The Creature from Cleveland Depths

Fritz Leiber was one of the greatest science fiction and fantasy writers of the mid-twentieth century. One of his frequent themes was "technology gone wrong." In The Creature from Cleveland Depths, a writer and his wife refuse to move below-ground after the cold-war gets hot. However, he still serves as a consultant for a below-ground company seeking to come up with new "gadgets." His latest product idea is called "The Tickler," a device that is with you at all times to remind you of appointments and "suggests" little motivations to improve efficiency. The device then begins to have unintended and frightening consequences which only the inventor seems to recognize.