Happy Birthday: Terence Joseph Nation (8 August 1930 – 9 March 1997) was a Welsh screenwriter and novelist. Especially known for his work in British television science fiction, he created the Daleks and Davros for Doctor Who, as well as the series Survivors and Blake's 7.

Nation first made his name as a comedy writer before becoming a prolific writer for drama, working on many of the most popular British series of the 1960s and 1970s, such as The Avengers, The Baron, The Champions, Department S, The Persuaders! and The Saint. When Nation was commissioned to write The Daleks (1963) for Doctor Who, the villainous eponymous creatures established the series' early popularity. He later devised the recurring character of Davros in Genesis of the Daleks (1975). His series Survivors and Blake's 7 have been described as "much-loved cult TV classics".

In 1965, he and Dennis Spooner co-wrote the 12-part serial The Daleks' Master Plan, after which Nation, who still held the copyright to the Daleks, attempted to launch a Dalek spin-off TV series in the United States. Various other Dalek tie-in material appeared, including comic strips in the children's weekly TV Century 21 and annuals; such material was frequently credited to Nation, even when written by others. Over the next few years, appearances by the Daleks in Doctor Who became less frequent and were written by other authors (Whitaker wrote The Power of the Daleks (1966) and The Evil of the Daleks (1967), and Louis Marks wrote Day of the Daleks (1972)).

Following an eight-year absence from the series, Nation returned to writing for the Daleks on Doctor Who with the Third Doctor serials Planet of the Daleks (1973) and Death to the Daleks (1974). Producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks felt that the Dalek script Nation submitted for season 12 was too reminiscent of previous Dalek stories, and suggested that Nation rewrite the script to focus on the Daleks' origin. The resulting serial, Genesis of the Daleks, was voted the greatest Doctor Who story of all time by Doctor Who Magazine readers in 1998. In Genesis, Nation introduced the character of Davros, the creator of the Daleks, who went on to appear in further storylines. Nation also wrote two non-Dalek scripts for Doctor Who, The Keys of Marinus in 1964, which introduced the Voord, and The Android Invasion in 1975, which introduced the Kraals. Nation's final script for Doctor Who was Destiny of the Daleks, broadcast in 1979.

Having returned to writing for Doctor Who, the BBC commissioned Nation to create a new science-fiction drama series. First broadcast in 1975, Survivors is the post-apocalyptic story of the last humans on Earth after the world's population has been devastated by plague. Although the series was well received, Nation's creative vision conflicted with that of producer Terence Dudley, and the final two series were produced without Nation's involvement.

The production of Nation's next BBC creation, Blake's 7, experienced fewer problems. This series follows a group of criminals and political prisoners who are on the run from the evil "Terran Federation", piloting a stolen spaceship of unknown origin. Blake's 7 ran for four series from 1978 to 1981. Although Nation scripted the whole of the first series of Blake's 7, his creative influence subsequently declined in the following two series despite writing some key episodes, as script editor Chris Boucher exerted a greater influence on those seasons. Nation didn't write any episodes in the fourth series of Blake's 7. In the 1980s, Nation attempted, without success, to secure funding for a fifth series of Blake's 7.

[Terry Nation played a HUGE part in my teenage years not only in the creation of one of my all-time fave baddies in the Daleks - and as part of one of my all-time favourite TV shows in Dr Who - but also in 2 other series that I loved - Survivors and especially Blakes 7. So, a happy birthday indeed!]

Just Finished Reading: Aliens – Earth Hive by Steve Perry (FP: 1992) [277pp] 

Corporal Wilks had faced them before and lived. He was the closest thing they had to an expert on the Xenomorph. They knew how dangerous they were and, after the loss of another colony something had to be done about their menace – permanently. With their apparent home-world now discovered it was time for payback. Together with hand-picked teams of marines, they were doing to find out as much as they could about the species then nuke them from orbit – it was the only way to make sure. If only things were that simple. Unknown to the marines their commanding officer had other, additional, instructions. He was being paid – handsomely – to bring a xenomorph back, alive, by any means possible. Meanwhile a rival corporation had sent a kill-team to ensure that no one or nothing came back alive. Meanwhile, on Earth itself, a xenomorph queen was under investigation in a Top Security installation, isolated, secure, and in total secrecy... Until it wasn’t.... 

I’ve been meaning to read this set of books for some years now. I managed to pick up a few omnibus editions, and they’ve been sitting in a pile of books slowly turning into coal. As a HUGE fan of the sometimes-questionable franchise I knew that this would, or at least should, push most/all of my buttons. Unfortunately, it didn’t. Potentially it was going to be a good story – a slam dunk even. Colonial marines in full badass mode, LOTS of aliens on their (apparent) home world, BIG fight scenes etc... But some pretty poor writing and a questionable plot got in the way almost immediately. First there was ‘Wilks’ who was obviously a cut/paste Hicks from the Aliens movie – complete with young girl he had rescued from the destroyed colony they had been sent to... Then there was the ridiculous ‘love story’ element between Billie (the now grown-up girl survivor Wilks had rescued) and one of the marines... The fight scenes on the planet had their moments but never really got above average and there were FAR too many ‘callbacks’ to Aliens again. 

