Science Fiction Plus, April 1953

# Science-Fiction +, April 1953

This issue features Hugo Gernsback's editorial on pseudo-science fiction, defining legitimate science fiction as "imaginative extrapolation of true natural phenomena" and criticizing authors who base stories on false science. Gernsback censures charlatans like Albert Abrams (who invented the Sphygmobiometer) and L. Ron Hubbard (whose Dianetics and Scientology Gernsback calls "ludicrous").

The fiction includes Raymond Z. Gallun's "Captive Asteroid" (novelette) about a mysterious elongated satellite orbiting Earth serving as both an observatory and resort hotel; Clifford D. Simak's "Retrograde Evolution" (novelette); Frank Belknap Long's "Throwback in Time" (novelette); Richard Tooker's "The Ultimate City" (short story); and Gus N. Habergock's "The Radio Brain" (short-short). A feature article by Leslie R. Shepherd covers interstellar flight. Hugo Gernsback's "World War III—In Retrospect" provides retrospective analysis. The issue includes science news, book reviews, and a science quiz.