Sputnik Shadows and Radium Children

In the restless year when rockets pierce the night, a desert test leaves a glowing scar — and children of the wasteland wake altered. Half terror, half wonder, these Radium Children sprint between small‑town diners and launch pads, hunted by military men and worshipped by comic‑book dreamers. A young engineer, a Beat poet, and a stuttering Geiger counter track the mutants' trail from fallout craters to the edge of orbit, where tomorrow's promise and yesterday's mushroom cloud collide. An Atomic Age parable of courage, curiosity, and what we become after the blast.