William Morrison's "Bad Medicine" (short story, humor, free)

Don't look for logic, & it's a light fun read.

Story summary.

A couple of human conmen running their "Gigantic Medicine Show" have landed on Saturn, attracting curious Saturnians to crowd around their ship. So they open shop - selling "The Red Mans' Old-Fashioned Radioactive Herb Remedy, fortified with vitamins A to R inclusive, the latter made with the most recently discovered carbon isotope", with the promise it will "increase your intelligence a thousandfold!" But payment should be in the form of red bead necklaces Saturnians wear - dirt cheap there, very pricey on earth.

Well, both sides will successfully trade what they desire ... to the horror of the sellers...

Fact sheet.

First published:  Thrilling Wonder Stories, February 1941.
Download full text from Pulpgen. [via QuasarDragon]
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of William Morrison.

"Startling Stories", Vol 24 No 2 (November 1951) (ed Samuel Mines) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Scans of this magazine in CBR format are online as part of a larger package.

Table of contents. 

Links on authors fetch more fiction by author.

1. [novel] Eric Frank Russell's "The Star Watchers" (B): "Posted on every life-bearing planet are these oddly selfless guardians--amiable, but vengeful & merciless in striking down any who menace man's long agonizing climb to the stars".
2. [novelet] Mack Reynolds & Fredric Brown's "The Gamblers": "Bob Thayer was no card sharp, but he managed to get into a poker game on the Moon--with the fate of the Earth at stake".
3. [ss] Sam Merwin, Jr's "Grease in the Pan": "This was their purpose--to discover new planets to populate".
4. [ss] William Morrison's "The Cupids of Venus": "Couples for colonizing Cygnus were selected scientifically!"

See also.

1. Fiction from Startling Stories.
2. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
3. Fiction from 1950s.

New at Project Gutenberg (18 June 2010)

Links on author, publisher, or year fetch more matching fiction.

1. [novel] Jean Ingelow's "Mopsa the Fairy"; download; 1919.
2. C L Moore's "The Tree of Life"; download; Weird Tales, October 1936: "A gripping tale of the planet Mars and the terrible monstrosity that called its victims to it from afar--a tale of Northwest Smith".
3. H B Hickey's "Beyond The Thunder"; download; Amazing Stories, December 1948: "What was this blinding force that came out of a hole in the sky, and was powerful enough to destroy an entire city? Case thought he knew..."
4. Paul Orban and Con Pederson's "The Genius"; download; If, May 1954: "Sethos was a great artist, a talented man, quite possibly the most famous man of his time and world. But, alas!--there were other worlds. And is not the grass always greener...?"
5. Richard Stockham's "Perchance to Dream"; download; If, May 1954: "If you wish to escape, if you would go to faraway places, then go to sleep and dream. For sometimes that is the only way..."
6. William Douglas Morrison's "Bedside Manner"; download; Galaxy, May 1954: "Broken, helpless, she had to trust an alien doctor to give her back her body and mind--a doctor who had never seen a human before!"
   
   While I've not read this story, plot sounds a lot like Arthur Clarke's "Playback".
7. Alan Cogan's "In the Cards"; download; Galaxy, June 1956: "It is one thing to safeguard the future ... and something else entirely to see someone you love cry in terror two years from now!"

Related: Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.