Astounding Science Fiction, January 1946 (Volume XXXVI, No. 5) [The Fairy Chessmen; Veiled Island; Fine Feathers; N Day, A Matter of Length, The Planets; Hearing Aid, Electrical Yardsticks]

178pp. 5.5 x 7.5 in. ; color pictorial cover by Timmons ; "The lead and cover story is part one (of two) of "The Fairy Chessmen" by Lewis Padgett (a pseudonym for Henry Kuttner working with C.L. Moore.) It is roughly a century into the future, and the world is at war.again. After World War Two, the governments of Eurasia had crumbled, and reformed as the Falangists. They and America are the two superpowers and implacable enemies. Thanks to atom-bomb-proof shields and robot warfare, the war has stalemated for years. Most Americans live deceptively peaceful lives in scattered communities on the surface, while the warmen toil in vast underground cities whose actual locations are closely guarded secrets. Low Chicago might be below the ruins of Old Chicago, or anywhere in the Midwest. Of course, in such conditions claustrophobia and other mental illnesses are a continuing concern, and it's up to the Department of Psychometrics to keep the warmen in good mental health. Which is why it's concerning that Cameron, the head of the department, has been having hallucinations of eyeball doorknobs and talking clocks. He's trying to keep it a secret, but his help is desperately needed by the War Department. It seems they have captured a scientific formula from the enemy, one that drives anyone who studies it mad (sometimes giving them strange powers in the process. For example, the levitating man who thinks he's Muhammad's corpse.) There are time travel shenanigans involved, and one character seems determined to produce a specific future. The title comes from "fairy chess", variants of the strategy game that use changed rules, such as a knight that can only capture backwards, or a 10×10 board. The formula changes the rules of physics, sometimes in mid-equation, and scientifically trained minds crack under the strain. A nifty throwaway (probably) bit is the existence of "fairylands", miniature cities with tiny robots that people play with ala the Sims. There's also an amusing typo when one character claims he's "half misogynist" when he means "misanthrope.".The cliffhanger is neat: "The edges of the spoon thickened, curled, spread into cold metallic lips. And kissed him." ; "N Day" by Philip Latham (pen name of R.S. Richardson) concerns an astronomer who discovers the sun is about to go nova. He tells the world, but is dismissed as a crackpot. (Had there been more time, someone would have checked his math and found him correct.) As a result, he finds his spine for the first time in decades.; "Veiled Island" by Emmett McDowell takes place on Venus (the pulp Venus of swamps and jungles.) A three-person anthropological team goes in search of the title island to investigate reports of a new variant of human. Apparently, unlike Earth, Venus just keeps producing new human variants out of the swamps which then climb up the ladder of civilization as they travel to the other side of the planet.; "A Matter of Length" by Ross Rocklynn (pen name of Ross Louis Rocklin) takes place in a far future with galactic travel. A stable mutation has created a new kind of human, the "double-brained" Hypnos, who have the ability to hypnotize ordinary humans. They are not physically distinguishable from other humans, but can be detected by "Sensitives." Hypnos face severe prejudice, and there's a war going on between societies that want to exterminate them and those that tolerate them. ; "The Plants" by Murray Leinster takes place on a planet with only one form of life. Plants with flowers that follow the sun.or anything unusual that happens. Four men whose spaceship was sabotaged crash-land on the planet. Are they more in danger from the pirates that sabotaged the ship for its precious cargo.or from the plants? ; "Fine Feathers" by George O. Smith is the final fiction piece. It's a science fiction retelling of the fable "The Bird with Borrowed Feathers" -- SKJAM! reviews ; wear, else G.…