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J. T. McIntosh

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J. T. McIntosh
J. T. McIntosh c.1956
J. T. McIntosh c.1956
BornJames Murdoch MacGregor
(1925-02-14)14 February 1925
Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland
Died22 July 2008(2008-07-22) (aged 83)
Pen nameH. J. Murdoch
OccupationAuthor, screenwriter, journalist
LanguageEnglish
NationalityBritish
GenreScience fiction
McIntosh's The Million Cities was the cover story on the August 1958 issue of Satellite Science Fiction
McIntosh's 1956 novella "The Solomon Plan", which was originally published in New Worlds, was reprinted as the cover story on the April 1959 issue of Satellite Science Fiction

James Murdoch MacGregor (14 February 1925 – 22 July 2008[1]) was a Scottish journalist and author best known for writing science fiction under the pen name J.T. McIntosh.

Biography

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Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, but living largely in Aberdeen,[1] MacGregor used the pseudonym McIntosh (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 literature, though he did publish books by his own name.[1] His first story, "The Curfew Tolls", was published in the magazine 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. He died on 22 July 2008.

Along with John Mather and Edith Dell, he is credited for the screenplay for the colour feature movie Satellite in the Sky (1956).

During 2010 the National Library of Scotland purchased his literary papers and correspondence.[1]

Critical reception

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John Clute writes that "McIntosh never lost the vivid narrative skills that made him an interesting figure of 1950s sf, but his failure to challenge himself or his readers in his later career led to results that verged on mediocrity. His early work warrants revival".[2]

Partial bibliography

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Novels

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  • World out of Mind (Doubleday, June 1953)
  • Born Leader (Doubleday, January 1954; abridged in Museum Press and Corgi editions; also as Worlds Apart, Avon, 1956)
  • One in Three Hundred (Doubleday, 1954; from 3 novellas appeared in F&SF, 1953-1954)
  • The Fittest (Doubleday, June 1955; also as The Rule of the Pagbeasts, Fawcett Crest, 1956)
  • When the Ship Sank (Doubleday, June 1959, as James Murdoch Macgregor)
  • Incident Over the Pacific (Doubleday, October 1960, as James Murdoch Macgregor)(also as A Cry to Heaven, Heinemann, March 1961)
  • Two Hundred Years to Christmas (Ace, 1961, dos-a-dos with Rebels of the Red Planet by Charles L. Fontenay)
  • The Iron Rain (Heinemann, January 1962, as James Murdoch Macgregor)
  • The Million Cities (Pyramid, August 1963) (exp. from Satellite Science Fiction, August 1958)
  • The Noman Way (Digit, June 1964; expanded from the second half of the "serial", The ESP Worlds, in New Worlds, 1952; originally submitted to the magazine as 2 separate stories)
  • Out of Chaos (Digit, 1965)
  • Time for a Change (Michael Joseph, March 1967)(also as Snow White and the Giants, Avon, May 1968)(from serial in if, 1966-1967)
  • Six Gates from Limbo (Michael Joseph, 1968; also serialised as Six Gates to Limbo in Galaxy Science Fiction, 1969)
  • Take a Pair of Private Eyes (Muller, September 1968) based on a TV play by Peter O'Donnell, first in a series
  • A Coat of Blackmail (Muller, August 1970) second in a series after Take a Pair of Private Eyes
  • Transmigration (Avon, December 1970)
  • Flight from Rebirth (Avon, July 1971) revised and expanded from Immortality.. for Some in Astounding Science Fiction, March 1960
  • The Space Sorcerers (Hale, June 1972, text abridged; also as The Suiciders, Avon, November 1973, full text)
  • The Cosmic Spies (Hale, Nov 1972) abridged as The Real People in if, December 1971. The Hale edition is abridged from the manuscript.
  • Galactic Takeover Bid (Hale, June 1973)
  • Ruler of the World (Laser, March 1976; censored and rewritten -without permission - version of This is the Way the World Begins, 1977)
  • This is The Way The World Begins (Corgi, April 1977)
  • Norman Conquest 2066 (Corgi, June 1977)
  • A Planet Called Utopia (Zebra, August 1979)

Short stories and serials

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References

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