Appointment In Tomorrow

by Fritz Leiber

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Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Post Apocalyptic

32 pages, Paperback

Published December 29, 2021

About the author

Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. was one of the more interesting of the young writers who came into HP Lovecraft's orbit, and some of his best early short fiction is horror rather than sf or fantasy. He found his mature voice early in the first of the sword-and-sorcery adventures featuring the large sensitive barbarian Fafhrd and the small street-smart-ish Gray Mouser; he returned to this series at various points in his career, using it sometimes for farce and sometimes for gloomy mood pieces--The Swords of Lankhmar is perhaps the best single volume of their adventures. Leiber's science fiction includes the planet-smashing The Wanderer in which a large cast mostly survive flood, fire, and the sexual attentions of feline aliens, and the satirical A Spectre is Haunting Texas in which a gangling, exo-skeleton-clad actor from the Moon leads a revolution and finds his true love. Leiber's late short fiction, and the fine horror novel Our Lady of Darkness, combine autobiographical issues like his struggle with depression and alcoholism with meditations on the emotional content of the fantastic genres. Leiber's capacity for endless self-reinvention and productive self-examination kept him, until his death, one of the most modern of his sf generation.

Used These Alternate Names: Maurice Breçon, Fric Lajber, Fritz Leiber, Jr., Fritz R. Leiber, Fritz Leiber Jun., Фриц Лейбер, F. Lieber, フリッツ・ライバー

Reviews

[Jamie]

"A scientist tells people the truth. When times are good—that is, when the truth offers no threat—people don't mind. But when times are very, very bad[...] A magician, on the other hand, tells people what they wish were true—that perpetual motion works, that cancer can be cured by colored lights, that a psychosis is no worse than a head cold, that they'll live forever. In good times magicians are laughed at. They're a luxury of the spoiled wealthy few. But in bad times people sell their souls for magic cures, and buy perpetual motion machines to power their war rockets."

Leiber seemingly took a page from The Wizard of Oz in this post-apocalyptic tale of political deceit
and intrigue where a group of charlatans pull the levers of a society that desperately wants to believe in their incredible achievements. Achievements that seem almost too good to be true.

[C.A.]

A story of betrayal, double crossed and crossed again. The Mars stuff was weird but it's prolific for the era. A lot of dialogue but that may have been because it's a radio show.

[Sherry]

I could not read these words without being reminded of current politics: “A scientist tells people the truth. When times are good—that is, when the truth offers no threat—people don’t mind. But when times are very, very bad....” He went on, “A magician, on the other hand, tells people what they wish were true—that perpetual motion works, that cancer can be cured by colored lights, that a psychosis is no worse than a head cold, that they’ll live forever. In good times magicians are laughed at. They’re a luxury of the spoiled wealthy few. But in bad times people sell their souls for magic cures, and buy perpetual motion machines to power their war rockets.”

[Andy Hickman]

“Appointment in Tomorrow”
Post-apocalyptic whistle-blower confronts a ‘wizard of oz’ political system.
Really didn’t connect with this story, other than the reference to Edgar Allan Poe. **

“Edgar Allen Poe,” he said frowningly, with eyes half-closed. The grizzled general snapped his fingers. “Sure! Maelzel's Chess player.

Other quotes:
"A scientist tells people the truth. When times are good—that is, when the truth offers no threat—people don't mind. But when times are very, very bad[...] A magician, on the other hand, tells people what they wish were true—that perpetual motion works, that cancer can be cured by colored lights, that a psychosis is no worse than a head cold, that they'll live forever. In good times magicians are laughed at. They're a luxury of the spoiled wealthy few. But in bad times people sell their souls for magic cures, and buy perpetual motion machines to power their war rockets."

“It was no time for half measures, for slow and sober plodding. The world was racked by wars and neurosis, in danger of falling into the foulest hands. What was needed was a tremendous and thrilling appeal to the human imagination, an Earthshaking affirmation of the power of science for good.
“But the men who provided that appeal and affirmation couldn’t afford to be cautious. They wouldn’t check and double check. They couldn’t wait for the grudging and jealous approval of the professionals. They had to use stunts, tricks, fakes⁠—anything to get over the big point. Once that had been done, once mankind was headed down the new road, it would be easy enough to give the average man the necessary degree of insight to heal the breach with the professionals, to make good in actuality what had been made good only in pretense.
“Have I stated our position fairly?”

[Chris Aldridge]

Another YT short story. FZ is often quite good.....this time he pulls no punches in satirising the relationships between science and truth, business and politics, ambition and rebellion, greed and sacrifice etc. Set, rather nostalgically, in past future of the post ww3 at the end of the 20th C. Humanity has apparently become ruled by a giant super computer, protectively tended to by an elite group of thinkers, who plan to enrich society with the technological innovations of the telepathic Martians. But one man seeks to blow the whistle on the whole crock of lies...

[Ann-Catherine Morner]

I wonder if Mr Leiber had a vision of the future?
The further I read, the more I thought about a certain Mr M, who wouldn't be born until 20 years after the story was published...
I wonder if he is still planning to go to Mars?
Because, you see, he is the planner, and the professional scientists just have to make it work...
April 8, 2026

[Mark Modena]

A story involving a mechanical Turk and the distinction between magic and science. Good short story with a lot of funs ideas.

[Tony Ciak]

Scifi,short story about an hour, written by a master

[Forked Radish]

O.P.D. July 1951... The future as fraud, actually it's the past now, or is it?