Welcome to my first post. Here I will discuss science fiction books that I read. Science fiction books that also have nice covers. That’s really the only prerequisite. That I find the covers nice or interesting. So here goes.
The inaugural book I have read is The Robot Brains by Sydney James Bounds (aka Clifford Wallace aka James Marshall aka Earl Ellison and aka Rex Marlowe). You’d think this guy was on the run for failure to pay child support or something, but I guess it was the fashion in the 60’s to publish under pseudonyms. It was published by the fine folks at MacFadden-Bartell in 1969. Cover price: 60¢
Plot- 4 out of 10: The book was a moderately enjoyable romp through time with a heroic sea captain named Christian who smokes cheroots and prefers, “to take his adventure neat rather than canned.” Also he sports a Vandyke. Nothing says sea captain like facial hair named after a Flemish painter. It all begins when the world’s scientists start showing up dead. Not just dead but decapitated and neatly cauterized. The culprits are soon discovered to be the “Brains,” a trio of dwarfs with over-sized heads who appear in a freak show that is coincidentally always in the same town that the murders occur.
The short and long of it is that the “Brains” are from the distant future, and after a catastrophic event they were left to live underground while the less mutanty inhabitants of Earth take off for the stars. So of course if the brains can come back in time to ruin any chance of man exploring the stars, everything will be hunky dory. Our hero Christian will have none of it, so he battles the “Brains” in our time as well as in the far future.
Cover- 5 out of 10: The cover of this book is nice, what with a maniacal robotic tank chasing after a fleeing human, but it is completely unrelated to the plot. In fact, half the title is unrelated to the plot. There are “Brains,” but there are no “Robot Brains.” The only Robots belong to the gentle guardians of Earth that come to our hero’s aid in the far future. And they are only around for a couple of pages. Also the man on the cover looks nothing like Captain Christian. Artist: Unknown.
What The Robot Brains taught me about the future: In the future there will be some sort of unexplained cataclysm. As a result half of us will travel to other planets, and the other half will live underground. The men that live underground will become dwarfs with giant craniums and the women will become scantily clad giantesses. Book me a ticket for the space rocket.
