Amazing Stories, March 1957

Museum Catalog Note: Amazing Stories, March 1957 This issue features Harlan Ellison's lead story "The Savage Swarm," narrated by research chemist Simon Belkin. Belkin describes his fateful encounter with Franklyn Mathou, a small, physically unremarkable man working at Kessler Electronics, whom Belkin meets drunk at a bar. Mathou, bitter about being denied funding for his experimental work, expresses contempt for ordinary people's trivial concerns. The narrative frames Mathou's story within a Congressional Record submission, establishing that his subsequent actions unleashed what historians call "The Days of the Savage Horde," a thirteen-week period of destruction. The issue also contains "Quest of the Golden Ape" (Part Three) by Ivar Jorgensen and Adorn Chase, "Disaster Revisited" by Darius John Granger, and shorter pieces including "S.R.O." by Ellis Hart, "Escape Route" by Lee Archer, and "Think Yourself to Death" by C.H. Thames. Features include the editor's column and reader correspondence.