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Citizen in Space
Contents
The Mountain Without a Name
The Accountant
Hunting Problem
A Thief in Time
The Luckiest Man in the World
Hands Off
Something for Nothing
A Ticket to Tranai
The Battle
Skulking Permit
Citizen in Space
Ask a Foolish Question
The Mountain Without a Name
The Accountant
Hunting Problem
A Thief in Time
The Luckiest Man in the World
Hands Off
Something for Nothing
A Ticket to Tranai
The Battle
Skulking Permit
Citizen in Space
Ask a Foolish Question
264 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1955
About the author
Robert Sheckley
1,424 books700 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 - 30 of 55 reviews
July 5, 2021
Robert Sheckley was one of the first postmodernists working in the genre of science fiction and it shows… By definition, dystopias are full of dark and gloomy stuff… However A Ticket to Tranai is a jolly cacotopia full of unearthly joy…
But one fine day, the protagonist – ‘a natural-born crusader’ – learns that there, in the universe, is a wonderful planet Tranai where everything is different: no taxes, no poverty, no crime, no wars – all is bliss and uniform harmony… And he gladly flees for this ultimate safety…
End goals are always ideal but the methods allowing to achieve these goals are faulty…
Most of Seakirk’s inhabitants were indifferent to the spectacle of corruption in high places and low, the gambling, the gang wars, the teen-age drinking. They were used to the sight of their roads crumbling, their ancient water mains bursting, their power plants breaking down, their decrepit old buildings falling apart, while the bosses built bigger homes, longer swimming pools and warmer stables. People were used to it.
But one fine day, the protagonist – ‘a natural-born crusader’ – learns that there, in the universe, is a wonderful planet Tranai where everything is different: no taxes, no poverty, no crime, no wars – all is bliss and uniform harmony… And he gladly flees for this ultimate safety…
“I heard that there has been no war of any sort on Tranai for four hundred years.”
“Six hundred,” Melith corrected. “And none in sight.”
“Someone told me that there is no crime on Tranai.”
“None whatsoever.”
“And therefore no police force or courts, no judges, sheriffs, marshals, executioners, truant officers or government investigators. No prisons, reformatories or other places of detention.”
“We have no need of them,” Melith explained, “since we have no crime.”
“I have heard,” said Goodman, “that there is no poverty on Tranai.”
“None that I ever heard of,” Melith said cheerfully. “Are you sure you won’t have a cigar?”
End goals are always ideal but the methods allowing to achieve these goals are faulty…
June 19, 2022
Me ha sorprendido esta colección de relatos de Robert Sheckley, porque me esperaba unas historias más clásicas por ser de los años cincuenta, un momento de la ciencia ficción muy influenciado por el optimismo y el progreso, pero lo que más destaca aquí es la fuerte carga política de Sheckley que hace críticas furibundas al capitalismo y al liberalismo. No todos los relatos están al mismo nivel pero incluso el peor es entretenido y hay una avriedad de tonos y temáticas admirable. Seguiré leyendo al autor porque sus tramas son originales para la época y sus ideas siguen siendo relevantes para los lectores del siglo XXI.
June 14, 2022
Robert Sheckley és un contista clàssic de la ciència-ficció poc conegut actualment, però que val molt la pena tenir en compte. Els seus contes es caracteritzen per una imaginació desbordant i un cert to irònic i humorístic molt marca de la casa. En molts contes és impossible no acabar amb un somriure pel retrat social tan mordaç que fa de la societat americana fent servint les eines que li coincideix la ciència-ficció.
March 31, 2026
This is a collection of short SF works from the 1950s. A great selection of great pieces, I read them at ORBIT – Otherworldly Reads, Bold Ideas, and Tales. SF & F Short Stories and Novelettes group.
Contents:
“The Mountain without a Name” short story (1954) Citizen in Space, Ballantine Books Morrison is a manager responsible for terraforming a planet. Among the projects to finish is the destruction of the planet's largest mountain, for a port planned there. However, usual construction actions here constantly accidentally (?) fail. The manager suspects everyone, from an observer from a rival company to local shamans, who demand that Earthlings leave. The true culprit is way more serious. 4*
“The Accountant” short story (1954) The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. There is an ordinary family of ordinary wizards, but the son, Morton, prefers to study accounting instead of magic. The parents attempt to persuade him by different means and fail. Only one option remains: to summon Boarbas, the Demon of Children. 3.5*
“Hunting Problem” short story (1955) Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine Scouter Drog is a member of the Charging Mirash Patrol, an alien equivalent of Boy Scouts. To prove that he is worthy, Drog should hunt down and bring a skin of Mirash. Meanwhile, on the planet landed a ship with three humans. And Mirash means human... so the hunt begins. 4.5*
“A Thief in Time” novelette (1954) Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine Thomas Eldridge was a professor and worked in his cabinet on tricky equations, when strange policemen appeared to arrest him for the thievery, for isn't he Thomas Eldridge, who in March, 1962 (eight years in the future), invented the Eldridge Time Traveler? The prof is an inherently honest person, so he knows that he couldn't have committed a crime, so he hijacks a time machine and runs. 3.25*
“The Luckiest Man in the World” short story (1954)Fantastic Universe under the title “The Fortunate Person” told by a man working at a meteorological station in Patagonia. He praised all the marvelous gadgets around him, which let him even extract a tooth and perform a self-appendectomy, but as the story goes, readers start to wonder why he is alone. For me it reminded a famous story of Ray Bradbury. 3.5*
“Hands Off“ novelette (1954) Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine Endeavor is a ship crewed by criminals. It detects a lot of valuable metal on a planet and they lend there to find another spaceship. It is of unknown origin, but pretty valuable even as a scrapmetal, so they decided to hijack it. Meanwhile, another POV is of the owner of this ship. Even as Earthmen try to kill him, he is astounished because in his culture killing another sentience is forbidden under any circumstances. So, he tries to survive, why humans try to understand the workings of the new ship, with a lot of funny moments. 3.5*
“Something for Nothing” short story (1954) Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine Joe Collins lies in his bade when a strange device with a single button and a plate, where "CLASS-A UTILIZER" is written. He finds out that pressing the button and voicing a desire makes it come true, just not in a magic way - like if he ask to build a house, an architect and construction workers show up and start working... someone, supposedly the utilizer's initial owner, tries to get it back, but Joe finds ways to evade him. 4*
“A Ticket to Tranai” novelette (1955) Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine Marvin Goodman is tired of Earth's crime, crooked politicians, inequality and other social ills. So, when a retired captain mentions Tranai at a bar, a realized utopia, Marvin goes there. And at first sight, it is a utopia, not "a pastoral setting, a planetful of people in small, quaint villages, walking around in flowing robes and being very wise and gentle and understanding. Children who played in the golden sunlight, young folk who danced in the village square" but a real, working paradise, with no crime or poverty. Soon, he finds out that it isn't that easy. 5* - bearing in mind that such powerful SF writers of the 50s as Heinlein and Anderson leaned Libertarian, I guess it is also an in-group joke.
