Paradise Planet by Richard S. Shaver Episode #22

When you think of science fiction the word controversy doesn’t normally come to mind, but today’s author stirred up more than his share of controversy in the 1940s.

Born Richard Sharpe Shaver in Berwick Pennsylvania in 1907 he claimed to have worked in a factory in 1932 when a welding gun, ‘by some freak of its coil’s field atunements’ was allowing him to hear the thoughts of the men working around him. If that’s not weird enough he also said he telepathically received record of a torture session conducted in caverns deep within the earth. When retelling the story of how he first learned of this cavern world, Shaver’s stories didn’t remain consistent.

Today’s science fiction short story was written after the “Shaver Mystery” stories had ended and contains no references to alien cave dwellers or their offspring. From Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy in April 1953, Paradise Planet by Richard S. Shaver…

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