5,122 words (20-25 minutes)
Genre(s): Science Fiction, Surreal Comedy, Absurdist Thriller
Originally published in Fantastic Science Fiction Stories, 1959

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Pipe Dream is a bizarre, darkly humorous, and wildly imaginative tale of scientific hubris, sexual obsession, and supernatural strangeness. In Greenwich Village, artist Simon Grue stumbles upon a tiny mermaid in his bathtub—one that eerily resembles his mysterious Russian neighbor, Grushenka Stulnikov-Gurevich. This discovery draws him into the enigmatic and sinister experiments of the Stulnikov-Gurevich family, a group of Russians conducting secret biological research on their rooftop. As scientific madness collides with folklore, political conspiracies, and erotic dreams, Simon finds himself entangled in a whirlwind of surreal events—both figurative and literal. With echoes of Kafka and Dostoevsky, Pipe Dream is a brilliantly absurd mix of Cold War paranoia, biological horror, and offbeat romance.