New Worlds Science Fiction No. 36

BLUEBIRD WORLD (novelette, J. T. McIntosh)

In a future society of two hundred million people, Syl Douglas, uniquely capable of violence unlike her serene peers, attempts murder to test whether hidden laws or authorities will intervene. She attacks Dorothy in a remote Scottish nature reserve, destroys her radio and propulsion unit, abandoning her to die in the wilderness. Syl then waits weeks for consequences—arrest, judgment, any enforcing mechanism—but nothing occurs. Her crime goes entirely unaddressed. This violation of expectation drives Syl to investigate what keeps her fundamentally different from everyone else. The story centers on philosophical dialogue rather than action, exploring whether a seemingly perfect society actually contains hidden enforcement, psychological conditioning, or something stranger still preventing crime through means unknown to Syl.

The issue also features: "Man of Parts" (H. L. Gold), "Highwayman Green" (E. R. James), "Our Kind of Knowledge" (Brian W. Aldiss); the conclusion of serial "Star Ship" (E. C. Tubb); article "A Tenth Planet" (Roy Malcolm); and a profile of H. L. Gold, Galaxy magazine editor.