Borrowed from Hoopla. tyvm!
Originally published as "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale".
Adapted into the movie TOTAL RECALL
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At about 75% I was thinking it added nothing to what I already know from the movies but!!! the last 25% changed my opinion and was worth the wait.

It has an ironic ending which I always love.

It's a rather quick story though the percentage left on the ebook app tricked me. It included a preview to another story which is cockadoodie IMO ( )

This is a really amusing short story. I can completely see where the movie(s) got their idea, but the short story is really a lot more about what's in Quail's head while the movies turn it into action (and leave out the second half of the short story's plot). I can't really get into that last bit without spoilers, but I really enjoyed the story and prefer it to the movies. The movies are fun, don't get me wrong, but I think the plot and pacing are better in the story.

Is this worth a read? Absolutely. If nothing else, it's really short, so you even if you don't like it you won't spend much time on it. ( )

Living as a simple clerk, Douglas Quail dreams vividly of visiting Mars. Quail visits REKAL (pronounced "recall") Incorporated, a company that promises to implant an "extra-factual memory" of a trip to Mars as a secret agent.

SPOILERS:
However, when REKAL administers the sedative and truth drug Narkidrine, Quail remembers that he actually once was a secret government agent on Mars. When these memories are recovered, two policemen arrive to kill him. Quail remembers he was a government assassin, and convinces his handlers to give him another chance. He makes a deal to exchange his memory of his true Mars mission to be replaced with a false memory of his deepest fantasy. Psychiatrists reveal he wishes when he was nine that aliens visited Earth with the intent to destroy it. Because of Quail's generosity, the aliens agreed not to destroy Earth as long as he is alive. Sent back to REKAL, under Narkidrine, Quail's deepest dreams are once again revealed to be reality. Thus, by simply remaining alive, Quail is the most important person on Earth and the government can't kill him. ( )

My first exposure to Total Recall was the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie version. The original story from which it’s based is a much more condensed version only really sharing the basic premise of the story. Douglass Quail is a bureaucrat languishing through his mundane life while longing for a trip to Mars, something that is out of his reach. The next best thing is to have memories of a trip to Mars implanted in his mind, where he is an interplanetary spy on a dangerous mission. I’m sure most people know how the story goes from there. The story omits all of the actual parts of going to Mars, where the movie expands upon the story.

I have to admit that I’m partial to the Schwarzenegger movie version. The original short story presents a much simplified version of this but it’s still interesting, compelling, and well-written. There are a couple of good twists, which I was already familiar with, but the most interesting part of the story is the whole implanting of the memory and how it’s explained in the story. It’s a type of story that despite its brevity, packs a big punch. The final twist at the end was especially satisfying. This is the type of story fans of science fiction will enjoy.

Carl Alves – author of Reconquest: Mother Earth ( )