This is the Way the World Begins

by J.T. McIntosh

Visit Earth! The exciting birthplace of man!Now, courtesy of Starways, Inc., you can take your vacation anywhere . . . literally anywhere. Starting from the holiday planet of Paradiso, eager tourists can tavel to Mars, Venus, or more exotic planets scattered across the stars.But curiously, there’s one trip that Starways seems to discourage people from taking. And naturally that’s the one Ram Burrell is most interested a trip to Earth.Once Burrell finagles a ticket for the journey, he discovers why Earth is the least-visited planet in the galaxy . . . and why Starways aims to keep it that way.

Genres: Science Fiction

100 pages, ebook

First published March 1, 1976

About the author

J. T. McIntosh is a pseudonym used by Scottish writer and journalist James Murdoch MacGregor.

Living largely in Aberdeen, Scotland, MacGregor used the McIntosh pseudonym (along with its variants J. T. MacIntosh, and J. T. M'Intosh) as well as "H. J. Murdoch", "Gregory Francis" (with Frank H. Parnell), and "Stuart Winsor" (with Jeff Mason) for all his science fiction work, which was the majority of his output, though he did publish books under his own name. His first story, "The Curfew Tolls", appeared in Astounding Science Fiction during 1950, and his first novel, World Out of Mind, was published during 1953. He did not publish any work after 1980.

In 2010, following his death in 2008, the National Library of Scotland purchased his literary papers and correspondence.

Along with John Mather and Edith Dell, he is credited for the screenplay for the colour feature film Satellite in the Sky (1956).

Reviews

[☁Amber☁ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Official Guild Chat!

[Patrick Scheele · Rating 1 out of 5]

It starts of somewhat promising, as long as you don't mind extreme alpha male stuff from the protagonist. Lots of using women for sex stuff and how to persuade a woman who doesn't really want to. Blech, but at least there's an intriguing central mystery: why is Earth off limits?

Halfway through, we find out the answer. And it has nothing to do with anything interesting or believable. Earth exported all its alpha males to the colonies and only a couple of wimps are left. From there you can guess what happens next. The uberalpha protagonist leads the wimps to victory, saving them from being ruled by the colonies and corporations. Instead, they get ruled by, well, him.

I skimmed through the second half of the book, but as far as I could tell there was nothing interesting there. Just politics and corporate scheming.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd give this probably more of a 2.5 if I could, but we are rounding down because it does not deserve that 3.

The character motivations and characterisations I find really inconsistent and difficult to follow, and it leads to an overall uninteresting story (which is not helped by the plot).

Theres a sense of mystery and intrigue thats built up at the beginning and then it just falls very flat once it kicks off, and the whole story just falls completely apart. Misogyny also runs so rampant through this story.

Would not reccommend. Bought this second hand, and it will be going right back to a charity shop.

[Bruce Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read.

[Lyla · Rating 1 out of 5]

really interesting premise but the MC is so off-putting. what a shame. apparently the end isn’t that interesting anyway

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5