Astounding Science Fiction, October 1944 (British Edition)

About this issue

This issue of Astounding Science-Fiction (October 1944) contains two novelettes and three short stories. The featured novelette is "Trog" by Murray Leinster, depicting a future America in collapse. Civilization has systematically disintegrated over four years—cities evacuated, power stations and water supplies destroyed, industry halted. The narrative follows Dick Drummond returning to a devastated New York, where a hired boatman attempts robbery. Civilization's destruction is theorized as arising from collective mass consciousness rejecting technological advancement. Individuals mysteriously become "trogs" (troglodytes)—sabotaging infrastructure unknowingly, accessing technical knowledge to destroy irreplaceable systems. The second novelette is "Arena" by Fredric Brown. Short stories include "Trojan Fall" by Hal Clement, "Boomerang" by Harry Walton, and "Endowment Policy" by Lewis Padgett.