Sci-fi novel of a physics professor grappling to resolve a problem from 10,000 years in the future, triggering a series of violent events.

Serialized originally in 3 parts: Dec. 1963, Jan. 1964, April 1964 editions of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Damon Knight, sulla scena della sf da molti decenni ormai, si è guadagnato una solida fama di scrittore (ricordiamo il celebre Il lastrico dell’inferno), come curatore di antologie e scopritore di nuovi talenti, e anche come saggista.

Qui ci presenta, con una esposizione fredda e lineare che ben si adatta al tema, un tempo in cui uomini e donne possono vivere per sempre e sono spinti solo da una furiosa e vuota ricerca di divertimenti effimeri.

From Robert Silverberg’s “Earthmen and Strangers” anthology, 1966:

Damon Knight is a slender, soft-spoken man with a deceptively mild smile. He seems gentle and relaxed, but behind the tranquil exterior there seethes a fiercely active mind. Knight has served science fiction as an editor of magazines and anthologies, as a feared and respected critic, as a translator from the French, and as a leader of writers’ conferences and organizations. When not engaged in any of these activities, he writes a little of the stuff himself. His short stories are marked by graceful style, stunning execution, and a profound understanding of character.

All these virtues are on display in the present work—plus a chilling portrayal of a weird relationship between man and nonman. Few stories have captured the sense of differentness in an alien being as awesomely well as this one.