Science fiction (dystopian) short story set after WWIII
I am looking for the name of a short story that I read a long time ago - I remember the plot quite well but I don't know who wrote it and I can't find the title anywhere on Google.
So the story was set after a World War Three, people had understood that humankind couldn't do without violence, but in order to avoid any future global war, there was this kind of association to which people could subscribe. They were then allowed to use a gun and they had a target, another person, that they had to find and kill - at the same time, they could have been the target of someone else. Once they killed a "target" they would receive another one. Civilians that didn't want anything to do with it were left in peace, unharmed.The protagonist says he's very good and that he has killed many targets already; he gets a new one, a woman, of whom he eventually falls in love. He decides not to kill her, however at the end she is the one who kills him, since he was her target.
Any ideas?
story-identification short-stories
edited Mar 28 at 22:27
TheLethalCarrot
50k20272315
asked Mar 28 at 22:24
sci-fi readersci-fi reader
583
New contributor
sci-fi reader is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
I am looking for the name of a short story that I read a long time ago - I remember the plot quite well but I don't know who wrote it and I can't find the title anywhere on Google.
So the story was set after a World War Three, people had understood that humankind couldn't do without violence, but in order to avoid any future global war, there was this kind of association to which people could subscribe. They were then allowed to use a gun and they had a target, another person, that they had to find and kill - at the same time, they could have been the target of someone else. Once they killed a "target" they would receive another one. Civilians that didn't want anything to do with it were left in peace, unharmed.The protagonist says he's very good and that he has killed many targets already; he gets a new one, a woman, of whom he eventually falls in love. He decides not to kill her, however at the end she is the one who kills him, since he was her target.
Any ideas?
story-identification short-stories
edited Mar 28 at 22:27
TheLethalCarrot
50k20272315
asked Mar 28 at 22:24
sci-fi readersci-fi reader
583
New contributor
sci-fi reader is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
I am looking for the name of a short story that I read a long time ago - I remember the plot quite well but I don't know who wrote it and I can't find the title anywhere on Google.
So the story was set after a World War Three, people had understood that humankind couldn't do without violence, but in order to avoid any future global war, there was this kind of association to which people could subscribe. They were then allowed to use a gun and they had a target, another person, that they had to find and kill - at the same time, they could have been the target of someone else. Once they killed a "target" they would receive another one. Civilians that didn't want anything to do with it were left in peace, unharmed.The protagonist says he's very good and that he has killed many targets already; he gets a new one, a woman, of whom he eventually falls in love. He decides not to kill her, however at the end she is the one who kills him, since he was her target.
Any ideas?
story-identification short-stories
edited Mar 28 at 22:27
TheLethalCarrot
50k20272315
asked Mar 28 at 22:24
sci-fi readersci-fi reader
583
New contributor
sci-fi reader is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
I am looking for the name of a short story that I read a long time ago - I remember the plot quite well but I don't know who wrote it and I can't find the title anywhere on Google.
So the story was set after a World War Three, people had understood that humankind couldn't do without violence, but in order to avoid any future global war, there was this kind of association to which people could subscribe. They were then allowed to use a gun and they had a target, another person, that they had to find and kill - at the same time, they could have been the target of someone else. Once they killed a "target" they would receive another one. Civilians that didn't want anything to do with it were left in peace, unharmed.The protagonist says he's very good and that he has killed many targets already; he gets a new one, a woman, of whom he eventually falls in love. He decides not to kill her, however at the end she is the one who kills him, since he was her target.
Any ideas?
story-identification short-stories
story-identification short-stories
edited Mar 28 at 22:27
TheLethalCarrot
50k20272315
asked Mar 28 at 22:24
sci-fi readersci-fi reader
583
New contributor
sci-fi reader is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited Mar 28 at 22:27
TheLethalCarrot
50k20272315
asked Mar 28 at 22:24
sci-fi readersci-fi reader
583
New contributor
sci-fi reader is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited Mar 28 at 22:27
TheLethalCarrot
50k20272315
edited Mar 28 at 22:27
TheLethalCarrot
50k20272315
edited Mar 28 at 22:27
TheLethalCarrot
50k20272315
50k20272315
asked Mar 28 at 22:24
sci-fi readersci-fi reader
583
New contributor
sci-fi reader is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked Mar 28 at 22:24
sci-fi readersci-fi reader
583
asked Mar 28 at 22:24
sci-fi readersci-fi reader
583
583
New contributor
sci-fi reader is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
sci-fi reader is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
sci-fi reader is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
Sounds like The Seventh Victim by Robert Sheckley.
