Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, December 1951

About this issue

This issue of Authentic Science Fiction magazine contains a reader letters section and the opening of the full-length novel "The Moon Is Heaven" by H.J. Campbell. The letters page includes reader feedback on stories and authors, including complaints about Campbell's narrative style and praise for Roy Sheldon's characters Spear and Manners. A club summary rates various issues from 10% to 94% quality. Readers pose technical queries about satellite programs, space flight, and atomic reactors; the editor responds optimistically that unmanned space flight should occur within ten years. Campbell also answers a reader question about travel time to Venus (145 days via economic route, potentially much shorter with advanced rockets). The editorial discusses increasing interest in science fiction, noted by rising subscription numbers, and mourns Galaxy magazine's discontinuation. The novel itself depicts journalist "Mike" at a rocket launch site in Ecuador in 1963, preparing to accompany astronaut Atah Kark on humanity's first voyage to the Moon, scheduled for three weeks hence. The narrative establishes character, setting, and dramatic tension around the imminent departure.