1. The Editor's Notebook.
2. The Terrible Puppets: "Paul was sure that all he needed to achieve success was ability and luck, and those he had. but then he learned about the 'tarmuts.'
3. Factual articles: Der Gyrobus and the Whites of their Eyes.
4. Mission Accomplished: "If you think you're a Martian, see Dr. Harkins. He's the man who knows all the answers..."
5. Factual articles (short): Our Rightful Heritage, And they Buried Their Dead, and Today's Dreams-Tomorrow's Realities.
6. The Catspaw: "Editor's Note: Here's a story written by a writer who sold us a manuscript and then was never heard from again. Why? Perhaps you can find the answer in the pages of his story."
7. The Secret of John Marsh: "Sometimes a wife can get on your nerves. But John Marsh knew how he could get away. What he didn't know was how to get back."
8. Dark Benediction: "Those who had it wanted more. Those who didn't have it feared it. What was this plague-curse or blessing?"
I read the story since it seemed to have an interesting blurb, and it's really an excellent story. The world has been subjected to what is considered a plague from space, causing people to change and have hallucinations and a skin that turns gray. They also develop an incredibly strong desire to touch other people and infect them.
This leads to massive panic, people fleeing, and many of the "dermies,"" the infected people, being killed by the unaffected people.
One man, uninfected, is fleeing alone. He enters a town and finds a female dermie about to be killed by some other "normal" people. He rescues her (without touching her), and eventually the two of them end up on a nearby island (reachable by small boat easily), which turns out to be a colony of dermies, mostly monks and nuns, trying to live together peacefully.
There is also a scientist who has figured out what the "disease" really is and how it works.
Paul, the unaffected person, gradually develops feelings for the girl, but is terrified of becoming a dermie himself. In the end, he has to consider everything the scientist told him, the nature of humanity itself, and his feelings for the girl.
It's really a very excellent story.
There's also a reader's section, and more factual articles.
Main Index
Main Pulp Index
