Reading all the hugo award shorts chronologically part 1— Eric Frank Russell's "Allamagoosa"

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I have a bad attention span so when I read for leisure I like to do it out loud and supply character voices. This one takes place on one ship anxiously awaiting a surprise inspection. The captain is this guy who toes the line between very casual and kind of a hardass, the former is his general state of mind and the latter being a manifestation of his diligence as a captain. The title comes from a frantic request made by Captain McNaught to create some technical-looking "allamagoosa" to satisfy a missing item on the inventory. Fearing the worst, he consults the two guys who were supposed to be in charge of this item, and hilarity ensues. One of them was canonically French and the other I figured could be from New Jersey, so I voiced them as such. I loved the dialogue, and I had an amazing time just reading through it. I forget how much I love science fiction, because at the end of the day it's kind of just an intergalactic office comedy. I'll just say that much about it, I'm smiling just thinking about it. I really had a blast reading it.

 

You can read it here, and the list of Hugo Awards for Best Short Story is here.