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Psi-Power Trilogy #3
Supermind
Librarian note:
This PB edition was originally going to be published with ISBN10: 1603123032 (ISBN13: 9781603123037) but was not actually published. The ISBN has reverted to the original book it was meant for: Bone Music.
Mark Philips was the pseudonym used for SF collaborations between Randall Garrett and Laurence M. Janifer. As Mark Philips, they produced SF three novels featuring FBI agent Kenneth J. Malone. The stories originally appeared in shorter versions in "Analog Science Fiction" magazine in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Malone lives in a world where psionic powers such as telepathy and teleportation exist. Malone must cope with them as well as an FBI Director who leaves Malone continually confused about what situation he is being asked to handle and what he is expected to do about it.
Published in "Analog" as "Occasion for Disaster," "Supermind" has Malone investigating a series of incidents in which people make mistakes -- sometimes minor, and sometimes major -- that lead to disasters. It looks like a secret cabal of psis may be behind events, influencing the behavior of those involved. Are they? And if so, why? Malone must find out if it kills him -- which is a very real possibility.
This PB edition was originally going to be published with ISBN10: 1603123032 (ISBN13: 9781603123037) but was not actually published. The ISBN has reverted to the original book it was meant for: Bone Music.
Mark Philips was the pseudonym used for SF collaborations between Randall Garrett and Laurence M. Janifer. As Mark Philips, they produced SF three novels featuring FBI agent Kenneth J. Malone. The stories originally appeared in shorter versions in "Analog Science Fiction" magazine in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Malone lives in a world where psionic powers such as telepathy and teleportation exist. Malone must cope with them as well as an FBI Director who leaves Malone continually confused about what situation he is being asked to handle and what he is expected to do about it.
Published in "Analog" as "Occasion for Disaster," "Supermind" has Malone investigating a series of incidents in which people make mistakes -- sometimes minor, and sometimes major -- that lead to disasters. It looks like a secret cabal of psis may be behind events, influencing the behavior of those involved. Are they? And if so, why? Malone must find out if it kills him -- which is a very real possibility.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
12 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
Mark Phillips
4 booksLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
(2)Science Fiction
Mark Phillips is a pseudonym for the authors Laurence M. Janifer and Randall Garrett, for the works they wrote together.
(2)Science Fiction
Mark Phillips is a pseudonym for the authors Laurence M. Janifer and Randall Garrett, for the works they wrote together.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 4, 2020
"Mark Phillips" is a pseudonym for a collaboration between Randall Garrett and Laurence M. Janifer. This is a short novel published in 1963 with dated wit and humour. A shorter version appeared was published in "Analog" as "Occasion for Disaster." I preferred this third instalment of Kenneth J. Malone stories to the first, "Brain Twister" (1960) as it seemed a little more developed. The addition of teleportation to that of psionic powers added to it somehow. I have yet to read the second of the three, "The Impossibles" (1962).
It worth a look and can be found in the public domain.
It worth a look and can be found in the public domain.
August 24, 2018
A period piece, like the first two volumes, but fun. Malone escorts three low level spies—Brubitsch, Borbitsch, and Garbitsch— back to the Soviet Union, and much hilarity ensues.
May 3, 2023
The third in a trilogy, I discovered after I'd started it (I'd read the first, but not the second, something I am now rectifying).
The premise is that lots of organizations - the US government, but also business, unions and even organized crime - are suddenly having issues with people making mistakes, resigning, getting arrested, or even falling ill or dying, and the whole system is collapsing as a result. Nor is it confined to the US; it's worldwide. The protagonist, an FBI officer, has his focus on the US, though, and finally tracks down the unlikely culprits and their surprising motivation. It reminded me of the OSS sabotage handbook that recommended lots of small acts of inefficiency as a way to bring a system to its knees (a lesson for us all).
It's not quite as comedic as the first book, but still has some beautifully phrased imagery and a decent mystery for the protagonist to solve, one which baffled him (and also me) until almost to the end. His power of premonition is used as a little bit of a shortcut sometimes, but mostly he works for his conclusions, and the clues are right out where the reader can see them but conveyed in a way that, for me, didn't tip me off.
While the main female character never gets any depth to speak of, and is not on stage very much, the protagonist does end up respecting her and not just regarding her as a piece of meat. That's significant; one half of the pseudonym Mark Phillips was Randall Garrett, notorious in his day (his Wikipedia entry says) for behaving badly to women at conventions (to the point that, these days, even the more conservative cons would ban him). I had my hesitations about reading a book co-authored by someone like that, but given that he's dead and even his estate won't get any money from me because I picked it up free on Project Gutenberg, and if I refused to read books by authors who behaved in ways I don't approve of I wouldn't have much left to read, I went ahead and read it anyway.
The premise is that lots of organizations - the US government, but also business, unions and even organized crime - are suddenly having issues with people making mistakes, resigning, getting arrested, or even falling ill or dying, and the whole system is collapsing as a result. Nor is it confined to the US; it's worldwide. The protagonist, an FBI officer, has his focus on the US, though, and finally tracks down the unlikely culprits and their surprising motivation. It reminded me of the OSS sabotage handbook that recommended lots of small acts of inefficiency as a way to bring a system to its knees (a lesson for us all).
It's not quite as comedic as the first book, but still has some beautifully phrased imagery and a decent mystery for the protagonist to solve, one which baffled him (and also me) until almost to the end. His power of premonition is used as a little bit of a shortcut sometimes, but mostly he works for his conclusions, and the clues are right out where the reader can see them but conveyed in a way that, for me, didn't tip me off.
