NUMBER 4 by Vol. 2 No. 4 – 1949

Novelette:
World in Shadow by John BRODY
Short Stories:
The Cireesians by Norman LAZENBY
Edge of Night by John K. AIKEN
The Rebels by E.R. JAMES
Position Line by A. Bertram CHANDLER
Article – The Shape of Ships to Come by Arthur C. CLARKE, B.Sc.
Cover:
DENNIS
Illustrations:
DENNIS & WHITE.

These stories are very much like the Super-Science stories of the 1930s. They all deal with large themes. Typically a human through intelligence resourcefulness and good morals saves the universe from absolute evil. Women, if they do appear, are a cowering girl friend or the daughter of a great scientist.

The exception is the last story in the magazine. It is by A. Bertram Chandler, who is an American. I don’t know how he slipped in to New Worlds, but he appears several times in my box of magazines. Chandler’s story is more like a J.W. Campbell Jr. gadget story and would have fit in to Astounding Stories. I suppose that Chandler submitted it to Astounding, but Campbell bounced it because it is not a strong piece. Chandler sets up a situation where a man who has old fashioned navigation is forced to save a Martian colony but leading a caravan across the Martian desert without any electronic help. He has only the stars and the sun’s position to guide him. He gets out of a jam by using a clever trick. Perhaps the trick is a little too clever, and that is why he was not published in Astounding.