George O. Smith 1 hr 9 min read

In a world where plutonium has forced all nations into wary, armed politeness, the race to master atomic death has fizzled a war into stalemate, until a new discovery threatens the balance.

George O. Smith's 1947 story is a thoughtful post-apocalyptic and social-SF tale of the atomic age. Sharp, prophetic golden-age SF. Read it for an early nuclear-standoff story that anticipates the Cold War's logic of deterrence, where the search for the ultimate defense reshapes the fate of nations, in shrewd, idea-driven golden-age SF.

In its time

Published in 1947, during the 1940s, the golden age begins.

Reading it

1 hr 9 min read (a novelette, room for a turn or two).

Illustrated by

Swenson