New Worlds, May 1952

CONTENTS AND DESCRIPTION *New Worlds* Volume 5, May 1952 features a novelette and four short stories. The lead work, "Performance Test" by John K. Aiken (illustrated by Quinn), concerns Dr. Stocks, a research chemist facing an emergency: his laboratory contains a two-gallon jar of MC 54, a catastrophically unstable explosive compound capable of destroying a half-mile radius if detonated. The material was accumulated without authorization by a former researcher named Evans. A laboratory assistant consolidated small isolated samples into one large container. Stocks must decide whether to follow his superior, Sir Josiah Phillips' directive to secretly neutralize the substance, or alert the government and evacuate the neighborhood—a choice complicated by departmental politics and his lingering responsibility for a previous disaster at Llyn Gower that killed seventy-two people. Also included are stories titled "Precedent" by Charles Gray, "Breaking Point" by John Christopher, "Hideaway" by Peter Hawkins, and "Home is the Hero" by E.C. Tubb, plus Leslie Flood's article "A Merit for Fantasy."