It was first published in the November 1961 issue of New Worlds, and later included in several science fiction anthologies, including The Best Australian Science Fiction Writing : A Fifty Year Collection edited by Rob Gerrand.
[1] A husband and wife, living in Sydney, New South Wales, decide to purchase some iron lace-work to use as a decorative divider in their house.
Bruce Gillespie in Steam Engine Time 4 stated: "Today's reader might find the theme of alien visitation all too familiar, but it is difficult to emphasise how daring Chandler was to set his story in the Sydney he knew so well — the inner suburbs with their lace ironwork decorations, which were just becoming fashionable — and to have his main characters resemble closely himself and his wife.
"[2] In Science Fiction Commentary 23, critic George Turner stated that "Chandler has been content to do what he knows he can do well.
This is backbone s f, the solid and unspectacu lar work which forms the springboard from which the more adventurous launch their flights.