He That Hath Wings: When Humanity Cannot Follow

He That Hath Wings begins with a newborn doctors believe is terribly deformed. But the strange projections on David Rand’s back are not deformities at all. They are wings. His bones are unusually light, his body is built differently, and before long the impossible becomes undeniable: David was born to fly.

Raised on an isolated island, David grows up far from the crowds that once made him a worldwide sensation. At ten, an accidental fall sends him into the air—and everything changes. Flying becomes as natural as walking, and the open sky offers something ordinary human life never can. But David cannot remain hidden forever. Beyond the island are cities, other people, and eventually a young woman who gives him a reason to wonder whether life on the ground might be enough.

Edmond Hamilton was one of science fiction’s most prolific early writers. His first published story, “The Monster-God of Mamurth,” appeared in Weird Tales in 1926. He became especially famous for enormous interstellar adventures and later created Captain Future, whose exploits became a fixture of 1940s science fiction.

Hamilton could also tell quieter, deeply personal stories. He That Hath Wings trades galactic spectacle for one extraordinary young man and the people who want him to live like everyone else. Hamilton makes the exhilaration of flight almost tangible, while steadily tightening the conflict between the life David has been given and the life others expect him to choose.