgen Archive link and a story headnote and made minor text corrections (HERE).

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"Let Me Out"

IF you haven't heard of Horatio Hornblower by now then you've missed quite a lot; but Hornblower's creator didn't confine himself to sea battles and African Queens floating 

down a lazy river. Take these two short tales, for example, one about hearing voices 

and the other a rare (for the author) science fictional story . . .

(1) "The Voice."

By C. S. Forester (Cecil Lewis Troughton Smith, 1899-1966; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the SFE HERE; and the

IMDb HERE).

First appearance: Coronet, May 1938.

Short short short story (5 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

   "Melhuish appeared just as if he were listening to something which I could not hear. There could be absolutely no doubting it at all. Indeed, that appearance of listening was so convincing, as I have said, that in the end it made me think I was hearing things too."

A guilty conscience or a haunting? Our narrator is certain that it has to be . . . maybe it's . . . possibly . . . perhaps . . .

Principal characters:

~ Forester ("All I want to say now is that my experience constitutes a very clear case of suggestion"), George Melhuish ("was a placid and good-natured soul, a student of life"), 

and Mrs. Melhuish ("was a shrew—a nagging, spiteful, complaining woman with (I fancy) 

a taste for secret drinking").

References:

- "Edgar Allan Poe's" (Wikipedia HERE) "short stories":

  "Poe wrote quite a few gothic stories about murder, revenge, torture, the plague, being buried alive, and insanity. Many modern books and movies have 'borrowed' ideas from Poe. Some of Poe's stories were not well accepted in his day because people were just not ready for them - they were too scary." (PoeStories.com.)

- "about the Cask of Amontillado":

  "The story, set in an unnamed Italian city at Carnival time, is about a man taking fatal revenge on a friend who, he believes, has insulted him." (WARNING! SPOILERS! Wikipedia HERE; story online HERE.)

- "Ernest Bramah's" (Wikipedia HERE) "Wallet of Kai Lung" (WARNING! SPOILERS! Wikipedia HERE; online at Project Gutenberg HERE).

(2) "That Old Computer."

(a.k.a. "The Last Answer").

By C. S. Forester (1899-1966).

First appearance: Argosy, July 1957.

Reprinted in EQMM, August 1958 (today's text).

Also in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (U.K.) #68, September 1958, as "That Old Computer" and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (Australia) #136, October 1958, as "That Old Computer."

Short short short story (2 pages).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE).

   "I only asked one question."

JUST like people, computers are susceptible to the GIGO principle, so that if the data are faulty the results are at best unreliable. The problem for Jennings, however, is just the opposite; the data are too good, confirming what he has suspected all along, and that 

has far-reaching implications for someone he knows very well . . .

Main characters:

~ Jennings ("And I received the answer I did not want"), Arabella ("That doesn't really sound like you, dear"), and Babcock ("was dining with the Jenningses, as he usually did two or three times a week"). 

Reference:

- "the GIGO principle":

  "In computer science, garbage in, garbage out (GIGO) is the concept that flawed, biased or poor quality ('garbage') information or input produces a result or output of similar ('garbage') quality. The saying points to the need to improve data quality in, for example, programming." (Wikipedia HERE.)

The bottom line:

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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UPDATE: Edward Ronns's "Murder Buys a Hat"

Added a Pulpgen Archive link and minor text changes (HERE).

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