
Shock Treatment - By Stanley Mullen
In the neon‑slick underbelly of Venusport, a hard‑lived bartender named Spud Newlin tries to scrape a quick fortune on a night when the city’s madness seems to have finally settled. The usual chaos of dead patrons, burning tables and gambling brawls gives way to an unexpected encounter with a stranger whose otherworldly beauty and haunted eyes hint at a deeper, desperate sorrow. She offers Newlin a strange bargain—something stronger than the club’s potent liquors—to cure a sickness that is less about disease and more about the very weight of living.
As the two navigate the smoky bar, the stranger’s cryptic request pulls Newlin into a web of intrigue that blurs the line between human desperation and alien dread. The story balances razor‑sharp dialogue, vivid world‑building, and a simmering tension that promises a risky alliance and a glimpse of a cure that might rewrite the rules of survival on the edge of the solar system.
Language
en
Duration
~1 hours (85K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2010-06-06
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1911–1974
A mid-century science fiction and fantasy writer with an artist’s eye, he filled pulp magazines with energetic space opera and strange adventures. His work also stretched into editing and small-press publishing, giving him a hand in several sides of the genre.
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by Stanley Mullen

by Stanley Mullen

by Stanley Mullen

by Stanley Mullen

by Stanley Mullen

by Stanley Mullen

by Stanley Mullen

by Stanley Mullen