(Found) Short story where celestial printer is malfunctioning.

[Wy-rent]

I am trying to find a short story. Its about a guy who begins to have inexplicable accidents. He gets a sunburn on a rainy day at one point. He figures out that what ever celestial printer is typing his life, is malfunctioning. The 'e' is skipping. So then he must try to get to Heaven (without dying) to tell them about the problem so that it can be fixed and he can get his normal life back. Anyone ?

 

[otistdog]

I'm pretty sure I've read this one! Did the guy have work experience as a linotype operator that made him come up with this analogy for the problem? Kind of a tongue-in-cheek style with bored and bureaucratic angels?

Can't remember author or title but someone else may recognize it, especially if you (or I) can add any other details that might help.

 

[Wy-rent]

I'm pretty sure I've read this one! Did the guy have work experience as a linotype operator that made him come up with this analogy for the problem? Kind of a tongue-in-cheek style with bored and bureaucratic angels?

Can't remember author or title but someone else may recognize it, especially if you (or I) can add any other details that might help.

yes! He did. He figured out the sequence of skips. He got heat instead of Hate and while golfing got a bad lei instead of a bad lie. etc.

 

[otistdog]

With those details, I was able to find it. I'm pretty sure that you're looking for "Etaoin Shrdlu" (1942) by Fredric Brown, whose style I should have recognized immediately. You will be pleased to know that it can be read online at archive.org in its original publication.

Thank you for reminding me of this one.

EDIT: Actually, I just re-read this, and it's not the same story. I guess Fredric Brown wrote more than one story featuring linotype operation? I'm pretty sure that the one for which you're looking is a Fredric Brown story, though...

 

[otistdog]

OK, second try: "The Angelic Angleworm" (1943), also by Fredric Brown. I haven't been able to find an online copy of it yet, but some brief mentions in reviews and summaries sound right. See especially the review here, which mentions the same heat/hate and lei/lie substitutions.

EDIT: After some additional hunting, I did find "The Angelic Angleworm" online at archive.org. Is this the right one?

 

[Wy-rent]

Yes! Thank you so much!