This is a bad issue with badly written stories which probably felt old at the time of writing, a nearly unreadable issue.
Volpla • novelette by Wyman Guin
A scientist develops a new life form: a flying mammalian sentient being. He plans to prank everyone by leading his creations to believe that they have come from stars centuries ago and lived in secrecy since then. Motivation for that idiotic plan is not revealed. It turns out that his creations are a bit too smart for that, and they have a plan: a horribly stupid plan (they hijack a rocket going to Venus), that is, but a plan -- a stupid story with mostly very stupid characters with no sensible motivation for their actions. **
Name Your Symptom • short story by Jim Harmon
Psychiatric symptoms are commonly “cured” by “cures”. For example, a fear of closed spaces is cured by an impenetrable stainless steel helmet so that crushing walls couldn’t possibly hurt you. Those who are cured by such cures are starting to think that those who don’t need any devices like that can’t be trusted: a confusing, stupid, and badly written story. *½
A Coffin for Jacob • novelette by Edward W. Ludwig
A junior space cadet kills a man accidentally in a bar brawl. He escapes to Venus where he is contacted by a group of space outlaws who want to use his training. Shouldn’t he join them or turn himself in? After agonizing over that for pages and pages, he makes his obvious decision helped by a conveniently widowed beautiful woman. A silly story with a livable Venus and Mars where the ragtag gang has gone further in space than the official exploration felt very old-fashioned and likely was already in 1956. **+
One Across • short story by Arthur Sellings
A man who solves complex crossword puzzles falls into another dimension. There are a few people there, and one of them is a woman with a plan. She had constructed a puzzle that when solved sends you to that dimension. A pretty silly story where the silly idea doesn’t exactly carry even the shortish length. **-
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