(A relatively unsuccessful salesman, Arnside was fired shortly after his return home.)Īrnside becomes embroiled in industrial espionage, as well as governmental intervention in some Venusian fifth column activity initially led by a charismatic orator calling for armed defense of the planet Earth.

The newfound ability plays helpful havoc with his marriage and affects his friendships and business prospects. Upon returning home on Earth, Arnside realizes that he is now able to read the minds of humans-but not Martians or Venusians-within a six-foot radius. Regardless, Magnetic Brain is a fun, brief read-I read it in two sittings-and includes several interesting science fictional ideas.Īfter crash landing on Mars and suffering a head injury, the protagonist, Timothy Arnside, receives medical care from a noted experimental Martian surgeon, who implants a device in his brain. So the book was quickly written and inexpensively printed. In that year, he wrote five novels as Gridban, with the bulk of his output credited to Vargo Statten. Hearn was a very prolific writer, publishing no fewer than 19 novels in 1953 alone. The book’s cover painted by Ron Turner is absolutely beautiful and starkly colored but has little to do with the story-other than the image’s portrayal of how a reader might imagine the titular magnetic brain. Written by John Russell Fearn using the, oh, so awesome pseudonym Volsted Gridban, the 128-page book was published by Scion Ltd. Busch’s wonderful sercon fanzine Far Journeys and subsequently reading Harbottle’s book on the early history of sf publishing in England, Vultures of the Void: The Legacy (Cosmos, 2011), I picked up several examples of early British paperbacks and sf magazines, including this 1953 novel. Inspired by an interview with Philip Harbottle in Justin E.A. Magnetic Brain by Volsted Gridban (Scion, 1953)

The Magnetic Brain by Volsted Gridban