I think what made it worse for me (apart from the xenomorphs ‘psychic’ abilities) was the fact that there was a decent – indeed more than decent – story embedded in the barely average one! Whilst Wilks & Co where fighting on an alien world Earth was (slowly and then speedily) being overrun by Xenos. Even the brief bits we get of Terran forces trying to come to terms with that was MUCH better than the main ‘story’. Why the author couldn’t have focused on THAT aspect – especially considering the books bloody TITLE is beyond me. Not really recommended for Aliens or SF fans unless you are a completist. But as I already own the next few books (as well as being an eternal optimist) I will be reading more in the series. Oh, and I’m going to try to read more 21st century SF... Eventually... 

Happy Birthday: Harry Clement Stubbs (May 30, 1922 – October 29, 2003), better known by the pen name Hal Clement, was an American science fiction writer and a leader of the hard science fiction subgenre. He also painted astronomically oriented artworks under the name George Richard.

In 1998, Clement was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. He was named the 17th SFWA Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1999.

Harry Clement Stubbs was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, on May 30, 1922.

He went to Harvard, graduating with a B.S. in astronomy in 1943. While there he wrote his first published story, "Proof", which appeared in the June 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, edited by John W. Campbell; three more appeared in later 1942 numbers. His further educational background includes an M.Ed. (Boston University 1946) and M.S. in chemistry (Simmons College 1963).

During World War II Clement was a pilot and copilot of a B-24 Liberator and flew 35 combat missions over Europe with the 68th Bomb Squadron, 44th Bomb Group, based in England with 8th Air Force. After the war, he served in the United States Air Force Reserve, and retired with the rank of colonel. He taught chemistry and astronomy for many years at Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts.

From 1949 to 1953, Clement's first three novels were two-, three-, and four-part Astounding serials under Campbell: Needle (Doubleday, 1950), Iceworld (Gnome Press, 1953), and Mission of Gravity (1954), his best-known novel, published by Doubleday's Science Fiction Book Club (established 1953). The latter novel features a land and sea expedition across the superjovian planet Mesklin to recover a stranded scientific probe. The natives of Mesklin are centipede-like intelligent beings about 50 centimeters long. Various episodes hinge on the fact that Mesklin's fast rotational speed causes it to be considerably deformed from the spherical, with effective surface gravity that varies from approximately 3G at the equator to approximately 700G at the poles.

Clement has been honored several times for his cumulative contributions including 1998 Hall of Fame induction, when Clement and Frederik Pohl were the fifth and sixth living persons honored, and the 1999 SFWA Grand Master Award.

For the 1945 short story "Uncommon Sense" he received a 50-year Retro Hugo Award at the 1996 World Science Fiction Convention. Mission of Gravity, first published as a serial during 1953, was named best foreign novel by the Spanish Science Fiction Association in 1994 and it was a finalist for a 50-year Retro Hugo Award in 2004.

The Hal Clement Award for Young Adults for Excellence in Children's Science Fiction Literature was presented in Clement's name from 1992 to 2016.

[I've read a bit by him and have some more to read. I really liked his alien creatures which were actually *alien* rather than funny looking humans. One of my early favourite SF authors.] 

Just Finished Reading: The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson (FP: 1956) [200pp] 

Scott Carey wasn’t afraid. He wasn’t even worried by the strange cloud he had been briefly enveloped in. For a few moments it left his exposed skin tingling like a bad sunburn but, just as quickly, both the cloud and the sensation was gone. Within a few minutes he had forgotten about the whole thing. It was only weeks later that his doctor noted a drop in Scott’s weight. A few weeks more and Scott was back worried about something else – not only was his weight dropping but so was his height. Sent for tests his suspicions were confirmed. Scott was losing height at a steady rate – 1/7th of an inch per day... Every day... They tried every test, every remedy and still, nothing. The rate never varied but never stopped. Scott was shrinking and it seemed that nothing and no one could stop it. The question that Scott grappled with was simple – what would become of him in a world of giants where a misstep could kill him, where the family cat can become a deadly predator or where a common spider can become a mortal enemy?  

I remember being awestruck as a youth watching the 1957 movie adaptation (called The Incredible Shrinking Man). Not only was the idea presented in the movie on the bizarre kind but the life-or-death fight with a GIANT spider in the basement of his own home mesmerised me. Unfortunately, this was one of those instances where the adaptation was superior to the original text. One of the major differences was the format, the flow, of the narrative itself. Although I haven’t watched the film for a while I very much remember it as a straight narrative – Scott is ‘contaminated’ by the cloud, Scott starts shrinking, Scott deals with the effects as he gets smaller and smaller – all very linear. The book, however, is largely told in flashbacks (from his time trapped in the basement) and sometimes in flashbacks within flashbacks which often interrupted the narrative flow. Scott himself is a much more likable and sympathetic character in the movie. Book Scott is a jerk who is angry at everything and everyone for his circumstances. He elicited very little sympathy from me!  