“The Battle” (1954) short story If the final battle, Armageddon, is upon us and generals prepare their best mechanized robotic armies to fight with Satan and his ilk. 3*
““Skulking Permit” novelette (1954) Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine a great starting sentence: "Tom Fisher had no idea he was about to begin a criminal career." This is a story of a small peaceful colony New Delaware, that lived for two centuries w/o any contact with anyone else. Now, there is a returned contact with Imperial Earth, and it has grown much stricter over the years. Therefore, New Delaverians rush to show visiting Earthmen that theirs is a true human colony, the only way they know - from books. And here enters Tom, for there was no crime in the colony, therefore, he was appointed the one. Now, he has to learn how to steal and murder. 5*
“Citizen in Space” (1955) short story Playboy under the title “Spy Story” Hugo 1956 nominee, a man leaves Earth, where Big Brother watches you, just to get more and more guised spies. He is happy and feels important, even if he sees that the Big Brother sends second-rate spies after him. 4*
“Ask a Foolish Question” (1953) short story Science Fiction Stories different species from across the galaxy send delegations to an old machine of an extinct race that knows everything. The problem is that all the questions asked are too vague to answer. 4*
Contents:
“The Mountain without a Name” short story (1954) Citizen in Space, Ballantine Books Morrison is a manager responsible for terraforming a planet. Among the projects to finish is the destruction of the planet's largest mountain, for a port planned there. However, usual construction actions here constantly accidentally (?) fail. The manager suspects everyone, from an observer from a rival company to local shamans, who demand that Earthlings leave. The true culprit is way more serious. 4*
“The Accountant” short story (1954) The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. There is an ordinary family of ordinary wizards, but the son, Morton, prefers to study accounting instead of magic. The parents attempt to persuade him by different means and fail. Only one option remains: to summon Boarbas, the Demon of Children. 3.5*
“Hunting Problem” short story (1955) Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine Scouter Drog is a member of the Charging Mirash Patrol, an alien equivalent of Boy Scouts. To prove that he is worthy, Drog should hunt down and bring a skin of Mirash. Meanwhile, on the planet landed a ship with three humans. And Mirash means human... so the hunt begins. 4.5*
“A Thief in Time” novelette (1954) Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine Thomas Eldridge was a professor and worked in his cabinet on tricky equations, when strange policemen appeared to arrest him for the thievery, for isn't he Thomas Eldridge, who in March, 1962 (eight years in the future), invented the Eldridge Time Traveler? The prof is an inherently honest person, so he knows that he couldn't have committed a crime, so he hijacks a time machine and runs. 3.25*
“The Luckiest Man in the World” short story (1954)Fantastic Universe under the title “The Fortunate Person” told by a man working at a meteorological station in Patagonia. He praised all the marvelous gadgets around him, which let him even extract a tooth and perform a self-appendectomy, but as the story goes, readers start to wonder why he is alone. For me it reminded a famous story of Ray Bradbury. 3.5*
“Hands Off“ novelette (1954) Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine Endeavor is a ship crewed by criminals. It detects a lot of valuable metal on a planet and they lend there to find another spaceship. It is of unknown origin, but pretty valuable even as a scrapmetal, so they decided to hijack it. Meanwhile, another POV is of the owner of this ship. Even as Earthmen try to kill him, he is astounished because in his culture killing another sentience is forbidden under any circumstances. So, he tries to survive, why humans try to understand the workings of the new ship, with a lot of funny moments. 3.5*
“Something for Nothing” short story (1954) Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine Joe Collins lies in his bade when a strange device with a single button and a plate, where "CLASS-A UTILIZER" is written. He finds out that pressing the button and voicing a desire makes it come true, just not in a magic way - like if he ask to build a house, an architect and construction workers show up and start working... someone, supposedly the utilizer's initial owner, tries to get it back, but Joe finds ways to evade him. 4*
“A Ticket to Tranai” novelette (1955) Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine Marvin Goodman is tired of Earth's crime, crooked politicians, inequality and other social ills. So, when a retired captain mentions Tranai at a bar, a realized utopia, Marvin goes there. And at first sight, it is a utopia, not "a pastoral setting, a planetful of people in small, quaint villages, walking around in flowing robes and being very wise and gentle and understanding. Children who played in the golden sunlight, young folk who danced in the village square" but a real, working paradise, with no crime or poverty. Soon, he finds out that it isn't that easy. 5* - bearing in mind that such powerful SF writers of the 50s as Heinlein and Anderson leaned Libertarian, I guess it is also an in-group joke.
