Eight Keys to Eden

Doubleday & Company, 1960. Hardcover. Very Good/Good. Used book in very good condition. Dust jacket is intact. Picture of author on the back of the dust jacket has pen markings. Only mark noted on book. Eden- the Earth colony eleven light years away in the black void of space- was not answering the anxious signals of the Communications' operator on Earth. Were the colonists purposely disregarding the messages? What could be the real explanation for the mysterious silence of a disciplined, scientific colony? The Es- the honored group on Earth's supermen- did not know, but they decided to send Calvin Gray, a Junior E, to find out. Calvin recognized that this was his big chance to win acceptance as a full fledged E- though the honor would be hard-won, for the trip was sure to be hazardous. But he was not prepared for the disaster that had struck Eden, not for the sight of the formerly civilized planet now void of houses, tools- all man-made equipment... or of people robbed even of the shelter and clothing. Intangling the mysteries of Eden, with its strange and lonely life, Mark Clifton has written one of the most suspenseful science fiction tales in a long time.