![]() The setting of the type for the spell actually casts the spell on the linotype machine, bringing it to life. This weirdo, apparently a time traveller or alien of some sort, uses the machine to create type of the words to a magic spell that grants "pseudo life" to machines-this spell is used by his people-whoever they are-on their robots. The narrator of the tale is a retired linotype operator (Brown himself worked as a linotype operator, Barry Malzberg tells us in his introduction to the 2001 collection From These Ashes: The Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown.) An odd character who looks vaguely "Asiatic" despite his blonde hair wants to rent the use of a linotype machine, and approaches the narrator, who sends him to a friend who edits a little country newspaper and would be willing to, for a fee, let the man at his linotype. "Etaoin Shrdlu" is just this kind of story, and an entertaining one. ![]() Sprague de Camp's "The Undesired Princess" in particular.Ī lot of old SF stories, the kind that Isaac Asimov liked, try to teach you something about science or technology, and valorize or romanticize intelligence-the hero resolves the plot successfully via the use of superior knowledge or quick thinking or an ability to think outside the box. ![]() ![]() The cover of Unknown may be boring, but the interior illustrations are quite fine, those by Frank Kramer for L. ![]() "Etaoin Shrdlu" made its debut in Unknown Worlds in 1942. ![]()
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