Jack Finney

Jack Finney (October 2, 1911 - November 16, 1995) was an American author. His best-known works are science fiction and thrillers.

Related Topics:
October 2 - 1911 - November 16 - 1995 - Science fiction - Thriller

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Finney was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was given the name John Finney. After his father died when he was three years old, he was renamed Walter Braden Finney in honor of his father, but continued to be known as "Jack" throughout his life. He attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. He married Marguerite Guest and they had two children, Kenneth and Marguerite. After living in New York City and working for an advertising agency there, he moved with his family to Marin County, California in the early 1950s. He died in Greenbrae, California.

Related Topics:
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Knox College - Galesburg, Illinois - New York City - Advertising agency - Marin County - California - Greenbrae

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Finney's novel The Body Snatchers (1955) was the basis for the 1956 movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It tells the story of aliens who invade Earth by emerging from pods and taking over the bodies of humans.

Related Topics:
1955 - 1956 - Invasion of the Body Snatchers

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Finney's greatest success came with his science fiction novel Time and Again (1970). Its protagonist, Simon Morley, is working in advertising in New York City when he is recruited for a secret government project trying to achieve time travel. Instead of using a physical machine, the participants steep themselves in the history and culture of a particular time and place, then travel there through hypnosis or self-hypnosis. Morley travels to the New York City of 1882. The novel is notable for Finney's vivid and detailed picture of life in the city at that time. Morley sees many actual historical sites, some now gone (e.g., the post office that, until 1939, stood in what is now the southern tip of City Hall Park) and some still existing (e.g., St. Patrick's Cathedral, then the tallest building in its Fifth Avenue neighborhood).

Related Topics:
1970 - Time travel - Hypnosis - Self-hypnosis - 1882 - City Hall Park - St. Patrick's Cathedral - Fifth Avenue

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Finney died of pneumonia and emphysema at the age of 84, not long after finishing From Time to Time, the sequel to Time and Again.

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