Sunday, March 18, 2012

Eric Frank Russell's "U-Turn" (as by Duncan H Munro) (short story, utopia): State helps a man commit "suicide"...

Depend on Russell to make you smile, even chuckle, even with macabre subjects. This one is about a suicide.

Story summary.

A utopian world where there is work only for the young, but there is plenty for everyone to live comfortable. And there are rejuvenation treatments, so you can live indefinitely long by periodic treatments. Only problem is: boredom. Long life & no work & no uncertainty. So the government provides you an official method of committing suicide: walk into a "Life Terminal" building where you can demand to be killed painlessly!

This is the story of Douglas Mason's adventures when he visits Life Terminal. It does help you commit suicide, but its definition of suicide might not be obvious...

Collected in.

  1. Eric Frank Russell's "Somewhere a Voice".
  2. "Major Ingredients" (ed Rick Katze). 

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, April 1950.
Rating: B.
Among the stories edited by John Campbell for Astounding/Analog.
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell.

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