About this episode

The episode explores a man's choice of punishment in hell and the existential questions that arise from it.

A dead man chooses what looks like the safest punishment in hell, convinced he understands the trap better than everyone before him. But as endless time passes in silence and fog, one terrible question begins to grow: what if the suffering only ends for those willing to keep going? What A Man Believes by Robert Sheckley. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. You can listen to every episode of The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast without commercials for less than the cost of a burger and fries once a month. Our Lost Sci-Fi Premium members love it and you will too. Get a free week to check it out at https://lostscifi.com/premium or click on the link in the description. 👉 💎 Lost Sci-Fi Premium - https://lostscifi.supercast.com/ Robert Sheckley wrote a lot of stories, more than most vintage sci-fi authors and we get a lot of requests for his work.  Today’s unusual story was first published in the November-December 1953 issue of Fantastic on page 46, What A Man Believes by Robert Sheckley… Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, Ernie Combs spends his life hiding a secret that turns every friendship into a risk and every crowded street into dangerous territory. When he finally meets someone who…

People in this episode

Host: Scott Miller

Topics covered

• punishment in hell
• existential questions
• vintage sci-fi
• Robert Sheckley
• moral dilemmas

Keywords

• Robert Sheckley
• What A Man Believes
• punishment
• hell
• sci-fi
• existentialism
• vintage stories

Sponsors

Lost Sci-Fi Premium, Lost Sci-Fi Premium, Buy Me a Coffee

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast

Books & works: What A Man Believes, Fantastic, Cast The First Shadow

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• Cast The First Shadow by Marc Brandel · May 27, 2026 · 24 min
• The Middle Of The Week After Next by Murray Leinster · May 25, 2026 · 48 min

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