James R. Adams 11 min read

The invisible Shisti and Assistant Shisti of Mars pick Chicago for a year of frolic and rich food, overlooking one thing: there's a convention in town.

James R. Adams's 1953 Planet Stories tale sends two undetectable Martian tourists to Earth for a vacation that a certain 'curious convention' is about to complicate. Light, comic first-contact SF with a fannish wink. Read it for a genial golden-age romp about alien tourists and the fans who might notice them.

In its time

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

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Ed Emshwiller