April Smith 1 hr 11 min read

A furious man arrives alone on a new planet, glad to be free at last of the curious, deferential stares that followed him across the stars.

April Smith's 1955 story rides with the angry, secretive Cyril Kirk to the world of Nemar, the mystery of his mission and the crowds' strange deference to him quietly building. Intriguing, character-driven space opera that withholds its hand. Read it for a well-paced golden-age tale that turns a man's simmering resentment into a slow-burning enigma.

In its time

Published in 1955, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

1 hr 11 min read (a novelette, room for a turn or two).

Illustrated by

Kelly Freas