While the main female character never gets any depth to speak of, and is not on stage very much, the protagonist does end up respecting her and not just regarding her as a piece of meat. That's significant; one half of the pseudonym Mark Phillips was Randall Garrett, notorious in his day (his Wikipedia entry says) for behaving badly to women at conventions (to the point that, these days, even the more conservative cons would ban him). I had my hesitations about reading a book co-authored by someone like that, but given that he's dead and even his estate won't get any money from me because I picked it up free on Project Gutenberg, and if I refused to read books by authors who behaved in ways I don't approve of I wouldn't have much left to read, I went ahead and read it anyway.
January 12, 2018
Mark Phillips è lo pseudonimo utilizzato da Randall Garrett e Laurence M. Janifer per le loro collaborazioni. Questo romanzo è il terzo di una trilogia (ciclo "Psi-Power") nonchè l'unico pubblicato su Urania. Il primo "That sweet old lady" (1959), conosciuto anche come Brain Twister, è stato pubblicato su Cosmo-Ponzoni n. 141 come "I dominatori del pensiero" mentre il secondo ("The impossibles") è rimasto purtroppo inedito in Italia. I romanzi, pur essendo abbastanza strettamente collegati fra loro, possono comunque essere compresi senza troppi problemi anche se letti singolarmente, probabilmente perdendo un po' il senso generale della trama. Va detto che fantascienza vera e propria non ce n'è moltissima, eccezion fatta proprio per i poteri PSI, che costituiscono il nucleo ed il motore delle vicende. Per il resto si tratta sostanzialmente di un giallo investigativo. Simpatico il protagonista, divertente e scorrevole la narrazione, onesto il finale. Una lettura veloce e poco impegnativa. Peccato che non sia possibile leggere tutti i romanzi della serie in sequenza...
June 21, 2021
I read this because (i) I am slowly reading through all nominees for the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the first book of this trilogy (Brain Twister) was a nominee and (ii) I don't like reading less than all books of a series. Brain Twister was not bad - if you ignore the casual misogyny, dated thought patterns, and punnish humor, it was a somewhat interesting look into what scifi/fantasy used to be. By no means one of the best books (even of that year - a co-nominee was The Sirens of Titan), Brain Twister was at least a look into what some scifi was like.
Bulling my way through three of these books was less pleasurable the longer I kept it up. I did not hate these books, but did not really like them a whole lot. Well, I guess I can say I read them now, but that is about it.
Bulling my way through three of these books was less pleasurable the longer I kept it up. I did not hate these books, but did not really like them a whole lot. Well, I guess I can say I read them now, but that is about it.
November 8, 2021
Lettura carina, ma che non lascia il segno.
Tentativo di unire il genere poliziesco ai poteri PSI. Purtroppo in 114 pagine c'è poco da poter approfondire e questo spiega almeno in parte la superficialità di caratterizzazione dei personaggi, lo svolgersi dell'enigma a tasselli preconfezionati e la storia d'amore banale buttata lì tanto per dire che c'è. Però la recriminazione maggiore che faccio a chi ha scritto è il finale, vogliamo davvero accettare un Deus ex machina come la soluzione data da un intuizione psichica?
Tentativo di unire il genere poliziesco ai poteri PSI. Purtroppo in 114 pagine c'è poco da poter approfondire e questo spiega almeno in parte la superficialità di caratterizzazione dei personaggi, lo svolgersi dell'enigma a tasselli preconfezionati e la storia d'amore banale buttata lì tanto per dire che c'è. Però la recriminazione maggiore che faccio a chi ha scritto è il finale, vogliamo davvero accettare un Deus ex machina come la soluzione data da un intuizione psichica?
February 27, 2018
E' vero che, trattandosi di un romanzo di genere fantascientico ma anche poliziesco, la narrativa non è semplice. Come è descritto nella sinossi, in tal caso bisogna comunque rispettare alcune regole nella scrittura per evitare sconvolgimenti che minino le basi del genere giallo. In questo sicuramente Philipps è riuscito. Tuttavia, la base fantascientifica mi sembra pur sempre un po' debole nella sua struttura.
April 18, 2020
An elderly telepath who believes she's Good Queen Bess helps the FBI break up a conspiracy.
January 31, 2017
The end of a three part trilogy, Supermind once again follows FBI Agent Kenneth Malone as he tries to solve a seemingly unsolvable mystery. Of course, when psionic powers are involved, anything is possible!
I really liked this series, and found that I grew quite attached to the cast of characters by the end of it. The writing is lighthearted and full of little jokes, most of which still stand up today.
I really liked this series, and found that I grew quite attached to the cast of characters by the end of it. The writing is lighthearted and full of little jokes, most of which still stand up today.
April 22, 2010
I read this on a cold day in Park Ridge, Illinois--maybe during the Christmas break from school, hiding from my parents on the unheated front porch. I remember it being sort of funny and that's about it.
April 21, 2011
the FBI Soviet spies telepathy and teleportation
told in a humorous way
told in a humorous way
Read
July 31, 2011weakest of the 3, but nicely ties a bow on the series.
September 3, 2012
3rd in the series. Fun, but weaker than the first ones, perhaps because the surprises aren���t as surprising and the plot is more predictable.
March 29, 2013
The final adventure of Her Majesty's FBI. It is not merely lengthened but substantially rewritten from the magazine version of "Occasion for Disaster", so collectors will need both.
March 9, 2015
Maybe a bit predictable, but I enjoyed the dry humor of the narrator and the secondary characters.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews