The Suiciders

by J.T. McIntosh, Jack Gaughan (Illustrator)

KILL AND DIE

That was the battle tactic of the Tinkers, rough, vicious interplanetary invaders who would rather die then be captured alive. Controlling them in some way were The Six--an occult group that had learned how to duplicate human beings and use them as pawns in a grandiose plan to control interstellar space.

Defending civilization against this onslaught were Rey Cottrell, a war consultant without even a fortress from which to fight his battle, and Captain Brixby, a lone idealist faced with mutiny when he tried to take his ship into the combat zone. Their chances seemed hopeless--especially since Cottrell suspected that there were supernatural forces involved that could take over the whole galaxy!

Genres: Science Fiction

159 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 30, 1972

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

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has a nice fantasy/science fiction mash-up premise, but it never quite comes together. It's about a conflict between two remote planets, one of which is powered by witchcraft. Most writers would have just said "psi-powers," but McIntosh was going for something different, so points for being ambitious. I liked several novels by McIntosh (pseudonym of James Murdoch MacGregor), but in this case I'd say go ahead and skip to The Witches of Karres by Schmitz. This one's an okay read, but vaguely disappointing and not especially memorable. (The one character I wanted to win didn't.) My copy was printed in November of 1973 with a nice Jack Gaughan space warfare cover, and a note on the copyright page that says: "The Suiciders is an original publication of Avon Books. This work has never before appeared in any form." I'll bet that was a surprise to the people who bought the same novel the year before when it was published in hardback with a different title, The Space Sorcerers.

[Love of Hopeless Causes]

I'd listen to this narrator read the back of a Q-tips box. However, I'm abandoning this since my mind can't follow a large cast on audiobook without repeats. While it feels well written with a fast pace, it lacks the emotional buy in of, "I care and this matters," perhaps because of the coldness of space--I mean the coldness of universal point of view. No rating because I don't want to discourage others from trying this (mostly) Science-Fantasy with it's sexy magic and political intrigue.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

My classic Sci fi, mainly from the 50s is becoming so obscure that i could only find this book on goodreads in a foreign to me language. Nevertheless, i love this author's writing. It's always so weird and interesting.

[Matthew Smonskey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess it is an honor to be one of the very few written reviews of this largely forgotten book by a largely forgotten author. Unfortunately, it has kind of earned that status. The basic premise of the story is relatively solid. Two distant and extremely remote human colony worlds are at war, with one side committed to a bizarre suicide attack strategy. They willingly sacrifice thousands of their own to only kill a couple hundred of the enemy. Why? And how do you stop that insane mentality with little to no resources of your own?

-Spoilers-

After that, the book has two major issues that sink it. First, the solid science fiction premise diverts into overt magic. Literal witches are behind the attacks. To what end? Who knows? They aren’t explained to any satisfactory degree, and there isn’t even a veneer of science handwaving over the mysticism. In fact, our heroes suddenly just decide they can use magic too if they just set their minds to it. This weird turn completely undercuts the interesting initial idea. They don’t have to really address any real issues.

The second problem is with women characters in the story. The main male hero seems to be able to solve all the problems in the universe with the use of his powerful sex. Literally every female character in the book ends up falling for him. The one powerful woman character who was always presented as the hidden power behind the throne (so to speak) out of nowhere admits to having previous relations with him, and that women aren’t as good as men at leadership characteristics because they are too weak. She was the one you could hang your hat on, and then the character destroys herself in a couple pages near the end. Damn, that was infuriating.

I’m sure at the point of writing this, the author would argue that the women are all strong career driven people. That is true, until they meet the male lead… then that is all over. He isn’t even all that compelling of a character himself.

That said, the cover art is beautiful. It is a look, don’t read.