UPDATE: Anthony Gilbert's SEQUEL TO MURDER Collection

Added four links to EQMMs and one to The Saint Magazine (HERE).

"You Can Shoot and Commit Suicide, Jesse James"

"Partner's Payoff."

By Roger Dee (Roger Dee Aycock, 1914-2004; Wikipedia HERE; ISFDb HERE; SFE HERE; FictionMags HERE).

Artist uncredited.

First appearance: Stories Annual No. 1 (1955).

Short short short story (2 pages).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE).

   "I cleaned out the register on the double, forgetting I'd ever been a hero."

WE'RE often admonished not to judge a book by its cover, something that's applicable to people as well, a good case in point being the gasoline hose jockey in today's story . . .

Main characters:

~ Unnamed narrator ("being shot up don't feel like the books tell it"), Al Wirtz ("Now, wise guy, go ahead and shoot"), and "this thin-faced character" ("he took an automatic out of his coat pocket").

References and resource:

- "in World War II from Bizerte to Berlin":

  Since the story appeared about a decade after the war ended, our author could be confident that most readers would catch the references. "Bizerte" here signifies the first large-scale employment of American forces as part of the Allied effort to drive Axis forces out North Africa. "Berlin" signifies the Allied victory over the forces loyal to the German Führer. (Wikipedia HERE and HERE.)

- "ETO":

  The same would go for "ETO": "The European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA) was a theater of Operations responsible for directing United States Army opera-tions throughout the European theatre of World War II, from 1942 to 1945." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "TNT":

  If you like big bangs:

  "Trinitrotoluene more commonly known as TNT (and more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene), and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagent in chemical synthesis, but it is best known as an explosive material with convenient handling properties. The explosive yield of TNT is considered to be the standard comparative convention of bombs and asteroid impacts." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "Adam's apple":

  They're quite common:

  "The topographic structure which is externally visible and colloquially called the 'Adam's apple' is caused by an anatomical structure of the thyroid cartilage called the laryngeal prominence or laryngeal protuberance protruding and forming a 'bump' under the skin at the front of the throat. All human beings with a normal anatomy have a laryngeal protuberance of the thyroid cartilage. This prominence is typically larger and more externally noticeable in adult males.

  ". . . [One] explanation for the origin of the phrase: a piece of forbidden fruit was supposedly embedded in the throat of Adam, who according to the Abrahamic religions was the first man:

     the common people have a belief, that by the judgment of God, a part of that fatal Apple, abode sticking in Adams Throat, and is so communicated to his posterity

"This etymology is also proposed by Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable and the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary. The story is not found in the Bible or other Judeo-Christian or Islamic writings." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- We featured one of Roger Dee's SFF efforts on ONTOS about seven years ago, "The Watchers" (HERE).

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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"This Was the Only Way Out"

"Third from the Sun."

By Richard Matheson (1926-2013; Wikipedia HERE; ISFDb HERE; SFE HERE; IMDb HERE).

Illustration by [Paul] Callé (1928-2010; ISFDb HERE).

First appearance: Galaxy, October 1950 (first issue).

Reprinted many times (ISFDb HERE).

Book collection online at The Luminist Archives (HERE).

Filmed for The Twilight Zone TV series in 1960 (WARNING! SPOILERS! in both: IMDb HERE and Wikipedia HERE).

Short short story (6 pages).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE).

   "The green planet with the single moon."

WHAT would you do if you believed there was no tomorrow?

Principal characters (none with names):

~ The father, his wife, and their children, and their neighbor, his wife, and their children.

Reference and resources:

- "The ship quivered a brief second":

  Evidently engineers have somehow overcome a major obstacle to spaceflight:

  "Gravity is such a pesky thing. It prevents us from doing all sorts of wonderful things. Such as floating through the air like a balloon, traveling into orbit without paying an ugly cost in delta V, and being morbidly obese but still light on your feet like Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.

  "By the same token, it would also be incredibly useful to be able to create gravity on command. Then you could do things like create artificial gravity inside your space-craft without unwieldy centrifuges, preventing the crew from getting killed by multi-gee acceleration, and make attractor beams." (Atomic Rockets HERE; also see Wikipedia HERE and HERE.)

- The Twilight Zone Vortex site has comprehensive coverage of (and notes about plot changes for) "Third from the Sun" (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE), as does TV Tropes (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE).