The movie left out a couple of things too. One was the worry expressed of just how much the tests were costing and how they were going to pay for them. I guess this was just an unnecessary detail that could be left out or edited out. The other thing, which both surprised and almost shocked me (especially considering its publication date) was the focus on Scott’s sexual frustration as his stature continued to reduce. Part of that was the perceived reduction in ‘manhood’ and the other was the fact that Scott couldn’t bring himself to approach his wife despite her saying that they would ‘find a way’, and this wasn’t just a passing comment but something that the author returned to throughout the book. At times it honestly felt more than a little creepy. 

Both the climax of the movie and the book was the final (boss) fight with the resident spider in the basement. Both the movie and the book handled it well although in different ways. WARNING: If you are in ANY way bothered by spiders do NOT read this book. It WILL give you nightmares! That for me was definitely the best part of the book and brought it up to ‘reasonable’ and almost made me forgive the rest of it. It was an interesting read on several levels, but I can’t really recommend it. Maybe you should give it a chance if you want to read ALL of the Gollancz SF Masterworks series, but I think you’d be safe missing this one out. More, and hopefully better, SF to come. 

Happy Birthday: Edward Elmer Smith (May 2, 1890 – August 31, 1965) was an American food engineer (specializing in doughnut and pastry mixes) and science-fiction author, best known for the Lensman and Skylark series. He is sometimes called the father of space opera.

Smith's novels are generally considered to be classic space operas, and he is sometimes called the first of the three "novas" of 20th-century science fiction (with Stanley G. Weinbaum and Robert A. Heinlein as the second and third novas).

Heinlein credited him for being his main influence:

"I have learned from many writers—from Verne and Wells and Campbell and Sinclair Lewis, et al.—but I have learned more from you than from any of the others and perhaps more than for all the others put together ..."

Smith expressed a preference for inventing fictional technologies that were not strictly impossible (so far as the science of the day was aware) but highly unlikely: "the more highly improbable a concept is—short of being contrary to mathematics whose fundamental operations involve no neglect of infinitesimals—the better I like it" was his phrase.

Lensman was one of five finalists when the 1966 World Science Fiction Convention judged Isaac Asimov's Foundation the Best All-Time Series.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted Smith in 2004.

[This guy was THE person who got me into reading back in my early teens. A copy of his novel Triplanetary was literally dropped into my lap by a friend of my brothers who thought I looked bored. It BLEW MY MIND and I have never looked back. I became obsessed with Sci-Fi from that point but soon(ish) started widening my reading to where it is today - but he started the fire that has never gone out. I'll see if I can re-read Triplanetary this year. It'll be interesting - if I don't quickly DNF it! - to see what I think of it 50 years later...]

Just Finished re-Reading: Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson (FP: 1988) [316pp] 

A Corporate War was coming. To protect her as much as possible, Kumiko Yanaka has been sent to freezing London in the care of her father’s ‘business associate’ and a state-of-the-art mobile AI called Colin. Meanwhile on the other side of the Atlantic a group of misfits hiding out in an industrial contamination zone have been tasked to hide a comatose hacker connected to a medical gurney and enough computing power to hold an entire world and more. Enter Sally, AKA Molly, a soldier, street samurai, agent for hire. She’s being blackmailed to kidnap the biggest star in the Matrix for purposes unknown. The blackmailer is the ‘ghost’ of a deceased billionaire who refuses to accept the reality of her own demise. Within the Matrix itself things move in the data streams. Things that have only just emerged, things with their own powers and own agenda, Things that have done something that will change EVERYTHING. 

This is the 3rd volume in the Sprawl trilogy. I first read it around the time of publication when Gibson was blowing my mind with possibilities. Strangely I found the first 100 pages a bit slow – but that might just be me these days – character building with a bit of world building thrown in. Most of the world building had been supplied in the first 2 novels so it wasn’t really required to do much more. A few of the characters from the previous book appeared (including the great character of Molly with her implanted mirror-specs) although they mostly played subsidiary roles here. The story REALLY picked up after page 100 when several revelations dropped which not only changed the speed of the narrative but its overall tone too. Although the closing revelation didn’t have quite the same impact on a 2nd reading, I do remember being totally FLOORED by it the 1st time around. It was a heck of a cliffhanger that has, as yet, not been resolved in any of the authors other novels – I'll leave you to think on how good or bad that idea is! 

Set in the ‘near’ future – it's hard to say exactly when – it's always amusing to see what predictions came true and what was missed. Here we have self-drive cars, instant access to information, laptops (called decks), smart clothes, orbital factories, the casual (if expensive) use of intercontinental supersonic flight, but NO mobile phones. There was one mention of Wi-Fi (as well as how expensive it was) but not a single cell phone. WEIRD! Although this is probably my least favourite of the trilogy – the 2nd book is my favourite – this is still a very good cyberpunk novel and has rightly part of a well-earned classic trilogy. You don’t have to read them in chronological order as they are only loosely connected but I’d recommend that you do so. Recommended to all SF lovers and especially those interested in the Cyberpunk sub-genre.    

