Halliday Sutherland's "Valley of Doom" (novelette, totalitarian state, humor, free)

You've probably read stories of the ilk: life in a totalitarian state gone absurd. This one one brought me smiles, in spite of being an old trope.

Story summary.

Good state ("Total State") is not named, but it has pictures of Karl Marx galore. Bad state is the Christian Ireland, where folks even choose their own spouses & kids are not even forbidden to read poetry!

Story follows the life of Mr Smith & family. Mr Smith is picked up by the State to be executed for "being unhappy"! He will do a little cheating, ensuring the death visits his executor instead!

And being a fool, he returns home, quickly being picked up again - & now the State knows the whole family is of undesirables. Only, this time, they'll be exiled to Ireland instead of being executed, both being equally dreaded outcomes!

Fact sheet.

First published: Fantasy, #2 (1939).
Download full text as part of the scans of Worlds Beyond, February 1951 where it was reprinted.
Rating: B.