- Other stories that ONTOS has featured which were adapted to the Twilight Zone series: Charles Beaumont's "The Beautiful People" (HERE), Jerome Bixby's "It's a Good Life" (HERE), and Lyn Venable's "Time Enough at Last" (HERE; see "References and resources").

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: Lloyd Biggle's Grandfather Rastin Series

Added links to five EQMM stories and one for Philip K. Dick's "The Minority Report" (HERE; see "Resources").

Something "Special"

"The Special Exhibit."

By Robert Sheckley (1928-2005; Wikipedia HERE; ISFDb HERE; SFE HERE; IMDb HERE).

Artist uncredited.

First appearance: Esquire, October 1953.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short short short story (1 page).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE).

   "The Special Exhibit was, of course, a far more effective problem solver than marriage counseling, psychiatry, psychoanalysis or even simple forbearance."

IT sounds to us like The Special Exhibit might be a threat to the status quo . . .

Principal characters:

~ Mr. Grant ("Failure would be ridiculous"), Mrs. Grant ("Educational"), Simmons ("I think Dr. Carver and his wife were the last to view it"), several savages, including an ancient, wrinkled woman ("lounged on the vine-tangled ground"), and Mrs. Carver (in absentia).

References and resources:

- "to join the French Foreign Legion":

  The subject of many a romantic narrative; nostalgic Hollywood made films about it:

  "The French Foreign Legion (French: Légion étrangère) is an elite corps of the French Army that consists of several specialties: infantry, cavalry, engineers, and airborne troops. It was created in 1831 to allow foreign nationals into the French Army. It formed part of the Armée d’Afrique, the French Army's units associated with France's colonial project in North Africa, until the end of the Algerian War in 1962.

  "Legionnaires are highly trained soldiers and the French Foreign Legion is unique in that it is open to foreign recruits willing to serve in the French Armed Forces." (Wikipedia HERE; also see HERE and WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE.)

- "his work in ornithology":

  "Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "anthropology wasn't his line":

  "Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavior, while cultural anthropology studies cultural meaning, including norms and values. The term sociocultural anthropology is commonly used today. Linguistic anthropology studies how language influences social life. Biological or physical anthropology studies the biological development of humans." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "a family of Axis deer":

  "The chital or cheetal (Axis axis), also known as the spotted deer, chital deer and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- When it comes to pulp fiction, there's no way to miss Robert Sheckley (as if you'd want to). Previous ONTOS encounters with him include:

  ~ "Watchbird" (HERE)

  ~ "Seventh Victim" (HERE)

  ~ "Killer's Masquerade" (HERE)

  ~ "A Thief in Time" (HERE)

  ~ and "Double Indemnity" (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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"If Only He Had Kept the Knife . . ."

"Star Light!"

By Isaac Asimov (1920-92; Wikipedia HERE; ISFDb HERE; SFE HERE; Asimov Online HERE).

First appearance: "First published in the magazine Scientific American, October 1962." (ISFDb).

Today's text: As reprinted in Asimov's Mysteries (1968).

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short short short story (4 pages).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE).

   "A knife was still the best, just as quick as a molecular depolarizer, just as fatal, and much more quiet."

TOLKEIN assures us, "Not all who wander are lost." Tell that to Trent . . .

Principal characters:

~ Arthur Trent ("Sounds too complicated") and Old Brennmeyer ("It can't miss").

Typo: "centered about" (should be "on").

Comment: No doubt there was intentional irony in Lyn Venable's story title about punishment fitting the crime, and we surmise that Asimov was thinking along those 

lines, too.

References and resources:

- "Jump through hyperspace":

  "The 2007 Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction lists the following terms related to the concept of space drive: gravity drive, hyperdrive, ion drive, jump drive, overdrive, ramscoop (a synonym for ram-jet), reaction drive, stargate, ultradrive, warp drive and torchdrive. Several of these terms are entirely fictitious or are based on 'rubber science', while others are based on real scientific theories. Many fictitious means of travelling through space, in particular, faster than light travel, tend to go against the current understanding of physics, in particular, the theory of relativity."

