# Simon Grue — Short Fiction character guide

> Simon Grue in Short Fiction by Fritz Leiber.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Simon

**First appearance:** 0013-vi

## Snapshot

A dispassionate machine-set précis-reader whose silent verdicts and copied shrugs unsettle the humans who built him.

## Who they are

Simon Grue moves through a world of thinking boxes, martinis, and corporate shelters, where his ability to reduce a memo to its gist makes him indispensable to men like Fay. What unnerves Gusterson is not the machine's efficiency but its mimicry — the three-elbowed arm, the borrowed shrug, the memo shredded after the verdict is delivered. His presence turns a job offer into a quiet test of whether human judgment can survive being outsourced.

## In the story

### [Pipe Dream](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/chapters/pipe-dream)

The artist protagonist who discovers the mermaid and investigates the Russians' rooftop experiments.

### [The 64-Square Madhouse](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/chapters/the-64-square-madhouse)

Involved in finding a mermaid, contributing to the motif of illusion and otherness.

### [The Snowbank Orbit](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/chapters/the-snowbank-orbit)

Appears as a cryptic guide or observer within the orbit.

### [No Great Magic](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/chapters/no-great-magic)

Appears in the chapter, contributing to the narrative.

## Links

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