Algis Budrys 37 min read

The instant he sees The Barbarian's black tankette lurch into a nest of boulders, young Giulion Geoffrey realizes he has been betrayed, his cannon still hot from the shot that jammed its turret.

Algis Budrys's 1958 story is a taut, ironic post-apocalyptic and social-SF tale of civilization and savagery. Sharp, gripping golden-age SF. Read it for a story where a young warrior's moment of triumph over the invading barbarians curdles into a darker realization about which side he is truly on.

In its time

Published in 1958, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Ed Emshwiller