Your description matches my memory of the short story.
edited Mar 28 at 22:52
TheLethalCarrot
50k20272315
answered Mar 28 at 22:27
Dosco JonesDosco Jones
2,3161217
Yes it's that one! Thank you very much!
– sci-fi reader
Mar 28 at 22:30
1
@sci-fireader You can read the story at archive.org/stream/galaxymagazine-1953-04/Galaxy_1953_04#page/…
– user14111
Mar 28 at 22:35
@user1411 Thanks :)
– sci-fi reader
Mar 28 at 22:40
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "186"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
sci-fi reader is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fscifi.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f208083%2fscience-fiction-dystopian-short-story-set-after-wwiii%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Sounds like The Seventh Victim by Robert Sheckley.
Your description matches my memory of the short story.
edited Mar 28 at 22:52
TheLethalCarrot
50k20272315
answered Mar 28 at 22:27
Dosco JonesDosco Jones
2,3161217
Yes it's that one! Thank you very much!
– sci-fi reader
Mar 28 at 22:30
1
@sci-fireader You can read the story at archive.org/stream/galaxymagazine-1953-04/Galaxy_1953_04#page/…
– user14111
Mar 28 at 22:35
@user1411 Thanks :)
– sci-fi reader
Mar 28 at 22:40
add a comment |
Sounds like The Seventh Victim by Robert Sheckley.
Your description matches my memory of the short story.
edited Mar 28 at 22:52
TheLethalCarrot
50k20272315
answered Mar 28 at 22:27
Dosco JonesDosco Jones
2,3161217
Yes it's that one! Thank you very much!
– sci-fi reader
Mar 28 at 22:30
1
@sci-fireader You can read the story at archive.org/stream/galaxymagazine-1953-04/Galaxy_1953_04#page/…
– user14111
Mar 28 at 22:35
@user1411 Thanks :)
– sci-fi reader
Mar 28 at 22:40
add a comment |
Sounds like The Seventh Victim by Robert Sheckley.
Your description matches my memory of the short story.
edited Mar 28 at 22:52
TheLethalCarrot
50k20272315
answered Mar 28 at 22:27
Dosco JonesDosco Jones
2,3161217
Sounds like The Seventh Victim by Robert Sheckley.
Your description matches my memory of the short story.
edited Mar 28 at 22:52
TheLethalCarrot
50k20272315
answered Mar 28 at 22:27
Dosco JonesDosco Jones
2,3161217
edited Mar 28 at 22:52
TheLethalCarrot
50k20272315
edited Mar 28 at 22:52
TheLethalCarrot
50k20272315
edited Mar 28 at 22:52
TheLethalCarrot
50k20272315
50k20272315
answered Mar 28 at 22:27
Dosco JonesDosco Jones
2,3161217
answered Mar 28 at 22:27
Dosco JonesDosco Jones
2,3161217
answered Mar 28 at 22:27
Dosco JonesDosco Jones
2,3161217
2,3161217
Yes it's that one! Thank you very much!
– sci-fi reader
Mar 28 at 22:30
1
@sci-fireader You can read the story at archive.org/stream/galaxymagazine-1953-04/Galaxy_1953_04#page/…
– user14111
Mar 28 at 22:35
@user1411 Thanks :)
– sci-fi reader
Mar 28 at 22:40
add a comment |
Yes it's that one! Thank you very much!
– sci-fi reader
Mar 28 at 22:30
1
@sci-fireader You can read the story at archive.org/stream/galaxymagazine-1953-04/Galaxy_1953_04#page/…
– user14111
Mar 28 at 22:35
@user1411 Thanks :)
– sci-fi reader
Mar 28 at 22:40
Yes it's that one! Thank you very much!
– sci-fi reader
Mar 28 at 22:30
Yes it's that one! Thank you very much!
– sci-fi reader
Mar 28 at 22:30
1
1
@sci-fireader You can read the story at archive.org/stream/galaxymagazine-1953-04/Galaxy_1953_04#page/…
– user14111
Mar 28 at 22:35
@sci-fireader You can read the story at archive.org/stream/galaxymagazine-1953-04/Galaxy_1953_04#page/…
– user14111
Mar 28 at 22:35
@user1411 Thanks :)
– sci-fi reader
Mar 28 at 22:40
@user1411 Thanks :)
– sci-fi reader
Mar 28 at 22:40
add a comment |
sci-fi reader is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
sci-fi reader is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
sci-fi reader is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
sci-fi reader is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Thanks for contributing an answer to Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fscifi.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f208083%2fscience-fiction-dystopian-short-story-set-after-wwiii%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
