Mack Reynolds 20 min read

Maw Coy climbs the fence at the end of the south pasture and heads up the creek with her bundle, watching sharp for Martins, and for revenue agents, who've been getting mighty thick and uppity.

Mack Reynolds's 1951 story is a genial first-contact comedy set in hillbilly country. Fun, folksy golden-age SF. Read it for a delightful backwoods tale where a feuding mountain clan mistakes visitors from Mars for a rival family, and moonshine, shotguns, and cross-purposes make for cheerful chaos.

In its time

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

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

W. E. Terry