Axonite's Sci-Fi Ramblings

13 May 2012

Roger Zelazny

Sci-Fi/Fantasy writer Roger [Joseph] Zelazny, winner of 6 Hugos, was born 75 years ago today on 13th May 1937. Although a prolific writer in his time, it is the Fantasy series The Chonicles of Amber for which he is best remembered.

Zelazny had a wild imagination and was an unsung influence on many of today's Sci-Fi/Fantasy writers. His Amber books featured internicine fighting within an amoral royal family, parrallel worlds and playing cards as portals. One interesting feature of the series is a twist on Plato - all other worlds are just echoes (various alternatives) of the only 'real' world - Amber.

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A_Rose_for_Ecclesiastes_-_Heavy_Metal_vol.01_no.10.pdf (6.9 MB)

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A Rose for Ecclesiastes - Heavy Metal vol.01 no.10

Zelazny's books

Amber City

26 Apr 2012

Ektryn

I haven't seen this Sci-Fi Fantasy piece anywhere else on the Net, so here it is. As far as I know, it was just the two stories presented in issues 14 (Oct 83) and 25 (Dec 84) of the late lamented Warrior magazine. The story is by Steve Moore and the art is by Cam Kennedy.

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Warrior_14_-_Ektyrn.pdf (2.3 MB)

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Warrior_025_-_Ektryn_-_The_Poet_and_the_Flowers.pdf (29.17 MB)

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5 Apr 2012

The River

There have been a spate of new Sci-Fi programmes from the US recently, too many to watch. Still, I thought I'd give The River a go. Turned out that this series about a documentary crew searching for a lost TV envirnomentalist (basically David Irwin turned into an American) was actually more horror. The lost man was somewhere up the Amazon, so that's where the group went looking. Among them were the usual assortment of clichés and stereotypes - most obviously, the villanous Europeans (although, oddly enough the predictably bad Brits were joined by a bad German this time too). The format was, as you might imagine, similar to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, a journey in the spiritual as well as literal sense - and each story was a traditional horror story - ghosts, demons, The Flying Scotsman, zombies, curses and hostile natives. In fact, we soon discover that the hero, whose catch-phrase was "there's magic out there" was actually looking for it. And we see him walk on water and create fire in his hands.

The programme was mildly entertaining, but I'm not sure I'll watch a second season if it materialises (I learnt my lesson with that shaggy dog story that was Lost). Similarly, the first episode of Touch was reasonably watchable, but not enough to keep me watching.

3 Apr 2012

Planet of the Daleks - TV Action

This story from TV Action 55-62 (4th March - 22nd April 1972) predates the TV one of the same name. Which is better?

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Planet_of_the_Daleks.pdf (14.52 MB)

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1970s comics daleks doctor who tv tv action
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2 Apr 2012

Big Brother is Watching You

You're watching Big Brother while the Tories are ensuring that Big Brother will be watching you. While the general public in the UK are happy watching their idiotic Reality TV, the Tories (who they voted into power) are busy with their plan to erode civil liberties yet further. This party of the rich for the rich have hatched up a new plan so diabolical that most people just thought it was a particularly sick April Fools gag - if only that were true. Big Brother wants to read your e-mails and monitor what websites you visit - but don't worry, there's another instalment of Strictly Come Dancing on TV. You just relax while they raise your retirement age to the day you die, give massive tax breaks to the mega-rich and make you unemployed. Enjoy your bread and circuses. Orwell must be turning in his grave...

30 Mar 2012

Richard Carpenter RIP

As I haven't been able to get on here as much lately, I apologise that it's not been possible to keep up.

Sadly, Richard Carpenter died back in February. He is best remembered for being the author of (among others) Robin of Sherwood and Catweazle. RIP.

While Robin of Sherwood remains the best of the Robin Hood television or film versions of the legend, it is Catweazle that really made Carpenter's name, the gentle comedy of an 11th century wizard who comes through time to the present day (where he is confused by "elec-trickery" and the "telling-bone").

