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Imagine Aliens making first contact...and mankind going mad. Crazy like foxes in a well-stuffed henhouse. Alien technology to be had for nothing, technology that so outstrips ours that we don't understand what it means still less how it works.
Enter Algernon Hebster, head of Hebster Securities and the only businessman to see the Aliens for the babes in the woods they are. Imagine trading permanently spotless, sanitary surface-making technology for blueprints of the Empire State Building and a hundred paperback copies of Moby-Dick! Who cares how it works? Who cares why they want what they want? Not Hebster when he can make a huge profit off the Aliens' trinkets.
But Humanity First cares, and they care enough to mount a rebellion against Hebster and his uneasy allies in the world government United Mankind. What's a simple businessman to do when confronted by a lynch mob of zealots and a government inclined to watch while the mob does its worst?
Enter Algernon Hebster, head of Hebster Securities and the only businessman to see the Aliens for the babes in the woods they are. Imagine trading permanently spotless, sanitary surface-making technology for blueprints of the Empire State Building and a hundred paperback copies of Moby-Dick! Who cares how it works? Who cares why they want what they want? Not Hebster when he can make a huge profit off the Aliens' trinkets.
But Humanity First cares, and they care enough to mount a rebellion against Hebster and his uneasy allies in the world government United Mankind. What's a simple businessman to do when confronted by a lynch mob of zealots and a government inclined to watch while the mob does its worst?
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
11 people want to read
About the author
William Tenn
313 books49 followersWilliam Tenn is the pseudonym of Philip Klass. He was born in London on May 9, 1920, and emigrated to the United States with his parents before his second birthday. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York. After serving in the United States Army as a combat engineer in Europe, he held a job as a technical editor with an Air Force radar and radio laboratory and was employed by Bell Labs.
He began writing in 1945 and wrote academic articles, essays, two novels, and more than 60 short stories.
His first story, 'Alexander the Bait' was published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1946. Stories like 'Down Among the Dead Men', 'The Liberation of Earth', and 'The Custodian' quickly established him as a fine, funny, and thoughtful satirist.
Tenn is best-known as a satirist, and by works such as "On Venus Have We Got a Rabbi" and "Of Men and Monsters."
His stories and articles were widely anthologized, a number of them in best-of-the-year collections. From 1966, he was a Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at The Pennsylvania State University, where he taught, among other things, a popular course on science fiction.
In 1999, he was honored as Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America at their annual Nebula Awards Banquet.
More information at: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topi...
He began writing in 1945 and wrote academic articles, essays, two novels, and more than 60 short stories.
His first story, 'Alexander the Bait' was published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1946. Stories like 'Down Among the Dead Men', 'The Liberation of Earth', and 'The Custodian' quickly established him as a fine, funny, and thoughtful satirist.
Tenn is best-known as a satirist, and by works such as "On Venus Have We Got a Rabbi" and "Of Men and Monsters."
His stories and articles were widely anthologized, a number of them in best-of-the-year collections. From 1966, he was a Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at The Pennsylvania State University, where he taught, among other things, a popular course on science fiction.
In 1999, he was honored as Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America at their annual Nebula Awards Banquet.
More information at: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topi...
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 21, 2018
Rating: 5* of five
The Book Report: Imagine Aliens making first contact...and mankind going mad. Crazy like foxes in a well-stuffed henhouse. Alien technology to be had for nothing, technology that so outstrips ours that we don't understand what it means still less how it works.
Enter Algernon Hebster, head of Hebster Securities and the only businessman to see the Aliens for the babes in the woods they are. Imagine trading permanently spotless, sanitary surface-making technology for blueprints of the Empire State Building and a hundred paperback copies of Moby-Dick! Who cares how it works? Who cares why they want what they want? Not Hebster when he can make a huge profit off the Aliens' trinkets.
But Humanity First cares, and they care enough to mount a rebellion against Hebster and his uneasy allies in the world government United Mankind. What's a simple businessman to do when confronted by a lynch mob of zealots and a government inclined to watch while the mob does its worst?
My Review: If ever a sixty-five-year-old story had strong resonance for today, it is this one. In spades. I've always thought William Tenn was a good writer and a better comedian. I had no idea he was actually Cassandra in an old-Jewish-man suit!
The moral purity of the rebellious xenophobes...the venal corruption of Hebster...the terrifying zealotry of his Firster nemesis...all reminded me all too clearly of our most recent presidential election, the Truthers/Alt-Right/Nazi true believers and the cynics using them to grab a firmer hold on the levers of economic power. Tenn, may he rest in peace, would have a wry yet disgusted smirk on his face right about now. A must-read novella for the few remaining readers needing the cold comfort of comradeship.
The Book Report: Imagine Aliens making first contact...and mankind going mad. Crazy like foxes in a well-stuffed henhouse. Alien technology to be had for nothing, technology that so outstrips ours that we don't understand what it means still less how it works.
Enter Algernon Hebster, head of Hebster Securities and the only businessman to see the Aliens for the babes in the woods they are. Imagine trading permanently spotless, sanitary surface-making technology for blueprints of the Empire State Building and a hundred paperback copies of Moby-Dick! Who cares how it works? Who cares why they want what they want? Not Hebster when he can make a huge profit off the Aliens' trinkets.
But Humanity First cares, and they care enough to mount a rebellion against Hebster and his uneasy allies in the world government United Mankind. What's a simple businessman to do when confronted by a lynch mob of zealots and a government inclined to watch while the mob does its worst?
My Review: If ever a sixty-five-year-old story had strong resonance for today, it is this one. In spades. I've always thought William Tenn was a good writer and a better comedian. I had no idea he was actually Cassandra in an old-Jewish-man suit!
The moral purity of the rebellious xenophobes...the venal corruption of Hebster...the terrifying zealotry of his Firster nemesis...all reminded me all too clearly of our most recent presidential election, the Truthers/Alt-Right/Nazi true believers and the cynics using them to grab a firmer hold on the levers of economic power. Tenn, may he rest in peace, would have a wry yet disgusted smirk on his face right about now. A must-read novella for the few remaining readers needing the cold comfort of comradeship.
Displaying 1 of 1 review