Mon 23 Dec 2024
SF Diary Review: TED WHITE – The Spawn of the Death Machine.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews , Science Fiction & Fantasy[4] Comments
TED WHITE – The Spawn of the Death Machine. Paperback Library 63-680; paperback original; 1st printing, July 1968. Jeff Jones cover art. Warner Books, paperback, April 1974.
Sometime after Chaos, the computer-complex know as the Death Machine sends Tanner out into the world to report on the state of humanity. Tanner is superficially human, but he has non-human superpowers that at times isolate him from the humans he finds. Some are savage barbarians, others are pioneer frontiersman, but the group he and the girl Rifka finally find have developed empathetic powers and seem to be the future of the race.
Tanner’s memories of the pre-Chaos past haunt him and contribute to his worries about his quasi-human condition. That he is human is proven by the birth of his son, but he must learn to live with his discovery that it was he who helped decide that destruction must precede rebirth for the human race.
The violent story of an outsider, realistic in treatment of both violence and sex, equated with humanity. Very easy to read, but also lacking in depth, and no deep conclusions result.
Nero Wolfe is a popular character, The Mayor of New Mercer, later brutally killed by Tanner, has the same physical characteristics and habits (page 93). And what becomes of the town after his death? Tanner passes through, destroys, and goes on.
Rating: ***
December 24th, 2024 at 8:44 am
White was a decent author, a very good editor (his AMAZING and FANTASTIC runs were only outshone by Cele G. Lalli), and a sometimes controversial fan. I always enjoyed his work, some of which I feel was underappreciated.
December 24th, 2024 at 1:30 pm
I share Jerry House’s assessment of Ted White. I was still a subscriber to AMAZING and FANTASTIC during Ted White’s tenure. He did a good job with minimal resources.
December 24th, 2024 at 11:20 pm
Ted White didn’t write all that much SF, as I recall, and unless I’m wrong about it, most of it was as a fan, written for other fans. DEATH MACHINE is, I think, a pretty good example. Well enough written to be enjoynle, but immediately forgotten once finished.
I think he will be better remembered as the editor of AMAZING and FANTASTIC, back in the day, working with almost no money to pay the bills with.
December 25th, 2024 at 11:25 pm
Ted was a great editor, and as a writer he had a vision of the superman that informed many of his works (including a CAPTAIN AMERICA novel for Bantam), but he also had a tendency to be stronger in concept than delivery.
I enjoyed his novels, but they are ultimately disappointing, falling a bit short of the reach of his imagination.