Ralph Robin 25 min read

On the Day of the Candidate, the Guild of Scientists gathers in solemn ritual, while a cynical physicist mutters jokes about doubling the offering.

Ralph Robin's 1953 story imagines a far-future priesthood of science, its ceremonies and politics observed with dry wit through the irreverent Snubnose and his sister Proudwalk. Clever, satirical social SF about how institutions calcify. Read it for a sly golden-age tale that turns science into a guild with all a guild's foibles.

In its time

Published in 1953, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Sam Kweskin