The Perfumed Planet

by Michael Elder

Roker II looks like a beautiful planet, but as the great ship from Earth orbits it, the crew can establish no contact with the first small colony which should by now have been set up on the surface below. A carefully selected group of experts, which includes the advanced Medium Susan Barclay, will have to go down from the ship in one of the ferry craft to find out what has gone wrong. They leave on a rescue mission, but as they fall towards the planet, the great ship they have just left suddenly disappears and the rescuers become those in need of rescue.
Marooned on the planet, the seven survivors of humanity’s biggest ever galactic disaster gradually discover the awful truth about what happened to the first colony. Must the same thing happen to them?
This book continues the story of the Barclays which began in Nowhere on Earth.

181 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 18, 2025

About the author

Michael Elder was a Scottish actor who also wrote documentaries and other largely fact based programmes for BBC Scotland amongst others. He was a member of the Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow, Byre Theatre, St. Andrews, The Gateway Theatre, Edinburgh (1953 - 1960), and the Fraser Neale Players.

In film and television, he is known for his roles in The Flight of the Heron (1976), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1978) and Sam (1973). He played Dr. Wallace in the Scottish Television series Take the High Road.

Elder had a long association with the town of St. Andrews, moving there when he and his sister, Alison, travelled north for schooling after their home was bombed during the blitz in the Second World War.

During the 1950s, he was a member of the Edinburgh Gateway Company. His many television credits included the classic drama series, Dr Finlay's Casebook. A prolific writer from a very early age, Elder had many books published, from children's titles and poetry, to an impressive list of 14 science fiction novels. He also completed several scripts for television, including High Road.