Project Gutenberg 2015-12-30 Public domain in the USA. 127 Samachson, Joseph 1906 1980 Sterling, Brett Morrison, William Samachson, Joe Emshwiller, Ed 1925 1990 Emsh Emsh, Ed Alexander, Ed Emshwiller, Edmund A. Willer EMSH Shipping Clerk Produced from Galaxy Science Fiction June 1952 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Shipping Clerk" by William Morrison is a science fiction novella written in the early 1950s. The story revolves around a down-and-out character named Ollie Keith, who spent his life in poverty, struggling with hunger and failed aspirations. The narrative explores themes of desperation, survival, and unexpected consequences, highlighting the sharp contrast between his bleak existence and the bizarre twists of fate that befall him. The novella follows Ollie's life as he scavenges for food and tries to survive in a harsh urban environment. His fortunes take a strange turn when he unwittingly consumes a mysterious object that significantly affects his physiology, allowing him to consume vast quantities of food without gaining weight. As he enters an eating contest, he becomes the center of attention, attracting the curiosity of extraterrestrial beings who wish to recover the lost object he has ingested. The narrative weaves humor and absurdity into Ollie's plight, culminating in a transformation that offers him a chance for a more fulfilling life, but not without leaving lingering questions about identity and the nature of his new existence. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 85.1 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Poor -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Humour 60902 2025-07-20T11:09:11.595463 text/html 37262 2024-10-22T23:39:56 text/html 257729 2025-07-20T11:09:13.402473 application/epub+zip 256577 2025-07-20T11:09:11.961449 application/epub+zip 76981 2025-07-20T11:09:11.759420 application/epub+zip 296077 2025-07-20T11:09:14.651448 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 289310 2025-07-20T11:09:13.205454 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 109893 2022-09-23T05:48:39.421746 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 53658 2025-07-20T11:09:11.327396 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 33910 2024-10-22T23:39:56 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 18746 2025-07-20T11:09:14.773400 application/rdf+xml 31107 2025-07-20T11:09:11.830391 image/jpeg 5128 2025-07-20T11:09:11.793433 image/jpeg 230130 2025-07-20T11:09:11.608432 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