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Pilgrimage to Earth
Pilgrimage to Earth is a collection of science fiction short stories by Robert Sheckley. It was first published in October 1957 by Bantam Books (catalogue number A1672) and already reprinted a month later.
It includes the following stories (magazines in which the stories originally appeared given in parentheses):
"Pilgrimage to Earth" (Playboy 1956/9; also known as "Love, Incorporated")
"All the Things You Are" (Galaxy 1956/7)
"Trap" (Galaxy 1956/2)
"The Body" (Galaxy 1956/1)
"Early Model" (Galaxy 1956/8)
"Disposal Service" (Bluebook 1955/1)
"Human Man's Burden" (Galaxy 1956/9)
"Fear in the Night" (Today's Woman 1952)
"Bad Medicine" (Galaxy 1956/7)
"Protection" (Galaxy 1956/4)
"Earth, Air, Fire and Water" (Astounding 1955/7)
"Deadhead" (Galaxy 1955/7)
"The Academy" (If 1954/8)
"Milk Run" (Galaxy 1954/9)
"The Lifeboat Mutiny" (Galaxy 1955/4)
It includes the following stories (magazines in which the stories originally appeared given in parentheses):
"Pilgrimage to Earth" (Playboy 1956/9; also known as "Love, Incorporated")
"All the Things You Are" (Galaxy 1956/7)
"Trap" (Galaxy 1956/2)
"The Body" (Galaxy 1956/1)
"Early Model" (Galaxy 1956/8)
"Disposal Service" (Bluebook 1955/1)
"Human Man's Burden" (Galaxy 1956/9)
"Fear in the Night" (Today's Woman 1952)
"Bad Medicine" (Galaxy 1956/7)
"Protection" (Galaxy 1956/4)
"Earth, Air, Fire and Water" (Astounding 1955/7)
"Deadhead" (Galaxy 1955/7)
"The Academy" (If 1954/8)
"Milk Run" (Galaxy 1954/9)
"The Lifeboat Mutiny" (Galaxy 1955/4)
244 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1957
48 people are currently reading
604 people want to read
About the author
Robert Sheckley
1,067 books654 followersOne of science fiction's great humorists, Sheckley was a prolific short story writer beginning in 1952 with titles including "Specialist", "Pilgrimage to Earth", "Warm", "The Prize of Peril", and "Seventh Victim", collected in volumes from Untouched by Human Hands (1954) to Is That What People Do? (1984) and a five-volume set of Collected Stories (1991). His first novel, Immortality, Inc. (1958), was followed by The Status Civilization (1960), Journey Beyond Tomorrow (1962), Mindswap (1966), and several others. Sheckley served as fiction editor for Omni magazine from January 1980 through September 1981, and was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
March 18, 2009
The title story is very good. The hero, after diverse adventures, has finally reached Earth. It's the only planet in the Universe where they have this mysterious phenomenon called "love". He's read all about it, and he knows the theory: the magical feeling as your eyes meet across the room, that first, heart-stopping kiss, passionate nights when you feel your bodies melt into one, walking along the beach with your arms around each other. In short, he's swallowed the whole romance section at your average supermarket. But he's never experienced any of it himself.
So he gets off the spaceship, and the first thing he sees when he hits town is this sleazy joint with a lot of tacky-looking women not wearing very much. They're painted with targets. The owner comes out and asks the hero if he'd like to shoot any of the chicks. It's, like, $100 to shoot a girl, or if he wants to pay $500 he can have a machine-gun and massacre the whole lot of them. The hero just has no idea what to make of this, it sounds horrible. "Do you stay dead?" he asks one of the girls. "Don't be silly," she replies.
Well, he's certainly having none of THAT. He walks on a bit, and finds the offices of Love, Inc. He goes in, and explains that he's looking for heart-stopping kisses and passionate nights and stuff. They tell him he's come to the right place. He signs the forms, pays them the money, and looks up. There's a girl standing there, and he experiences this magical feeling as their eyes meet across the room. They leave the office in slo-mo, and as soon as they're outside he gets that first, heart-stopping kiss. They buy tickets for Hawaii, and pretty soon he's experiencing the rest of the package too. It's just as amazing as everyone had said.
