# Richard Rowe Krumbine — Short Fiction character guide

> Richard Rowe Krumbine in Short Fiction by Fritz Leiber.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Krumbine, Richard Rowe, Mister J. Augustus Krumbine, Richard

**First appearance:** 0014-vii

## Snapshot

A tranquilizer-popping S.B.I. official who treats a handwritten letter as a pre-Atomic horror and a threat to the hive.

## Who they are

Krumbine presides over an office of four phones and twoscore microphones, where personal communication is diagnosed as a morbid form of advertising and letters are barely remembered relics. When Potshelter brings him an envelope addressed by hand, Krumbine's professional composure cracks into visions of witch-doctors and bubbling cauldrons. His panic matters because it shows how far the world has drifted from the written word — and how much power a single pen stroke still holds.

## In the story

### [The Last Letter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/chapters/the-last-letter)

S.B.I. official who orchestrates the response to the letter, shocked by the handwritten communication.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/characters/richard_rowe_krumbine
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/characters