Lee Archer 26 min read

The nonsensical ad nags at him: 'Wanted, live-wire real estate broker, no selling.' Kevin Muldoon can't resist walking over to find out what such an impossible job could mean.

Lee Archer's 1956 story spins a wry post-apocalyptic and social-SF tale from a too-strange help-wanted notice. Sharp, intriguing golden-age SF. Read it for a story where a broker answers an ad that makes no sense, and finds the reason is far larger than any lease.

In its time

Published in 1956, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Virgil Finlay