Alternatives Inc. by Mack Reynolds
7/2/202624 min
A company offers a service so extraordinary that every satisfied customer forgets ever hiring them, leaving behind only impossible evidence and an unpaid question that refuses to disappear. When Steve Stevens demands an explanation, he uncovers a business built on a scientific breakthrough that could rewrite every relationship he has ever known. Alternatives Inc. by Mack Reynolds. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.
Mack Reynolds is back on the podcast for what will be his sixth story. One of my favorites by Reynolds is The Martians and the Coys which was episode 9.
Published in the May 1958 issue of Amazing Science Fiction Stories on page 21, Alternatives Inc. by Mack Reynolds…
Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, A desperate performer signs with a miracle agent who promises work, food, and a paying audience beyond anything Broadway can offer. But once the contract is signed, Mike Hennesy learns that show business has just opened on a much larger stage. The Agent by Stephen Marlowe.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Speaker 20:29
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Scott Miller· Host0:58
[gentle music] A company offers a service so extraordinary that every satisfied customer forgets ever hiring them, leaving behind only impossible evidence and an unpaid question that refuses to disappear. When Steve Stevens demands an explanation, he uncovers a business built on a scientific breakthrough that could rewrite every relationship he has ever known.

