James Nicoll Reviews

Brian Herbert’s 1990 The Race for God is a stand-alone science fiction novel. (One was more than enough!) It is the third novel to be featured in my What’s The Worst That Could Happen? Series of reviews. Readers may question whether Brian Herbert has earned his place in SF history. I can assure them he has earned his spot in this project, a tour of SFF’s worst¹.

Grand Exalted Rooster McMurtrey founded the Interplanetary Church of Cosmic Chickenhood more or less as a joke. But then God decided to speak through McMurtrey — according to McMurtrey.

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Jean Mark Gawron’s 1978 Algorithm is a stand-alone science fiction novel.

ASSASSIN! A word that demands all caps and frequent repetition on the Earth of the day after tomorrow.

Who is the assassin? Who is their target? Can the assassin be stopped?

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Mark Clifton and Frank Riley’s 1957 They’d Rather Be Right is a science fiction fix-up novel. They’d Rather Be Right was also published as The Forever Machine.

They’d Rather Be Right has the reputation of being the worst novel to win the Hugo. Hyperbole or cold fact? Let’s find out!

In the latter part of the 20^th century, kindly academic Dr. Martin realizes that Joey, the troubled boy he is assessing, is a telepath. Joey’s parents are conformist knuckle-draggers. The end result is that rather than being hailed as the next step in human evolution, poor Joey — later Joe — is consigned to a childhood of stupefying conformity.

Thirteen years later, Martin’s associate Dr. Billings, Dean of Psychosomatic Research at Hoxworth University, has desperate need of Joe’s unique talent.

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