Just Finished Reading: The Three Electroknights by Stanislaw Lem (FP: 1977) [52pp] 

I read some Lem decades ago and found him very different from the standard UK or US sci-fi author. That made him both interesting and difficult. I haven’t read, but I do own, his most famous work ‘Solaris’ and intend to read that at “some point” in the future. I’ve tried to watch the original Russian version but failed on both attempts. I did really enjoy the Steven Soderbergh directed US remake in 2002 which starred George Clooney and Natascha McElhone. I thought it was quite excellent. 

But, to this booklet... It contained 4 (very) short stories including the titled piece. Although each was readable the first three didn’t do very much for me. The final story ‘The Tale of King Gnuff’ was something else though. At first it was a pretty standard fantasy tale with a decided Shakespearian twist. A young man is elevated to the throne in a kingdom far, far away but has a problem. He’s both a coward and incredibly paranoid. Thinking that his family are plotting against him he strikes first and has them all executed. Still not feeling safe he slowly eliminates anyone who could possibly be a danger and over time empties his capital of threats. Still not satisfied he installs advanced surveillance, builds walls around the city and automates all services. But to monitor things 24/7 (not trusting anyone else) he needs to plug himself into the machine that oversees his security. But there’s a problem. When he sleeps – as he still needs to do – his subconscious mind seems to be plotting rebellion. The King is stumped – how do you fight yourself in the dreamworld and know if you’ve won? I couldn’t help but think that this was a less than subtle comment about Stalin and his years of Terror. Mostly reasonable with the final story being very good indeed. 

Translated (presumably) from the Russian by Michael Kandel.

Happy Birthday: George Alec Effinger (January 10, 1947 – April 27, 2002) was an American science fiction author, born in Cleveland, Ohio. His first novel, What Entropy Means to Me (1972), was nominated for the Nebula Award. He achieved his greatest success with the trilogy of Marîd Audran novels set in the Middle East in the 22nd century, with cybernetic implants and modules allowing individuals to change their personalities or bodies. The novels are in fact set in a thinly veiled version of the French Quarter of New Orleans. The three published Audran novels were When Gravity Fails (1987), A Fire in the Sun (1989), and The Exile Kiss (1991); Effinger also contributed to the computer game Circuit's Edge (1990), based on When Gravity Fails. He began a fourth Budayeen novel, Word of Night, but completed only the first two chapters. Those two chapters were reprinted in the anthology Budayeen Nights (2003) which has all of Effinger's short material from the Marîd Audran setting.

[I was a BIG fan of his work in the late 80's and loved his Middle East version of Cyberpunk. I must get around to re-reading him.]

Sci-Fi Books that Shaped Me 

This is kind of stolen (with modifications) from Stephen over @ Reading Freely. 

For the greater part of my reading life (over 50 years now) my ‘go to’ books have been Science Fiction. Indeed, when I started out (VERY late in my early teens) I read SF almost exclusively. Needless to say, the genre has had a significant impact on making me who I am today. 

As I’ve mentioned several times the spark that ignited my lifelong passion for books was Triplanetary by E E ‘Doc’ Smith (which I must re-read at some point). This was a classic tale of Space Opera published in 1934 and was full of alien races, exploding stars and huge space battles. It was exactly what a young teen needed to literally blow their imagination. The other (very) early influence, just prior to this, was 1984 by George Orwell leant to me by a sympathetic English teacher at school. This slice of classic dystopian fiction was a foundation to my distrust of the authoritarian impulse and a major building block of my political belief system. My subsequent reading of The Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuin kicked off my longtime interest in Anarchism and all things politically on the Left. 

In a much more general sense Science Fiction significantly shaped the way I thought and, no doubt, still think about the world. One of the ways it did that was to make me wonder about the real science behind the science fiction. Reading about aliens, spaceships, time machines and robots (amongst MANY other things) got me wondering about how these things actually worked. How do you actually navigate in space? Is there (or was there) life on Mars? How do lasers work? What happens when a craft approaches the Speed of Light? Can you go faster? The only way to even begin to answer those questions was to hunt out books in my local library and read up on them. 

Along with (later) reading History, the different societies portrayed in SF (both human and alien, alternate and future) showed me that things could or can be different than they are now. They taught me that this wasn’t IT. That things could change for the better, that life as we lived it wasn’t inevitable – nothing like it. There was an alternative, indeed MANY alternatives. Speaking of which... reading Alternative History (one of my favourite sub-genres) taught me just how contingent things are. That even small changes, from a humble individual could at the right time and in the right place change history profoundly. Yet again it taught me that there was no such thing as Fate, no Destiny, no Plan. That things could have been very different from what we often accept as inevitable. 

