James H. Schmitz 55 min read

Newlyweds grappling a derelict spaceship for salvage hook a death-prize instead, haunted by the Yomm and stalked by the Mysterious Nine.

James H. Schmitz's 1951 Planet Stories tale opens on Peer and Channok's interrupted wedding celebration before plunging them into peril aboard the cursed Ra-Twelve. Colorful, fast-moving space opera with an eerie edge. Read it for vivid golden-age adventure where a salvage job becomes a haunting.

In its time

Published in 1951, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Herman B. Vestal