Jim Harmon 34 min read

A starship captain dreads nothing more than a rookie 'Accident Prone' aboard, because if the man ever laughs at himself, the whole crew is dead.

Jim Harmon's 1957 story explains the strange logic of the Exploration Service, which pampers walking disasters whose luck somehow protects a ship, so long as their gloom holds. Clever, comic space opera with an inventive premise. Read it for a witty golden-age tale that makes bad luck the most valuable cargo aboard.

In its time

Published in 1957, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

34 min read (a novelette, room for a turn or two).

Illustrated by

Jack Gaughan