The Addicts: Lost Sci-Fi Short Stories from the 40s, 50s and 60s

by William Morrison

Wives always try to cure husbands of bad habits, even on lonely asteroids!

You must understand that Palmer loved his wife as much as ever, or he would never have thought of his simple little scheme at all. It was entirely for her own good, as he had told himself a dozen times in the past day. And with that, he stilled whatever qualms of conscience he might otherwise have had. He didn't think of himself as being something of a murderer.

She was sitting at the artificial fireplace, a cheerful relic of ancient days, reading just as peacefully as if she had been back home on Mars, instead of on this desolate outpost of space. She had adjusted quickly to the loneliness and the strangeness of this life - to the absence of friends, the need for conserving air, the strange feeling of an artificial gravity that varied slightly at the whim of impurities in the station fuel. To everything, in fact, but her husband.

She seemed to sense his eyes on her, for she looked up and smiled. "Feeling all right, dear?" she asked.

"Naturally. How about you?"

"As well as can be expected."

"Not very good, then."

She didn't reply, and he thought, She hates to admit it, but she really envies me. Well, I'll fix it so that she needn't any more. And he stared through the thick transparent metal window at the beauty of the stars, their light undimmed by dust or atmosphere.

The stories told about the wretchedness of the lighthouse keepers who lived on asteroids didn't apply at all to this particular bit of cosmic rock. Life here had been wonderful, incredibly satisfying. At least it had been that way for him. And now it would be the same way for his wife as well.

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Published January 20, 2022

About the author

William Morrison was a pen name used by Joseph Samachson (1906-1980). He earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Yale at the age of 23. He was an assistant professor at the College of Medicine, University of Illinois. He also headed a laboratory in metabolic research dealing with diseases that affect the skeleton. Samachson worked as a research chemist until 1938, leaving to become a fulltime writer. He worked as a technical writer but also wrote science fiction for the pulp magazines. In the early 1940s he wrote primarily for the comics. From that period, he is best known as the co-creator of the Martian Manhunter at DC but also created other characters like Zatara, Tomahawk and Two-gun Percy. In the 1950s he produced science fiction novels and many short stories and was a frequent contributor to major magazines like GALAXY. With his wife, he wrote books about various subjects, including the theater, music and ballet. He returned to biochemistry in 1953, eventually retiring in 1973 after five years as Associate Clinical Professor of biochemistry at Loyola University, Chicago.

Reviews

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

SciFi, short story by a master,with Great Narration!!