The Mind Brothers by Peter Heath (Magnum Books, 1967)

 

Crossroads in Time

The future of life on Earth is at stake ... now.  A few days, hours, or minutes ago civilization took the wrong turn.  Can the fatal mistake be corrected?  Can the future be changed?

Jason Starr, genius, found himself the focal point of a complex Communist plot against America...and as a thoroughly discredited scientist, there seemed nothing he could do about it.

Not until he was joined by Adam Cyber, that is.  Adam Cyber: last man--or superman--to survive in that bleak future; and Jason Starr's Mind Brother.  Cyber returned through millenia to try to change Earth's course.  And when the Mind Brothers met, computers went crazy, all predictions were worthless--and a new kind of spy was born!

This book is the weird love child of the 1960s spy craze and science fiction.   A time traveller comes from the far future to prevent the world being taken over by AI... and tags along on an adventure involving secret weapons, beautiful double agents, underground cults in the back-streets of Delhi and Communist mad scientists working from hidden bases in Tibet.   In other words, this book has everything but the kitchen sink (and if a kitchen sink had been included you could bet on it being some kind of Bondian espionage device!)  And at the end of it all, I still couldn't figure out the action related to the dystopian future our time traveller was trying to prevent.

Five Go Down to the Sea by Enid Blyton (Hodder & Stoughton, 1955)

 

The

Famous Five

Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Timmy the Dog

in their
twelfth exciting adventure

Summer at Tremannon Farm, the mystery of the deserted tower by the sea, the forgotten secret of the Wreckers' Way

Now here's a book I really did love as a child--in fact I pinched and saved to buy all twenty-one books in the Famous Five series!  In Five Go Down to the Sea Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Timmy the dog explore secret tunnels and thwart a gang of drug smugglers between consuming mountains of buns and sandwiches and drinking lashings of ginger beer.  What more could a child want in an adventure?

(This copy predates me by several years.  My own copy as a child was one of the paperback Knight editions published in the 1970s.  The Famous Five adventure stories are still in print, though when I flicked through one in my local library recently it saddened me to see that an editor had "updated" the text to make it more accessible.  There are also now some very tongue-in-cheek Famous Five adventures available for "grown-ups" with titles like Five on Brexit Island and Five Go Gluten Free.  Clearly I'm not the only adult who remembers the series with affection!)

The Woodville Wench by Maureen Peters (Fontana, 1973)

Picked up at a local school fete:

 

The King's Wife...

Determined to rise above the poverty of her upbringing, Elizabeth Woodville uses her great beauty to win a place in the royal family.

Edward Plantagenet

the handsome young King, risks everything to marry her.

Cecily, of York

the King's mother, welcomes her as a daughter

Richard of Gloucester

Edward's brother, offers her protection when his own life is in jeopardy.

Considered an upstart by many, Elizabeth reigns supreme during the bitter years of the Wars of the Roses.  But behind the brilliant mask is a cold and lonely woman, shivering in the chill of her husband's waning passion, fearful of what lies ahead...

This is an example of what I think of as "cleavage history", where the author takes a real woman from history and writes a wildly romantic fictionalised version of her life.  You can usually spot these by the models on their front covers who generally wear some kind of pseudo-historical garb complete with a deeply plunging  neckline.

In this case our heroine (who seems to have picked her dress up at Biba and who is sporting some very 1970s blue eyeshadow) is Elizabeth Woodville and the story the author is telling is the story of the War of the Roses.

The other giveaway for a "cleavage history" novel is the choice of adjectives on the back cover, which often includes words such as "passionate", "untamed" and "determined".  The Woodville Wench may not be passionate and untamed, but by Jingo! she's determined.

The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner (Orbit, 1977)

From the Green Shed:

'AND NOW A POLICE FLASH,' said the radio.  'RUMOURS THAT THE SUN IS OUT AT SANTA YUEZ ARE WITHOUT FOUNDATION.'

Pollution--social, moral, political and industrial--is the key to the United States of the not too distant future.  The seas are foul, the rivers choked, the land is poisoned by excessive use of insecticides, no one moves out of doors without a 'filter mask' and the sun is permanently obscured.

John Brunner chronicles a full year of this situation, following the lives of a diverse range of characters from all levels of society.  Many are resigned, a few are seeking new ways for mankind to survive, but the one man whom millions believe has the solution cannot be found.

The Sheep Look Up is more than sf speculation, it is terrifyingly realistic.  It is, indeed, 'a fascinating and brilliant profile of the utter technological hell we are working so hard to create' (Sunday Times).

 1970s science fiction had a tendency to be dystopian.  This example is one of Brunner's best-regarded books, having been nominated for a Nebula Award as "Best Novel" in 1972.

Kay of Kingfishers by Constance M. White (Hutchinson, 1954)

I found this in the Green Shed, and bought it a) because the dust jacket was intact and b) because it looked like something I might have enjoyed when I was a child!

To begin with, Kay missed half a term by being ill.  Then, when she did return, it was to find that dear old Miss Benson--surely the nicest headmistress anyone could wish for--had been replaced by young and efficient Miss Oliver.  And Judy, her dearest friend, seemed to have forsaken Kay for a fresh interest--the new Head's Girl Guide Company.

Kay, rebellious and stubborn, turned to Stella Jason, and together they stumbled upon a discovery which involved not only Miss Oliver, but also an archaeological student, the local vicar, and a strange little girl called Bella.

 All right, get your mind out of the gutter.  (Yes, you.  You know who I'm talking about!)  The "discovery" Kay stumbles upon is neither a drug smuggling ring nor a swingers' party, and absolutely nothing naughty is going on between the headmistress, the vicar and the archaeological student.

The Black Rose by Thomas B. Costain (Tandem, 1971)

Walter of Gurnie, bastard son of the Earl of Lessford, fled from England to escape the enmity of his family and the bitterness of his love for the Lady Engaine.  Wealth and fame and a chance to claim the woman he loved were to be found only in the fabulous realms of the East, if he could win through the savage hordes of Kublai Khan's Mongol warriors, who ruled all of Asia from Persia to the ocean of Cathay.

Joining a caravan under the protection of Bayan of the Hundred Eyes, Walter found Maryam, a beauty as rare as the priceless Black Rose of the spice traders, destined for the Great Khan's harem, and a stronger reason than any other to lead him to the Celestial City of the Manji Emperor.

How Walter followed Maryam to fabled Kinsai, lost her and found her again, makes a superb and stirring romance, filled with the vivid colour and adventure of medieval England and the age-old empires of the East.

 And that just about sums up the entire book... so there's no need to read it.

(I do, however, love the 1970s hairstyles the models are sporting on the cover.  It seems that Vidal Sassoon was hairdresser of choice for the Mongol Hordes!)

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. No. 6 - The Dagger Affair by David McDaniel (Four Square, 1965)

 

"Tell us all about Dagger!"

This was the order threw at Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin.  And from each U.N.C.L.E.  agent came the same answer: 'We know absolutely nothing of DAGGER.' 

'You appear to be telling the truth,' said a hidden voice.  'A pity...'

But it was more than merely unfortunate that the U.N.C.L.E. organization had never heard of DAGGER--for the secret behind that name was an insane plot for mass murder of the human race!

Often regarded as the best of the tie-in novels based on the 60s TV series, The Dagger Affair is a fun read.  Good guys must unite with bad guys to defeat a common enemy.  Of course, the bad guys remaining bad guys (be they never so entertaining) the truce comes to an end once the common enemy is defeated.

This is the book, incidentally, where evil organization "THRUSH" gets a fuller form of its name: The Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity!