Robert Zacks 20 min read

A man must confess a horrible sin, and a newspaper item about an expedition to the frozen Himalayas has finally forced his terrible secret out of him.

Robert Zacks's 1955 story frames its wry social-SF tale as the anguished confession of a man dreading straitjacket and padded cell. Light, clever golden-age SF with a twist. Read it for a genial, tongue-in-cheek story that builds to a very unexpected admission.

In its time

Published in 1955, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

William Ashman