Robert Emmett McDowell 1 hr 40 min read

A discharged astro-engineer sits across the desk from a Martian slaver, playing a dangerous game he can't afford to lose.

Robert Emmett McDowell's 1947 story pits the wary Gavin Murdock against a shrewd alien interrogator sizing him up for the slave trade, in a tense tale of infiltration and nerve. Colorful, hard-boiled planetary pulp. Read it for taut golden-age adventure with a hero holding his cards close among dangerous company.

In its time

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

Reading it

1 hr 40 min read (a novella, a full arc in one sitting or two).

Illustrated by

Rubimor