Nathaniel Gordon 25 min read

In 1981 the world marks the 25th anniversary of the 'Golden Judge', but in 1956 Jerusalem, a bored Major General O'Reilly has no idea he's about to make the discovery that eases world tensions.

Nathaniel Gordon's 1955 story is a clever dystopian social-SF tale of an accidental peacemaker. Sharp, ironic golden-age SF. Read it for a story where one man's chance find in the Holy Land transforms the whole balance of the world, told with a wry eye for the ironies of history.

In its time

Published in 1955, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Kelly Freas