Alan Edward Nourse 15 min read

In the jungle the man-killer is king, but what chance would a tiger have in Times Square traffic? An escaping prisoner learns the lesson.

Alan E. Nourse's 1953 story opens on a violent prison break, three guards down, a rope hurled up a rock wall, building toward a sharp reversal about who is dangerous where. Tense, ironic golden-age space opera. Read it for a taut escape tale with a pointed sting about predators out of their element.

In its time

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

Reading it

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