Alfred Coppel 18 min read

Humans alone among the races of the stars thrive on deliberate self-delusion, and legends are our strength. Such a legend is the Jaq Merril of the history books, a fey shadow-image of a real man.

Alfred Coppel's 1953 story is a thoughtful post-apocalyptic space opera about myth and reality. Sharp, resonant golden-age SF. Read it for a story that peels back a folk-legend to reveal the human being beneath, exploring how humanity makes myths of its heroes, and what such legends cost the men they consume.

In its time

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

Reading it

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

Illustrated by

Bob Martin