# Howard Mooney — Short Fiction character guide

> Howard Mooney in Short Fiction by Frederik Pohl.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Mooney, IV Mooney, Howard, clever Mooney

**First appearance:** 0000-asteroid-of-the-damned

## Snapshot

A broke Jersey shore schemer hiding from creditors gets an impossible visitor: a drenched man in silver who wants a guide to Brooklyn on a specific date.

## Who they are

Howard Mooney is a small-time operator wintering in a Sea Bright house, dodging stockholders from a failed frozen-food club and guarding his one warm room against the cold. When a shoeless stranger in a silvery leotard offers to pay for guidance to a place and time stated like coordinates, Mooney's instinct for a deal overrides his alarm. His mercenary curiosity makes him the reader's entry point into a world where time itself is a destination.

## In the story

### [Conspiracy on Callisto](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/chapters/conspiracy-on-callisto)

Mentioned as part of the conspiracy, having stolen a survival kit.

### [The Day of the Boomer Dukes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/chapters/the-day-of-the-boomer-dukes)

A member of the Boomer Dukes, participates in the gang's activities.

### [Survival Kit](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/chapters/survival-kit)

Steals the survival kit, demonstrating his resourcefulness and desperation.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/chapters/i)

Living alone in his uncle's house, surviving on tea and canned goods, Mooney is wary and desperate for money when the stranger arrives.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/chapters/ii)

Mooney schemes to open Harse's ball-bearings with a hacksaw and Geiger counter, and considers using a gun.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/chapters/iii)

Drives the stolen truck, panics over the murder, then schemes to exploit Harse's technology. Manages the pawn transactions and hotel stays, growing increasingly covetous.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/chapters/iv)

Manipulates his uncle Lester with a fabricated secret project, orchestrates Harse's movements, and is later immobilized by Harse's creatures.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/chapters/v)

Devises a new strategy to ditch Harse and meet the Nexus Point himself, driven by greed and salesmanship.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/chapters/vi)

Cleverly evades capture in the park, retrieves the survival kit, and accidentally unleashes the violet haze that restores his victims.

### [Wolfbane](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/chapters/wolfbane)

A fellow processed human who interacts with Tropile, representing the cynical and survivalist mindset.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/characters/howard_mooney
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/characters