02674cam a22003973u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003704000110007804100170008905000070010610000490011324500260016226400510018830000470023933600260028633700260031233800360033849000620037450000310043650801080046752013170057553400450189265300200193765300180195765300260197565300360200165300260203765300240206365300560208770000280214383000620217185600430223360671UtSlPG20260610134411.0mcr n260607r2019||||utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aPS1 aSmith, George H.q(George Henry),d1922-199614aThe Last Days of L.A. 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2019  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier1 aProduced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, February 1959  aRelease date is 2019-11-11  aProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net  a"The Last Days of L.A." by George H. Smith is a science fiction short story written in the late 1950s. The narrative explores the psychological and social ramifications of living under the impending threat of nuclear annihilation, focusing on a protagonist grappling with dread and existential despair in a decaying Los Angeles. The story serves as a reflection on the dark undercurrents of human nature amidst the backdrop of a world on the brink of destruction.  The plot centers on an unnamed narrator who is haunted by nightmarish visions of nuclear devastation, exacerbated by his daily encounters with a group of disillusioned friends. As tensions rise in the world around them, their conversations shift between irony and cynicism about life and death. In the face of a chaotic society fueled by violence and fear, the protagonist oscillates between a desire to engage with the world and a longing to escape its horrors. Ultimately, he attempts to awaken the populace to the imminent threat they all face, only to be violently rebuffed, highlighting the futility of individual efforts in a collective state of denial. The work encapsulates the psychological weight of living during a nuclear age, filled with dark humor and bleak insight into human existence. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  nOriginal publication data not identified  aScience fiction  aShort stories  aAlcoholics -- Fiction  aLos Angeles (Calif.) -- Fiction  aNightmares -- Fiction  aCold War -- Fiction  aNuclear weapons -- Psychological aspects -- Fiction1 aOrban, Paul,d1896-1974 0aProduced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, February 195940uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60671