# Yet another "Identify that SF Short Story"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-identify-that-sf-short-story/734589>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 14, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-identify-that-sf-short-story/734589 "2015-10-14T00:01:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 5

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**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-identify-that-sf-short-story/734589/5 "2015-10-14T00:39:31Z")

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> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> Could it be _Absolutely the Last, This is It, No More, the Final Pact with the Devil Story_?
> 
> In looking for this I ran across this interesting quote:

Based on [this 10-year-old post from **RealityChuck**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6296341&postcount=27), I think you’ve got it, **TriPolar**!

> [@Why is the devil so fucking incompetent?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-devil-so-fucking-incompetent/309589/27):
>
> This is a very common trope, so much so much so that Michael Armstrong wrote “Absolutely the Last – This is It, No More – the Final Pact with the Devil Story.” That may have been the one where an author was required to get a particular story published or lose his soul. No editor wanted it, until, just in the nick of time, an editor bought it. For _The Last Dangerous Visions_ 🙂

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