At the end of the week, he wakes up and the girl's gone! He's scared and angry. After looking everywhere, he flies back to Love, Inc, and asks them to help him locate his true love. "Oh, she's getting ready for another job," they tell him. No, no, he says, they must be mistaken, this was the real deal. They try to argue with him, he's adamant, so in the end they bring her in. She looks at him like he's a total stranger. Well, they explain, the conditioning wears off after a week. Of course, he can pay for more time if he wants.
He stumbles out of the office in a daze. Somehow, without realizing where he's going, he finds himself in front of the sleazy shooting joint. The proprietor smiles at him. The hero takes a gun.
"OK, set 'em up"
So he gets off the spaceship, and the first thing he sees when he hits town is this sleazy joint with a lot of tacky-looking women not wearing very much. They're painted with targets. The owner comes out and asks the hero if he'd like to shoot any of the chicks. It's, like, $100 to shoot a girl, or if he wants to pay $500 he can have a machine-gun and massacre the whole lot of them. The hero just has no idea what to make of this, it sounds horrible. "Do you stay dead?" he asks one of the girls. "Don't be silly," she replies.
Well, he's certainly having none of THAT. He walks on a bit, and finds the offices of Love, Inc. He goes in, and explains that he's looking for heart-stopping kisses and passionate nights and stuff. They tell him he's come to the right place. He signs the forms, pays them the money, and looks up. There's a girl standing there, and he experiences this magical feeling as their eyes meet across the room. They leave the office in slo-mo, and as soon as they're outside he gets that first, heart-stopping kiss. They buy tickets for Hawaii, and pretty soon he's experiencing the rest of the package too. It's just as amazing as everyone had said.
At the end of the week, he wakes up and the girl's gone! He's scared and angry. After looking everywhere, he flies back to Love, Inc, and asks them to help him locate his true love. "Oh, she's getting ready for another job," they tell him. No, no, he says, they must be mistaken, this was the real deal. They try to argue with him, he's adamant, so in the end they bring her in. She looks at him like he's a total stranger. Well, they explain, the conditioning wears off after a week. Of course, he can pay for more time if he wants.
He stumbles out of the office in a daze. Somehow, without realizing where he's going, he finds himself in front of the sleazy shooting joint. The proprietor smiles at him. The hero takes a gun.
"OK, set 'em up"
February 12, 2023
Classic collection of some of Sheckley's 1950s stories. Most of them are now out of copyright. Links here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrim...
-- though not, sadly, my favorite, the title story, first published in Playboy magazine in 1956. My copy is pretty beat-up. If you see a cheap copy, might be worth buying it for the stories that remain in copyright. Or if, like me, you prefer paper! Or the smell of an old pb . . .
Sadly, at least some of my old Sheckley pbs are getting do decrepit as to verge on becoming unreadable. Surely there must be a "Best Of Sheckley" compilation?
Times read: many, over the years. At least a couple of these date back to the first SF books I bought, from the spinner in a downtown card shop. 10c. each or 3 for 25c.! Deal!
-- though not, sadly, my favorite, the title story, first published in Playboy magazine in 1956. My copy is pretty beat-up. If you see a cheap copy, might be worth buying it for the stories that remain in copyright. Or if, like me, you prefer paper! Or the smell of an old pb . . .
Sadly, at least some of my old Sheckley pbs are getting do decrepit as to verge on becoming unreadable. Surely there must be a "Best Of Sheckley" compilation?
Times read: many, over the years. At least a couple of these date back to the first SF books I bought, from the spinner in a downtown card shop. 10c. each or 3 for 25c.! Deal!
