Michael Shaara 35 min read

It's one thing to laugh at a man because his job is useless and outdated, another to depend on him when it suddenly isn't. Thick clouds pile in the north, and a snow-smelling wind sets in.

Michael Shaara's 1953 story is a thoughtful military and social-SF tale framed by a Scandinavian legend of the sleeping warrior. Sharp, resonant golden-age SF (by the future author of 'The Killer Angels'). Read it for a fine story about the forgotten soldier the world needs again when danger returns.

In its time

Published in 1953, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Ed Emshwiller