Sam Merwin 33 min read

Was it a wild talent or prophetic genius that let MacReedy build models of new weapons before the armed forces ever had them? Either way, his final figure makes him both valuable and dangerous.

Sam Merwin's 1954 story is a sharp post-apocalyptic and social-SF tale of uncanny foresight. Clever, ominous golden-age SF. Read it for a story where a modeler's eerie ability to prefigure the weapons of tomorrow draws the attention of the military, and the final figure he shapes carries a chilling warning.

In its time

Published in 1954, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Paul Orban