02724cam a22003733u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003704000110007804100170008905000070010610000340011324500230014726400510017030000470022133600260026833700260029433800360032049000700035650000310042650801030045752013970056053400720195765300200202965300180204965300240206765300420209170000290213383000700216285600750223285600430230777659UtSlPG20260610134811.0mcr n260607r20261955utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aPS1 aAbernathy, Robert,d1924-199010aGrandma's lie soap 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2026  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier1 aProduced from Fantastic Universe, February 1956 (Vol. 5, No. 1.).  aRelease date is 2026-01-09  aTom Trussel (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)  aGrandma's lie soap by Robert Abernathy is a satirical science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. It imagines a simple household “lie soap” that makes it impossible to speak untruths, and explores its sweeping impact on advertising, politics, journalism, religion, and personal relationships.

The narrator, Oliver, recalls his formidable grandmother’s homemade “lie soap,” which once forced fibbing children to tell the truth. Disillusioned by modern life and heartbreak, he persuades Grandma to give him the secret after a moon landing spooks her into fearing larger dangers. Back at his chemical company, Oliver and a colleague turn the soap into an active ingredient (“Verolin”) for toothpaste and mouthwash, and with a canny sales ally launch it worldwide. As people lose the ability to lie—even to themselves—media, propaganda, and corruption implode; courts, marriages, and diplomacy reset; and the Cold War thaws when truth spreads through rival regimes. Years later, Oliver, who has never taken the treatment himself, surveys a calmer, cleaner world that has also grown trusting to the point of gullibility. Disturbed by persistent UFO reports and the prospect of deceitful outsiders preying on honest humanity, he finally resolves to use the soap and ask himself the hardest question: Did he do right? (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cNew York: King-Size Publications, Inc., 1955  aScience fiction  aShort stories  aChemists -- Fiction  aTruthfulness and falsehood -- Fiction1 aFreas, Kelly,d1922-2005 0aProduced from Fantastic Universe, February 1956 (Vol. 5, No. 1.).4 uhttps://archive.org/details/Fantastic_Universe_v05n01_1956-02/mode/2up40uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77659