Brain Twister

Description

A Story Of Mind Reading And Insanity in Mark Phillips’ Brain Twister

People who do not know who Mark Phillips is might wish to learn that this is actually a pseudonym coming from the combination of the real names of two authors: Laurence Mark Janifer and Randall Phillip Garret. They wrote numerous short sci-fi stories and novels, yet their Brain Twister psi power trilogy is humor and SF at the finest.

It is said that the Mark Phillips pseudonym came to be at a convention where both Janifer and Garret turned in drunk. Only one of them eventually sobered up so they constantly disputed over collaboration. It appears that they managed to develop a method where Mr. Janifer would handle all the nouns, adjectives and pronouns while the verbs, adverbs and interjections would be handled by Mr. Garret. Conjunctions were played for and in case of ties it was replayed. Humor left aside, what characterized Brain Twister is sheer insanity that will enchant anyone reading it, sci-fi fan or not.

The novel takes place in the near future where a futuristic FBI agent will have to catch a psychic spy who is wreaking havoc. The agent will get help an old lady who is virtually insane and who thinks that she is The Queen. That perhaps explains the original name of the novel when it was published – That Sweet Little Old Lady. The novel was also nominated for the prestigious Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1960 although it lost to Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers.

For a crazy rollercoaster filled with spies, telepathy and of course, a sweet little old lady, readers should pick up the Brain Twister by Mark Phillips and really be twisted into a world of hyper masculine leads, excessive oversimplification and common psi-power themes that will delight and entertain.
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