Eric Frank Russell ritorna con queste sue sentinelle degli spazi cosmici e dell’umanità che ormai dilaga per tutta la Galassia. È un romanzo di enigmatiche visioni sideree, di “presenze” inconoscibili, di vaghe minacce provenienti dalle profondità ignorate dello spazio. Ed è il romanzo di David Raven, naturalmente, il telepatico agente segreto della Triade Planetaria, e della bellissima Leina. La coppia ha in comune, tra molte altre cose, un segreto soprannaturale; e grazie ai poteri straordinari di cui è dotata, vigila sull’umanità. Sono David e Leina, le sentinelle del Cielo. Insieme, scrutano il cielo, vigili, in agguato, faccia alle stelle. La fascia favolosa della Via Lattea palpita sui loro capi, mentre nell’ombra, chi sa dove, incombe l’atroce minaccia delle astronavi di Deneb. Da troppe generazioni ormai, la razza umana, colonizzando i pianeti, è rimasta esposta alle insidiose radiazioni cosmiche; e le nuove specie dei “mutanti” fanno capolino ovunque, dando origine a nuove razze umane. Con questo romanzo, E.F. Russell ha saputo narrare l’epopea siderale di un futuro che potrebbe anche essere vero…

Originally published as “The Space Willies” in 1958. A slightly extended version of it was published a year later under the title “Next of Kin”. This is a comic story of a military misfit who successfully conducts a one-man psychological warfare operation against an alien race and its allies, with whom humans and allied races are at war

They say Nero fiddled while Rome burned; Taylor’s problem was to play games while his executioner burned…

It’s not hard to disarm a dangerous weapon whose nature you know thoroughly. The one that simply cannot be disarmed, by any conceivable means, however, has a special characteristic…

Anche pubblicato come “Cavebordo”, “Marchiodonte” ed “Allamagoosa”

IN HUMAN FORM—THEY WERE CONTAGION TO HUMANITY! To the naked eye the girl now entering her house looked like a normal human being. Cautiously Wade Harper moved out of his hiding place into her view. Could this attractive young lady possibly be his quarry? With his unique mental talent, he threw a thought probe at her. What happened then was so shocking that instinctively he drew his gun and fired at her. For in her first unguarded thought she had revealed herself. She had called him a Terrestrial bastard! Thus began the horror that threatened to turn the human race into the walking dead!

The war had been going for nearly a year. Earth had the better weapons, but the Sirian Empire had the advantage in personnel and equipment. Earth needed an edge, which was where James Mowry came in. Intensively trained and his appearance surgically altered, James is to be an irritant to the enemy. British spelling