I went through two of Walter Sheldon's short stories recently. One, Two and Two Makes Crazy, was something I read as a wee little brat and thus, was something I had fond memories of. The other, This is Klon Calling, was new to me and was more humorous than serious but, nonetheless, it was equally enjoyable in its own right.

Information about Walter Sheldon is hard to relatively hard to find. Well, there is a little bit but all you can tell is that he was in the army and that he was a ghost writer later on. More's the pity since he is fantastic writer who had a wonderful sense of humor, a trait that is evident in both of these stories.

Two and Two Makes Crazy is a jab at folks' reliance on computers. In the story, folks rely on a well-connected computer system to make all the decisions for them. What could go wrong, they ask? It appears that there are flaws in trusting a machine. 

I must admit, whilst I could see where he was going with this, I took the side of the computer. As a vulcan would point out, isn't it more logical to trust it? Of course, years later we still associate weird dystopias with a computer controlled system (thanks for that, Mr Hasta La vista) so I'm guessing this idea is not one that will die down any time soon. At the same time, it is interesting that Sheldon plays with the idea of the AI becoming a sentient being of sorts. In this case, it was reaching a level of consciousness where it planned to reap all benefits for itself, hur hur hur! Well, I know the message is supposed to be about maths not being the clear cut answer but I also think he is making a point about forms of governance. Rather, his point is that without supervision or balances, any form of governance will become slack and self-indulgent. . Rather, his point is that without supervision or balances, any form of governance will become slack and self-indulgent. And believing all that they say as absolute truth is never a good way go ... 

This is Klon Calling was brilliant but in a different way. This one's meant to be a lighter read that the previous one. In this case, the story focuses on the weird antics of a prankster professor and the unfortunate consequence of one of his tricks. Sheldon describes the man in question as a Patch Adams kind of man except in a academic setting. The good professor, who helps out in a few classified projects, is told that his phone lines will be monitored for a while. This was because of unusual activity in the area during the past few weeks. All good and well, nothing out of ordinary, at least in his life. And then, the man decides to pull a funny one over one of his colleagues and the surveillance guy using the tapped phone line. You know this would end badly …

Other than Sheldon's excellent sense of humor (watch out for a rather funny aliens are among us speech in the story), this story was fascinating because of its time frame. It was written in the 1950s and it was the time of the Cold War when folks were highly suspicious of other folks. You can pick up on the highly charged atmosphere in the background when the author talks about secrets and double checking certain data. For folks who grew up way after this era, the sense of fear evident in those times is hard to imagine. And at the same time, you start to understand why the UFO conspiracy theories and 'Martians are coming' sort of sentiment was so readily believable in those times.