Raymond Z. Gallun 3 hr 15 min read

Ed Dukas is writing letters when he notices someone, or something, writing at his elbow, an unseen hand inscribing faint blue words on his blank paper.

Raymond Z. Gallun's 1957 novel is a thoughtful AI-and-social-SF tale of resurrection, androids, and what makes a person real. Sharp, ambitious golden-age SF. Read it for a story that opens on an eerie ghostly message and expands into a searching look at synthetic life and the soul.

In its time

Published in 1957, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

3 hr 15 min read (a novel-length work, settle in).