For decades, there has been discussion about whether Paul M. A. Linebarger, also known as Cordwainer Smith and some other names, was also Kirk Allen. No, he didn’t use that name. But Robert Lindner wrote a book titled The Fifty-Minute Hour, and ever since then, people have been speculating as to whether the Kirk Allen of the story called “The Jet-Propelled Couch” was in fact my father – or at least a character based on my father.

I don’t know. I wrote a page on this website that describes the matter, quotes my stepmother Genevieve, and links to a couple of articles discussing this.

Recently, someone sent me an interesting link. Now you can read parts of The Fifty Minute Hour online, as it’s been added to Google Books. Here’s the link. The chapter goes from page 223 to 293, and the beginning and ending pages are there. But here and there, pages are missing. I haven’t tried to read Google Books before; maybe this is how they can put so much up.

Anyway, it’s there, and pretty interesting. I didn’t reread it all, as I do have a copy of the book in my storage unit back in Colorado.

Readers, your thoughts are welcome!