The Telenizer

by Don Thompson

When I saw the blood dripping from the tap in the bathtub, I knew that someone had a telenosis beam on me, and I breathed a very audible sigh of relief. During the past few days, I had begun to wonder if I was really cracking up. When you start seeing visions of a bearded gent with a halo, or having vague but wonderful dreams about some sort of perfect world, feeling intense loyalties to undefined ideals, and experiencing sudden impulses, sometimes cruel and sometimes kind -- you know that something's wrong. At least I do.

68 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Ray Daley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bloody weird, but worth the read.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 4 out of 5]

✔️ Published in Galaxy Science Fiction (March 1954) Vol. 7, No. 6.

Certainly, The Telenizer by Don Thompson, Science Fiction, Fantasy is one of the quirkiest science fiction short stories I ever read. It is so quirky; I really do not know what to make of it.

Don Thompson’s writing is good, as it is smooth and moves the story along well.

Passages to ponder :

I spent the rest of the day at the beach, sprawled out on the hot sand with the defense mech beside me and an army of people—humans and aliens—surrounding me.

I braced myself for what might come, with the telenizer knowing that I was aware.

The same hideous secretary, with the loose jowels and the deep, livid scar on his right cheek, met me at the door of Grogan's suite.

I heard a tiny howling, and looked down. I screamed and threw the soft, brown, fuzzy, squirming puppy-thing that had been a razor into . . .

This short story from the Golden Age of Science Fiction deserves my re-reading.

🟣Kindle version.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a nice little hard boiled short story published in 1954 and now in the public domain.