The Delegate from Venus

Slesar, Henry, 1927-2002Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 27K words
Chapters: 3

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Delegate from Venus by Henry SlesarAuthor: Slesar, Henry, 1927-2002,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Apr 17, 2008

Editor's review

This short story by Henry Slesar belongs to the satirical strand of Golden Age science fiction. Built around the premise of a "delegate from Venus," it uses an alien visitor to Earth as a pretext to expose human bureaucracy, political rhetoric, and self-assured superiority, achieving a quiet piece of social observation in a light frame. Slesar wrote prolifically for pulp magazines and was known for delivering a twist within very few pages; this story follows the same brisk pace and surprise ending. As a public-domain electronic text, it is short and plainly written, making it a good introductory sample of mid-twentieth-century American short science fiction and a quick one-sitting read for a commute or lunch break. Watch for the choice of narrative perspective and the subtext in the dialogue—that is where most of the satire lies. Readers seeking hard-SF technical detail or grand cosmic settings will not find them here; the pleasure lies in the absurd interplay between characters and institutions.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy short science fiction and satire
Those curious about mid-twentieth-century American pulp science fiction
English learners looking for light reading in short bursts
Readers interested in political satire and bureaucratic themes

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting hard-SF technical settings and cosmology
Those who prefer long-form narratives and complex world-building
Readers unaccustomed to English originals or early pulp-magazine style

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the plot and the twist, then revisit the dialogue for puns and hints.
Read alongside a Chinese translation or annotated edition to ease the difficulty of early colloquial English.
After reading, compare it with other Venus-themed short stories to observe differences in period imagination.
Best read in a single sitting, such as before bed or on a commute; splitting it up weakens the ending.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

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.

FAQ

Is this story suitable for English beginners?

It is short with fairly simple sentence structure, so it suits learners with some foundation. But the text comes from a mid-twentieth-century pulp magazine, and some colloquial and period expressions may feel unfamiliar; a dictionary or annotated edition is recommended.

Is this hard science fiction or a satire?

It is closer to a satire. The premise of a Venusian delegate's visit is only a pretext; the focus is on the absurdity of human bureaucracy and political rhetoric, and technical detail is not central to the narrative.

Where can I read this text?

It was released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain eBook, and the English original is available free on its website. The version information shows a first release in 2008 and inclusion in 2019; consult the platform for specific formats.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Slesar, Henry, 1927-2002 Author

Henry Slesar (1927-2002) was an American writer best known for his short science fiction and suspense stories. Reliable public information about his life is limited, and readers in China know relatively little about him. Eight of his works are included in this collection: My Father, the Cat, Brainchild, The Delegate from Venus, The Stuff, The Success Machine, Reluctant Genius, Heart and Dream Town, most of them short or novella-length pieces. These stories often use science-fictional premises while blending suspense and satire; their plots move briskly and end with striking twists, and they use everyday situations to expose human weaknesses and the absurdities of a technological society. Their subjects range from family relationships and mistaken identity to alien visitors and machine intelligence, reflecting a sharp eye for the anxieties of modern life. Slesar's tightly structured, ingeniously conceived short stories have been enjoyed by genre readers and have had some influence on later science fiction and suspense writing.