Richard Matheson: "SRL Ad," 'Dear Diary," "To Fit the Crime," and "Shipshape Home"

I recently purchased a 1970 paperback edition of Richard Matheson's Third From the Sun because of the eye-popping Gene Szafran cover, so let's take a break from the Jazz Age and read some 1950s stories by the man famous for penning Steven Spielberg's and Vincent Price's best movies. I think there is a scan of this edition at the internet archive here, and an earlier edition here, so you can read along free of charge."SRL Ad" (1952) I chose today's four stories essentially at random, but maybe I should have done some research first because the fact that "SRL Ad" was first reprinted (after its debut in F&SF) in an anthology edited by Fredric Brown and Mack Reynolds titled Science-Fiction Carnival, with the subtitle "Fun in Science-Fiction," no less, makes me fear it is a joke story. Today at MPorcius Fiction Log, and every day, we are looking for sincerity, we are looking for blood and guts, we are looking for sex and violence! We are not looking for joke stories! Well, let's give "SRL…

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