SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, OCTOBER 1946

Today is my birthday and I'm feeling older than dirt (no cards, please; just send money).  I thought it would be nest to take a look at a magazine cover dated the month of my birth.

Back, then, Astounding Science Fiction, edited by John W. Campbell Jr., was the premiere magazine in the field, so let's check out what it had to offer for October 1946:

• John W. Campbell Jr., "The Lead Curtain," editorial.  The soviets may have had the Iron curtain, but with the passage of the McMahon Bill, America now has a Lead Curtain, which provides for atomic secrecy.  A recent amendment "provides the death penalty for treasonable disclosure of information.'  Campbell is agin it.
• A. E. van Vogt, The Chronicler, Part 1 of 2.  (Illustrated by Swenson, whose art appeared monthly in ASF from June 1946 through February 1947)  Later published as an Ace Double in 1959 as Siege of the Unseen.  "There was a third eye in his skull -- but it was more than a third path for vision.  It was the key to a new, and terror-ridden world.  A world of savages in a city, and philosophers in caves -- and of a spaceship."  Van Vogt was one of the most popular authors in Astounding's stable.  It was reprinted in Martin Greenberg's (not the good Marty, the bad one) 1952 anthology Five Science Fiction Novels, in van Vogt's 1971 collection M 33 in Andromeda, and has been reprinted in England under the title The Three Eyes of Evil (1973).
• "In Times to Come,' a feature previewing the next issue, which contains Theodore Sturgeon's "Mewhu's Jet" and Clifford D. Simak's "Hobbies," a new "Cities" story,
• "John MacDougal" (James Blish & Robert A. W. Lowndes), "Chaos Co-ordinated"  (Also illustrated by Swenson)  "Earth didn't stand much chance of winning against a galaxy, when the multitude of races was co-ordinated by a perfect thinking machine.  But machines have their limitations.  No imagination -- no soul, no poetry in 'em!"  As far as I can tell, this was never reprinted and was the only time Blish and Lowndes used this pseudonym.
• "Hal Clement" (Harry Clement Stubbs), "Assumption Unjustified"  (also illustrated by Swenson)  "It was an easy error to make.  To an alien being, a man is a man is a human being.   Even human beings have trouble , sometimes, telling one man from another.  The alien's assumption --"  Reprinted in Groff Conklin's anthology The Crossroads of Time (1953) and in Clement's collections Natives of Space (1965) and The Best of Hal Clement (1979).
• "The Analytical Laboratory," a regular feature ranking the popularity of stories in previous issues.  The most popular story in the July 1946 issue was "Cold Front" by Hal Clement.
• John W. Campbell, Jr., "The Atomic Pile"  Article aboout the Clinton atomic pile, illustrated with photos released by the U.S. army.
• George O. Smith, "Alien"  (again illustrated by Swenson)  "This is not a logical, probable, or scientific story.  It's a bit of insanity about a barroom brawl over a man with feathers where his hair should have been --"  The story is available separately at Project Gutenberg.  Smith's relationship with Astounding was interrupted in 1949 when Campbell's wife Dora left him and married Smith.  Later, Smith was a member of the Trap Door Spiders, a literary dining club which was the template for Isaac Asimov's Black Widowers mystery stories.
• A. Bertram Chandler, "False Dawn"  (illustrated by -- you guessed it! -- Swenson)  "A tale of very long ago, before man had descended (sic) from the 'apes,' and a time when the Moon was not an airless, scarred globe in the night sky."  Reprinted in Martin (not the good Marty) Greenberg's 1952 anthology Journey to Infinity.  Anglo-Australian Chandler was a professional sea captain, known for transferring the sea story to the dark reaches of space, especially with his popular Rim Worlds saga.  Of all the talented authors in this issue, he is perhaps my favorite.  his daughter Jenny is married to British horror writer Ramsey Campbell.
• Chan Davis, "To Still the Drums"  (yep, Swenson again)  "Some men ask only peace, and a chance to do their work; to some, a mighty weapon is an irresistible temptation to power, with or without the consent of a nation.  And such must be watched."  Not reprinted.  Though not a major name, Davis penned some classic SF stories:  "Adrift on the Policy Level," "Letter to Ellen," and The Nightmare."
• "Brass Tacks"  Letter column, this month with letters from Herbert Gould, R. S. Patrick, Joe Spivins, Edwin Sigler, and Richard L. Montgomery.  Yeah, I've never heard of any of them, either.

Van Vogt, Blish, Lowndes, Clement, Chandler, Smith, and Davis...this could be considered an All-Star Issue.

Happy birthday to me!

https://archive.org/details/Astounding_v38n02_1946-10_cape1736/mode/1up