August 4, 2017
Ωραία μίνι συλλογή διηγημάτων, από τις εκδόσεις Απόπειρα. Τον Σεπτέμβριο του 2011 είχα διαβάσει το "Πλανήτης Ωμέγα" (The Status Civilization στο πρωτότυπο), ένα πραγματικά ψυχαγωγικό και απολαυστικό περιπετειώδες μυθιστόρημα επιστημονικής φαντασίας, με μόνο παράπονο το μικρό του μέγεθος. Από τότε δεν θυμάμαι να είχα διαβάσει κάποια άλλη ιστορία του Σέκλεϊ (μυθιστόρημα ή νουβέλα σίγουρα όχι, διήγημα ίσως σε μια από τις τόσες ανθολογίες που υπάρχουν). Τέλος πάντων, έμεινα και πάλι ικανοποιημένος. Και οι τέσσερις ιστορίες της παρούσας συλλογής μου φάνηκαν ωραίες, οι ιδέες είναι αν μη τι άλλο ενδιαφέρουσες και χαριτωμένες, ενώ αξίζει να σημειωθεί ότι ο συγγραφέας θίγει διάφορα σημαντικά και ενοχλητικά θέματα που αφορούν την ανθρώπινη κοινωνία, αλλά με φανερή αίσθηση του χιούμορ και διάθεση για ειρωνεία και σάτιρα. Έτσι δείχνει ότι και με μια πιο... χαριτωμένη προσέγγιση σοβαρών θεμάτων, ένας συγγραφέας μπορεί να βάλει τον αναγνώστη σε σκέψεις. Σίγουρα οι ιστορίες δείχνουν τα χρονάκια τους και είναι προϊόν της εποχής τους, όμως κατά τ'άλλα μια χαρά διαβάζονται ευχάριστα και με ενδιαφέρον από τον σύγχρονο αναγνώστη. Τα διηγήματα που περιέχονται στην παρούσα συλλογή, με σειρά δικής μου προτίμησης, είναι τα εξής: "Μορφή", "Το κόστος διαβίωσης", "Προσκύνημα στη Γη" και "Το μάτι του τρελού".
June 30, 2012
apparently sheckley wrote over 400 stories. which is good news, seeing how i can't stop reading them. they're really just so wonderful. it's kind of like discovering p.g. wodehouse. only a wodehouse who's writing for the twilight zone and star trek and about working class americans and scientists (all these stories pre-date the twilight zone and star trek, btw, being written in the early 50s). most of the stories are essentially jokes, centered around logical contradictions (usually technological or bureaucratic) instead of emotional conflicts, so they don't tend to reverberate too heavily at the end (though "all the things you are" hit unexpectedly hard)... but they just move so well and are so incredibly imaginative and smart and unpretentious and fun. i really just think he's a treasure. a little like philip k. dick, minus the insanity... more emotional maturity but fewer pyrotechnic metaphysics. lots of deadpan humor and exasperated people trying to make sense of a ridiculous (and extremely large) world.
May 27, 2020
ENGLISH: Fifteen stories by Robert Sheckley. Those I liked best are "Human man's burden" (one of my Sheckley favorite stories of all time), "The Academy," "Deadhead" (these two have to do with the same argument, a future dystopic society that forces everyone to conform, in other words, what we are living here and now) and "Bad medicine," a hilarious story about a man on the border of insanity who is treated by a machine adjusted to treat Martians.
Two funny quotes from "Human man's burden": The first is a label in a package received by the protagonist: Handle with care: Woman inside. The other is a memorable dictum by Gunga-Sam, the robot foreman: The mind of Human Man is murky and dark, but it is as crystal compared to the mind of Human Woman... It is an ancient robot proverb.
SPANISH: Quince cuentos de Robert Sheckley. Los que más me gustaron fueron "Los problemas humanos" (uno de mis cuentos favoritos de Sheckley), "La Academia", "Polizón" (estos dos tratan sobre lo mismo, una sociedad distópica futura que obliga a todos a conformarse; en otras palabras, lo que estamos viviendo aquí y ahora) y "Mala medicina", una historia hilarante sobre un hombre que está en el límite de la locura, al que trata una máquina ajustada para marcianos.
Dos citas divertidas de "Los problemas humanos": La primera es una etiqueta en un paquete que recibe el protagonista: Manéjese con cuidado: Contiene una mujer. La segunda es un dicho memorable de Gunga-Sam, el capataz-robot: Mente de hombre humano ser turbia y oscura, pero ser como cristal comparada con mente de mujer humana... Es un antiguo proverbio robot.
