Joseph Samachson 20 min read

A simple postcard involves an ordinary woman in a world of trouble, in a future where hypnotism has become a fully accepted science.

Joseph Samachson's 1953 story, framed by a note on hypnosis from Mesmer to the year 2083, follows the exasperated Carrie Samason into unexpected difficulties. Wry, domestic social SF. Read it for a light golden-age tale that imagines a hypnotized future through one woman's small ordeal.

In its time

Published in 1953, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

20 min read (a short story, a single idea, delivered and gone).