4 ms·

Looks like it's The Muse by Anthony Burgess (1968). Sorry for the long URL but it's the best confirmation of this I could find. [1] [1] https://books.google.c

Looks like it's The Muse by Anthony Burgess (1968). Sorry for the long URL but it's the best confirmation of this I could find. [1] [1] https://books.google.com/books?id=mh9zrji5zfAC&pg=PA185&lpg=PA185&dq=the+muse+short+story+anthony&source=bl&ots=gf8mCQOzPw&sig=ACfU3U1DmZXm_51pJz_Q7DLyWgW-megbLw&hl=en&ppis=_e&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwip_o69xZXoAhWIsJ4KHZXHCbgQ6AEwA3oECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=the%20muse%20short%20story%20anthony&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=mh9zrji5zfAC&pg=PA185&lpg=...

edflsafoiewq 7y ago
I found a complete version, http://mural.uv.es/aquingar/e-text012.htm http://mural.uv.es/aquingar/e-text012.htm (Ctrl+F for "The hands of Swenson"), but it isn't the story described by the OP.
- JorgeGT 7y ago
  Weird how things are. That is hosted in the University of Valencia --- I'm walking through the campus as I write this.
mindcrime 7y ago
Or maybe "The Merchant of Stratford"? https://www.library.illinois.edu/rbx/shakespeare400/2016/03/03/the-merchant-of-stratford/ https://www.library.illinois.edu/rbx/shakespeare400/2016/03/...
- tzs 7y ago
  That's definitely it. It looks like someone has republished it as a stand-alone story on Kindle [1]. That says 19 pages, which seems longer than the story I remember. I wonder if it was expanded from the original short story in Asimov's? It's also in this anthology of science fiction humor stories [2]. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Merchant-Stratford-Frank-Ramirez-ebook/dp/B00NIDLPUK https://www.amazon.com/Merchant-Stratford-Frank-Ramirez-eboo... [2] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395305195/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395305195/
  - edflsafoiewq 7y ago
    The Internet Archive has a copy: https://archive.org/details/Asimovs_v03n07_1979-07/page/n123/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/Asimovs_v03n07_1979-07/page/n123...
    - mindcrime 7y ago
      Very fun story. Glad you were able to dig that link up.
  - kshacker 7y ago
    Dude someone went back in time and left a review on Amazon from 2014 : mentioning hacker news. Good job guys. You were fast [comment in the spirit of the thread]
    - tzs 7y ago
      It turns out I mentioned the story here on HN in 2014 [1], which is probably where that person saw it. As with the present thread, I didn't remember the name of the story and got the time frame wrong. Also as in the present thread people quickly found the name and where/when it was originally published. And in that thread, someone also linked to the "everybody kills Hitler" story that I linked to (although they linked to it at its original site, which is still up, instead of linking to a republication link I did). [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8261790 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8261790
- simcop2387 7y ago
  Awesome, I guess this is a common topic for Sci-Fi stories that there's so many similar ones.

edflsafoiewq 7y ago

I found a complete version, http://mural.uv.es/aquingar/e-text012.htm http://mural.uv.es/aquingar/e-text012.htm (Ctrl+F for "The hands of Swenson"), but it isn't the story described by the OP.

JorgeGT 7y ago
Weird how things are. That is hosted in the University of Valencia --- I'm walking through the campus as I write this.

mindcrime 7y ago

Or maybe "The Merchant of Stratford"? https://www.library.illinois.edu/rbx/shakespeare400/2016/03/03/the-merchant-of-stratford/ https://www.library.illinois.edu/rbx/shakespeare400/2016/03/...

tzs 7y ago
That's definitely it. It looks like someone has republished it as a stand-alone story on Kindle [1]. That says 19 pages, which seems longer than the story I remember. I wonder if it was expanded from the original short story in Asimov's? It's also in this anthology of science fiction humor stories [2]. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Merchant-Stratford-Frank-Ramirez-ebook/dp/B00NIDLPUK https://www.amazon.com/Merchant-Stratford-Frank-Ramirez-eboo... [2] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395305195/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395305195/
- edflsafoiewq 7y ago
  The Internet Archive has a copy: https://archive.org/details/Asimovs_v03n07_1979-07/page/n123/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/Asimovs_v03n07_1979-07/page/n123...
  - mindcrime 7y ago
    Very fun story. Glad you were able to dig that link up.
- kshacker 7y ago
  Dude someone went back in time and left a review on Amazon from 2014 : mentioning hacker news. Good job guys. You were fast [comment in the spirit of the thread]
  - tzs 7y ago
    It turns out I mentioned the story here on HN in 2014 [1], which is probably where that person saw it. As with the present thread, I didn't remember the name of the story and got the time frame wrong. Also as in the present thread people quickly found the name and where/when it was originally published. And in that thread, someone also linked to the "everybody kills Hitler" story that I linked to (although they linked to it at its original site, which is still up, instead of linking to a republication link I did). [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8261790 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8261790
simcop2387 7y ago
Awesome, I guess this is a common topic for Sci-Fi stories that there's so many similar ones.