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One Man's Poison
Something had gone wrong when they'd loaded the ship and the rations hadn't quite lasted long enough to make the outbound end of the uranium prospecting trip. Then they found an abandoned world and landed the ship on an old warehouse facility . . . and tried to found something to eat.
Not an easy thing to do, going through an alien warehouse when they could barely read the manuals and had not much clue as to the nature of the local biology.
They would have eaten a horse, if there'd been one. But there wasn't. And that was probably for the best -- it might have eaten them first!
Not an easy thing to do, going through an alien warehouse when they could barely read the manuals and had not much clue as to the nature of the local biology.
They would have eaten a horse, if there'd been one. But there wasn't. And that was probably for the best -- it might have eaten them first!
26 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1953
About the author
Robert Sheckley
1,425 books699 followersOne of science fiction's great humorists, Sheckley was a prolific short story writer beginning in 1952 with titles including "Specialist", "Pilgrimage to Earth", "Warm", "The Prize of Peril", and "Seventh Victim", collected in volumes from Untouched by Human Hands (1954) to Is That What People Do? (1984) and a five-volume set of Collected Stories (1991). His first novel, Immortality, Inc. (1958), was followed by The Status Civilization (1960), Journey Beyond Tomorrow (1962), Mindswap (1966), and several others. Sheckley served as fiction editor for Omni magazine from January 1980 through September 1981, and was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 3, 2025
”Hellman, you don't know what you're talking about. You're a librarian, remember? And I'm a correspondence school pilot.”
Hellman and Casker seem to have gotten themselves into a bit of trouble. They're out in the vast reaches of space having just split a single radish between them, the last of the food on their ship. When they stumble upon an alien warehouse, how can they determine what's safe to eat and what isn't?
“One Man's Poison” is a short and delightful Project Gutenberg find. The plot's not particularly deep — it's a twenty-ish page short story so that's to be expected — but it is a whole lot of fun. I'd never want to explore the cosmos with Hellman and Casker since they seem woefully unprepared for space travel (and can you really trust a correspondence school pilot to deliver you home safely?), but I would totally read about their presumably ridiculous adventures all day long.
3.95 stars, rounded up.
Hellman and Casker seem to have gotten themselves into a bit of trouble. They're out in the vast reaches of space having just split a single radish between them, the last of the food on their ship. When they stumble upon an alien warehouse, how can they determine what's safe to eat and what isn't?
“One Man's Poison” is a short and delightful Project Gutenberg find. The plot's not particularly deep — it's a twenty-ish page short story so that's to be expected — but it is a whole lot of fun. I'd never want to explore the cosmos with Hellman and Casker since they seem woefully unprepared for space travel (and can you really trust a correspondence school pilot to deliver you home safely?), but I would totally read about their presumably ridiculous adventures all day long.
3.95 stars, rounded up.
April 24, 2019
An all-time classic, very memorable.
I'd like to edit an anthology of my favorite SF stories, including "The Last Question", "The Nine Billion Names of God", "A Sound of Thunder" and the less well-known "The Next Tenants". I'd include "One Man's Poison" to lighten the tone a bit. It's quite funny, but also brilliant enough to be worthy of inclusion.
Just call out "Everybody drinks Voozy!" in a gathering of SF readers and see how many of them immediately correct your syntax error.
I'd like to edit an anthology of my favorite SF stories, including "The Last Question", "The Nine Billion Names of God", "A Sound of Thunder" and the less well-known "The Next Tenants". I'd include "One Man's Poison" to lighten the tone a bit. It's quite funny, but also brilliant enough to be worthy of inclusion.
Just call out "Everybody drinks Voozy!" in a gathering of SF readers and see how many of them immediately correct your syntax error.
March 10, 2021
Kinda dry humor, kinda very alien aliens. No actual sense of wonder or what if, which suprises and disappoints me in an old short story. Read on projectgutenberg.
July 11, 2026
"......What's wrong with this?" asked Hellman.
"I don't eat anything that giggles," Casker stated firmly.
This is a particularly Funny Story about Two Bumbling Schmucks who find themselves Deep in Uncharted Space, with Nothing Left in the Spaceship's Larder to Eat.
The story starts off with a Scene straight out a Classic Bugs Bunny Cartoon. Our Two Schmu......Protagonists, Hellman and Casker, are sharing their last Bit of Food together. A Single Radish!
Seriously! A Radish! Who eats Radishes anyways, and why would these Idiots take a can of Radishes into Space to Eat? How about taking some Food instead?
But this does set the tone for what's to come. Thankfully for Our Two Schmucks, there's a Last Gasp Barren Planet nearby, with a single Warehouse on it, with a Cache full of Cans, Boxes, Bottles, Stuff, Things. All very nice but is any of this Packaged Stuff Food?
Thankfully, among all the stuff, Hellman has found a Handy Helg-Aloombrigian Dictionary. And, having once been a Librarian, Hellman can actually read Aloombrigian.
