Alfred E. Maxwell 25 min read

A troubleshooter roused from his first vacation in a year is sent to find out why the mines on Bolus have gone dead silent.

Alfred E. Maxwell's 1950 story hauls the reluctant Doyle Tindar out of bed by visor-phone to investigate a lunar mining outpost's total communication blackout, possibly a meteor strike, possibly worse. Brisk, workmanlike space opera about the man who gets sent when something goes wrong. Read it for straightforward golden-age adventure with a put-upon, likable hero.

In its time

Published in 1950, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

25 min read (a novelette, room for a turn or two).