Dwight V. Swain 2 hr 10 min read

In a deep-sunk vault beneath ruins dead a thousand years, the veiled storm-goddess Xaymar lies in a glowing crystal globe, old as time, damned of men.

Dwight V. Swain's 1952 story opens with an incantatory vision of its sleeping goddess of rain and lightning, framing a space-opera tale of dark wisdom and lost cities. Lush, atmospheric pulp with a mythic charge. Read it for richly imagined golden-age SF steeped in ruin and old, dangerous power.

In its time

Published in 1952, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

2 hr 10 min read (a novella, a full arc in one sitting or two).