Expediter
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers new to original English-language science fiction who want to start with a short story
- Readers interested in the style of mid-twentieth-century American science fiction
- Students studying the history of science fiction and social science fiction themes
- Casual readers who like to finish a story in spare moments
Not a good fit for
- Readers seeking long, complex world-building
- Beginners who need a Chinese translation or bilingual edition
- Readers who find early science fiction pacing dated
Reading tips
- Read through once for the plot, then revisit the author's satire on institutions and efficiency.
- Note the occupational setup and organizational relationships in the story and consider their real-world parallels.
- Read alongside contemporary American science fiction short stories to compare themes and techniques.
About the publisher
Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.
Contents
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FAQ
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About the author
Mack Reynolds (1917–1983) was an American science fiction writer, born Dallas McCord Reynolds. Because public information is limited, no speculation is made here about his early life or education. The collection holds twenty-five of his works, including I’m a Stranger Here Myself, The Common Man, Happy Ending, Dogfight—1973, Black Man’s Burden, Off Course, Summit, and Ultima Thule. These titles suggest that he excelled at short stories and novellas, often addressing social issues, race relations, political conflict, and future warfare. His titles are frequently blunt and ironic, his narratives tight, and he makes effective use of suspense and reversal to discuss real-world problems within the framework of popular science fiction. His work appeared mainly in mid-twentieth-century science fiction magazines and has had some influence on later socially engaged science fiction.