Although reading Science-Fiction didn’t make me an Atheist I can see how it helped to reinforce that idea. Quite a lot of SF resolves around puzzles to be solved. Sometimes they’re as mundane as ‘How do we get from A to B without dying?’ Other times its ‘What are the aliens going to do next or How can we understand what they’re trying to say to us?’ The story then revolves around gathering evidence, putting together theories and testing them until you come up with a working solution. This reinforced the idea in my youthful growing brain that all problems had potential solutions and that what I needed to do was to analyse the issue (ANY issue), do my research and come up with a working hypothesis that I could test against reality. I then applied this idea to EVERYTHING I came across. Over time I became curious about everything (my ‘butterfly mind’) as well as sceptical about everything too. Whenever I can across an assertion my immediate response was “Prove it.” 

Needless to say, with my growing brain marinating in a regular infusion of SF in all its variety, my reading influenced (or some would no doubt say warped) my view of myself and the world. I got used to people looking at me strangely for the questions I asked, the fact that I asked questions at all, the depth of my scepticism (I even impressed my Masters tutors on that point), the solutions I offered (more often rejected as unworkable or too expensive – or just ‘silly’), and a host of other things. Science Fiction has most definitely made me the person I am, and I have zero regrets on that point. I have no idea who I would be without it, but I’m pretty certain that I’d be a different and probably a very different person sitting here today. Am I a better person because of 50+ years of SF reading? That’s an interesting question and probably only answerable if we had access to alternate realities... which we probably don’t.... Probably...  

Just Finished re-Reading: Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K Dick (FP: 1974) [204pp] 

Jason Tavener has it all, he is an idol with 30 million fans of his late-night TV show, he’s rich, famous and successful, he’s made it. He has, he would admit, an almost perfect life. One other thing he has is enemies. He can’t get to the top without climbing over people. On of those enemies, an ex-’girlfriend’, has something in mind to make their separation permanent. Jason never saw it coming. He woke briefly in the ambulance and again as he was rushed into the operating room. Then... Nothing. He woke the next day in a sleezy boarding house downtown. He was still dressed in his rumpled suit and the $5K was still in his pocket. The only things he was missing was his ID, any blood or scaring or any memory of how he got there. The lack of ID was a problem. The police would pick him up if he went far without it. He’d have to get his agent to drive over with a new set. Except his agent didn’t seem to know who he was. That bastard was going to get fired as soon as Jason got home. But the paper didn’t list his show on the TV pages, and no one recognised him in reception. What the hell was going on? His girlfriend would know. Calling her phone from memory was the real shocker. She clearly had no idea who he was except for a sick fan stalker. Jason was in trouble, deep trouble and he had no idea why... 

I read this no long after its original publication so could remember almost nothing about it. The blurb on the back (you know, I REALLY have to stop reading them...) promised ‘a terrifying near future that makes 1984 look like the Age of Enlightenment’. Needless to say, that was a ‘slight’ exaggeration. That’s not to say that it was without its merits. PKD’s main narrative thrust in at least most of his work (that I’ve read) is the question: What is REAL? Jason’s ‘transfer’ to a world where no one knows him gets him to question himself, reality and everything in between. If you’re effectively a non-person, then who exactly are you? The world he came from (and indeed the world he spent most of the novel in) was indeed a police-state but, especially by today’s standards, was a pretty lame one and wasn’t a patch on the dystopia of 1984. It was, essentially, the early 70’s with all its political and social upheaval projected into the ‘future’ plus flying cars, high levels of pornography and easy access to drugs of all types. So, the overall ‘world-building’ was minimal. The whole identity issue was handled much better and had some pretty good moments, but moments only! The ‘reason’ behind the sudden change of reality was, frankly, silly and would probably have been better if it was never explained. I’m not sure what I made of it in my teens, but it didn’t float my boat now. Reasonable overall, but more odd than enjoyable. Hopefully some much better re-reads to come!   

Just Couldn’t Finish Reading: The Purple Cloud by M P Shiel (FP: 1901) [222pp] 

It was the chance of a lifetime, a chance at immortality. To be the first man to reach the North Pole would mean more than fame though, it would make him rich. An American philanthropist had offered millions to the first person to make the journey, and Adam Jeffson was determined to be that man. After much effort and not a few deaths he found the achievement to be ashes in his mouth. Almost dead himself he struggled back, alone, to base camp to find the other two explorers dead. Weeks later as his sled approached their ship, he failed to raise anyone to help him aboard. Just like at base camp he discovered the entire crew dead caught, it seemed, unaware of their predicament. Jeffson had no option but to sail the ship single-handed back to the nearest port. He knew what he would find when he got there. After seeing countless dead birds, fish and larger animals on his voyage he did not expect to find anyone alive. He did not. The world had changed in his absence. All life, it seemed, had been removed. He was, as far as he could tell, alone in a world-wide graveyard.  

