Alan J. Ramm 17 min read

There was death above in the swooping Sand Vulture, death below in the man bleeding out through his punctured helmet, and death in the muzzle of the scarred killer's gun.

Alan J. Ramm's 1958 story opens on a vivid triple image of danger on the red desert, launching a hard-edged Mars-colonization tale. Colorful, atmospheric golden-age pulp. Read it for a lurid, fast-moving story where death stalks every corner of the Martian sands.

In its time

Published in 1958, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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