Stranded on a serene but unsettling planet, space traveler Steve Donay lands nearly out of fuel and finds refuge in a spotless farmhouse surrounded by fertile fields, controlled weather, and temple-dotted beauty. There he meets a stunning woman whose warmth is shadowed by something brittle and strange, and the house itself seems suspended outside of time. What begins as simple hospitality quickly turns uncanny, especially when Steve discovers that his hostess is made of steel, not flesh, and that the world around him is filled with the same calm, machine-like perfection. As he travels farther, Steve finds farms, travelers, officials, and city workers repeating the same odd phrase and moving with emotionless precision. An elderly telepath finally reveals the truth: the planet's people have undergone a scientific transformation that lengthens life and stabilizes the body, but drains away vitality, spontaneity, and passion. Horrified, Steve rejects the offer of treatment—until a beautiful woman, speaking through thought-transmission, draws him toward a deeper understanding of prevision, altered humanity, and the quiet power of this ordered world. Torn between dread and desire, he discovers that paradise may demand a terrible price, and that love itself can lead him into a future beyond ordinary flesh. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.

À propos de l'auteur

Shaver, Richard S.

Richard S. Shaver was an American writer and artist whose life took a strikingly unusual turn from industrial work and personal hardship into the world of speculative fiction, where he became one of the most talked-about and controversial voices of the mid-twentieth century. Emerging in the 1940s, he gained wide attention for imaginative stories that blended science fiction, pulp adventure, and eerie speculation about hidden civilizations, ancient technologies, and the strange forces shaping human history. His most famous writings helped create a sensation far beyond the usual boundaries of genre, attracting devoted readers while also provoking skepticism and debate. What makes Shaver enduringly interesting is not only the sensational quality of his ideas but the way his work reflects deep mid-century anxieties about secrecy, power, lost knowledge, and the possibility that reality is far more mysterious than it appears. His fiction often explores the tension between surface civilization and buried truths, a theme that still resonates in an age fascinated by conspiracy, alternative histories, and the hidden structures behind public life. Though often dismissed by critics, Shaver remains significant as a figure who helped shape the culture of speculative storytelling and demonstrated how pulp fiction could capture the imagination of thousands. Today, readers drawn to strange, provocative, and unapologetically imaginative fiction will find him especially compelling, particularly those who enjoy stories that blur the line between myth, paranoia, and science fiction.