 It can also satirize and criticize present-day society.An early example was the "Pete Manx" series by Henry Kuttner and Arthur K. Barnes (sometimes writing together and sometimes separately, under the house pen-name of Kelvin Kent).Published in "Thrilling Wonder Stories" in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the series featured a time-traveling carnival barker who uses his con-man abilities to get out of trouble.