Mark Ganes 1 hr 10 min read

The orphan system of Onzar seethes under its leader's paranoid megalomania, for a vast prize lies within a parsec: the great warp-lines crossing the galaxy between two mighty empires.

Mark Ganes's 1952 story opens on tense interstellar power politics, launching a space-opera tale of ambition and looming war. Colorful, fast-moving golden-age SF. Read it for a grand tale of a hungry little empire reaching for the crossroads of the galaxy.

In its time

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

Reading it

1 hr 10 min read (a novelette, room for a turn or two).