Two funny quotes from "Human man's burden": The first is a label in a package received by the protagonist: Handle with care: Woman inside. The other is a memorable dictum by Gunga-Sam, the robot foreman: The mind of Human Man is murky and dark, but it is as crystal compared to the mind of Human Woman... It is an ancient robot proverb.
SPANISH: Quince cuentos de Robert Sheckley. Los que más me gustaron fueron "Los problemas humanos" (uno de mis cuentos favoritos de Sheckley), "La Academia", "Polizón" (estos dos tratan sobre lo mismo, una sociedad distópica futura que obliga a todos a conformarse; en otras palabras, lo que estamos viviendo aquí y ahora) y "Mala medicina", una historia hilarante sobre un hombre que está en el límite de la locura, al que trata una máquina ajustada para marcianos.
Dos citas divertidas de "Los problemas humanos": La primera es una etiqueta en un paquete que recibe el protagonista: Manéjese con cuidado: Contiene una mujer. La segunda es un dicho memorable de Gunga-Sam, el capataz-robot: Mente de hombre humano ser turbia y oscura, pero ser como cristal comparada con mente de mujer humana... Es un antiguo proverbio robot.
October 19, 2021
This is the third short story collection by Robert Sheckley containing stories published from 1952 to 1956. At the time, Sheckley wrote for Playboy (Pilgrimage to Earth (Love, Incorporated)), Galaxy and Today's Woman. As far as it goes, the collection, with its fillers (Fear in the Night, Early Model), stories showing the author's gloomy (The Academy) and flippant (Milk Run) sides, gives an idea of what Sheckley's early writing was.
August 6, 2009
Sheckley is more consistently funny and outrageous than most science fiction writers who attempt such things.
June 14, 2024
Simpática antología con el clásico contrapunto entre el hombre y lo desconocido (ya sea máquina o alien), al cual Sheckley le saca partido sobre todo en las situaciones mas desesperadas. Los relatos están llenos de sarcasmo e ingenio, algunos quizás resulten demasiado livianos u obsoletos, pero hay otros donde se prodiga.
Mi favorito, "La trampa", relato a dos voces muy gracioso. También me gustaron "El motín del bote salvavidas", "Protección" y el cuento corto "Servicio de Eliminación". (30.12.2004)
Mi favorito, "La trampa", relato a dos voces muy gracioso. También me gustaron "El motín del bote salvavidas", "Protección" y el cuento corto "Servicio de Eliminación". (30.12.2004)
February 18, 2025
Robert Sheckley was a master of science fiction short stories that warned us to be careful what we wish for because disaster could follow if our dreams come true.
The collection’s title story, “Pilgrimage to Earth,” is the best of the bunch. It first appeared as “Love, Inc.” in Playboy. A young man from a farming planet comes to Earth to find true love. He finds just what he wants for sale at a good price, but it is not, of course, what he bargained for. Reading it is like watching a train wreck—you don’t want it to happen, but you can’t stop watching, and in this case, laughing—and feeling guilty about doing so.
The stories often take shots at conformity and consumerism. Characters frequently make deals with aliens and unscrupulous humans that backfire in creative ways. In “Protection,” for instance, a man hires an alien to warn him of dangers in his future but discovers that doing so also increases the threats he faces. It may be an allegorical critique of the 1950s arms race.
I wish Sheckley were still around to poke fun at the Internet economy.
The collection’s title story, “Pilgrimage to Earth,” is the best of the bunch. It first appeared as “Love, Inc.” in Playboy. A young man from a farming planet comes to Earth to find true love. He finds just what he wants for sale at a good price, but it is not, of course, what he bargained for. Reading it is like watching a train wreck—you don’t want it to happen, but you can’t stop watching, and in this case, laughing—and feeling guilty about doing so.
The stories often take shots at conformity and consumerism. Characters frequently make deals with aliens and unscrupulous humans that backfire in creative ways. In “Protection,” for instance, a man hires an alien to warn him of dangers in his future but discovers that doing so also increases the threats he faces. It may be an allegorical critique of the 1950s arms race.
