Pohl, Frederik (ed) - Shadow of Tomorrow / Пол, Фредерик (ред) - Тень завтрашнего дня [1953, EPUB, ENG]

The Year of the Jackpot / Год окончания игры novelette by Robert A. Heinlein A Bad Day for Sales / Плохой день для продаж short story by Fritz Leiber The C-Chute / С-шлюз novelette by Isaac Asimov The Perfect Creature (= Una; Female of the Species) / Уна novelette by John Wyndham The Marching Morons / Марширующие идиоты novelette by C. M. Kornbluth Transfer Point novelette by Anthony Boucher Watchbird / Страж-птица short story by Robert Sheckley To a Ripe Old Age short story by Wilson Tucker Orphans of the Void novelette by Michael Shaara The Old Order (= The New Gods Lead) short story by Lester del Rey Genesis novelette by H. Beam Piper Halo / Пояс астероидов novelette by Hal Clement Common Time short story by James Blish Love short story by Richard Wilson The Misogynist / Женоненавистник short story by James E. Gunn The Luckiest Man in Denv / Самый большой счастливчик short story by C. M. Kornbluth (as by Simon Eisner) Not a Creature Was Stirring short story by Dean Evans

JAMES E. GUNN The Misogynist

HARRY IS a wit. Someone has defined a wit as a person who can tell a funny story without cracking a smile. That’s Harry. “You know,” Steve said at the office one day, “I’ll bet Harry will walk right up to the flaming gates of Hell, keeping the Devil in stitches all the time, and never change expression.” That’s the kind of fellow Harry is. A great guy to have around the office. Makes you laugh just to see him, thinking about the last story he told. Smart, too. Keeps at a thing, digging away, piling up facts and stuff until you finally see something straight for the first time. Everybody says he’s going places. But the kind of story Harry likes—he likes them long. They start kind of slow, you know, and sort of build up with a tickle here and a tickle there until each new touch makes you helpless, you’re so weak with laughter. The kind of story you take home to your wife and you get part way through, laughing like a fool, and you notice she’s just sitting there, sort of patient and martyred, thinking maybe about tomorrow’s dinner or the dress sale downtown, and you stop laughing and sigh and say, “It must be the way he tells it” or “Nobody can tell stories like Harry.” But then women don’t think Harry’s funny. . . .