Joseph Samachson 7 min read

'This is the girl I'm in love with,' says cracked cousin Perry, showing off a photograph, of a brainy, oddly dressed young woman who is, so far, only a picture.

Joseph Samachson's 1955 story spins a wry AI-and-social-SF tale from a man smitten with a woman not yet made. Clever, charming golden-age SF. Read it for a genial story where an eccentric inventor's love for a photograph turns out to be love for a person he intends to build.

In its time

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

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Ed Emshwiller