"Our Fair City" is a fantasy short story by Robert A. Heinlein, originally printed in Weird Tales, January 1949. The story involves an old parking lot attendant, his pet whirlwind (named Kitten), and a muckraking newspaper columnist who decide to "clean up" their city's corrupt government by running the whirlwind for political office.

Cover of the pulp magazine Weird Tales

Reception

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Alexei Panshin has called it an "amiable trifle",[1] while Brian Stableford has described it as an example of "preliminary de-historicization followed by re-accommodation to American pragmatism".[2]

Origins

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Heinlein biographer William H. Patterson Jr. noted that Heinlein wrote the story in four days in October 1947, inspired by L. Ron Hubbard's decision to name a dust devil which was frequently present outside Heinlein's apartment.[3]

References

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