Lethal radiation from a long dead star has entered Earth’s atmosphere, with apocalyptic results. Within a year, all adults on the planet will be dead. Only children under the age of thirteen will have the physical capacity to survive. With the advent of this cataclysmic event, the Supernova Era—also known as the Children’s Era—begins.

The bulk of the narrative takes place in the two years following the end of adult life on Earth, and it is a fascinating journey into a violent, unpredictable future. That journey will lead from China to New York to the rapidly melting continent of Antarctica, and will climax in a series of “war games” that will prove to be as destructive as war itself. Combining cutting edge science and acute social and psychological observation – along with a pointed tip of the hat to Lord of the Flies—Supernova Era is an early SF masterwork by one of the field’s most significant figures.