F. L. Wallace 1 hr 27 min read

Someone is wrapping him in a sheet of ice and spice, pulling it tight till his toes ache, Jadiver wakes from an accident he can't remember, eyes turning in opposite directions, unable to focus.

F. L. Wallace's 1953 story is a sharp colonization and social-SF tale of a man reshaped without his knowing. Clever, gripping golden-age SF. Read it for a disorienting story where a criminal wakes changed after an 'accident,' and slowly uncovers the tangle-hold his new body and mind have placed him in.

In its time

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

Reading it

1 hr 27 min read (a novella, a full arc in one sitting or two).

Illustrated by

Ed Emshwiller