  As for that jump through hyperspace: "[A jump drive] teleports ships instantaneously from one point to another. The concept of 'jumps' between stars was popularized by Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, which debuted in 1942. The term 'jump drive' was used in Harry Harrison's Ethical Engineer (1963)." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "every star of spectral class of F, B, A, and O":

  Stars of spectral classes F and G (i.e., the Sun) are favored as likely candidates for having habitable planets:

  "In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a prism or diffraction grating into a spectrum exhibiting the rainbow of colors interspersed with spectral lines. Each line indicates a particular chemical element or molecule, with the line strength indicating the abundance of that element. The strengths of the different spectral lines vary mainly due to the temperature of the photosphere, although in some cases there are true abundance differences. The spectral class of a star is a short code primarily summarizing the ionization state, giving an objective measure of the photosphere's temperature. . . .

  "Most stars are currently classified under the Morgan–Keenan (MK) system using the letters O, B, A, F, G, K, and M, a sequence from the hottest (O type) to the coolest (M type). Each letter class is then subdivided using a numeric digit with 0 being hottest and 9 being coolest (e.g., A8, A9, F0, and F1 form a sequence from hotter to cooler)." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "a molecular depolarizer":

  If the polarity of the molecules in someone's body is suddenly reduced to zero, the results probably won't be pleasant:

  "Usage of the term 'depolarization' in biology differs from its use in physics, where it refers to situations in which any form of polarity (i.e., the presence of any electrical charge, whether positive or negative) changes to a value of zero." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "a nova":

  A star that sheds some of its mass explosively; not to be confused with a supernova, which blows itself to smithereens:

  "Novae most often occur in the sky along the path of the Milky Way, especially near the observed Galactic Center in Sagittarius; however, they can appear anywhere in the sky. They occur far more frequently than galactic supernovae, averaging about ten per year in the Milky Way. . . . Astronomers have estimated that the Milky Way experiences roughly 25 to 75 novae per year. The number of novae actually observed in the Milky Way each year is much lower, about 10, probably because distant novae are obscured by gas and dust absorption." (Wikipedia HERE.)

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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"It Had Gotten to the Sordid Stage When He'd Decided To Do Something About It"

"Welcome, Killer!"

By Henry Hasse (1913-77; Wikipedia HERE; ISFDb HERE; SFE HERE).

Artist uncredited.

First appearance: Detective Tales, December 1949.

Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 101).

(Note: Text faded but readable.)

(Parental note: Strong language.)

   "I've been away a year, but I still know how to use this gun!"

THERE'S been a murder and the man accused of it has run away. Now it's a year later, and the police have just learned that he's come back. Maybe all it takes is an appeal to his better nature and he'll turn himself in. Call it a "crime of passion," challenge the flimsy circumstan-tial evidence, and it might be enough to keep him out of the electric chair, at least. There's a better way, though, but it's risky, and if it goes wrong, he might not live long enough to prove that, in spite of what everybody thinks, he really is innocent . . .

Principal characters:

~ Lieutenant Penger ("I hope they throw the book at you!"), Mel Latting ("He had come back and holed up here"), Lora ("she was no good, she was a two-timing dame"), and Joe Morrow ("huddled in a far corner").

References and resources:

- "a Police Positive":

  "The Colt Police Positive is a small-frame, double-action revolver featuring a six-round cylinder, chambered for either .32 or .38 caliber. A .22 caliber model was also offered. Designed primarily for sale to federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies, the Police Positive was introduced into the firearms market by Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1905." (Wikipedia HERE).

- "Crime of passion":

  "The 'crime of passion' defense challenges the mens rea element by suggesting that there was no malice aforethought, and instead the crime was committed in the 'heat of passion.' In some jurisdictions, a successful 'crime of passion' defense may result in a conviction for manslaughter or second degree murder instead of first degree murder, because a defendant cannot ordinarily be convicted of first degree murder unless the crime was premeditated. A classic example of a crime of passion involves a spouse who, upon finding his or her partner in bed with another, kills the romantic interloper." (Wikipedia HERE).

- "The old unwritten law!":

  A custom that justifies murder:

  "Lex non scripta is a Latin expression that means 'law not written' or 'unwritten law'. It is a term that embraces all the laws which do not come under the definition of written law or 'lex scripta' and it is composed, principally, of the law of nature, the law of nations, the common law, and customs." (Wikipedia HERE).

- We've previously featured two stories by Henry Hasse, one being science fiction, "We're Friends, Now" (HERE), and one that appeared in EQMM eighty years ago, "The Man Who Read Too Many Detective Stories" (HERE).

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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