Project Gutenberg 2009-06-22 Public domain in the USA. 216 Brown, Fredric 1906 1972 Brown, Fred Reynolds, Mack 1917 1983 McCord, Guy Reynolds, Dallas McCord Mallory, Mark Happy Ending Produced from Fantastic Universe September 1957. Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net "Happy Ending" by Fredric Brown and Mack Reynolds is a science fiction novella originally published in the late 1950s. The story addresses themes of power, isolation, and the consequences of tyranny. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where a dictator finds himself stranded on Venus after losing a devastating war, it explores both his mental decline and his interactions with the planet’s alien inhabitants. The narrative centers on Mr. Smith, once a powerful dictator, who is now alone and defeated, grappling with memories of his former glory. Isolated on a vibrant yet desolate Venus, he struggles with feelings of bitterness and rage, particularly against a species of tiny creatures known as "kifs" that annoy and infest him. His descent into madness coincides with his attempt to assert dominance over the alien inhabitants, whom he initially believes to be simple and subservient. However, as the story unfolds, Mr. Smith's self-delusions lead to dire consequences, culminating in a horrifying fate at the hands of the "kifs", symbolizing the ultimate downfall of tyranny and the futility of his power in a changing world. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 83.2 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 58338 2025-06-12T07:19:37.189015 text/html 54562 2021-01-05T05:47:26 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 21356 2021-01-05T05:47:26 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 94319 2025-06-12T07:19:42.203984 application/epub+zip 93130 2025-06-12T07:19:39.800986 application/epub+zip 81312 2025-06-12T07:19:38.661042 application/epub+zip 168677 2025-06-12T07:19:44.053025 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 160417 2025-06-12T07:19:41.552980 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 127772 2022-09-13T14:01:29.304206 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 51314 2025-06-12T07:19:36.910995 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 51237 2021-01-05T05:47:26 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 19845 2021-01-05T05:47:26 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 19863 2025-06-12T07:19:44.207980 application/rdf+xml 11534 2025-06-12T07:19:39.221986 image/jpeg 3024 2025-06-12T07:19:38.944984 image/jpeg 91684 2025-06-12T07:19:37.196994 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia en.wikipedia