"We Print The Truth" is a 1943 science fiction/fantasy short story by Anthony Boucher. It was first published in Astounding Science Fiction, in December 1943.

Synopsis

When editor John McVeagh is offered a gift by a supernatural being, he asks that his newspaper only ever print the truth. This has consequences beyond what he could have imagined.

We Print the Truth

Reception

"We Print the Truth" was a finalist for the 1944 Retro Hugo for Best Novella.

We Print the Truth

In his 2015 review of Boucher's work, Jeffrey Marks noted the presence of Boucher's thematic "passions": religion (the story begins with characters discussing "God's love for truth and the responsibility of humans to record that truth") and mystery (the first section of the story involves a murder investigation — which, Marks emphasizes, is "sensational, but not remotely science fiction"). Writing for The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, Brian Stableford called it "moralistic" and "perhaps [Boucher's] finest work".

We Print the Truth

References

External links

Text of the story at Archive.org

Works originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact

Works by Anthony Boucher

1943 short stories