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TV_Zone_Issue_46_-_September_1993.pdf (2.58 MB)

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Look-In_Annual_1972.pdf (4.92 MB)

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Look-In_Holiday_Special_1972.pdf (2.93 MB)

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All_Star_Televsion_Annual_1973.pdf (3.26 MB)

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11 Feb 2012

RIP John Christopher

It is with sadness that we hear of the passing of John Christopher (real name Samuel Youd), prolific author of dystopian fiction for children and adults.

Although best remembered for his Tripods trilogy (and its prequel), he also wrote many great Sci-Fi novels for adults, such as Death of Grass and The World in Winter.

Like most readers, the first thing I read of his was The Tripods - a birthday present when I was about 10. I remember being particularly struck by the reference to how the Tripods invaded - they sent a hypnotic signal via television (Today, the Internet would probably be even more effective). From this point on, I was hooked and read everything of his that I could get my hands on.

Although he clearly enjoys 'destroying the world' in many of his books, there was never any easy answer. Yes, much of his dystopian fiction contained an apparent yearning for a 'simpler' life (a sort of neo-medievalism), but this was rarely a utopia. His heroes could be flawed and the theme or moral (if there was one) was rarely clear cut - although he often depicted how thin the shell of civilisation really is.

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The_White_Mountains.pdf (8.57 MB)

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The_City_of_Gold_&_Lead.pdf (11.17 MB)

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The_City_of_Gold_&_Lead.pdf (11.17 MB)

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The_Pool_of_Fire.pdf (15.15 MB)

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Click here to download:
The_Pool_of_Fire.pdf (15.15 MB)

The Tripods comic strip from 'Boys Life'

10 Feb 2012

Jules Verne

Jules Verne was born 142 years ago this week (a couple of days ago, actually). Along with H.G. Wells and Hugo Gernsback, he is one of the first recognised Sci-Fi writers in the modern sense of the term (although the term itself had not then been coined).

Like Wells, Verne was a visonary: he wrote about space, air and undersea travel before air travel and genuine submarines were invented and before a practical means of space travel had been devised. His novel Paris in the Twentieth Century about a young man who lives in a world of glass skyscrapers, high-speed trains, gas-powered cars, calculators and a worldwide communications network was only discovered by his great-grandson in 1989. It was published in 1994, and around the same time many other Verne novels and short stories were also published for the first time, and these too are gradually appearing in English.

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20,000_Leagues_Under_the_Sea.pdf (22.25 MB)

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25 Jan 2012

Brendan and the Secret of Kells

Having recently watched this gem of anime, I think it well worth a mention here. Brendan and the Secret of Kells is a richly stylised piece that takes its inspiration from the real life book.

The monks of the Abbey of Kells must hold out against the evil Vikings, who are depicted as giant impersonal slabs of midnight, very much in keeping with Lord of the Rings. The eponymous protagonist realises that in Dark Times, the book is a Beacon of Light (Indeed, in history, it was the monasteries that were repositories of knowledge during turbulent times).

The art really steals the show, and is refreshingly rich and exuberant.

The only odd thing is that not once during the entire film does anyone say exactly why the book is important or even hint at its contents!

GhibliWorld have an interview with the director, Peter Van de Lugt.

24 Jan 2012

Cities in Flight - James Blish

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The Cities in Flight series is comprised of four novels, written between 1955 and 1962. The notion, obviously inspired by the sight of hobos in the USA during The Great Depression, was that cities become giant spaceships, detaching themselves from the Earth to float about in space in search of work. What a wonderfully wild idea! Yes, this was Space Opera at its most obvious, but unashamedly so (even the descriptions of the spacesuits and costumes stress this point). Silly perhaps, but James Blish kept a straight face and made his characters convincing and engaging - in fact, one of the most incredible departures from the norm is his building up of a protagonist throughout one entire book, only to be 'killed off' casually in parenthesis in the next!

Those of you who watch Doctor Who, may be getting a sense of deja vu about now. So, is Spaceship UK a 'rip off' or a 'homage'? This is certainly an intriguing question, with the SOPA very much in the news right now. Shakespeare and his contemporaries freely adapted the works of others - which begs the question, if SOPA is successful, will whoever decides that he owns the copyright on Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth sue the descendants of William Shakespeare?