August Derleth 18 min read

Old Thaddeus McIlvaine, eccentric amateur astronomer, discovers a dark star and takes it for his own, inheriting, perhaps, a dark destiny along with it.

August Derleth's 1952 story blends wistful character study with cosmic first-contact SF, framed by a reporter's reminiscence. Gentle, eerie, well-told golden-age SF. Read it for a haunting tale of a lonely old man who claims a star, and finds the star may claim him in return.

In its time

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

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Bob Martin