Thu 4 Feb 2021
Diary Review: WILSON TUCKER – Tomorrow Plus X.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews , Science Fiction & Fantasy[2] Comments
WILSON TUCKER – Tomorrow Plus X. Avon T168, paperback, 1957. Cover by Richard Powers. Originally published as Time Bomb (Rinehart, hardcover, 1955).
A detective story complicated by future developments if telepathy and time-travel. Lieutenant Danforth of the Illinois Security Police is assigned the task of solving several bombings directed at the fanatic Sons of America. The one responsible is from the future, determined to stop Ben’s Boys from taking over America under their dictatorship.
The attempt to successfully portray this future society, undergoing severe technological upheavals, does not entirely come off. It cannot really escape the appearances of America ten years ago with a few new gadgets thrown in, but this may be caused chiefly by hindsight. Twice, in Chapters 1 and 6, the action seems to stumble badly, but this may have been intended, for later (p.155) Tucker makes a weak attempt to justify the points in question.
Rating: 3 stars.
February 5th, 2021 at 9:51 pm
Despite its flaws one of the rare fairly successful mixes of mystery and SF.
February 5th, 2021 at 10:21 pm
If Wikipedia is to believed, of his 23 novels, 11 were mysteries and 12 were science fiction, and that doesn’t include overlapping elements of one in the other. He’s best known, in science fiction circles, though, as one of the most loved members of SF fandom ever, attending conventions and publishing fanzines all his life.