Sinister Barrier by Eric Frank Russell

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John
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Sinister Barrier by Eric Frank Russell

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First published 1939, revised edition 1948, Dobson SF

This is the first novel by EFR and the one that launched him onto the world big time. It sold a quarter of a million copies in 1939, was hailed as one of the real SF classics including The War of the Worlds but thereafter disappeared into a publishing oblivion. EFR was always classed as one of the giants of SF, but in recent decades his books have all but disappeared.

This one is actually mature EFR, very well written and very tightly plotted. It's incredibly easy to read and has the sense of realism that Russell seemed to find so easy. Looking at this again I think this is partly because it is written in a way that assumes the world it is set in as absolutely familiar and normal. This vision of the 21st century is actually very accurate and it's because of this that much of it goes without comment until you realise it was written in 1939. OK we have "gyrocars" which are basically semi-flying cars as standard, but they are totally taken for granted and not given any explanation whatsoever apart from their context in the story. This is very, very clever and is a lesson to novel writers of every type.

Basically an SF thriller, the story is based upon premises formulated by the late Charles Forte, so look up the Fortean Scoiety to see what that's all about.

Read the novel, \I am not going to give the plot away and spoil it, ask yourself could it possibly be true and if you survive discovering that it is true then let me know how you do. Related to this are his much later non-fiction books "Great World Mysteries" and "The Rabble Rousers" and indeed EFR dies whilst preparing the research for "The Rabble Rousers II" but if there was another explanation then Sinister barrier will explain it all.

Intrigued? Read the book.

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