“The Battle” (1954) short story If the final battle, Armageddon, is upon us and generals prepare their best mechanized robotic armies to fight with Satan and his ilk. 3*
““Skulking Permit” novelette (1954) Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine a great starting sentence: "Tom Fisher had no idea he was about to begin a criminal career." This is a story of a small peaceful colony New Delaware, that lived for two centuries w/o any contact with anyone else. Now, there is a returned contact with Imperial Earth, and it has grown much stricter over the years. Therefore, New Delaverians rush to show visiting Earthmen that theirs is a true human colony, the only way they know - from books. And here enters Tom, for there was no crime in the colony, therefore, he was appointed the one. Now, he has to learn how to steal and murder. 5*
“Citizen in Space” (1955) short story Playboy under the title “Spy Story” Hugo 1956 nominee, a man leaves Earth, where Big Brother watches you, just to get more and more guised spies. He is happy and feels important, even if he sees that the Big Brother sends second-rate spies after him. 4*
“Ask a Foolish Question” (1953) short story Science Fiction Stories different species from across the galaxy send delegations to an old machine of an extinct race that knows everything. The problem is that all the questions asked are too vague to answer. 4*
July 12, 2014
Maravillosa.
No hay otra palabra para describir esta antología del que ya considero uno de los mejores cuentistas que he leído nunca. Entre todos destacan "Autorización para delinquir", "Un pasaje a Tranai" y "Algo a cambio de nada" destacan como lo haría Zeus entre el resto del panteón.
Sheckley trata de un modo singular la sociedad que le rodea ubicándola en distantes planetas, dotándola de extrañas particularidades, costumbres ajenas, pero siempre con la intención de volver la mirada a aquellos elementos negativos que decoran lo que venimos a denominar ser humano.
No hay otra palabra para describir esta antología del que ya considero uno de los mejores cuentistas que he leído nunca. Entre todos destacan "Autorización para delinquir", "Un pasaje a Tranai" y "Algo a cambio de nada" destacan como lo haría Zeus entre el resto del panteón.
Sheckley trata de un modo singular la sociedad que le rodea ubicándola en distantes planetas, dotándola de extrañas particularidades, costumbres ajenas, pero siempre con la intención de volver la mirada a aquellos elementos negativos que decoran lo que venimos a denominar ser humano.
August 20, 2022
Es un libro buenísimo. Nadie como Sheckley a la hora de destilar humor en las situaciones más desesperadas, logrando ser sarcástico, ingenioso y divertido todo a la vez, sin desentonar en ningún relato. Dentro de tanta categoría mis favoritos son: "La montaña sin nombre", "Caza difícil", "Un pasaje a Tranai" y "Un ladrón en el tiempo".
Todavía no encuentro otro libro del autor que le iguale en calidad.
Todavía no encuentro otro libro del autor que le iguale en calidad.
February 14, 2014
One of the greatest book I've ever read. The author draws an excellent picture of how mankind behaves nowadays, even though the stories are written in a futuristic context... Seems like we will never change.
May 4, 2016
Imagine a lazy evening at a pub, after everybody's had a few and the fiddler got tired, and the annoying dancing couple retired to a corner, and then some sailor starts telling stories, and they're wild and entertaining and fun, and when sharks get punched in the face, it's always justified by the narrative, but you just *know* he's bullshiting you (for once, because you knew fisherman Will all your life and he's never been to open sea). But you're still having fun, right? So you could just skip the noisy pub thing and read a book of Sheckley's short stories instead.
They're really cool, but for all their worth, they never feel like perfect short stories - you know, the ones that dazzle you with an interesting premise, introduce adorable characters, make you really interested all the way, and then drop a completely unexpected ending on your poor excited head. They *almost* pull it off, and then you reach the ending and realize that what I described was never planned in the first place, and the core idea behind the story is a bit silly, but still nice, and not really ehh even, but not too nice, and it's all kind of underwhelming, but probably still worth it, but not entirely, and, you know. Good but not too good.
Still, what Sheckley does well is aliens - they really feel like weird species, with strange needs and understandable desires, and not like cartoon aliens in the most of sci-fi who are clearly one human who just puts on some strange costumes to pretend they're from different planets.
What else Sheckley does well is humour - he makes you chuckle hardly any less sincerely than when you laugh while reading Pratchett.
There were two stories where POV changed between two opposing parties, and it was accomplished very skillfully. There was a really cute story that didn't claim to be in any way serious, but pulled off a silly premise with such passion, that I can't describe it in any other way than adorable and applauds-inducing - I'm talking about you, Citizen in Space. Skulking Permit was a bit naive, but still very cute, Something for Nothing turned out to be very cynical, and A Ticket to Tranai ended in such a way that made me hate the world for a while - or at least a part of it that was a certain sci-fi writer for the good part of the XX century, and now is probably some ashes? The Mountain Without a Name satrted with a cool premise, but ended with a puff, a Thief in Time was a genuinely intriguing bag of surprises. There were some niceish stories that felt like they were there just for filling space, too, but they were very short, and it was entirely ok.
So whatever. Don't read it if you want. Ignore the advice of your grandma who said you had to read it, meet your old friend from the future who says that it's necessary for you to read it and still don't read it, ignore my positive review, ignore your gut feeling, ignore all the billions of alien races who can't be wrong. Just be smart, don't trust big red buttons, don't punch robots, don't touch alien ships and don't forget to have fun in the process.
They're really cool, but for all their worth, they never feel like perfect short stories - you know, the ones that dazzle you with an interesting premise, introduce adorable characters, make you really interested all the way, and then drop a completely unexpected ending on your poor excited head. They *almost* pull it off, and then you reach the ending and realize that what I described was never planned in the first place, and the core idea behind the story is a bit silly, but still nice, and not really ehh even, but not too nice, and it's all kind of underwhelming, but probably still worth it, but not entirely, and, you know. Good but not too good.
Still, what Sheckley does well is aliens - they really feel like weird species, with strange needs and understandable desires, and not like cartoon aliens in the most of sci-fi who are clearly one human who just puts on some strange costumes to pretend they're from different planets.
What else Sheckley does well is humour - he makes you chuckle hardly any less sincerely than when you laugh while reading Pratchett.
