Alfred's Ark-Jack Vance short story

Alfred's Ark-Jack Vance short story

Alfred's Ark is an 6/8 page short story first published in the magazine New Worlds Science Fiction in May, 1965.  It is a short, simple story that cuts to the quick of human behavior.  Alfred believes there will be a Biblical flood in less than a year so he sells his business for very little profit in order to build an ark. He even runs an ad in the local paper asking for donations and volunteers but receives mostly ridicule in response. Alfred will only take a few domestic animals along because he does not have the resources to include wild ones.  He hopes that some woman will offer to join him but says if necessary he will hire a woman to board the ark with him on the day of the predicted storm. He feels she will eventually grow to like him if they end up being the last two surviving people on Earth. How Alfred is treated by people in his local community and human behavior in general is the underlying theme. In the Introduction Vance informs us that "Alfred's Ark" is one of his favorite stories and that it "tells you all you need to know in regard to the human condition." I’ve read it several times and rate it 4 “Really liked it.”

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled The Dark Side of the Moon (1986, Underwood-Miller)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Minding the Stars: Early Jack Vance, volume 4 (2014, Subterranean)

Included in the Jack Vance collection Moon Moth and Other Stories (2012 Spatterlight)

 

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