1122. Alien classics

(This is the fourth of the Science Fiction stories to commemorate Science Fiction Day. Science Fiction Day is celebrated each year on Isaac Asimov’s birthday: January 2nd. Ok ok – haven’t you heard of a Time Warp?)

Fred was an aspiring poet. He wrote his poetry and sent it off to magazines like it was going out of fashion. Not a single one had ever been published, and rightly so.

He was about to give up when an alien appeared.

“Hi!” said the alien.

“Hi!” said Fred.

“Look,” said the alien, “we come from a far, far distant planet, in fact in another universe altogether. Here is an entire library of our greatest literary classics. There will never be contact again between your planet and ours, so we would like to share these profound treasures with you once and for all. In fact, you would be welcome to publish them under your own name if you so wished. If you did that, you would become the greatest writer in the history of your world. They’re already in translation for you.”

The alien handed over three large boxes of books and left.

Fred would have none of it. “It’s deceitful,” he said, and went out and threw the tomes into the incinerator.