Poul Anderson 51 min read

The most dangerous man is not the murderer who slays men, but the rebellious philosopher, who destroys worlds. On a whirling speck of stone, Bo Jonsson waits for the man coming to kill him.

Poul Anderson's 1955 story is a taut military space opera of revolution, ideas, and a deadly manhunt among the asteroids. Sharp, thoughtful golden-age SF. Read it for a gripping tale where the battle over a dangerous philosophy plays out to the death on a flying mountain in space.

In its time

Published in 1955, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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