Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 81

Authentic Science Fiction, June 1957

This issue contains a short novel and novelette plus four short stories. "There's Only One Winner" by Nigel Lloyd is the featured tale, depicting three men and a woman on a desperate journey among the stars—four gamblers who have forgotten that only one can survive. The serial begins with protagonist Learhy alone with a dying candle made from vitapaste, beside the dead Stanson. Flashback sequences reveal Stanson's prison scheme, hatched while both men were incarcerated in Block A at Queensbrough, promising Learhy wealth and opportunity. The narrative establishes the setup in a dive bar run by Madame Julie, where Stanson introduces a third conspirator, Klien. Robert Silverberg's "Collecting Team" and stories by Ken Wainwright, Edward Mackin, and John Cotterill round out the fiction. Robert Presslie contributes a novelette, "My Name is MacNamara." E.C. Tubb's editorial discusses criticisms of science fiction from literary outsiders.