Dwight V. Swain 2 hr 20 min read

Dumped face-down on the ramp like a pole-axed beast, a scarred spaceman still wears the great iron Chonya belt of the asteroids, one link for every chief who swore fealty.

Dwight V. Swain's 1951 story hauls the hard, sun-burnt Shane from a silver ship's hold into a tale of vengeance and old oaths across the spaceways. Colorful, muscular space opera with a vivid, weathered hero. Read it for atmospheric golden-age adventure steeped in the mythology of a rough interplanetary frontier.

In its time

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

Reading it

2 hr 20 min read (a novella, a full arc in one sitting or two).

Illustrated by

Robert Fuqua