Double Take

by Richard Wilson

Paul Asher woke not knowing a thing about his real mission. But the man in the wheelchair and the woman questining him knew -- and they wanted what he had.

Genres: Science Fiction

14 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Richard Wilson (1920–1987) was a Nebula Award winning American science fiction writer and fan. He was a member of the Futurians, and was married at one time to Leslie Perri.

His books included the novels The Girls from Planet 5 (1955); 30-Day Wonder (1960); and And Then the Town Took Off (1960); and the collections Those Idiots from Earth (1957) and Time Out for Tomorrow (1962). His short stories included "The Eight Billion" (nominated for a Nebula Award as Best Short Story in 1965); "Mother to the World" (nominated for the Hugo for Best Novelette in 1969 and winner of the Nebula in 1968); and "The Story Writer" (nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1979).
(source: Wikipedia:)

Reviews

[William]

Entertaining futuristic listening 🎶🔰

A will written futuristic fantasy world 🌎 adventure thriller short story by Richard Wilson. I would recommend this novella and author to 👍readers looking for a quick read. 2023 😀👒

[Zen]

Well, Well. Déjà Vu all over again.

Fun Spy within a Spy, Generic James Bond, Cold War stuff. Replete with a Head Badguy in a Wheelchair. Except the Badguys were Aliens instead of Commies. Though the Aliens didn't look like Aliens. They just looked like typical James Bondesque Villains.

Actually it's not a bad story. It's just that it's been done before ad nauseam, and a lot better (and worse!), by other writers.

Until the Multifilm of "Spies From Space" broke, I was quite enjoying the story as it was. It's too bad R.Wilson didn't keep going with the story. I was looking forward to some Weird, Cheesy Ending. I guess R.Wilson just ran out of ideas and decided to tack on a gimmicky ending.

So in the end the Reader is left wondering:

1. Was it all a Dream? That's the Cliché take on it.

2. Or was it indoctrination? That's the Cold War take on it.

3. Or was it just a Training Run orchestrated by the mysterious Naomi? That's the Paul Asher is an Innocent Victim take on it.

Either way......I don't really care. Reality is after all a Relative Concept. It's not that great a story as it is given to us.

Now if only R.Wilson had gone for the Weird Cheesy Ending....now that could have been fun.

[Lois R. Hicks]

Good short story

I enjoyed reading this short story. It was interesting to the end. It may be a little dated but still good.

[Tony Ciak]

scifi, short story