Breakaway

by Stanley Gimble

Leiber slyly imagines a near-future when giant machines not only harvest the wheat field, but grind flour and bake bread on the spot -- the ultimate in big farming. In this toasted tomorrow, the highly-mechanized Puffy Products is bent on producing the supremely lightest loaf. The story is what happens if bread isn't just airy, but pumped full of lighter-than-air helium. Leiber (Ships to the Stars) didn't often bake up such a souffle of spoof, but he's a master in the kitchen. And "Bread Overhead" has just enough to say about human nature to be filling, besides.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories

8 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2007

Reviews

[Zen · Rating 3 out of 5]

So how long do you think their marriage will last after this experience?

I give it less than year.

I would like call the wife's actions selfish but....this story was written in 1955. At that time, a man could force his wife to abandon any career ambitions she might have just because she was now married to him.

So when Mary, the wife, threatens to leave the marriage if Phil goes into space, she was using the only power she had at her disposal to.....control him?

It would have been nice if we had been given a little more background information in regards to Mary's reasons for not wanting Phill to go on his space flight.

There is unfortunately just a little too much of "The Male Gaze" assumed in this story.

And thus, instead of it being a poignant comment on relationships, it just comes off as being a mediocre cultural artifact.

[Chris Aldridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Librivox SSF Collection Vol 018. Romantic desires versus the vocational call to explore the wonders of the universe as a space pilot! No contest!

[Timothy Morrison]

so, was she right to worry?

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scifi , short story, weird, interesting story.