Tom W. Harris 21 min read

Interviews with the Ravians always unnerve Chester, for the human 'talking-attendant' before him isn't speaking at all, but the cold alien intelligence temporarily riding inside him.

Tom W. Harris's 1958 story spins an uneasy first-contact and psi tale from aliens who tour Earth by possessing human hosts. Sharp, unsettling golden-age SF. Read it for a story where playing host to visitors from the stars is disturbingly literal, and the guests can make a lot of trouble.

In its time

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

Reading it

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