Astounding Science Fiction, British Edition

About this issue

This issue of Astounding Science-Fiction (British edition, May 1946, Vol. V, No. 4) contains four science fiction stories. The lead novelette is Lewis Padgett's "Beggars in Velvet," which concerns a society of telepaths called Baldies living among normal humans in a place called Sequoia. The narrative follows Consul Burkhalter, a Baldy, as he navigates tensions between his minority group, hostile humans like trader Fred Selfridge, and a militant faction of paranoid Baldies led by Barbara Pell who advocate violent revolution. Burkhalter, a former teacher, must maintain peaceable relations with alien "Hedgehounds" while refusing to participate in either human aggression or Baldy retaliation, despite pressure from all sides. Also featured are novelette "Trouble Times Two" by George O. Smith; and short stories "Orders" by Malcolm Jameson, "A Matter of Length" by Ross Rocklynne, and "The Plants" by Murray Leinster.