# Ask the guy who is pretty good at SF Story Identification

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** books-writing-myths\
**Created:** [September 7, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417 "2008-09-07T00:08:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1941

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1941 "2026-01-14T14:55:25Z")

</div>

Well it’s not my query, but JAQ suggested the following:

> [@What science fiction story is this?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-story-is-this/1026682/3):
>
> I remember something like that. Maybe by Cyril Kornbluth or RA Lafferty or Clifford Simak, one of the humorous golden age authors. Kid could make thing disappear. I remember one part where he offered to make a store owner’s paunch go away, but he declined, as he’s bleed to death.
> 
> Wonder if that’s the same one. Damned if I can remember the title!

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417)._