Publisher's Synopsis
This story was the winner of the first-place prize awarded by Amazing Stories magazine in 1927, having been selected from about 360 stories submitted for the Cover Prize Contest. The editor praised the previously unknown author for his writing style and for his incorporation of excellent science into the story, which tells of a visit to the Earth from a superior people, with advanced technology (including anti-gravity), to teach us about the mysterious "Thon" and how it will bring about world happiness, health, longevity, and tranquility. Cyril G. Wates (18 Jul 1883 - 2 Feb 1946) was born in Brixton, England, and immigrated to Edmonton, Canada, in 1909 where he worked for City of Edmonton Municipal Telephone System as an engineer. He joined the Alpine Club of Canada in 1916 and would go on to climb more than fifty peaks. He was the first to ascend Mt. Geikie in the Canadian Rockies, responsible for the Alpine Club's book "Songs for Canadian Climbers," and named Mt. Minotaur located in British Columbia, south of Geikie Creek. Wates was an accomplished amateur astronomer. He served as president of Edmonton Center of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. He also wrote for academic journals and magazines such as Scientific American and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Journal and was awarded the Chant Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada "for outstanding amateur contribution to astronomy in Canada" through his work in 1943. The year before, Wates had built a 12.5 inch reflector telescope that he donated to the University of Alberta for their future observatory. The University now offers the Cyril G. Wates Memorial Prize and Scholarship for mathematics. With a passion for science, it is little surprise that Wates' interests lent themselves to his writing. His first story, "The Visitation," was published in June 1927 in Amazing Stories magazine as winner of the $250 first prize of the magazine's "$500 Cover Prize Contest," being the top selection of the editors among 360 submitted stories. Although his last published piece appeared in 1930, it is evident that his interest in the budding genre of science fiction remained as his letters appeared in the magazine until 1935.
