Frank Riley 1 hr 55 min read

Dr. Lucifer Brill strides down the Federal Building corridor to the FBI's Los Angeles office, and finds the door locked, a possibility his careful prospectus had definitely not allowed for.

Frank Riley's 1956 story is a clever first-contact and psi tale of parapsychology and government intrigue. Sharp, witty golden-age SF. Read it for a story where a fastidious parapsychologist's tidy plans collide with a secret project, and powers no bureau can contain.

In its time

Published in 1956, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

1 hr 55 min read (a novella, a full arc in one sitting or two).

Illustrated by

Virgil Finlay