V. E. Thiessen 22 min read

A lone prospector spreads his nets at the edge of the Asteroid Belt among a mining fleet that hangs cold and aloof, like stars, and like suspects.

V. E. Thiessen's 1947 story sets bitter, isolated Sam Knox among a fleet that gives him no sign of welcome, brewing a tale of frontier justice among the drifting rocks. Atmospheric, character-driven space opera about suspicion and solitude in the belt. Read it for moody golden-age SF where the asteroid miners are as unreadable as the stars.

In its time

Published in 1947, during the 1940s, the golden age begins.

Reading it

22 min read (a short story, a single idea, delivered and gone).

Illustrated by

Vincent Napoli