When I was somewhat younger, I was an avid science fiction reader. I read Anne McCaffrey, Robert Heinlein, Orson Scott Card, Madeleine L'Engle, Ursula Le Guin and numerous others. I mostly ignored Isaac Asimov and Larry Niven.
During a recent webinar, I ran across the "short story" called Nightfall, which sounded interesting, so I looked it up.
Nightfall by Isaac Asimov is supposedly a short story, but at 339 pages, I would consider it to be a whole book.
The premise is that there is this planet lit by six suns. With the rotation of the planet, no part of the world is ever in darkness. As an experiment, the amusement park constructed a ride during which the participants would be in darkness for fifteen minutes. Everyone who took the ride became mentally or emotionally damaged, some to the point of permanent insanity. The park had to shut down that ride.
A strange religious group started declaring that night would fall and the stars would rain fire on the land. The government tried to squelch the prophecies, but they examined the veracity and the societal effects - just in case.
On the day predicted, five suns had set and the last one was eclipsed for a short period of time. It was the first time in 2000 years that the planet had been able to see the stars that filled the night sky.
To get the full effect of the story, please read it and enjoy the amazing story spun by a master storyteller.
If you follow the link to the book, I will earn a few pennies as this is an affiliate link.
Thank you for visiting with me. Happy Reading.
Kathi
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