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* InventedIndividual: Sam Hall is completely fictitious, which is why the government can't track him down.
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* InventedIndividual: Sam Hall is completely fictitious, which is why the government can't track him down. At one point several high-ranking Party officials are sacked due to their personal relationships with the entirely fictional Sam Hall.
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* SnowballLie: Thornberg's lie starts relatively small and quickly spreads, with Sam Hall becoming a boogeyman to the populace and especially the government.
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* ShoutOut: The story is named after an old song of the same name. Four verses are sung throughout the novelette.
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* ShoutOut: The story is named after an old song of the same name. Four verses are sung throughout the novelette.novelette.
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* HiredToHuntYourself:
** Thornberg is told to look into the possibility of the rebels managing to cause a kind of mass hallucination to explain Sam Hall's presence.
** [[spoiler:Sorensen]] turns out to have been a rebel all along, [[spoiler:sending the preposterous request for the mass hallucination]] to Thornberg to see how he'd react.
** Thornberg is told to look into the possibility of the rebels managing to cause a kind of mass hallucination to explain Sam Hall's presence.
** [[spoiler:Sorensen]] turns out to have been a rebel all along, [[spoiler:sending the preposterous request for the mass hallucination]] to Thornberg to see how he'd react.
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* Room101: The story opens with the protagonist's nephew being arrested and sent to a Room 101; the protagonist must hide that they were related.
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* Room101: The story opens with the protagonist's nephew being arrested and sent to a Room 101; the protagonist must hide that they were related.related so his son won't be troubled.
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* AmalgamatedIndividual: A secretly rebellious functionary involved in inputting data to a MasterComputer covering events throughout a near-future totalitarian USA creates a fictional rebel/terrorist named "Sam Hall", and falsely ascribes various crimes and incidents to him at random. The fictitious Sam Hall ends up being a folk hero and inspiring a revolution.
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"Sam Hall" is a science fiction short story by Creator/PoulAnderson, first published in ''Magazine/AstoundingScienceFiction'' in August 1953.
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"Sam Hall" is a science fiction short story {{novelette}} by Creator/PoulAnderson, first published in ''Magazine/AstoundingScienceFiction'' in August 1953.
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"Sam Hall" is a science fiction short story by Creator/PoulAnderson, first published in ''Astounding Science Fiction'' in August 1953.
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"Sam Hall" is a science fiction short story by Creator/PoulAnderson, first published in ''Astounding Science Fiction'' ''Magazine/AstoundingScienceFiction'' in August 1953.
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* Room101: The story opens with the protagonist's nephew being arrested and sent to a Room 101; the protagonist must hide that they were related.
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* Room101: The story opens with the protagonist's nephew being arrested and sent to a Room 101; the protagonist must hide that they were related.related.
* ShoutOut: The story is named after an old song of the same name. Four verses are sung throughout the novelette.
* ShoutOut: The story is named after an old song of the same name. Four verses are sung throughout the novelette.
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"Sam Hall" is a science fiction novella by Creator/PoulAnderson, first published in ''Astounding Science Fiction'' in August 1953.
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"Sam Hall" is a science fiction novella short story by Creator/PoulAnderson, first published in ''Astounding Science Fiction'' in August 1953.
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* ICallItVera: The central computer monitoring everyone is named Matilda.
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* DystopiaIsHard: The dystopian government that collapses because of all the resources they expend trying to track down the titular malcontent who managed to get cross-referenced with a police report. The effort they expend to track him down increases as every effort they expend to find him fails, and the reason they can't find him is because he doesn't actually exist.
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* DystopiaIsHard: The dystopian government that collapses because of all the resources they expend trying to track down the titular malcontent who managed to get cross-referenced with a police report. The effort they expend to track him down increases as every effort they expend to find him fails, and the reason they can't find him is because he doesn't actually exist.
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''Sam Hall'' is a science fiction novella by Creator/PoulAnderson, first published in ''Astounding Science Fiction'' in August 1953.
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''Sam Hall'' is a science fiction novella by Creator/PoulAnderson first published in ''Astounding Science Fiction'', in August 1953.
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''Sam Hall'' is a science fiction novella by Creator/PoulAnderson Creator/PoulAnderson, first published in ''Astounding Science Fiction'', Fiction'' in August 1953.
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* BigbrotherIsWatching: The government keeps tabs on where its citizens are from day to day, which drives them crazy when they can't locate Sam Hall.
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* BigbrotherIsWatching: BigBrotherIsWatching: The government keeps tabs on where its citizens are from day to day, which drives them crazy when they can't locate Sam Hall.
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* BigbrotherIsWatching: The government keeps tabs on where its citizens are from day to day, which drives them crazy when they can't locate Sam Hall.
* {{Dystopia}}: The story is set in a dystopian society where everything about everyone is recorded in a massive national database.
* {{Dystopia}}: The story is set in a dystopian society where everything about everyone is recorded in a massive national database.
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''Sam Hall'' is a science fiction novella by Creator/PoulAnderson first published in ''Astounding Science Fiction'', in August 1953.
In a future society where citizens' lives are monitored by a vast computer network, Thornberg, feeling rebellious because of his nephew's arrest and upcoming sanctions on an already oppressed populace, decides to create a fictitious rebel named after a drinking song. Sam Hall, as he's known, quickly becomes a bogeyman to the government, who expend an increasing amount of effort trying and failing to find him. Thornberg's private rebellion soon grows and gains supporters, and soon the collapse of the dystopian society is imminent--all because of one man's effort.
The story can be [[https://archive.org/stream/Astounding_v51n06_1953-08_dtsg0318#page/n7/mode/2up read]] for free on the Internet Archive.
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!!This story contains examples of:
* DystopiaIsHard: The dystopian government that collapses because of all the resources they expend trying to track down the titular malcontent who managed to get cross-referenced with a police report. The effort they expend to track him down increases as every effort they expend to find him fails, and the reason they can't find him is because he doesn't actually exist.
* InventedIndividual: Sam Hall is completely fictitious, which is why the government can't track him down.
* Room101: The story opens with the protagonist's nephew being arrested and sent to a Room 101; the protagonist must hide that they were related.
In a future society where citizens' lives are monitored by a vast computer network, Thornberg, feeling rebellious because of his nephew's arrest and upcoming sanctions on an already oppressed populace, decides to create a fictitious rebel named after a drinking song. Sam Hall, as he's known, quickly becomes a bogeyman to the government, who expend an increasing amount of effort trying and failing to find him. Thornberg's private rebellion soon grows and gains supporters, and soon the collapse of the dystopian society is imminent--all because of one man's effort.
The story can be [[https://archive.org/stream/Astounding_v51n06_1953-08_dtsg0318#page/n7/mode/2up read]] for free on the Internet Archive.
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!!This story contains examples of:
* DystopiaIsHard: The dystopian government that collapses because of all the resources they expend trying to track down the titular malcontent who managed to get cross-referenced with a police report. The effort they expend to track him down increases as every effort they expend to find him fails, and the reason they can't find him is because he doesn't actually exist.
* InventedIndividual: Sam Hall is completely fictitious, which is why the government can't track him down.
* Room101: The story opens with the protagonist's nephew being arrested and sent to a Room 101; the protagonist must hide that they were related.