There were two stories where POV changed between two opposing parties, and it was accomplished very skillfully. There was a really cute story that didn't claim to be in any way serious, but pulled off a silly premise with such passion, that I can't describe it in any other way than adorable and applauds-inducing - I'm talking about you, Citizen in Space. Skulking Permit was a bit naive, but still very cute, Something for Nothing turned out to be very cynical, and A Ticket to Tranai ended in such a way that made me hate the world for a while - or at least a part of it that was a certain sci-fi writer for the good part of the XX century, and now is probably some ashes? The Mountain Without a Name satrted with a cool premise, but ended with a puff, a Thief in Time was a genuinely intriguing bag of surprises. There were some niceish stories that felt like they were there just for filling space, too, but they were very short, and it was entirely ok.
So whatever. Don't read it if you want. Ignore the advice of your grandma who said you had to read it, meet your old friend from the future who says that it's necessary for you to read it and still don't read it, ignore my positive review, ignore your gut feeling, ignore all the billions of alien races who can't be wrong. Just be smart, don't trust big red buttons, don't punch robots, don't touch alien ships and don't forget to have fun in the process.
December 22, 2020
После первой книги Шекли мгновенно разогнался и стало весело. И еще он первый придумал Мисиксов.
1. "The Mountain Without a Name" -> 2/5
2. "The Accountant" -> 2/5
3. "Hunting Problem" -> 4,5/5
4. "A Thief in Time" -> 3/5
5. "The Luckiest Man in the World" -> 2,5/5
6. "Hands Off" -> 4,5/5
7. "Something for Nothing" -> 5/5
8. "A Ticket to Tranai" -> 5/5
9. "The Battle" -> 4/5
10. "Skulking Permit" -> 3/5
11. "Citizen in Space" -> 5/5
12. "Ask a Foolish Question" -> 3/5
Я прочитал эту книгу для обсуждения на подкасте про научную фантастику «Худо Не Было». Послушать можно тут: https://share.transistor.fm/s/3484abb7
1. "The Mountain Without a Name" -> 2/5
2. "The Accountant" -> 2/5
3. "Hunting Problem" -> 4,5/5
4. "A Thief in Time" -> 3/5
5. "The Luckiest Man in the World" -> 2,5/5
6. "Hands Off" -> 4,5/5
7. "Something for Nothing" -> 5/5
8. "A Ticket to Tranai" -> 5/5
9. "The Battle" -> 4/5
10. "Skulking Permit" -> 3/5
11. "Citizen in Space" -> 5/5
12. "Ask a Foolish Question" -> 3/5
No creature without tentacles had ever developed true intelligence. That was Etlib's Law, and it had never been disputed.
Я прочитал эту книгу для обсуждения на подкасте про научную фантастику «Худо Не Было». Послушать можно тут: https://share.transistor.fm/s/3484abb7
October 5, 2025
I've previously read Sheckley's "Untouched by Human Hands" and it was outrageously funny, original, and surreal, and I promised myself I need to catch up on this unique, postmodernist author.
This collection is in the same vein - surreal yet funny, challenging yet silly. His ideas are so original, his humor and critiques so astute that it was honestly such a pleasure to read. All the stories are in the postmodernist vein, but totally approachable to every type of reader. Each was great in their own way and if you've read a lotttt of sci-fi, you can tell which of his ideas influenced later writers. 4.5/5!
This collection is in the same vein - surreal yet funny, challenging yet silly. His ideas are so original, his humor and critiques so astute that it was honestly such a pleasure to read. All the stories are in the postmodernist vein, but totally approachable to every type of reader. Each was great in their own way and if you've read a lotttt of sci-fi, you can tell which of his ideas influenced later writers. 4.5/5!
January 31, 2013
I've been a fan of Robert Sheckley for some years, since a friend spent a whole summer forcing as many people as he could to read Sheckley stories. I'm really glad that he did, because I've found the man to be consistently funny, thoughtful, weird and creepy, sometimes in the same story. It's in the short story where Sheckley's skills stand out, and this volume collects twelve of them. I've actually read almost all of them before in other books, but it's nice to have them collected in one place.
It's difficult to pick out highlights as the book has not a single mis-step, but amongst the gems we find The Accountant, about a family of wizards whose son is determined to become an accountant; Hands Off tells the story of some ruffians who have an encounter with an unknown alien and the perils of the unknown; while The Battle tells the story of Armageddon and the armies that fight against the legions of Hell. My favourite story in the collection is probably Skulking Permit, about a long-lost Earth colony whose single interstellar radio one day sparks back into life and the colonists suddenly have to learn to be civilised and have things like police, racism and murderers in a few short weeks. This story is funny, thought-provoking and quite sweet as it describes an interruption in Utopia in a few short, concise pages, following the village's newly licensed Official Criminal.
Finding a book of short stories by Robert Sheckley is always an event worth celebrating and this collection shows an author at the height of his powers.
It's difficult to pick out highlights as the book has not a single mis-step, but amongst the gems we find The Accountant, about a family of wizards whose son is determined to become an accountant; Hands Off tells the story of some ruffians who have an encounter with an unknown alien and the perils of the unknown; while The Battle tells the story of Armageddon and the armies that fight against the legions of Hell. My favourite story in the collection is probably Skulking Permit, about a long-lost Earth colony whose single interstellar radio one day sparks back into life and the colonists suddenly have to learn to be civilised and have things like police, racism and murderers in a few short weeks. This story is funny, thought-provoking and quite sweet as it describes an interruption in Utopia in a few short, concise pages, following the village's newly licensed Official Criminal.
Finding a book of short stories by Robert Sheckley is always an event worth celebrating and this collection shows an author at the height of his powers.
December 31, 2007
What an enjoyable collection of stories! Wonderfully clever and funny in the way that holds the mirror up to society and changes the names just enough to allow you to suspend disbelief, these stories often reminded me more of the dark humor of some of Kafka’s shorter stories than the other sci-fi writers of the 1950’s.
September 2, 2022
a collection of really neat, completely original sci-fi short stories. Just as funny and insightful now as it was when first published in the 50's. Reminds me of a mix of Vonnegut and Douglas Adams. I was pleasantly surprised how much i enjoyed all these stories. there wasn't a bad one.
October 21, 2026
Spoilers
Definitely weaker and much more uneven than Untouched by Human Hands, but still enough weird little Sheckley ideas in here to make it worthwhile.
A lot of these stories have the same basic Sheckley mechanism: humans arrive somewhere with their own assumptions about resources, morality, civilization, crime, politics, whatever, and then discover that another species or society has a completely different ethos. Sometimes this works extremely well. Sometimes you can practically see Sheckley sitting there going, “okay, what if society worked backwards in this specific way?” and then hard-fitting a story around the concept.
The Mountain Without a Name was a decent 3/5. A bit contrived and preachy, and the mountain reacting almost morally only really makes sense if the universe itself is somehow teleological, but the ecological/corporate message is fine and there are enough little twists to keep it moving.
The Accountant was much more my kind of absurdity. Supernatural beings, demons and magic being treated like professions and bureaucracy is just inherently funny to me. Coincidentally I have come up with similar demon-contract nonsense myself, so apparently Hell naturally develops an accounting department. Also 3/5.
Hunting Problem was another 3/5. Typical Sheckley POV reversal. Neat enough, but once you understand the trick there isn't that much more there.
A Thief in Time was more interesting. It is mostly familiar predestination/time-loop stuff, except the protagonist is strangely passive: events keep happening to him because another temporal version of himself has already done everything. He spends most of the story suffering the consequences of decisions he hasn't made yet. There is something very funny about that. The ending gets a bit noshnosh logically, especially because there must still be an earlier lagoon where he actually arrives before the cabin exists and builds the damn thing. Still, it could make a really nice short film. 3.5/5.
The Luckiest Man in the World was 2.5/5. There was something in there, the irony of being extraordinarily lucky because the rest of humanity is fucked, but it just wasn't interesting enough. Good shape, not enough meat fur mich.
Hands Off surprised me and ended up at 3.5/5. At first it looked like another resources-in-space story, which Sheckley's fictional humans are extremely fond of. Then the aliens turn out to have actually thought about violence and killing far more deeply than the humans have. Apparently this alien civilization had its own Camus (and actually listened). I liked the idea that an advanced civilization might know the human capacity for rationalizing violence and deliberately structure itself around avoiding that spiral. Their morality looks strange from the human perspective, but from theirs the humans are the lunatics trying to steal and murder everything.
Something for Nothing was also 3.5/5. It starts more generically than it ends. Another debt story, very much in the family of Cost of Living: you think you have found infinite abundance and discover that capitalism has somehow followed you into the miracle machine. The immortality punch "congrats, now you have enough time to pay back your debt" is wonderfully mean and apt.
Ticket to Tranai is probably the biggest missed opportunity in the collection. 2/5, but there was absolutely a 3.5-ish novel hiding inside it. There are some genuinely smart ideas: there is no utopia for everyone; “justice,” “dignity” and so on are still words that have to cash out into actual institutions; political responsibility would mean something different when politicians genuinely have to bear risk; and maybe political systems should incorporate known limitations of human character instead of pretending humans are ideal rational beings. Something like behavioral economics already realizes.
I also liked Sheckley's reverse morality with the wife. From Goodman's ethos he has liberated her, but from her pov he has made her life materially worse. She has some completely legitimate complaints. That's exactly the sort of moral perspectivism Sheckley is good at.
But the whole thing feels like a folder full of political concepts that were forced into one long short story. Tax system. Marriage system. Crime system. Government system. Next exhibit. It wanted to be a little novel where we could actually see these institutions interacting and discover who benefits and who gets screwed. The ending with Goodman becoming a take-the-vote-away-from-women guy is also weird logically, although I think the joke is mainly that Goodman learns absolutely nothing except to reverse his crusade. The female stuff on the other planet was also kind of icky agewise so I guess luckily the mc is a shitbag at the end? I am also a little bit on the slow side so whilst writing this I realize his name is very deliberately Goodman.
The Battle was a strong little 3/5. Very short, very direct, awesome message. Humanity lets machines do the actual fighting in a certain apocalyptic future, while the commanders sit safely away from the battlefield, and then God takes the actual victors rather than the people who gave the orders. Of course he does. You wanted responsibility without risk and moral credit without sacrifice. Tough shit.
Skulking Permit ended up at 2/5. There is a hilarious Monty Python sketch buried in it: a future society has to appoint a criminal because civilized societies apparently have crime, and these people barely understand what a criminal even is. Reading a definition of crime is obviously not the same thing as inhabiting the social reality that gives the concept meaning. The “you aren't civilized because you can't murder properly” joke lands beautifully. But it goes on too long, and the ending simplifies some of the more interesting ideas into peaceful innocent society vs violent Earth.
The title story, Citizen in Space, was probably the weakest at 1.5/5. Very paranoid, which gives it a decent tone, and in hindsight it incidentally predicts a million later “am I insane or is something wrong with this spaceship?” stories. But outside that atmosphere there just wasn't much there.
And then thankfully Ask a Foolish Question shows up at the end and gives me another story that intuitively knows how some of our consciousness works. 4/5. Very abstract and esoteric, but this is exactly the kind of Sheckley I like. The Answerer knows the answers; the problem is that the questioners don't possess the conceptual framework necessary to formulate the right questions. “He can't answer questions in terms of our assumptions” is basically the whole thing.
That is symbol grounding, internal world-models and conceptual framing decades before anyone needed to use those terms. Different minds divide reality differently, so possessing a word like “life” does not mean you have actually grounded the same concept. And the line that to ask the right question you already need to know most of the answer is genuinely excellent.
