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Title: What's He Doing in There?
Author: Fritz Leiber
Narrator: Phil Chenevert
Format: Unabridged
Length: 14 mins
Language: English
Release date: 10-22-14
Publisher: Spoken Realms
Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes
Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Classic
Publisher's Summary:
He went where no Martian ever went before - but would he come out - or had he gone for good?
Members Reviews:
Early First Contact Story
This is a fifty-five year old "First Contact with Aliens" story that is both humorous and pointed-- the earliest SF pulp aliens, from the 1930s, were too often interchangeable with the Indians in the "cowboy vs. Indian" Western pulps (the same authors wrote both, often at just a penny a word, so careful character development gave way to action scenes early on, and the backgrounds could sometimes be moved from space to Montana without much difficulty). In this case, it is the Martian who has made the First Contact, and this story is, if not purely character-driven, at least "character-and-common-misunderstandings" driven-- while you can't find it on the Amazon download, its original publication date was 1957.
While science fiction, there is very little science here. The Martian has made First Contact not with a government or the UN, but with a university professor specializing in first contacts with previously uncontacted human tribes-- a cultural anthropologist. As a member of a scientifically-advanced race, the Martian had first learned English from radio and television before making contact with the professor and his family, and the story is based on the common misunderstandings two persons (or five, as the professor's wife, son and daughter are home) can make when each thinks he understands and is understood by the other.
The characters themselves are not well-fleshed out-- the children are the clichéd bratty little brother and the exasperated older sister-- but they are secondary to the plot. The point Fritz Lieber makes, and makes very well, is one any former Peace Corps volunteer would recognize: be careful of your culturally-based pre-suppositions!*
*I would say more about the American family's unthinking taboos and presuppositions, but I don't want to provide a spoiler-- read the short story! As with almost anything by Fritz Lieber, it's a story I gladly would have paid for, and in this case gladly didn't have to.
A humorous first contact story
This is one of Fritz Leiber's funniest and best known stories. It was published in the December, 1957 issue of GALAXY magazine and I suppose has been in print somewhere for a good bit of the time since.
The only dated science is that the alien is a Martian but where he is from is inconsequential to the story. The humor is in the cultural misunderstanding in this first contact story.
For those unfamiliar with Leiber here is a quote from Wikipedia, "Fritz Reuter Leiber, Jr.Â(December 24, 1910Ââ September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theater and films, playwright and chess expert.[b]ÂWith writers such asÂRobert E. HowardÂandÂMichael Moorcock, Leiber can be regarded as one of the fathers ofÂsword and sorceryÂfantasy, having in fact created the term. Moreover, he excelled in all fields of speculative fiction, writing award-winning work in fantasy, horror, and science fiction."
From an introduction Leiber wrote, I learned that he was a fencer and knowledgeable about different swords. He was not a fan of the U.S. Model 1913, "Patton" sabre.