Two Weeks in August by Frank M. Robinson Episode #182
Frank M. Robinson | February 7, 2024-
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Two Weeks in August by Frank M. Robinson Episode #182
Frank M. Robinson
TWO WEEKS IN AUGUST
Episode #182 · Written by Frank M. Robinson · Narrated by Scott Miller
Office rivalries are usually harmless, filled with petty one-upmanship and forced politeness. In Two Weeks in August, one small act of defiance is meant to end a cycle of quiet humiliation, but it instead opens a door that won’t close.
A casual lie, told to preserve dignity, grows teeth when evidence begins to pile up. Tickets, photographs, and souvenirs appear where none should exist, forcing a reevaluation of what can be dismissed and what can’t. The story balances humor with a slow, creeping unease as certainty begins to slip.
Frank M. Robinson lets the tension build through everyday details rather than spectacle. The setting remains grounded, the voices feel lived-in, and the discomfort comes not from danger, but from the fear of being proven wrong in a way that can’t be explained away.
Rather than chasing wonder or terror, the story presses on pride and embarrassment, asking how far someone will go to avoid admitting defeat. The final moments don’t shout. They settle in quietly and refuse to leave.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Frank M. Robinson was a versatile figure in science fiction, working as a writer, editor, and later a novelist whose career bridged magazine fiction and mainstream success. His stories appeared in publications such as Galaxy Science Fiction and Astounding, where he developed a reputation for socially grounded speculative ideas.
Robinson is also known for co-authoring The Glass Inferno with Thomas N. Scortia, a novel that became the basis for the blockbuster film The Towering Inferno. Across his body of work, Robinson repeatedly examined how ordinary people respond when social pressure collides with situations that refuse to stay ordinary. Two Weeks in August captures that instinct perfectly, turning a workplace annoyance into something far more unsettling.
LISTEN TO THE STORY
Listen to Two Weeks in August by Frank M. Robinson — a vintage sci-fi short story where certainty collapses one souvenir at a time.
MARS AND MARTIANS RELATED STORIES
Mars has always been the most familiar of alien worlds, close enough to imagine and distant enough to remain dangerous. Vintage science fiction turned the red planet into a testing ground for human ambition—an empty frontier, a dying world, or a civilization older and stranger than Earth itself.
These stories send explorers, settlers, soldiers, and scientists across the void to a place where survival is never guaranteed. Thin air, vast deserts, and abandoned cities create a landscape that is both harsh and haunting.
Whether the planet is home to ancient Martians, fragile colonies, or the last hope after Earth’s decline, Mars stories are about adaptation.
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