William Gerken 13 min read

When he opened the shed door and saw the axe suspended in mid-air, he understood at last what was wrong, the drifter who'd boarded with them for a week was a Lifter.

William Gerken's 1957 story is a quiet, affecting psi-powers and social-SF tale of a stranger with a gift. Warm, atmospheric golden-age SF. Read it for a gentle story where a poor wandering man reveals a power of telekinesis, and a family must decide what to make of the marvel that has walked into their lives.

In its time

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

Reading it

13 min read (a short story, a single idea, delivered and gone).