Also the story was very funny to read shortly after Saturn Run, which contains its own alien answering-machine situation. Sheckley basically got there in 1953 and immediately asked the more annoying philosophical question: what if the machine can answer anything but the beings asking questions are too conceptually stupid to ask it anything useful?
So overall, Citizen in Space is a muddier collection than Untouched by Human Hands. Fewer 4.5–5/5 stories and more things that are clever primarily as constructions. Sheckley repeatedly returns to the same obsession: people mistake the categories their society taught them like resources, crime, civilization, justice, ownership, morality for fixed, objective features of reality. Then he introduces another society and lets those assumptions fall apart.
Sometimes he gets a genuinely great philosophical story out of that. Sometimes he gets a joke. Sometimes he gets 30 pages out of a concept that probably needed 10.
But even when the execution fails, there is usually something going on underneath it, which is why I'll happily keep reading him.
Definitely weaker and much more uneven than Untouched by Human Hands, but still enough weird little Sheckley ideas in here to make it worthwhile.
A lot of these stories have the same basic Sheckley mechanism: humans arrive somewhere with their own assumptions about resources, morality, civilization, crime, politics, whatever, and then discover that another species or society has a completely different ethos. Sometimes this works extremely well. Sometimes you can practically see Sheckley sitting there going, “okay, what if society worked backwards in this specific way?” and then hard-fitting a story around the concept.
The Mountain Without a Name was a decent 3/5. A bit contrived and preachy, and the mountain reacting almost morally only really makes sense if the universe itself is somehow teleological, but the ecological/corporate message is fine and there are enough little twists to keep it moving.
The Accountant was much more my kind of absurdity. Supernatural beings, demons and magic being treated like professions and bureaucracy is just inherently funny to me. Coincidentally I have come up with similar demon-contract nonsense myself, so apparently Hell naturally develops an accounting department. Also 3/5.
Hunting Problem was another 3/5. Typical Sheckley POV reversal. Neat enough, but once you understand the trick there isn't that much more there.
A Thief in Time was more interesting. It is mostly familiar predestination/time-loop stuff, except the protagonist is strangely passive: events keep happening to him because another temporal version of himself has already done everything. He spends most of the story suffering the consequences of decisions he hasn't made yet. There is something very funny about that. The ending gets a bit noshnosh logically, especially because there must still be an earlier lagoon where he actually arrives before the cabin exists and builds the damn thing. Still, it could make a really nice short film. 3.5/5.
The Luckiest Man in the World was 2.5/5. There was something in there, the irony of being extraordinarily lucky because the rest of humanity is fucked, but it just wasn't interesting enough. Good shape, not enough meat fur mich.
Hands Off surprised me and ended up at 3.5/5. At first it looked like another resources-in-space story, which Sheckley's fictional humans are extremely fond of. Then the aliens turn out to have actually thought about violence and killing far more deeply than the humans have. Apparently this alien civilization had its own Camus (and actually listened). I liked the idea that an advanced civilization might know the human capacity for rationalizing violence and deliberately structure itself around avoiding that spiral. Their morality looks strange from the human perspective, but from theirs the humans are the lunatics trying to steal and murder everything.
Something for Nothing was also 3.5/5. It starts more generically than it ends. Another debt story, very much in the family of Cost of Living: you think you have found infinite abundance and discover that capitalism has somehow followed you into the miracle machine. The immortality punch "congrats, now you have enough time to pay back your debt" is wonderfully mean and apt.
Ticket to Tranai is probably the biggest missed opportunity in the collection. 2/5, but there was absolutely a 3.5-ish novel hiding inside it. There are some genuinely smart ideas: there is no utopia for everyone; “justice,” “dignity” and so on are still words that have to cash out into actual institutions; political responsibility would mean something different when politicians genuinely have to bear risk; and maybe political systems should incorporate known limitations of human character instead of pretending humans are ideal rational beings. Something like behavioral economics already realizes.
I also liked Sheckley's reverse morality with the wife. From Goodman's ethos he has liberated her, but from her pov he has made her life materially worse. She has some completely legitimate complaints. That's exactly the sort of moral perspectivism Sheckley is good at.
But the whole thing feels like a folder full of political concepts that were forced into one long short story. Tax system. Marriage system. Crime system. Government system. Next exhibit. It wanted to be a little novel where we could actually see these institutions interacting and discover who benefits and who gets screwed. The ending with Goodman becoming a take-the-vote-away-from-women guy is also weird logically, although I think the joke is mainly that Goodman learns absolutely nothing except to reverse his crusade. The female stuff on the other planet was also kind of icky agewise so I guess luckily the mc is a shitbag at the end? I am also a little bit on the slow side so whilst writing this I realize his name is very deliberately Goodman.
The Battle was a strong little 3/5. Very short, very direct, awesome message. Humanity lets machines do the actual fighting in a certain apocalyptic future, while the commanders sit safely away from the battlefield, and then God takes the actual victors rather than the people who gave the orders. Of course he does. You wanted responsibility without risk and moral credit without sacrifice. Tough shit.
Skulking Permit ended up at 2/5. There is a hilarious Monty Python sketch buried in it: a future society has to appoint a criminal because civilized societies apparently have crime, and these people barely understand what a criminal even is. Reading a definition of crime is obviously not the same thing as inhabiting the social reality that gives the concept meaning. The “you aren't civilized because you can't murder properly” joke lands beautifully. But it goes on too long, and the ending simplifies some of the more interesting ideas into peaceful innocent society vs violent Earth.
The title story, Citizen in Space, was probably the weakest at 1.5/5. Very paranoid, which gives it a decent tone, and in hindsight it incidentally predicts a million later “am I insane or is something wrong with this spaceship?” stories. But outside that atmosphere there just wasn't much there.
And then thankfully Ask a Foolish Question shows up at the end and gives me another story that intuitively knows how some of our consciousness works. 4/5. Very abstract and esoteric, but this is exactly the kind of Sheckley I like. The Answerer knows the answers; the problem is that the questioners don't possess the conceptual framework necessary to formulate the right questions. “He can't answer questions in terms of our assumptions” is basically the whole thing.
