# Sam Burnett — Short Fiction character guide

> Sam Burnett in Short Fiction by Ray Bradbury.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Burnett, Sam

**First appearance:** 0009-i

## Snapshot

A six-foot-one morgue-ship veteran sick of hauling corpses across the void, who finds his last cargo contains a Venusian very much alive.

## Who they are

Burnett has spent three thousand nights carrying fine lads burned down to the bone, and he tells Rice he doesn't care how he gets home anymore, just to shove him on shelf ninety-nine beside the dead. Then Lethla rises from the floor with a heat-blast in his white fingers, and Burnett's exhaustion turns to a grim, ironic welcome: the first living passenger in years. His weariness and his refusal to flinch anchor the story's early tension.

## Relationships

### [Rice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/rice)

_friendship_

Rice and Sam Burnett are loyal friends who rely on each other in difficult situations.

### [Lethla](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/lethla)

_romantic_

Lethla and Sam Burnett are lovers or have a deep romantic connection, marked by passion or conflict.

### [Bella Stern](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/bella_stern)

_romantic_

Bella Stern and Sam Burnett are involved in a romantic relationship, possibly complicated by external pressures.

### [Rice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/rice)

_friendship_

Rice and Sam Burnett are loyal friends who rely on each other in difficult situations.

### [Bella Stern](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/bella_stern)

_romantic_

Bella Stern and Sam Burnett are involved in a romantic relationship, possibly complicated by external pressures.

### [Lethla](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/lethla)

_romantic_

Lethla and Sam Burnett are lovers or have a deep romantic connection, marked by passion or conflict.

### [Bella Stern](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/bella_stern)

_romantic_

Bella Stern and Sam Burnett are involved in a romantic relationship, possibly complicated by external pressures.

### [Rice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/rice)

_friendship_

Rice and Sam Burnett are loyal friends who rely on each other in difficult situations.

### [Lethla](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/lethla)

_romantic_

Lethla and Sam Burnett are lovers or have a deep romantic connection, marked by passion or conflict.

## In the story

### [Morgue Ship](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/chapters/morgue-ship)

The protagonist, a morgue ship operator exhausted by years of collecting war dead; he sacrifices himself to thwart the Venusian spies.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/sam_burnett
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters