This SF Short Story Was Intended To Be The Butt of Many Jokes

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From the latest edition of Ray X X-Rayer #157 ezine.  This issue and previous ones are available at https://efanzines.com/RXXR/index.htm .


Spaceways, v. 3, issue 4, May 1941 | The University of Iowa Libraries –

https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/islandora/object/ui%3Ahevelin_3517_2_2

On page 8 of this scanned fanzine there is a story The End of Pennywhistle listed under “HUMOUR by “damon knight.” The story opens in the year 1989 in the metropolis of Thickerwhichet-on-theStinglebottom, the unnamed narrator explaining how civilization fell apart.

The cause of the Great Catastrophe is one Mortimer Pennywhistle – well, actually his hind end. A strange radiation emitted from that area disintegrates ratchet handles and the straws on brooms. These objects are destroyed when they enter the unearthly radiation zone.

At first the odd effect only occurs within a few feet of Pennywhistle’s posterior. It’s thought lead pants might alleviate the problem but the radiation intensifies, overcoming any thickness of lead. While growing in power the radiation starts to expand, broom staws and ratchet handles miles away falling apart under its energy.

And what multiplies the problem even more is that suddenly ten people suffer from the same condition. These newly infected are exiled to either the North or South Pole. But no sooner than those ten are isolated ten more show up. (Radiation symbolizing the spread of STI?)

At the end the narrator ends with this clincher: he wonders if Pennywhistle, now confined to the frigid wastes of Antarctica, is sending his selectively destructive radiation out into the universe, affecting other worlds.

The narrator mentions that civilization will rise again thanks to floorpaint and radio tubes.

But what about plastic ratchet handles and vacuum cleaners?

Maybe that’s why this tale, unlike Damon Knight’s short story To Serve Man, was never adapted into a Twilight Zone episode.


NOTE: Spaceways v.3, Issue 4, is listed as Spaceways #20 at https://www.fanac.org/ .


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