Coppel, Alfred 1921-2004 creator Ross, Leslie (A. Leslie) 1910-1989 text utu 2026 monographic en 1 online resource : multiple file formats Blood lands by Alfred Coppel is a science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. The story explores a repatriation mission to a forgotten colony whose people have forged a horrifying symbiosis with their world, confronting themes of colonization, alien intelligence, and the cost of survival. A three-man team—Kenyon, Bothwell, and Grancor—lands on Kana to relocate its red-haired, ritual-bound inhabitants. Kenyon’s clandestine meetings with the native woman Elyra lead him into the plume-forests, where drums, trance, and a “father” deity reveal the truth: the islands themselves are a vast, sentient organism that feeds the people with blood through the soil and, in turn, devours them. Captured and forced to witness a man swallowed alive, Kenyon realizes the living land claims all who touch it. He escapes back to the ship, but the “father” closes upon the scorched landing ground and begins to ingest the vessel as the silent tribe watches, leaving the team trapped, sinking into the hungry, alien earth. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Release date is 2026-05-22 Tom Trussel (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Originally published: Holyoke, Mass.: Columbia Publications, Inc., 1952 Science fiction Short stories Life on other planets -- Fiction Space colonies -- Fiction Space travelers -- Fiction Regression (Civilization) -- Fiction PS Holyoke, Mass.: Columbia Publications, Inc., 1952 https://archive.org/details/Dynamic_Science_Fiction_v01n01_1952-12_Gorgon776 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78726 https://archive.org/details/Dynamic_Science_Fiction_v01n01_1952-12_Gorgon776 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78726 UtSlPG 260607 20260610134827.0 78726