
A hard‑working reporter finds himself entwined in a web of personal and professional dilemmas when his long‑time partner Sara announces she’s pregnant. Their banter over a simple plastic pencil versus the sprawling World Press Association sets the tone for a story that mixes everyday concerns—commuting, choosing a baby’s sex, moving houses—with sharp commentary on how news is produced. As they wander from the bustling cubeo to the creaking Argus office, the narrator’s thoughts drift toward the origins of the written word and what it means for a free society.
The novel follows his quest to untangle the line between personal handwriting and mass‑produced printing, questioning whether the “truth” offered by the omnipresent Sun newspaper can ever be truly impartial. While the plot stays rooted in the characters’ present lives, the setting hints at a future where technology and bureaucracy collide with old‑fashioned values. Listeners are invited to join a witty, thought‑provoking investigation of media, truth, and the everyday choices that shape both.
Language
en
Duration
~45 minutes (43K 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
Sep 22, 2016
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Known mainly through a small cluster of magazine-era science fiction stories, this elusive writer left behind sharp, compact tales that still circulate among vintage SF readers. His work appeared in classic genre magazines of the 1960s and has found a second life through public-domain editions and audiobook releases.
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