"Marvel Science Stories", Vol 3 No 1 (November 1950) (ed R O Erisman) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Scans of this magazine in CBR format are online as part of a larger package.

"Cataaaa" is the only philosophical story I've seen from van Vogt so far. And a good read too.

Table of contents. 

Links on authors fetch more fiction by author.

1. [novel] Arthur J Burks' "Trin": "WANTED: MAN UNDER THIRTY WITHOUT TIES, AMBITIONS, FEARS OR EXPECTATIONS. --That was the ad I put in the Times. And Joe X answered it. I warned Joe X the job might cost him his life. Joe X replied that that was impossible, he couldn't be killed. I told Joe X that he might be driven insane. Joe X assured me that that was impossible too--because he had no brain!"
2. [novel] Gardner F Fox's "Temptress of the Time Flow": "The universe was going to puff out of existence any moment--unless Tranton was willing to change at once from a decent Earthman to a ruthless space tramp. And his fateful choice did not end there. For beyond the time-flow Alter, he'd have to decide whether he wanted the lovely, gentle golden girl & peace for mankind, or the alluring, flame-haired, red-lipped Drayatha & the conquest of space she promised, the loot & treasure of unguessable centuries!"
3. [novelet] Lloyd Arthur Eshbach's "Overlord of Earth": "Murderer, sadist, product of an earlier, more violent day, Andrev had learned the secret of physical immortality & lay in a hidden crypt for centuries, waiting patiently for men in their growing wisdom to realize the stupidity of war--& so in their new peacefulness, to become easy prey for his blood-thirsty villainy."
4. [novelet] A Bertram Chandler's "Firebrand!"
5. [ss] [reprint] A E van Vogt's "Cataaaa" aka "Cataaaaa" (A); read online (very slow page load); Fantasy Book, Vol 1 No 1 (July 1947): Showing-off is intrinsic to human nature!
6. [ss] Cedric Walker's "The Guinea-Pig": "Feelingless devils, those biologists! They'd never rest until everything in the whole world crept from their ghastly operating tables--even human beings!"
7. [ss] Paul Chadwick's "The Day They Landed": "Why, those other world invaders didn't even have a permit to land their crazy contraption in the town park! The Selectmen of Eastboro were never going to stand for that!"

See also.

1. ISFDB listing for this issue also includes an uncredited short story "Behind the Ate Ball: A Martian Oddity". I don't find it anywhere in ToC. May be they used a different edition (mine is US edition), or more likely, somebody forgot including it on ToC page (I've seen this occasionally in pulps). I haven't scanned the entire issue page by page.

See also.

1. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
2. Fiction from 1950s.