The Man Who Could Not Stop single work   short story   science fiction  
Alternative title: Edge of Night
Is part of The Rim Worlds A. Bertram Chandler , 1950 series - author short story novel novella
Issue Details: First known date: 1959... 1959 The Man Who Could Not Stop
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Clavering steals the Shaara crown jewels and flees Earth. After many more crimes, including murder, on various worlds, he ends up on Faraway on the Rim. Once there, he can't be extradited, but he can be deported. Local laws make it virtually impossible for him to fence the jewels. He ends up going to jail and learns the name of a fence there. Upon looking up the fence, he learns that the jewels (which he stashed) have already been returned to the Shaara. He gets sent to jail again for the murder of the fence, and ends up press-ganged (as part of his sentence) into becoming a crew member aboard a ship that is leaving the galaxy entirely.

[Source: Todd Bennett. The Rim World's Concordance]

Notes

  • Several websites, including The Internet Speculative Fiction Database and Steve Davidson's Chandler tribute site Rimworlds (http://www.rimworlds.com) incorrectly record that 'Edge of Night' is an alternate title to Contraband from Otherspace. These are, however, two entirely different Rim Worlds stories. The narrative of 'Edge of Night'/'The Man Who Could Not Stop' follows the exploits of the character Clavering, while Contraband from Otherspace is a John Grimes and Sonya Verril adventure. Indeed, Chandler had not invented Grimes at the time of writing 'Edge of Night' in 1958.
  • Written in January 1958, the story was sold to Venture as 'Edge of Night' but never published under that title as the magazine folded soon afterwards. It finally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction with the new title 'The Man Who Couldn’t Stop.' In his 1966 article 'To Run the Rim,' Chandler writes: 'When I wrote it I didn’t realise what I had started - but the idea of the Rim, the last frontier, stuck in my mind, as did the names of the planets, Lorn, Faraway, Ultimo and Thule.'

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction vol. 16 no. 5 May 1959 Z1682566 1959 periodical issue fantasy science fiction 1959 pg. 108-130
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Venture Science Fiction no. 14 October 1964 Z1688109 1964 periodical issue science fiction 1964 pg. 92-112
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Venture Science Fiction [Australia] December 1964 Z1840193 1964 periodical issue science fiction 1964
  • Appears in:
    Beyond the Galactic Rim A. Bertram Chandler , London : Allison & Busby , 1982 Z810991 1963 selected work short story science fiction
    — Appears in: Legendy Prigranich'ya 2003; (p. 218-318)

    Beyond the Galactic Rim (1963) is an early collection of Chandler's Rim Worlds stories comprising four stories, all published in various speculative fiction magazines in 1959. These are: 'Forbidden Planet' (first published in Fantastic Universe), 'Wet Paint' (Amazing), 'The Man Who Couldn't Stop' (Fantasy and Science Fiction), and 'The Key' (Fantastic).

         London : Allison & Busby , 1982
Alternative title: Les Frontieres de la Nuit
Language: French
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Fiction no. 75 February 1960 Z1838546 1960 periodical issue 1960
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Last amended 19 Apr 2024 03:34:44
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