That is symbol grounding, internal world-models and conceptual framing decades before anyone needed to use those terms. Different minds divide reality differently, so possessing a word like “life” does not mean you have actually grounded the same concept. And the line that to ask the right question you already need to know most of the answer is genuinely excellent.
Also the story was very funny to read shortly after Saturn Run, which contains its own alien answering-machine situation. Sheckley basically got there in 1953 and immediately asked the more annoying philosophical question: what if the machine can answer anything but the beings asking questions are too conceptually stupid to ask it anything useful?
So overall, Citizen in Space is a muddier collection than Untouched by Human Hands. Fewer 4.5–5/5 stories and more things that are clever primarily as constructions. Sheckley repeatedly returns to the same obsession: people mistake the categories their society taught them like resources, crime, civilization, justice, ownership, morality for fixed, objective features of reality. Then he introduces another society and lets those assumptions fall apart.
Sometimes he gets a genuinely great philosophical story out of that. Sometimes he gets a joke. Sometimes he gets 30 pages out of a concept that probably needed 10.
But even when the execution fails, there is usually something going on underneath it, which is why I'll happily keep reading him.
September 5, 2007
I picked up what appears to be a first edition paperback of Citizen in Space a few months ago at a local used bookstore - it's a collection of short stories by a SF writer who is less well-known than he deserves to be. The stories, all written in the mid 1950's, seem a bit dated at times (especially "A Ticket to Tranai") , but cover common themes with wry humour.
In "The Accountant", a father is dismayed by the fact his son is studying accountancy, instead of following the family business of wizardry. "A Thief in Time" provides the now-clichéd time travel story in a slightly new light (tho "By His Bootstraps" and "All You Zombies...." covers the topic much better). "Hands Off" has an interesting alien encounter, while "Something for Nothing" puts a technological twist on the genie & three wishes folktale. "The Luckiest Man in the World" and "The Battle" don't pull any punches with their bleak endings, and "The Answerer" is often cited as an inspiration for Douglas Adams' Deep Thought.
I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit this is (as far as I can recall) my first exposure to Robert Sheckley, but it definitely won't be my last. Recommended to readers who like their (late) Golden Age of Science Fiction with a twist.
Memorable quote from "The Answerer":
"Of the race that built him, the less said, the better. They also Knew, and never said whether they found the knowledge pleasant."
In "The Accountant", a father is dismayed by the fact his son is studying accountancy, instead of following the family business of wizardry. "A Thief in Time" provides the now-clichéd time travel story in a slightly new light (tho "By His Bootstraps" and "All You Zombies...." covers the topic much better). "Hands Off" has an interesting alien encounter, while "Something for Nothing" puts a technological twist on the genie & three wishes folktale. "The Luckiest Man in the World" and "The Battle" don't pull any punches with their bleak endings, and "The Answerer" is often cited as an inspiration for Douglas Adams' Deep Thought.
I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit this is (as far as I can recall) my first exposure to Robert Sheckley, but it definitely won't be my last. Recommended to readers who like their (late) Golden Age of Science Fiction with a twist.
Memorable quote from "The Answerer":
"Of the race that built him, the less said, the better. They also Knew, and never said whether they found the knowledge pleasant."
July 2, 2021
It's always crazy to me how much story Robert Sheckley can put in so few pages. I'm of the opinion, why use ten words when one would suffice? In this collection of shorts, Sheckley does that thing where he showcases his strengths for inventive yet simple formats only to surprise with humor that doesnt rely on racism or sexism unless it does. I found value in all but if I had to pick a favorite short it would be Citizen in Space, about an accidential world leader who colonizes a planet of spies who wont spy anymore or Ticket to Trani, which turns the whole idea of utopia upside down.
November 9, 2015
Buena colección de historias cortas de Robert Sheckley, excelente escritor de ciencia-ficción humorística.
A good collection of short stories by Robert Sheckley, who excelled in humorous science fiction.
A good collection of short stories by Robert Sheckley, who excelled in humorous science fiction.
July 10, 2025
Another fantastic set of short stories from one of the best in the business. I feel Sheckley is overlooked in the world of sci-fi writing. He tells many stories on the subject of Utopia and how things aren't always what we expect. He also likes to do stories where there are misunderstandings and misinterpretations between beings from different parts of the galaxy, but somehow it is all very relatable.
Some of the great stories here are "The Mountain with No Name", where the planets revolt against human destruction", "Thief in Time", where a man is chased into the distant future for a crime he hasn't committed yet. "Something For Nothing" is a story about a machine that will give you anything you want, but then you have to pay for it, or work it off; but immortality is free. "Ticket to Tranai" tells of a man who travels far to a utopia, only to run away from it, because he couldn't cope with the customs. "Skulking License" may be my favorite. It is a planet cut off from Earth for 200 years that has no crime or poverty, but Earth has reasserted control over them, so they must appear more Earth-like. So they hire the fisherman to steal and murder, but he's not quite sure how to do it.
This is a fantastic collection. You should be reading more Sheckley.
Some of the great stories here are "The Mountain with No Name", where the planets revolt against human destruction", "Thief in Time", where a man is chased into the distant future for a crime he hasn't committed yet. "Something For Nothing" is a story about a machine that will give you anything you want, but then you have to pay for it, or work it off; but immortality is free. "Ticket to Tranai" tells of a man who travels far to a utopia, only to run away from it, because he couldn't cope with the customs. "Skulking License" may be my favorite. It is a planet cut off from Earth for 200 years that has no crime or poverty, but Earth has reasserted control over them, so they must appear more Earth-like. So they hire the fisherman to steal and murder, but he's not quite sure how to do it.
This is a fantastic collection. You should be reading more Sheckley.
February 17, 2025
My dad lent me his copy with his favorite stories marked with purple stars and the difference in what he liked vs what I did is fun.
