Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 65 — page 17: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION “I don’t like it,” he said suddenly, and sniffed again. “It seems as though something is missing.” He was right. I’m not often wrong and I rarely overlook anything, but Vd made a slip with the De-Fumer on Mars. On Earth they sold well, but not here. I shouted myself hoarse and lied and promised, and went through the demonstrations until my throat was sore, and I was just a quivering bundle of tension, but I only sold two De-Fumers, and one of those was to an old man who thought that it was good for lumbago. So, as I should have done at the start, I sat down and thought about it. And then I could have kicked myself to Phobos and back again. Slim was right. The Martians had become so used to the smell that they no longer noticed it. I, a fresh arrival, hadn’t been able to believe that. What happened was that the Martians, when they could no longer smell their air, grew worried and upset, on the same principle as the ticking clock. You can go to sleep with a clock ticking in your room, but not if it isn’t there. Subconsciously you've grown so used to the sound that it isn’t noise any more. All I was doing with my demonstrations was to arouse antagonism and that is as bad as insulting the pitch, and for the same reason. No one will buy from you if they hate you or your product. And I was far from being popular. For a while I had the desperate notion of spreading the stuff around, waiting until _the effects wore off, and then | taking advantage of the newly- created demand for something to abolish the smell. I didn’t do it, first because there were laws against spreading chemi- cals through the domes, and second because it would have taken a lot of money. The second reason was the one 16 which stopped me. I was getting desperate when I remembered Slim’s original pitch. Selling tips is a waste of time. I had found that out long ago, and so I soon talked him out of that. There are only two ways to make money on racing. One is to sell tips on a _ contingent basis. You give the sucker the name of the winner and ask him to give you ten per cent. of his winnings. Quite a lot of people fall for this gag because. they hope to get connicloooks.comn)