Beyond Fantasy Fiction, Volume 1, Number 5

BEYOND FANTASY FICTION (March 1954) This issue features five stories spanning fantasy and science fiction. The novella "The God Business" by Philip José Farmer concerns a military operation against a supernatural incursion in Illinois. An Area controlled by a former professor named Durham has transformed Central Illinois into tropical terrain where an addictive magical "Brew" has converted the population into worshippers. The protagonist, working with Major Alice Lewis, must locate and eliminate Durham while resisting the Brew's effects—he alone has been psychologically conditioned against it. The story opens with encounters inside this transformed landscape, including an encounter with a shapeshifting creature named Albert Allegory. Also included are novelets "Hell to Pay" by Randall Garrett and "Gone Witch" by Roy Hutchins, plus short stories by Theodore R. Cogswell, Jay Clarke, Miriam Allen deFord, D.V. Gilder, and Ray Bradbury's "The Watchful Poker Chip."