Shipping Clerk by Joseph Samachson
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"Shipping Clerk" by William Morrison is a science fiction novella written in the early 1950s. The story revolves around a down-and-out character named Ollie Keith, who spent his life in poverty, struggling with hunger and failed aspirations. The narrative explores themes of desperation, survival, and unexpected consequences, highlighting the sharp contrast between his bleak existence and the bizarre twists of fate that befall him. The novella follows Ollie's life as he scavenges
for food and tries to survive in a harsh urban environment. His fortunes take a strange turn when he unwittingly consumes a mysterious object that significantly affects his physiology, allowing him to consume vast quantities of food without gaining weight. As he enters an eating contest, he becomes the center of attention, attracting the curiosity of extraterrestrial beings who wish to recover the lost object he has ingested. The narrative weaves humor and absurdity into Ollie's plight, culminating in a transformation that offers him a chance for a more fulfilling life, but not without leaving lingering questions about identity and the nature of his new existence. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Samachson, Joseph, 1906-1980 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Emshwiller, Ed, 1925-1990 |
| Title | Shipping Clerk |
| Series Title | Produced from Galaxy Science Fiction June 1952 |
| Credits |
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 85.1 (6th grade). Easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Science fiction |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | Poor -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 50796 |
| Release Date | Dec 30, 2015 |
| Last Update | Oct 22, 2024 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 322 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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