Black Flame

Toward the end of the Twentieth Century—so say historians of the age of the Second Enlightenment—civilization died in a blaze of atomic and bacterial warfare. Barbarism followed the holocaust, the Dark Centuries during which humanity rested and prepared for a charge to new heights of development. Amid the ruins of one civilization, another and greater slowly grew. Old records were rediscovered, new knowledge was added to that of the Ancients. Then came the discovery of immortality, and Joaquin Smith and his especially beautiful sister, Margaret, began their search for power—and the story of the Black Flame begins. Black Margot, they called her, this most beautiful woman of the Immortals, “a black flame blowing cold across the world.” The Black Flame, loved by men, hated by women—vibrantly alive, yet bored with living—restless as though demon-driven—who did not age, who remains untouched by the passing of time. In Margot of Urbs, Stanley G. Weinbaum has created one of the most fascinating characters in science fiction. There are others—good, honest Hull Tarvish of the “mountainies”—old Einar, who rediscovers atomic energy—Tim Connor, who awakens from a thousand year sleep, a victim of enforced electrolepsis, a man from the forgotten past—Evanie Sair, the Sorceress—Joaquin Smith, the Master—Martin Sair, the giver of life—Jan Orm who leads a revolution, and others. Contains "The Black Flame" and "Dawn of Flame".