To be honest I do rather like post-apocalyptic stories either in film/TV series form or as a novel. I’m particularly fond of the ‘Last Man’ idea as an individual (all too often finding someone else – an actual Eve – towards the end to start things over) explores a dead world looking for solutions and starting things over again. I was, again being honest, getting rad flags about this book almost from the beginning. Although billed as ‘Science-Fiction’ it did have a supernatural/horror feeling to it with disembodied voices and a weird experience/encounter at the Pole itself. I did kind of compartmentalise this and, essentially, ignore that part of the narrative.  

What I did like was the way Adam went about his journey of discovery, sailing from place to place, reading newspapers about how it all happened – that pesky Purple Cloud of the title – and looking at what to do next. I did manage to get to around page 90 before I gave up. Although it wasn’t too badly written overall, I did find it far too slow to really enjoy it. Descriptively it was pretty good and the picture of mass casualties lying where they fell weeks previously – in their thousands – was the stuff of nightmares. The description of the ‘event’ and subsequent speculation didn’t, however, sit well with me. The ‘Cloud’ was thought to have emerged from a volcanic eruption and encircled the Earth at approximately 4 miles an hour killing everyone and everything in its path. This, of course, completely ignores wind and much else besides. I couldn’t help but think that there would inevitably be places where the Cloud/gas wave never arrived – apart from the fact that it would take a LOT of gas to circumnavigate the entire planet. I also couldn’t help thinking of things like: just how HIGH was the Cloud? What about people in Peru or the Himalayas? Apparently, there was a few attempts to seal rooms or structures from the gas – but they ran out of oxygen before it passed... Really? What about oxygen bottles (like in The Poison Belt by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) and what about respirators? Also, what about airships either hovering above it or popping over the Cloud and dropping people off in the area already passed over? SO many questions. But eventually, it all became a bit much and it became an unprecedented THIRD DNF of the year – something I really didn’t like doing. So, overall, a questionable idea, quite well done, but too long-winded for much reading pleasure.  

Just Finished Reading: The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle (1957) [219pp] 

It was spotted by an amateur astronomer. Just a dark speck in the sky, something wrong, something off. Within days it was confirmed by astronomers in the US and then in other countries. Part of the night sky had gone dark as if a black cloud was blocking out the light. Radio telescopes quickly confirmed the sighting. A large gas cloud was approaching at speed and would, in about 16 months, block out the Sun. More calculations followed. Scientists on both sides of the Atlantic concurred. At its present speed the cloud would obscure the Sun for around 4-6 weeks causing global temperatures to drop, crops to fail and global famine to occur – but many lives could be saved if appropriate measures were taken. It was going to be rough, but the event was not enough to threaten life on Earth in its entirety. As observations continued scientists noticed something strange, something very worrying indeed. If the figures were correct the cloud was doing something very unexpected indeed, something thought to be simply impossible. The cloud was slowing down. This meant a much longer transit through the Solar system and a much longer, deeper, cold ‘snap’. The threat to mankind's survival had just become much more acute. As monitoring continued the radio-telescopes regularly pinged the cloud to determine speed and direction in the hope that it would bypass the Earth and move on. As the approach continued and as the pings rang out the strangest thing so far happened – the cloud pinged back... 

As is usually the case this slim SF novel has been sitting on one of my shelves for many years unread. As part of a (actual failed) coupling I thought it was about time to give it a ‘go’. I was actually pleasantly surprised. I thought, especially from the blurb and what I’d heard about it, that it was going to be a standard ‘world in danger’, ‘politicians dismiss the science’ kind of thing. There were certainly elements of that – especially when politicians in the US and UK decided not to tell the public what was going on even when the worst was happening around them. Then, about a third of the way through, the narrative changed direction into a First Contact book (the alien was nicely *alien*). Once THAT dust had settled the book took another unexpected turn and (rather delightfully) surprised me again. It wasn’t all fun though – although I did have a few laugh-out-loud moments and particularly liked the Soviet scientists quip about letting the Cloud learn English so we could talk to it rather than us learning ITS language! 

Billed as ‘Science-Fiction by a Scientist’ this did have a tendency of pausing or stopping the narrative to discuss the science bits – including the odd diagram and even a sprinkling of equations! People (even very smart scientists) discussing things in smoke filled rooms is not really a good way to keep many people's interests! Oh, and I think most probably to save the cost of too much SFX the majority of the death and destruction took place ‘off page’ to be reported back in news broadcasts & the daily papers (which somehow seems to weather the global disaster much longer than you’d think they would. One last thing – the author made mention of one group of people who barely noticed the moderate cataclysm – the Esquimaux... I didn’t realise that this particular spelling lasted into the late 1950’s. Curious! 

Despite the sometimes-glacial pace of the narrative, this wasn’t half bad. It surprised me more than once and floated some interesting ideas of life in the Universe and our place in it. More than reasonable (if rather dated as you might imagine) and worth a read. 

