So the next few Retro Hugo posts are going to be focusing on the short stories that I haven’t already looked at.  I covered “Far Centaurus” for A. E. van Vogt’s birthday, and a scheduling slip-up resulting in my post on “The Wedge” by Isaac Asimov going live before I finished the novelettes.

Today we’re looking at “And the Gods Laughed” by Fredric Brown. It was first published in the Spring 1944 issue of Planet Stories.  It is currently available in hardcover in From These Ashes: The Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown from NESFA Press and in electronic format in The Second Fredric Brown Megapack from Wildside Press.

Planet stories is remembered today as a pulp with lots of sword and planet tales and space opera from the likes of Leigh Brackett and Poul Anderson, full of exotic adventure. But it also published more laid back stories as well, albeit usually at shorter lengths.

“And the Gods Laughed” is one of these.

I’ll not go into too much detail, this being a short story.

Three men are miners in the asteroid belt. They have a habit of passing the time by telling tall tales which they claim to be true. Everyone acknowledges the game. It’s about the only way to keep your sanity in such close quarters.

On this particular trip, one of the men tells of a recent expedition he was on to one of Jupiter’s moons, Ganymede. It was the first time people had landed there. Ganymede has and atmosphere, and it also has inhabitants. They’re friendly, but they have a curious habit. They all wear one earring. At least the group the humans first meet do. There are others who don’t. They aren’t so friendly.

Of course there’s more to the earring business than first meets the eye. I won’t tell you what it is. There’s a twist at the end. With Brown’s stories there usually is, especially his shorter works. The twist isn’t that surprising, but Brown handles it well and doesn’t broadcast it.

I’d not read “And the Gods Laughed” before. It was quite enjoyable. If you’ve not read this one, get your hands on a copy.