A Zloor For Your Trouble by Mack Reynolds Episode #33

Mack Reynolds | September 6, 2022

A Zloor For Your Trouble by Mack Reynolds Episode #33
Mack Reynolds

A ZLOOR FOR YOUR TROUBLE

Episode #33 · Written by Mack Reynolds · Narrated by Scott Miller

Napoleon Prescott accepts a job that sounds simple and pays suspiciously well: bring back a small Martian animal alive. The moment he reaches Mars, he discovers he isn’t the first hunter to take the offer—and none of the others have gone home victorious. The creature isn’t fast, hostile, or rare, yet every traditional method fails, and every failed attempt tightens the trap around the men who made the wager.

As frustration mounts, the story shifts from a hunting problem to a test of perception and restraint. Mack Reynolds turns the situation into a pressure cooker where strength, firepower, and professional reputation mean nothing. The real danger lies in stubborn thinking and the quiet realization that the rules of Earth no longer apply.

Wry humor runs beneath the tension, but the stakes never feel small. This is a story about learning when force becomes foolish, when pride becomes expensive, and how easily smart people can be outmaneuvered by something that simply refuses to play along.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mack Reynolds published extensively across Astounding Science Fiction, Galaxy, and If, building a reputation for stories that examined systems—economic, political, and cultural—through sharp dialogue and practical conflicts. He wrote over forty novels and hundreds of short stories, including works like “Ultima Thule,” “Compounded Interest,” and the Joe Mauser series.

“A Zloor for Your Trouble!” reflects Reynolds’s talent for blending humor with hard limits, using a seemingly light assignment to expose deeper pressures of exploitation, pride, and control. Rather than leaning on spectacle, Reynolds lets the problem sit, tighten, and force its own solution—making the payoff both surprising and earned.

LISTEN TO THE STORY

Listen to A Zloor For Your Trouble by Mack Reynolds — A risky Martian job turns strange in this vintage science fiction tale where force fails and patience decides the outcome.

ABOUT THE LOST SCI-FI PODCAST

The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast is the most listened-to vintage science fiction podcast in the world. Ranked the #1 Science Fiction Podcast in 34 countries and heard in more than 190 countries, the show has surpassed 3.3 million listens.

Each episode features carefully selected stories from the Golden Age of science fiction, professionally narrated. Timeless storytelling the way it was meant to be heard.

What listeners are saying:

★★★★★ “Nothing else compares. I’m in love, I’m in love, my word, I’m in love.”
— TJ Machaka

★★★★★ “Simply the Best. Scott your work is outstanding. I love sci-fi now and am especially hooked on these vintage short stories. Quick and easy and so full of character and action. Your narration is pure perfection. Thank you.”
— Irma Stolfo

Vintage science fiction. Professionally narrated. Carefully curated.