The Irritant was hungry, but with no intellects nearby, it had to bait a hook and wait. Something would come along. That something was John Singleton Mosby, a Civil War General with a novel idea for a new weapon...
"The Vertigo Hook" appeared in "Fantastic Universe," October-November 1953, pages 93 - 98.
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Richard Ashby is an American author of science and general fiction, who first published "A Joke for Harry" for Amazing in September 1949. His science fiction novel, Act of God (December 1951-January 1952 Other Worlds; exp 1971), concerns a conspiracy in 2002 to deprive the one man who has gained Immortality of his powerful gift.
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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know at goldenagefiction@proton.me.
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Music: "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.