Project Gutenberg 2020-06-04 Public domain in the USA. 119 Gold, H. L. (Horace Leonard) 1914 1996 Gold, Horace Leonard Storey, Richard Grimm, Christopher Lubbers, Bob 1922 2017 Lubbers, Robert Bartow Grifters' Asteroid Produced from Planet Stories May 1943 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Grifters' Asteroid" by H. L. Gold is a science fiction novella originally published in the early 1940s. Set in a humorous and satirical depiction of interplanetary con men, the story follows Harvey and Joe, two slick con artists, as they navigate their outrageous schemes on the small planetoid known as Planet 42. The novella explores themes of deception, greed, and the absurdities of commerce in a futuristic setting. In the story, Harvey and Joe arrive at Planetoid 42 and quickly find themselves in a precarious situation as they confront the local mayor, Angus Johnson, who charges extortionate prices for water while simultaneously deceiving them. The duo, attempting to sell a miraculous remedy called "La-anago Yergis", realizes that they too have been swindled when they discover that the sweet water they bought is merely a ruse. As the plot unfolds, they cleverly manipulate Johnson into purchasing both the remedy and a faulty fourth-dimensional radio, ultimately escaping with a meager profit. The novella cleverly critiques human greed and the cyclical nature of deception in a lighthearted and entertaining manner. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 77.2 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Swindlers and swindling -- Fiction Asteroids -- Fiction PS Text Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Humour 62868 2025-06-24T14:25:49.958273 text/html 39277 2024-10-18T03:47:32 text/html 327371 2025-06-24T14:25:51.771284 application/epub+zip 326175 2025-06-24T14:25:50.334377 application/epub+zip 86022 2025-06-24T14:25:50.119262 application/epub+zip 367347 2025-06-24T14:25:53.003309 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 360168 2025-06-24T14:25:51.565250 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 120303 2022-09-28T05:14:58.799993 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 55657 2023-09-26T12:57:26.518277 text/plain 35824 2024-10-18T03:47:32 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17226 2025-06-24T14:25:53.134256 application/rdf+xml 32775 2025-06-24T14:25:50.201273 image/jpeg 5383 2025-06-24T14:25:50.161268 image/jpeg 530080 2025-06-24T14:25:49.973283 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