Stephen Marlowe 1 hr 7 min read

Ordinary salesman Hector Finch, four martinis deep at a convention, is cornered by a large-headed little man, and the gorgeous Miss Laara, whose Foolproof Method of Procurement will change his life.

Stephen Marlowe's 1956 story is a wry, racy first-contact and social-SF comedy. Fun, clever golden-age SF. Read it for a breezy tale where a hapless salesman stumbles into alien sales techniques and gangland trouble, in a light, fast-moving golden-age romp about salesmanship, seduction, and getting in over your head.

In its time

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

Reading it

1 hr 7 min read (a novelette, room for a turn or two).

Illustrated by

Alex Kotzky