I wish Sheckley were still around to poke fun at the Internet economy.
February 15, 2024
Muy entretenido. Son relatos de la época joven del autor donde todos tienen un tono ameno y divertido además de tratar temas como el contacto alienígena y los viajes espaciales de forma natural y entretenida. Un libro ideal para desengrasar de lecturas más intensas o duras.
Por cierto, tiene 2 relatos de la serie Arnold&Gregor que son 2 protagonistas encargados de comerciar por el espacio al que no les sale nada bien, pero me ha parecido que los finales eran un poco abruptos y continuistas. Ignoro si el resto de relatos de la serie tiene alguna suerte de relación interna. Lástima de no haberme hecho con el libro que publicó Proyecto F con ese nombre que recopilaba dichos relatos.
Por cierto, tiene 2 relatos de la serie Arnold&Gregor que son 2 protagonistas encargados de comerciar por el espacio al que no les sale nada bien, pero me ha parecido que los finales eran un poco abruptos y continuistas. Ignoro si el resto de relatos de la serie tiene alguna suerte de relación interna. Lástima de no haberme hecho con el libro que publicó Proyecto F con ese nombre que recopilaba dichos relatos.
October 31, 2011
Fun as usual. Sheckley is a delight to read. I just do not get bored with his poking fun at humanity.
January 18, 2024
Possibly the funniest collection of short stories I have ever read.
August 17, 2020
Pilgrimage to Earth 5/5
All The Things You Are 4/5
Trap 4/5
The Body 5/5
Early Model 5/5
Disposal Service 5/5
Human Man's Burden 3/5
Fear in the Night 3/5
Bad Medicine 4/5
Protection 5/5
Earth, Air, Fire and Water 3/5
Deadhead 5/5
The Academy 4/5
Milk Run 4/5
The Lifeboat Mutiny 4/5
Lighthearted short story collection. Many of the stories are funny. Early Model was probably my favorite, about an astronaut explorer who can't get along with any natives because he has a device on his back that thinks everything they do is a threat.
All The Things You Are 4/5
Trap 4/5
The Body 5/5
Early Model 5/5
Disposal Service 5/5
Human Man's Burden 3/5
Fear in the Night 3/5
Bad Medicine 4/5
Protection 5/5
Earth, Air, Fire and Water 3/5
Deadhead 5/5
The Academy 4/5
Milk Run 4/5
The Lifeboat Mutiny 4/5
Lighthearted short story collection. Many of the stories are funny. Early Model was probably my favorite, about an astronaut explorer who can't get along with any natives because he has a device on his back that thinks everything they do is a threat.
May 2, 2022
Sheckley's short story collections are officially my favorite. His prolific and consistent quality of stories in the sci-fi genre is laudable. I take a collection like this, read about one story a day, and it continues to give me more stories to enjoy!
January 8, 2024
Həyat yoldaşından qurtulmağa çalışan yadplanetli Yerdəki baıqçılara tələ şəklində olan səyhaət portalı göndərir və bu ona sonradan baha başa gəlir.
April 1, 2012
A nice little collection of 50’s sci-fi with a humorous bent. The stories were mostly futuristic where space travel is common, robots and machines have some sort of intelligence, or at least funny limitations of logic. Some stories were in a future time with I guess dystopian societies.
August 10, 2007
If you like silly science fiction, find all the AAA Ace stories by Sheckley and read them. They are priceless. His other stories are fun, too, but the AAA Ace ones are classics.
May 9, 2014
Χαριτωμένες προσεγγίσεις σε ενοχλητικά θέματα. Δυστυχώς δείχνουν και τα τέσσερα (Το Ματ του Τρελού, Το κόστος διαβίωσης, Μορφή, Προσκύνημα στη Γη) την ηλικία τους.
February 7, 2017
I have been mining 50's & 60's SciFi authors for the past year -- most are good, some are brilliant; this falls into the later category. Trust me.
