Edward S. Staub & John Victor Peterson 36 min read

He has never cast his consciousness so far before, floating high above New York, exultant and free, sensing that back where his body lies a bell is ringing, summoning him to return.

Edward S. Staub and John Victor Peterson's 1954 story is an inventive psi-powers and social-SF tale. Sharp, imaginative golden-age SF. Read it for a story of a young man discovering the vast reach of his mind, his growing powers, and the phobias and perils that come with a consciousness that can roam free of the body.

In its time

Published in 1954, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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