Betsy Curtis 1 hr 17 min read

When the alarm signals the first whiff of the next planet's atmosphere, Herl Hofner leaves his little shipboard gym and dials for landing permission, Class M-for-Mary requesting a beam.

Betsy Curtis's 1953 story is a colorful first-contact and space-opera adventure. Vivid, engaging golden-age SF. Read it for a rousing tale where a routine landing on a lush new world draws a spacefaring man toward the temptations, and dangers, that give the planet its name.

In its time

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

Reading it

1 hr 17 min read (a novella, a full arc in one sitting or two).

Illustrated by

Kelly Freas