Frank M. Robinson 31 min read

Pioneers always resented their wanderlust and hardships, but the future brings a new grudge, when pioneers stay put and scholars do the exploring, and a young man dreads two years on Venus.

Frank M. Robinson's 1951 story is a thoughtful colonization and social-SF tale. Sharp, humane golden-age SF. Read it for a story that turns the frontier myth on its head, where the reluctant heroes of a Venus outpost are the ones who stay behind to hold the line, and the true cost of the frontier is quietly reckoned.

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

Don Sibley