Willard E. Hawkins 2 hr 13 min read

A queen mother tells her prince the legends of the gods who came from the sun to create their world, mighty ones with strange names, one of whom died twice and was both male and female by turns.

Willard E. Hawkins's 1950 story frames a colonization space opera in the guise of a world's own creation myth. Evocative, atmospheric golden-age SF. Read it for a story whose ancient legends of god-like visitors slowly reveal a science-fictional truth beneath the myth.

In its time

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

Reading it

2 hr 13 min read (a novella, a full arc in one sitting or two).

Illustrated by

W. E. Terry