Bryce Walton 31 min read

The scarred rocket rolls between crazily cheering millions toward Madison Square Garden, WELCOME TO EARTH, ZEKE! read the signs, spelling the Martian's name wrong, though that's just how it sounded.

Bryce Walton's 1951 story is a wry, ironic first-contact and social-SF tale. Clever, pointed golden-age SF. Read it for a story of humanity's rapturous welcome for its first Martian visitor, and the sharp, unexpected turn that gives the last laugh of the title its bite.

In its time

Published in 1951, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Herman B. Vestal