Future Science Fiction #40

# Catalog Note: Future Science Fiction, No. 40, December 1958

This issue features five science-fiction stories. The lead novelet, "Crash Program" by Bill Wesley, concerns Dr. John Harlow, a botanist investigating Martian ferns brought back to Earth. When the ferns begin to germinate under proper atmospheric conditions, strange phenomena occur: Harlow's wife Ellen reports that movies flicker and give her headaches, and colleague Hans Stauffer experiences severe pain from a needle prick. Harlow suspects the ferns are producing unknown side effects. The story examines tensions between scientific methodology and government crash-program deadlines, as Col. Voigt pressures Harlow to complete his research quickly despite potential unevaluated consequences. Also included: "The Race Into Space" by Thomas N. Scortia, a technical article examining fuel problems hindering American space efforts; Kate Wilhelm's "Gift from the Stars," in which an alien offers a character truth; Donald Franson's "The New Science of Astronomy"; and Margaret St. Clair's "Vector," involving an alien species called the Burnadors and their extermination program.