Peter Merton’s Private Mint by Harlan Ellison Episode #552
Harlan Ellison | May 17, 2026-
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Peter Merton’s Private Mint by Harlan Ellison Episode #552
Harlan Ellison
PETER MERTON’S PRIVATE MINT
Episode #552 · Written by Harlan Ellison · Narrated by Scott Miller
Peter Merton’s career is collapsing. A trusted employee has vanished, fifty thousand dollars is gone, and Peter’s boss is ready to destroy his future over one disastrous mistake. Then a strange message appears inside his office safe claiming to come from the Thirtieth Century.
What begins as an impossible joke quickly turns into the opportunity of a lifetime. The people on the other side of the safe want books, newspapers, clothing, and ordinary twentieth-century objects. In return, they send museum pieces from their own era: stacks of perfectly authentic cash. Peter suddenly finds himself living the kind of life he had only imagined before, surrounded by expensive clothes, luxury cars, and more money than he can safely explain.
But every exchange pulls him deeper into trouble. Treasury agents begin tracing impossible banknotes back to him. The future historians grow more demanding. Even Peter’s closest relationships start shifting under the pressure of sudden wealth. What looked like a miracle becomes increasingly dangerous as Peter realizes he may be trapped inside an experiment he barely understands.
Peter Merton’s Private Mint blends time-travel speculation with sharp office comedy and mounting financial panic. Harlan Ellison takes an ordinary business setting and steadily twists it into something absurd, tense, and unexpectedly funny. The story moves quickly, but underneath the humor is a nervous question: what happens when someone gains access to wealth that technically does not belong in his century?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Harlan Ellison became one of the most influential and outspoken figures in American speculative fiction. His stories appeared in Galaxy, Amazing Stories, If, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and he eventually published hundreds of short stories, essays, and criticism pieces across several decades. Ellison also edited the landmark anthology Dangerous Visions, which helped reshape science fiction during the 1960s.
Beyond prose fiction, Ellison wrote for television, including episodes of Star Trek and The Outer Limits. His stories “Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Ticktockman, Jeffty Is Five, and I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream remain some of the most discussed works in modern science fiction. Peter Merton’s Private Mint comes from his earlier magazine period and already shows the rapid-fire dialogue, humor, and escalating tension that later became central to his reputation.
LISTEN TO THE STORY
Listen to Peter Merton’s Private Mint by Harlan Ellison — a vintage science fiction short story where tomorrow’s money creates today’s problems.
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HARLAN ELLISON SHORT STORIES
Harlan Ellison did not enter science fiction quietly. He kicked the door open and dared the genre to keep up.
Ellison wrote with heat. His characters argue, lash out, fall short, and sometimes surprise themselves. He was drawn to outsiders, loud mouths, dreamers, and kids who refuse to stay in the roles the world assigns them. Even in his earliest magazine stories, you can feel the edge — a young writer testing boundaries and enjoying the shockwave.
In some tales he turns a spotlight on insecurity and bravado, exposing the thin line between heroism and humiliation. In others he plays with spectacle and satire, pushing pulp concepts until they glow under pressure. He could be funny, abrasive, tender, or furious, sometimes all within a few pages.
What sets Ellison apart is urgency. His stories feel like they had to be written right then, in that moment, before the emotion cooled. He was never content to coast on a clever premise. He wanted friction. He wanted confrontation. He wanted readers to feel something sharp and immediate.
The stories below capture early Ellison in full stride — bold, restless, sometimes mischievous, always unmistakable.
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