Wed 20 Oct 2021
Diary Review: J. T. McINTOSH – Snow White and the Giants.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews , Science Fiction & Fantasy[3] Comments
J. T. McINTOSH – Snow White and the Giants. Serialized in If SF, October-January, 1966-67. Avon S347, paperback, May 1968. Also published in the UK as Time for a Change (Michael Joseph, hardcover, 1967).
The town of Shutel, England, is destined to be the site of the worst disaster in the world’s history. It is also the main attraction for a history class traveling from the future, but there are ulterior motives behind their visit. They hope that a dangerous mutant strain can be eliminated by altering the past. In spite of disrupted plans, success is theirs, at least temporarily.
The first installment is quite leisurely in its pace, almost maddeningly casual, as the visitors seem to take few pains to conceal their strangeness. When the fire breaks out, the action increases abruptly and continues until the final lengthy discussion and explanation. People act correctly, as real people should, and do, in the face of something new, or confronted with disaster.
Rating: ****
October 20th, 2021 at 7:49 pm
I know I read some of McIntosh work, not this one, but I can’t think what it was.
October 20th, 2021 at 8:06 pm
He was a very prolific writer of science fiction, the author of quite a few full length novels and even more in the short form. The only other of his novels I remember reading is BORN LEADER (Doubleday, 1954) and that because it was one of the free books I received when I joined up with the Science Fiction Book Club.
He also has a couple of PI novels in Hubin that sound rather interesting:
[] *A Coat of Blackmail (Muller, 1970, hc) [Ambrose and Dominique Frayne; England] Doubleday, 1971.
[] *Take a Pair of Private Eyes (Muller, 1968, hc) [Ambrose and Dominique Frayne; England] Doubleday, 1968. Novelization of a TV play by Peter O’Donnell, 1920- , q.v.
There’s not much info about O’Donnell’s play on IMDb, only this: “The adventures of a husband and wife sleuthing team.”
October 21st, 2021 at 8:43 pm
Take a Pair of Private Eyes was the one.