Science Fiction Adventures, December 1953

# Science Fiction Adventures, December 1953

This issue features C. M. Kornbluth's science fiction serial The Syndic (first of two parts), depicting a future semi-anarchistic society ruled by organized crime syndicates. The story opens with a dramatic military conflict: the Syndic-controlled George Washington High School in New York, led by Thomas "Numbers" Cleveland, is attacked by the Government's 27th Armored Regiment. Cleveland coordinates a counterattack using Syndic aircraft with rocket bombs against the tanks, resulting in a firefight that escalates into continental conflict and concludes with the Treaty of Las Vegas.

The issue also contains Mike Lewis's novelette Tryst; short fiction by Allan E. Nourse (Consignment), Stephen Arr (The Spy), Philip K. Dick (The Hanging Stranger), Ken Winney (Double Take), and Hal Clement (Ground). Editor Harry Harrison's editorial compares science fiction's development to a tapeworm's scolex, arguing that magazines remain the vital core of the genre despite expansion into books, television, and film.