Sylvia Jacobs 37 min read

The Ambassador from Outer Space is no brontosaurus or telepathic squid, but a perfectly normal, even handsome human being, too perfect, in fact, his shave too close, his skin too smooth.

Sylvia Jacobs's 1951 story is a sharp, witty first-contact and social-SF satire of economics. Clever, pointed golden-age SF. Read it for a genial story where the ultimate alien invention triggers the ultimate depression, and a wary Earthman probes an uncannily flawless extraterrestrial envoy for the catch.

In its time

Published in 1951, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

David Stone