June 27, 2025
Robert Sheckley was maybe a B+ writer in the early days of Sci Fi, trundling along in the steps of Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and Theodore Sturgeon. He was well enough known to have his stories collected in his own paperback (Bantam Books, 35 cents) but re-reading his efforts in the 21st century is painful. They just have not aged well. We know too much about Mars and Venus, we have been schooled in how long it will actually take to travel between worlds, and most of all, we won’t tolerate mysogyny.
Like most writers of his age, Sheckley includes women in his stories as playthings or victims, even in one particularly grating story, as live targets in a shooting gallery.
Why did I bother? Well, these books were handed down from my late cousin, and I feel an obligation to peruse each one before passing it on to the Little Free Library up the street.
Note: On reading other's review of this collection, I see that Sheckley was supposed to be a satiriest and humorist, "a precursor to Douglas Adams." But Adams' humor has worn well over the decades; after 70 years, Sheckley's seems quite tired.
Like most writers of his age, Sheckley includes women in his stories as playthings or victims, even in one particularly grating story, as live targets in a shooting gallery.
Why did I bother? Well, these books were handed down from my late cousin, and I feel an obligation to peruse each one before passing it on to the Little Free Library up the street.
Note: On reading other's review of this collection, I see that Sheckley was supposed to be a satiriest and humorist, "a precursor to Douglas Adams." But Adams' humor has worn well over the decades; after 70 years, Sheckley's seems quite tired.
January 3, 2018
Fifteen stories taken from the pages of Galaxy, Playboy, and other magazines from 1955 and 1956. Quirky aliens, faulty technology, a society that measures everyone's sanity, a future Earth where everything is possible and nothing is denied - including love. In general a fair representation from the golden age though most of the stories are dated. Of interest is the title story where a rube from off-planet visits Earth in search of romance; "The Trap" - an alien entices a couple of humans with a matter transmitter disguised as an animal trap with the goal of disposing of an unwanted spouse; "Early Model" - new technology for explorers suffers failures in alpha testing; "Fear in the Night" - short, scary story of a husband and wife and their relationship; and "Bad Medicine" - chiefly interesting for projecting major corporations (GM, GE, IBM) entering the mental health arena via gadgetry.
October 16, 2022
It's always fun to find a "new" author whose work leaves you wanting more. This collection of short stories highlights Robert Sheckley's out of the box approach to science fiction: often humorous, occasionally iconoclastic, always unique. Definitely an author I'll look for in second hand book stores and rummage sales.
December 10, 2022
Dieser Kurzgeschichtenband enthält erstklassige, ideenreiche, intelligente wie amüsante Unterhaltung. Vom schrägen Humor bis zur Gesellschaftssatire bietet der Autor alles auf, was im Science-Fiction-Genre möglich ist und nur den wirklich Großen in der Literatur gelingt. Absolut empfehlenswerte Lektüre.
July 28, 2019
Fun book of sci-fi stories. It makes me want to gather a collection of stories predicting a future that never came- that is, there are some interesting stories about alien first contact gone wrong and one about spacesuit technology with major glitches. Well thought out, entertaining read.
August 26, 2025
Funny, punchy, whimsical sci-fi short stories poking fun at 1950s America - particularly consumerism. Much of it still lands today, a lot around reliance on technology and bureaucracy. Will be sure to seek out more Sheckley in future.
July 31, 2018
Robert Sheckley's short stories and novels are one reason why I was a sci-fi addict for decades. This is a great collection of tales.
May 6, 2020
The short form this is where this author shines. Some stories are weird, other sad and of course part of them funny.
February 8, 2021
Enjoyable read.
Good stories, nice clever twists at the end! Looking forward to more stories from this author! Quite an imagination he has!
Good stories, nice clever twists at the end! Looking forward to more stories from this author! Quite an imagination he has!
September 1, 2023
From start-to-finish the story collection isn’t quite as flawless as Store of Infinity, but it’s still damn good. 😀
June 23, 2024
Collection of 15 Sheckley short stories, published in 1957. Decent, but not the very best. At least six stories that, to date, I've only found in this collection.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews