Project Gutenberg 2010-01-21 Public domain in the USA. 108 Stuart, William W. The Real Hard Sell Produced from If: Worlds of Science Fiction, July 1961. Produced by Robert Cicconetti, David Wilson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "The Real Hard Sell" by William W. Stuart is a science fiction story published in the early 1960s. Set in a futuristic world dominated by robots and automation, it explores themes of identity, personal dissatisfaction, and the nature of salesmanship. The narrative follows the internal struggles of Ben Tilman, a salesman navigating his professional and personal life in a society where human roles are increasingly supplanted by robots. The story centers on Ben, who experiences a deep sense of dissatisfaction despite having a stable job, a loving wife, and a young child. As he prepares for a housewarming party meant to showcase a new sales approach, he grapples with feelings of emptiness and unresolved tensions about his life choices. During the party, Ben reveals a unique sales pitch involving a fully-automated home—a decision that ultimately leads him to reassess his desire for a less technology-driven, more meaningful existence. The end of the story sees Ben rejecting the suffocating comfort of a robotic lifestyle, opting instead for a more authentic and engaged way of living with his family. (This is an automatically generated summary.) http://book.klll.cc/files/31038/31038-h/images/cover61july.jpg Reading ease score: 85.6 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Robots -- Fiction Sales personnel -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Novels 65390 2025-08-12T14:45:28.954405 text/html 63693 2010-01-21T14:06:48 text/html 74345 2025-08-12T14:45:31.190389 application/epub+zip 73121 2025-08-12T14:45:29.537392 application/epub+zip 50818 2025-08-12T14:45:29.209397 application/epub+zip 160159 2025-08-12T14:45:32.592384 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 150116 2025-08-12T14:45:30.849401 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 81656 2022-09-14T09:44:45.926597 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 51692 2025-08-12T14:45:28.782400 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 51635 2010-01-21T14:06:48 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 18803 2025-08-12T14:45:32.938369 application/rdf+xml 23430 2025-08-12T14:45:29.268396 image/jpeg 4298 2025-08-12T14:45:29.240401 image/jpeg 69397 2010-01-21T14:06:48 application/octet-stream application/zip 20579 2010-01-21T14:06:48 application/octet-stream application/zip 69769 2025-08-12T14:45:28.966389 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