Science Fiction Short Story Review: "Divinity" by Joseph Samachson

Tweet

Bradley has resisted reformation and thus will be dealt with the way society sees fit—regeneration. His own view of this is that it’s a bit harsh. During transport to the place where he would be given a chance to start over he hid in a lifeboat and jettisoned himself into space. He lands on a planet where the people know nothing of space travel. They’ve seen him fall from the sky and life. They bring him flowers and food. He may not have dope or Martian whiskey, or chance to hit the town with a “brassy blond” and roll some dice, but life’s not so bad. One day as the people gather about him with the usual flowers and food, a beast comes charging out of the forest. Bradley, fumbling for his gun, is just able to vaporize it before it harms anyone. His reward is a hut in the village. The premise is on that’s been explored many times, but I was still interested to see where the author was going with this one. Bradly, the newly arrived “god” is never able to completely communicate with the natives, something that one would think would hamper his divine status. Be that as it may, his relationship develops and changes with the people over time. That was nice to see. However, the ending was so saccharine that it ruined the whole story for me. I can’t recommend it. Author Joseph Samachson was awarded a Ph. D. in chemistry from Yale. The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, he taught himself Russian. He wrote science fiction under the pseudonym William Morrison and contributed to D.C. Comics’ character such as Batman, Green Arrow and others. He also wrote about theater, music and contributed to scientific journals. This story is available from Project Gutenberg and as an audiobook from Librivox. _____ Title: “Divinity” Author: Joseph Samachson (aka William Morrison) (1906-1980) First published: Space Science Fiction March 1953 Source: ISFDB _____ An earlier version of this review appeared on another site. It has been expanded and updated for its inclusion in ML.