"The Year When Stardust Fell" by Raymond F. Jones is a science fiction novel published in 1958. When Earth passes through a comet's tail, mysterious dust causes all machinery to seize and fail worldwide. In the isolated town of Mayfield, high school student Ken Maddox and his father work desperately to understand the phenomenon as civilization collapses around them. With violence spreading, food shortages mounting, and time running out, they must find a solution before humanity loses everything it has built. (This is an automatically generated summary.)