My dad's favorites: The Accountant, The Luckiest Man in the World, Something for Nothing, and Skulking Permit.
My favorites: The Accountant, Hunting Problem, Hands Off, and Skulking Permit
All of the stories were delightfully fun and a bit silly. I laughed a few times and some of the stories were a bit tense! The different depictions of societies was interesting. I found myself rooting for the aliens in every alien story but I can't decide if I liked Hunting Problem or Hands Off more. The ending of Hunting Problem was hilarious and not what I was expecting in a fabulous way. The humans in Hands Off were the worst so I was very pleased with the ending.
I followed my dad's advice and listened to the X Minus One radio play version of Skulking Permit and I spent much of the time laughing.
This is exactly the kind of campy fun sci-fi that makes you think that I grew up with and I adored it.
My dad's favorites: The Accountant, The Luckiest Man in the World, Something for Nothing, and Skulking Permit.
My favorites: The Accountant, Hunting Problem, Hands Off, and Skulking Permit
All of the stories were delightfully fun and a bit silly. I laughed a few times and some of the stories were a bit tense! The different depictions of societies was interesting. I found myself rooting for the aliens in every alien story but I can't decide if I liked Hunting Problem or Hands Off more. The ending of Hunting Problem was hilarious and not what I was expecting in a fabulous way. The humans in Hands Off were the worst so I was very pleased with the ending.
I followed my dad's advice and listened to the X Minus One radio play version of Skulking Permit and I spent much of the time laughing.
This is exactly the kind of campy fun sci-fi that makes you think that I grew up with and I adored it.
October 30, 2024
Ciencia ficción de la buena. Ciencia ficción de la clásica. Tan clásica que no me quito de encima la impresión de que autores más modernos han expoliado a Sheckley a conciencia. En concreto, por poner un ejemplo, la historia titulada "Un ladrón en el tiempo" se parece peligrosamente, en su premisa, al Paycheck, de John Woo, del 2003. Y aun así, aunque te hayan contado lo mismo en otro lugar, merece mucho la pena: la inversión de roles, la expectativa frustrada, el lugar del ser humano en el universo... no son simples pinceladas retóricas sino rasgos permanentes en la cosmovisión de este autor tan increíble. No por nada lo llaman el maestro del giro al final del relato. ¿Y qué decir de ese sutil y ácido sentido del humor que casi pasa desapercibido?
Por otro lado, la edición de Edhasa, espolvoreada de fallos ortográficos, tipográficos y gramaticales aquí y allá, resulta penosa. Traducción/traición mano a mano a cargo de Norma B. de López y Edith Zilli.
Por otro lado, la edición de Edhasa, espolvoreada de fallos ortográficos, tipográficos y gramaticales aquí y allá, resulta penosa. Traducción/traición mano a mano a cargo de Norma B. de López y Edith Zilli.
May 13, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"Robert Sheckley’s easily one of the best SF satirists in the short story form. The collection Citizen in Space (1955), although not as uniformly brilliant as the collection Store of Infinity (1960), is chock full of gems including “The Luckiest Man in the World” (1955), “Something for Nothing” (1954), “Ask a Foolish Question” (1953), and “Skulking Permit” (1954). Sheckley exposes in all their glory the vast variety of humankind’s follies and utopian delusions.
Later in the 50s and in the span of 6os [...]"
"Robert Sheckley’s easily one of the best SF satirists in the short story form. The collection Citizen in Space (1955), although not as uniformly brilliant as the collection Store of Infinity (1960), is chock full of gems including “The Luckiest Man in the World” (1955), “Something for Nothing” (1954), “Ask a Foolish Question” (1953), and “Skulking Permit” (1954). Sheckley exposes in all their glory the vast variety of humankind’s follies and utopian delusions.
Later in the 50s and in the span of 6os [...]"
July 9, 2026
Sheckley wrote clever, funny science fiction stories, which inspired writers like Douglas Adams and shows like Futurama. All the stories in this collection are at least amusing and some are very good. The best is "A Ticket to Tranai", about a man who goes in search of a supposedly utopian planet, "Tranai, where The Way had been found and men were no longer bound to The Wheel!" When he arrives, he is immediately appointed President, and things go hilariously downhill from there.
January 12, 2018
Sheckley! 3.5 stars, only a couple truly unsatisfying stories in the bunch. If there's one overall defect, it's that there's a certain common theme running through a good number of them, that works in each individual story but wears a bit thin in aggregate. Still, for clever little Fifties stories, Sheckley is a very safe bet.
August 2, 2021
Regarding this Finnish language edition: ihan huippukirja. Luin ensikertaa teininä, lainakirjana. Löysin oman kappaleen myöhemmin divarista. Absurdeja, groteskeja ja hullunkurisia satiireja. Hieman Philip k Dick tyyliin. Suosittelen.
February 8, 2023
Enjoyed immensely, if you seeks for simple yet fascinating scifi stories - this is for you. If you want to check out where the whole scifi business started - this is your book. Yet no complex story here, all characters are quite simple - because the focus is an idea!
November 26, 2023
*3.5 stars*. Entertaining collection of sci-fi/speculative futuristic short stories. Robert Sheckley has a way with sci-fi humor. Most of these stories will make you laugh, a few are more serious but all are interesting. A fun & quick read!
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October 9, 2024“A Mountain Without a Name”: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: Comparing people to jellyfish is reprehensible. Jellyfish are conscious. 🪼💬 Besides all the damage was caused by the use of fossil fuels. To say otherwise is to commit the crime of disinformationization.
May 15, 2026
The final story in this set, "Ask a Foolish Question," is about a galactic oracle that can answer any question... as long as it's asked correctly. Long predates Douglas Adams and is resonant with modern AI conundrums.
July 10, 2017
Old-timey nostalgic sci-fi. Beach reading! Except the book fell apart, into dust!
August 24, 2017
Dated but some fine short stories
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