Just Finished re-Reading: Count Zero by William Gibson (FP: 1986) [305pp] 

Turner is a mercenary and is very good at his job. That job involves ‘assisting’ executives transition to other Corporations over the sometimes considerable objections of their original host. On this occasion everything looked pretty much as expected, including the planted agent and questionable medical team. What Turner didn’t expect, just before the hammer came down HARD was that the ‘transfer’ in the microlight was the executives enhanced daughter. 

On the edges of the Sprawl, a neophyte hacker by the name of Count Zero almost dies to Black ICE (Intruder Countermeasure Electronic) while testing out a new Ice Breaker against a seemingly innocuous target. Now hunted by some very dangerous people indeed, who are not beyond using a missile strike inside an urban complex to kill him, he does the only thing he can – go back to the people who gave him the code and demand to know where it came from. 

Meanwhile in Paris, disgraced art gallery owner Marly Krushkhova is hired by one of the richest men in the world, the extremely reclusive Josef Virek, to track down a mysterious artist who is producing some of the most exotic and sort-after artifacts in the world. No one knows who they are or where they operate from. The objects – both beautiful and disturbingly strange – show up randomly raising fantastic prices on the art market. Marly suddenly finds herself with a seemingly bottomless bank account and the knowledge that she is being watched every second. 

I first read this not long after publication (which, these days, is almost unheard of). Part of that reason is that, back in the mid-80's my TBR pile was miniscule by todays standards and the fact that the first book in this trilogy (Neuromancer) COMPLETELY blew me away. After a gap of 40 years I hardly remember much about the plot. Small instances rung the odd bell, but essentially this was a first time read – which COMPLETELY blew me away again! Here we have mega-corporations moving from Cold to Warm war (it hasn’t quite gone fully HOT yet!), top-of-the-line Mercs doing their thing, high-tech happenings (hacking & such), ‘things’ moving in The Matrix (which reminds me, I really must read up about Voodoo some day), criminal gangs (nice people once you get to know them), VERY clever AI’s (along with the interesting idea of the Turing Police to make sure they stay controlled), spoiler: they fail but don’t know it – and much else besides. 

This is one of the foundational books in the Cyberpunk genre and with good reason. Most of the tropes fans know and LOVE came from the mind of William Gibson. Personally I find his books – all of them so far – to be completely intoxicating. Apart from the fact that he writes REALLY well (he definitely earns the ‘Raymond Chandler of SF’ label), he produces great believable characters (both main and side), excellent dialogue and, probably most of all, a fully realised and believable world for the story to develop in. For example, one of the things I do enjoy is being dropped into a world without knowing too much about it and being forced to figure things out as you go WITHOUT being spoon-fed items so the plot make sense. You learn by reading. IRL people don’t sit in rooms having conversations about events that built their world. They already KNOW this shit because they LIVED through it. We didn’t, so we need to pay attention to what’s going on and what people say – or don’t say. Case in point: several times a character would mention something along the lines that a development project (or whatever) was abandoned ‘after the war’, but nothing about what war, who fought it or who won/lost... Because characters in world wouldn’t NEED to elaborate as in was, no doubt, in ALL the papers. LOVE that sort of thing. 

Despite being published in 1986 I was impressed by the forecast technology – in particular the Internet/Matrix (it was called that amongst other things). A few things did make me chuckle though. Although Gibson didn’t imagine laptops out of whole cloth (early models were around at the time of writing) he did see how important they’d become. Several things he did miss however: despite being in the medium future (I’m guessing at least 50 years ahead) there’s neither cell phones nor Wi-Fi. Oh, and the Soviet Union is still a thing [grin] 

As you can no doubt tell I LOVED this re-Read and will be scheduling the final book in the trilogy (Mona Lisa Overdrive) as soon as possible. If you’re a SF fan and especially if you like things Cyberpunk this is a MUST read. Highly recommended. 

Just Finished Reading: England Invaded edited by Michael Moorcock (FP: 1977) [245pp] 

I’ve had this collection on my shelves for years – decades even (although not since 1977!). I thought it was about high-time I actually read it. The first thing I found is that the title of the collection was more than a little misleading. I was expecting a collection of classic stories about, well, England being invaded. Surprisingly several stories didn’t even take place in England and only one, the last in the set, actually took place in an invaded England. 

The first story in the set ‘The Uses of Advertisement’ by Tristram Crutchley (1909) was reasonable and revolved around the military applications of heavier than air flying machines. By far the strangest tale was ‘The Monster of Lake Lametrie’ by Wardon Allan Curtis (1899) involving prehistoric monsters and radical brain surgery. By far the worst, which was to be honest barely a story, was ‘The abduction of Alexandra Seine’ by Fred C Smale. Things got better with ‘When the New Zealander Comes’ by Prof Blyde Muddersnook (1911) (hopefully that was a PEN name!) which told of an expedition to the ruins of London in the far future after the Fall of the West.  

