Ajax Calkins arrives on the newly discovered world of Midplanet determined to seize it for himself and win eternal fame. Instead, he crash-lands into a hidden civilization beneath a light-trapping black atmosphere, where a bright and habitable surface has long been concealed from Earth. Convinced he has found an untouched empire, Ajax grandly declares himself emperor—only to stumble into a landscape of cracked green clay, drifting smoke, and advanced machinery. His triumph collapses when he accidentally activates a giant powered pogo stick built for crossing the planet's fissures, launching him in a humiliating ride toward the city. There he is captured by the kangaroo-like native inhabitants and learns that he is not the first human on Midplanet. In the city, Ajax encounters Nadia Landor, an Earth woman with an official Interplanetary Union expedition, who has already made contact with the locals and arranged an escape with a giant flea-like creature named Bosco. On this bizarre world, where hopping is the key to survival, Ajax's dreams of conquest give way to a chaotic adventure of rival explorers, strange alliances, and hard-won survival. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.

À propos de l'auteur

Wollheim, Donald A.

Donald A. Wollheim was a pivotal figure in American science fiction, born in 1914 and active across much of the twentieth century as an editor, publisher, critic, anthologist, and writer. Deeply immersed in the genre from a young age, he helped shape science fiction not only through his own imaginative storytelling but also through the magazines and publishing ventures that introduced generations of readers to new voices and bold ideas. As a writer, he became known for energetic, idea-driven fiction that blended adventure, speculation, and a keen sense of wonder, while his broader career made him one of the field’s most influential tastemakers. His work often explores exploration, survival, technological change, and the human impulse to push beyond familiar limits, themes that still feel timely in an age defined by scientific possibility and uncertainty. Wollheim’s legacy lies as much in his role as a builder of the genre as in his fiction itself: he helped establish science fiction as a serious, enduring literary form and opened doors for countless authors who followed. Readers today will especially appreciate him if they enjoy classic science fiction with big ideas, brisk storytelling, and a sense of the genre’s history unfolding at full speed.