Frank M. Robinson 18 min read

Over a beer, a down-on-his-luck drifter tells the tale of Joe Shannon, a genuine gold-plated genius from Stellar Electric whose mind opened onto worlds no one else could reach.

Frank M. Robinson's 1954 story is an atmospheric psi-powers space opera. Sharp, evocative golden-age SF. Read it for a haunting, well-told story of a quiet electronics genius and the extraordinary power that set him apart, framed as a stranger's barroom reminiscence, in a moody, memorable golden-age tale of hidden potential.

In its time

Published in 1954, 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

Paul Orban