Poul Anderson 27 min read

Bold and ruthless, Riordan has hunted every big game in the System, save one. His trophy-room lacks a single item, and now he means to bag the forbidden quarry: a Martian.

Poul Anderson's 1951 story is a taut, morally sharp chase across the red deserts, told partly from the hunted Martian's own dread-filled mind. Vivid, humane, superbly crafted golden-age SF. Read it for a classic tale that turns the hunter-and-prey story into something with real teeth and a conscience.

In its time

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

Reading it

27 min read (a novelette, room for a turn or two).