Rocket Stories, September 1953

Catalog Note: *Rocket Stories*, September 1953, Vol. 1, No. 3 This issue contains seven science fiction stories. The complete novel, "Apprentice to the Lamp" by Irving E. Cox, follows Raoul, an apprentice to the Order of the Glowing Lamp in a rigidly hierarchical society governed by Bishops and religious Orders. When assigned to spy on nonconformists, Raoul encounters Mina, whose ideas poison his worldview and drive him toward betrayal and revelation. The narrative concerns his discovery of a ship from the stars and the truth it brings to his corrupt world. Two novelettes follow: Stanley Mullen's "The Robot Moon" depicts outcasts fleeing the solar system against overwhelming technological forces, while Felix Boyd's "An Artist's Life" involves an astronaut's return to the Moon where he discovers another way of living. Four shorter works complete the issue: James E. Gunn's "Killer," Chester Cohen's "Flower Girl," Alger Rome's "Underestimation," Kirby Brooks' "Technical Difficulty," and Noel Loomis' "Day's Work"—each exploring themes of escape, discovery, and conflict among distant worlds and space colonies.