Astounding British Edition, Vol. 9, No. 7

# Catalog Note: Astounding Science Fiction Vol. IX, No. 7 (July 1953, British Edition)

This issue features "NULL-ABC," a two-part serial by H. Beam Piper and John J. McGuire exploring a future society stratified by literacy. The story opens in a prosperous household where Senator Chester Pelton, an opponent of "Literates" (educated elites serving as consultants to government and corporate interests), anticipates electoral victory despite polls favoring the Radical-Socialist party. The narrative presents a dystopian political landscape where literacy itself has become grounds for social division, with organized "Literates" wielding both cultural authority and weapons. Additional content includes Alan E. Nourse's novelette "Nightmare Brother," Walter M. Miller Jr.'s "Crucifixus Etiam," and Irving Cox Jr.'s "For the Glory of Agon." The cover illustration is by van Dongen.