"Foster, You're Dead!" is a 1955

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

by American writer Philip K. Dick. It was first published in '' Star Science Fiction Stories No.3''. The story is a

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

of two 1950s-era trends: consumerism and increasing

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

anxiety. Dick wrote in a letter:

"One day I saw a newspaper headline reporting that the President suggested that if Americans had to buy their bomb shelters, rather than being provided with them by the government, they'd take better care of them, an idea which made me furious. Logically, each of us should own a submarine, a jet fighter, and so forth."

It was adapted by Kalen Egan and Travis Sentell for the episode "Safe and Sound" of the 2017 TV series '' Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams''.

Plot summary

The story takes place in 1971 where the vast majority of citizens own private bomb shelters and financially support nuclear war preparations for their town. New models of "improved" shelters are released and bought every year (much like vacuum cleaners or automobiles) because the Soviets supposedly develop new methods of attack on previously-developed shelters. The story revolves around Mike Foster, the adolescent son of an "anti-P", a movement of outsiders refusing to take part in these preparations, because they argue the military industrial complex is only creating fear to sell more bomb shelters. Mike, however, lives in fear that he will not have access to a shelter when the war begins and is a social outcast because of his father's political positions. Finally, Foster's father gives up his resistance and buys a brand-new costly bomb shelter model. Foster luckily boards the new shelter. Soon afterward, news reports the Soviets developed a new anti-shelter technique leaving all recent models totally vulnerable, requiring a new "adapter" to make current models safe again. Then, Mike's Father is forced to sell the shelter back due to economic issues. Foster then runs and hides in the shelter, where he is pulled out kicking and screaming by the marketers, and the story ends with a satirical note, a sign saying: "PEACE ON EARTH, GOOD WILL TO MEN, PUBLIC SHELTER, ADMISSION 50¢"

References

Short stories by Philip K. Dick 1955 short stories Fiction set in 1971 Cold War fiction Works about consumerism {{ColdWar-stub