Stephen Marlowe 1 hr 49 min read

Johnny Hope backs warily toward a sun-dried creek bed as a hostile village closes in, unarmed, pleading only to bury his dead parents before he goes, though the law says they must be burned.

Stephen Marlowe's 1954 story is a stark post-apocalyptic tale of humanity enslaved by machines. Vivid, driven golden-age SF. Read it for a grim, atmospheric story where the survivors of a fallen world live in dread of the metal horde, and one young outcast dares to defy their harsh law.

In its time

Published in 1954, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

1 hr 49 min read (a novella, a full arc in one sitting or two).

Illustrated by

W. E. Terry