author
Bjarne Kirchhoff
A little-known mid-century science fiction writer, remembered today for the stark novella Day of Wrath. The story’s grim moral dilemma has helped keep his name alive with readers who enjoy classic speculative fiction.
1 Audiobook
Day of Wrath
by Bjarne Kirchhoff
About the author
Bjarne Kirchhoff is a largely obscure author associated with classic science fiction, and the work most clearly linked to him online is Day of Wrath. Project Gutenberg lists him as the author of that title, and the text is identified there as having been produced from Planet Stories Summer 1948.
That surviving record suggests a writer working in the era of pulp science fiction, with interests in big speculative ideas and hard ethical choices. Day of Wrath centers on survival, interplanetary crisis, and the cost of choosing expediency over compassion, which gives the story a darker and more reflective tone than many adventure-driven tales from the same period.
Very little verified biographical information about Kirchhoff appears to be readily available in major public sources, so it is safest to remember him through the work itself rather than through a detailed life story. For many modern readers, his reputation rests on that one unsettling piece of vintage science fiction.