Everett B. Cole 32 min read

In a quiet dining salon full of couples, Elwar Forell glances at the empty chair across his table and sighs, for a man in his circumstances, prudence forbids any permanent companion.

Everett B. Cole's 1959 story opens on wistful solitude before its social-SF and space-opera premise unfolds. Sharp, thoughtful golden-age SF. Read it for a story whose lonely, careful protagonist proves to be operating under constraints far stranger than mere shyness.

In its time

Published in 1959, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Kelly Freas