Review: Science Fiction Short Story: "Summer Snow Storm" by Stephen Marlowe

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The Farmer’s Almanac, so the story goes, once predicted snow for the summer of 1816. This was attributed to either a printer error or a practical joke. The founder is supposed to have seized and destroyed all the copies he could find with the goofy prediction and inserted a more acceptable one. However, because of the 1815 eruption of Mt. Tambora in present day Indonesia, there was enough particulate in the air to drop temperatures several degrees in the Northern Hemisphere, perhaps 1°C globally. 1816 became known as the Year Without a Summer (or “Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death”) on the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S and Canada as well as Western Europe where crops failed because of snow and frost in July and August. It led to the worst famine in Europe of the 19th century. Crops failed in China as well. As for the Farmer’s Almanac prediction? Even the Farmer’s Almanac is apparently unable to find any 1816 copy predicting snow in July. Author Stephen Marlowe takes this intriguing idea and puts a new spin on it. Newbie GS-5 weatherman Johnny Sloman is the low man on the totem pole at the weather bureau. He is recovering from the night before when, he tied one on because his girl Jo-Anne dumped him and returned his quarter carat-diamond ring. Unfortunately, it’s his turn to write the weather report. And now Bureau Chief Botts is shoving the forecast sheet for July 25 in front of his face: “Temperature, eighty degrees. Precipitation expected, snow.” If his weren’t a civil servant job, Botts would fire him right there. He just threatens to pass him up for promotion. He’ll be GS-5 forever. About that time, senior GS-5 weatherman Harry Bettis arrives. He comes in when he’s done chatting up the girls in the secretarial pool and spends most of the rest of the day reading the funnies. “You have a new name, sonny!” he tells Johnny on seeing him. “Snowman! Johnny Snowman!” Yeah, it’s all fun and games until it starts snowing. On July 25. This is a cute little story with a clearly defined bad guy who gets his comeuppance. This is from the cold war era. Though the Soviets are never named, it’s obvious who they are and they are discomfited as payback for their skullduggery. Author Milton Lesser had his name legally changed to Stephen Marlowe. In addition to science fiction, he wrote detective novels, most notably his Chester Drum series. He also wrote a handful of fictional autobiographies, including those of Christopher Columbus, Miguel de Cervantes and Edgar Allan Poe. This story is available from Project Gutenberg: _____ Title: “Summer Snow Storm” Author: Stephen Marlowe (born Milton Lesser) (1928-2008) author used pseudonym Adam Chase for this story. First published: Amazing Stories October 1956 Source: ISFDB *An earlier version of the review appeared on another site. It has been updated and expanded for its inclusion on myLot.*