Sidney Austen 24 min read

Karn runs barefoot and silent through the night, the short hairs on his neck warning that Tur's tribesmen are close behind, a magnificent Cro-Magnon man fleeing the coward chief who fears him.

Sidney Austen's 1953 story is a vivid space-opera adventure blending the prehistoric and the interplanetary. Vivid, driven golden-age pulp. Read it for a rousing tale that opens on a Stone Age chase and a falling star, and carries its hunted hero toward a destiny far beyond his frightened tribe.

In its time

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

Reading it

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