At The Post
H. L. Gold
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Description
H. L. Gold's tale, printed in Galaxy in October 1953, follows Clocker Locke, a Broadway race handicapper who publishes a tiny tip sheet. Clocker walks into the Blue Ribbon restaurant on 49th Street to find Doc Hawkins, a pub-crawling doctor turned newspaper columnist, celebrating his release from an alcoholic ward. Doc stares when he sees Clocker, now dressed in a sober grey suit and plain shoes instead of his old flashy sports clothes.
Friends treat the change as if Clocker has been scratched from the human race, and the story asks how a person comes to be cut off in that way. Psychiatry, the tale suggests, has no answer, while Clocker's own turf science might. Marriage to Zelda lies behind the change, and Gold uses racing slang and bar-room talk to explore identity, reputation, and belonging.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | H. L. Gold |
|---|---|
| COLLECTION | BOOKS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 93 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | Public Domain |
| RIGHTS | PUBLIC DOMAIN |
| SOURCE | Project Gutenberg |