Science Fiction Adventures, December 1953

Science Fiction Adventures, December 1953 This issue features C. M. Kornbluth's science fiction serial *The Syndic* (first of two parts), depicting a future semi-anarchistic society ruled by organized crime syndicates. The story opens with a dramatic military conflict: the Syndic-controlled George Washington High School in New York, led by Thomas "Numbers" Cleveland, is attacked by the Government's 27th Armored Regiment. Cleveland coordinates a counterattack using Syndic aircraft with rocket bombs against the tanks, resulting in a firefight that escalates into continental conflict and concludes with the Treaty of Las Vegas. The issue also contains Mike Lewis's novelette *Tryst*; short fiction by Allan E. Nourse (*Consignment*), Stephen Arr (*The Spy*), Philip K. Dick (*The Hanging Stranger*), Ken Winney (*Double Take*), and Hal Clement (*Ground*). Editor Harry Harrison's editorial compares science fiction's development to a tapeworm's scolex, arguing that magazines remain the vital core of the genre despite expansion into books, television, and film.