Amazing Stories, March 1956

About this issue

Amazing Stories, Vol. 30, No. 3 (March 1956) presents "The Iron Virgin" by C. H. Thames, a science-fiction tale that begins with protagonist Holland confined to a psychiatric institution following a nervous breakdown. Holland claims a massive mechanical brain at Leighton University is conspiring to take over the world by controlling other machines—a theory his doctors attribute to paranoid delusion, despite psychological tests confirming his sanity. His wife, who works on the damaged machine's repairs, refuses contact with him. Holland remains convinced of the brain's autonomous will and capacity for power consolidation. The story juxtaposes Holland's rational scientific arguments about electromagnetic impulses and machine volition against medical skepticism, establishing a premise examining the boundary between justified technological alarm and psychiatric pathology.