Amazing Stories, September 1962

About this issue

Amazing Stories, Vol. 36, No. 9, September 1962. This issue contains the novelet "The Ice Man" by William Withers Douglas (a classic reprint) and several shorter works. The lead story is "Sunfire!" by Edmond Hamilton, illustrated by Finlay, depicting space explorer Hugh Kellard returning exhausted to his family's isolated California coastal home after the deaths of colleagues Morse and Binetti on Mercury (called "Sunside"). Struggling with trauma and alcoholism, Kellard attempts to withdraw from space service, only to be confronted by his superior, Halfrich, who arrives at the house demanding to know what Kellard witnessed during the Mercury mission. Other contents include "Whistler" by David Rome, a vignette "Apocryphal Fragment" by Edward Wellen, the serial conclusion "A Trace of Memory" by Keith Laumer featuring dimension-displaced engineer Francis Adam, and a science essay "The Inevitability of Life" by Ben Bova. Regular features include an editorial criticizing simplified television science fiction.