Galaxy Science Fiction: April 1978 Volume 39, Number 4
Illustrations by Anji Valenza, Amy Harlib, Mueller. Cover by Cecilia Cosentini (for "The Queen of the Afternoon")

Serial: "The Faded Sun: Kesrith" (Part 3 of 4) by C. J. Cherryh

Novella: "The Purblind People" by Don Trotter

Novelettes: "The Queen of the Afternoon" by Cordwainer Smith
"The Devil and All Her Works" by Jor Jennings

Story : "The Defector" by Olga Larjonova

Features: "A Step Farther Out: Man and the Weather Machine" by Jerry Pournelle, Ph.D.

John J. Pierce is editor, with book reviews by Paul Walker. After James Baen left in October 1977, the magazine quickly went "down the tubes" and died after about a dozen issues. Bad art, bad cover stock, bad stories, but good serials - (in my opinion) …and good authors tended to avoid the magazine because it did not pay well or on time. Although Galaxy tried to be monthly they always skipped a few months, so that there were 9 issues per year from 1975-77, and 8 in 1978 (seeding the Dec/Jan issue in 1978 with Volume 39.) Galaxy remained monthly through June 1978 (Vol. 39, No. 6) but then had distribution problems, and there was only September and a November-December issue to finish the year. 1979 was worse: only 3 issues for the entire year (last of the digest-sized.) Galaxy was then sold to the publishers of Galileo - who had problems of their own, and managed to put out one final large-sized issue in 1980. [I know there was another large-sized revival - but I don't consider that version to be a prozine - not many or any professional SF authors appeared in it.]

Cover stock changed from durable paperback stock to something flimsier and cheaper with the October 1977 issue. There are now variant spines/dates: I have seen several complete or partial runs for this period, and some issues list a date and year on spine, but other copies of the same issue have only volume and number. Since the issues with full dates have subscription labels or traces on the cover - I will make the guess that newstand copies have Volume & Number on spine, and subscription copies were dated on spine (at least through May 1978 - Volume 39, Number 5.) After that, even subscription copies have only Volume & Number on spine.