And so Helman begins to translate the Writing on the packages, and thus begins Our Two Schmucks Quest to find something to Eat among all the Stuff in the Warehouse. And what a Quest it is when the Two Schmucks find that all the Labels on the Packages sound like really Bad Advertising Copy.
Their is some Great Interaction, I.e. Lots of Talking, between Our Two Schmucks that has a real Abbot and Costello Vibe about it.
The Funny Thing is that so many Classic Golden Age Sci-Fi Pulp Writers were totally incapable of giving any of their Characters in their stories any sort of Personality. Yet in this Story, Robert Sheckley is able to give Our Two Schmucks lots of Personality and Quirks from Their Conversations Alone!
There are No Physical Descriptions giving to Us of Our Two Schmucks. We don't know if they are fat or skinny, short or tall, or even if one of them smells bad. They just Talk.....a lot. And all Their Personality comes out in the way they Talk and Interact with Each Other.
So another one that goes on My Recommended Read List, just because it's a lot of Fun. And also because, surprisingly, after all these years, the Humour Still Holds Up and Makes Me Laugh.
And seriously.........does anyone actually f**ing Eat Radishes. I thought they were just Decorative Ornaments!
"I don't eat anything that giggles," Casker stated firmly.
This is a particularly Funny Story about Two Bumbling Schmucks who find themselves Deep in Uncharted Space, with Nothing Left in the Spaceship's Larder to Eat.
The story starts off with a Scene straight out a Classic Bugs Bunny Cartoon. Our Two Schmu......Protagonists, Hellman and Casker, are sharing their last Bit of Food together. A Single Radish!
Seriously! A Radish! Who eats Radishes anyways, and why would these Idiots take a can of Radishes into Space to Eat? How about taking some Food instead?
But this does set the tone for what's to come. Thankfully for Our Two Schmucks, there's a Last Gasp Barren Planet nearby, with a single Warehouse on it, with a Cache full of Cans, Boxes, Bottles, Stuff, Things. All very nice but is any of this Packaged Stuff Food?
Thankfully, among all the stuff, Hellman has found a Handy Helg-Aloombrigian Dictionary. And, having once been a Librarian, Hellman can actually read Aloombrigian.
And so Helman begins to translate the Writing on the packages, and thus begins Our Two Schmucks Quest to find something to Eat among all the Stuff in the Warehouse. And what a Quest it is when the Two Schmucks find that all the Labels on the Packages sound like really Bad Advertising Copy.
Their is some Great Interaction, I.e. Lots of Talking, between Our Two Schmucks that has a real Abbot and Costello Vibe about it.
The Funny Thing is that so many Classic Golden Age Sci-Fi Pulp Writers were totally incapable of giving any of their Characters in their stories any sort of Personality. Yet in this Story, Robert Sheckley is able to give Our Two Schmucks lots of Personality and Quirks from Their Conversations Alone!
There are No Physical Descriptions giving to Us of Our Two Schmucks. We don't know if they are fat or skinny, short or tall, or even if one of them smells bad. They just Talk.....a lot. And all Their Personality comes out in the way they Talk and Interact with Each Other.
So another one that goes on My Recommended Read List, just because it's a lot of Fun. And also because, surprisingly, after all these years, the Humour Still Holds Up and Makes Me Laugh.
And seriously.........does anyone actually f**ing Eat Radishes. I thought they were just Decorative Ornaments!
January 30, 2020
Anything by Rs is usually gold. Good narration by Pete Milan ? A tale of two characters with opposing views on how to best handle a critically endangered sense of anticipation of gustatory delights. Their chances of surviving dwindles rapidly into the realms of fantasy, when faced with a plethora of assorted alien opportunities.... to eat .... perchance to hopefully escape...? Excellenté..
On YT in Ivica millicevic audiobooks. See
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Fd...
Image contains
Www.shortstoriescafe.com.
On YT in Ivica millicevic audiobooks. See
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Fd...
Image contains
Www.shortstoriescafe.com.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2022
Entertaining space listening 🎶🔰
Another will written fantasy Sci-Fi space opera adventure thriller short story Robert Sheckley about two men in space and out of food but there is a creature on board and it is hungry. Who will become the food for the trip home? I would recommend this novella to readers of space fantasy novels. Enjoy the adventure of novels 👍🔰 and books 📚. 2022 😢
Another will written fantasy Sci-Fi space opera adventure thriller short story Robert Sheckley about two men in space and out of food but there is a creature on board and it is hungry. Who will become the food for the trip home? I would recommend this novella to readers of space fantasy novels. Enjoy the adventure of novels 👍🔰 and books 📚. 2022 😢
March 24, 2019
An amusing and quick sci-fi read!
August 12, 2025
Interesting story
August 30, 2026
Scifi, short story, by a master, well done!!!
April 18, 2014
3.5 stars.
The ending needed some work and some more antics wouldn't have hurt this short story. Overall I didn't think it was too bad for a 30 minute audiobook, but if it had been much longer I would've demanded better quality.
The ending needed some work and some more antics wouldn't have hurt this short story. Overall I didn't think it was too bad for a 30 minute audiobook, but if it had been much longer I would've demanded better quality.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews