The 1970s were an era of the disaster film, among the generically titled: Earthquake (1974) and Tidal Wave (1975). It’s unfortunate that I own the 1978 Sphere edition of A Wrinkle in the Skin, the cover of which screams at the reader like a cheap disaster novel. #50: A Wrinkle in the Skin (1965) – John Christopher (5/5) His own son despises him his grandson admires him-both perspectives warped by the metamorphic façade of Adolphe Quy. Seeking sponsorship for his organic compound that deflects gravity, Quy stoops low to save the only thing that he has to live for-the one material that exhibits the Quy Effect… albeit on his own quid, another’s few thousand quid, or under the guise of a laboratory assistant.

With the accident, the company abruptly fires him and threatens him with lawsuits, yet the knavish old man always has tricks up his sleeve. The geriatric yet mildly inventive Adolphe Quy creates a compound that blows the roof off of the company he worked for. The pulpy synopsis of “Its implications were so revolutionary as to render all past scientific concepts obsolete” had me intrigued in juxtaposition with its publication date surely, no inferior pulp such as this would have been produced by 1967! Lo and behold this dull and drawn out, hokey and amateurish, juvenile and brain-dead pulp for those of the same ilk (?). I had bought another book by the same author at a different time, so the name was familiar to me, but the contents of both were still a mystery. This a gamble I’m willing to take, but it’s a result like this that I always fear. Yet another case of new author/unknown book. #48: Best Science Fiction of the Year 5 (1976) – Lester del Rey (4/5) Jack must decide between love for mankind and love for Sandy… if they all don’t get caught first. Bent of delivering world peace on a full-time basis, Jack isn’t allowed to become involved with his lover interest, Sandy Carlson, in Cleveland. Henry Alvin, high-level military brass, from the Pentagon to be their eyes and ears from within the government. The three decide to use their machine for peace, rather than war, so they concoct a scheme where they would seem like aliens delivering a message. John’s right-hand man is Jack Baker, his nephew, who he has raised as a son from a young age. The thick of it is: A post-war German scientist creates a functional gravity drive under the employ of John Sloan, a wealthy man in the aircraft business. It’s painfully dull, littered with unspirited motivations, rigidly assigned sex roles, and a stupid love story. This author only ever wrote one book, which is a good thing judging by the quality of this single piece of writing.

Andy weir superluminal