This was all very hit and miss, and to be honest mostly miss, until the last story in the set which was by FAR the longest (at 168pp) and by a LONG way the best of the bunch. This was ‘When William Came’ by H H Munro (aka Saki) (1913). It told the story of Murrey Yeovil, an adventurer and hunter who has returned to London after months of recovering from an illness abroad (in Siberia and then Finland to recover his strength) which nearly killed him. Out of the loop for a while he is returning to a country recently defeated in a lightening war by Germany and one undergoing a slow process of occupation and assimilation into the Greater German Empire. I’d heard of ‘Saki’ before but can’t remember reading much of anything by him. That will definitely be changing. His portrayal of a brooding resentful England was quite masterful. Told mostly from Murrey’s PoV (that and his wife's) in the solid upper Middle-Class it was a tale of people mostly keeping their heads down unwilling to rock the boat. There was a persistent feeling of needing to accept the fait accompli (a phrase repeated throughout the text) for everyone’s sake. Some of the characters tried to go on as if nothing had changed – despite the multi-lingual road signs and German newspapers, to say nothing of a creeping café culture – others actively collaborated for advantage, whilst many simply left to restart their lives elsewhere in the Empire. It was VERY well done indeed and must have been what it was like (at least to begin with) in countries actually occupied within a year or two of publication. As you might imagine this no doubt shook up British complacency as it was intended to. 

So, whilst I cannot recommend the book/collection as a whole I can most heartily recommend you read just about anything by H H Munro as I intend to do. Unfortunately, he died, age 45, on the Western Front at the Battle of Ancre. 

Happy Birthday: James Edwin Gunn (July 12, 1923 – December 23, 2020) was an American science fiction writer, editor, scholar, and anthologist. His work as an editor of anthologies includes the six-volume Road to Science Fiction series. He won the Hugo Award for "Best Related Work" in 1983 and he won or was nominated for several other awards for his non-fiction works in the field of science fiction studies. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America made him its 24th Grand Master in 2007, and he was inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2015. His novel The Immortals was adapted into a 1970–71 TV series starring Christopher George.

Gunn was a professor emeritus of English and the founding director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction, both at the University of Kansas.

Gunn became a professional writer in 1947 when he wrote a play produced by the University of Kansas, Thy Kingdom Come, then wrote newspaper articles and radio scripts. Although he considered moving to New York to become a playwright, he began his career as a science fiction writer in 1949, making his first short story sale to Thrilling Wonder Stories. He has had nearly 100 stories published in magazines and anthologies and has written 28 books and edited 10. Many of his stories and books have been reprinted around the world.

In 1948, Gunn wrote his first science fiction, ten short stories, and published nine from 1949 to 1952 as "Edwin James", a pseudonym derived from his full name James Edwin Gunn. The first two in print, "Communications" and "Paradox" (the first sale), were published in September and October 1949 by editor Sam Merwin in Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories respectively. Gunn's master's thesis, a critical analysis of the genre, was also published in a professional magazine. His novels were first published by Gnome Press in 1955, Star Bridge, written by Gunn and Jack Williamson, and This Fortress World.

Scribner's published Gunn's novel The Listeners in 1972 and it was runner-up for the first annual John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. Carl Sagan called it "one of the very best fictional portrayals of contact with extra-terrestrial intelligence ever written." According to the publisher of a 2004 edition, "this book predicted and inspired the creation of the Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence (SETI)—the organization dedicated to the search for extra-terrestrial life."

In 1996, Gunn wrote a Star Trek novel that was a novelization of "The Joy Machine", an unproduced episode of the first Star Trek series that was scripted by Theodore Sturgeon.

Just Finished Reading: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow (FP: 2003) [201pp] 

It was more than a dream, much more. It was something that was part of his very DNA, part of his core personality – Disney World. So, being part of the ad-hoc that had dedicated itself to running and, more importantly, preserving the rides for this and future generations wasn’t just a dream come true, it was where he belonged. Unfortunately, all is not well in the Magic Kingdom. Others, less in love with what is and what was, think that they can ‘improve’ things, give people a better ride, a better experience. They are forward looking not backward and if they get their way then everything will change. Jules has decided that they will not desecrate his memories, the site, the rides he grew up on. It’s going to be the fight of his life – no matter how many times they kill him. 

I’ve heard a great deal about this author so thought it was about time I tried him out. I have to say, I was NOT exactly impressed. The ‘story’ such as it was, came across like two sets of High School students fighting over the design for the end of year Prom. To say that I was disengaged almost from the start is no exaggeration. I had zero investment in the final outcome and each ‘twist’ and turn just left me cold and disinterested. Quite honestly, I did not care if either side triumphed or failed spectacularly. Likewise, I had no investment in the characters none of whom were particularly well drawn – I would’ve thought that 100+ year olds with life experience to match would behave somewhat less than spoilt teenagers to be honest – and none of them were particularly likable.  

The book did contain a few interesting ideas – the post-scarcity society (not explained) where everyone had the basics (just about) but could gain ‘wealth’ by essentially being ‘popular’ and gaining “Whuffie” (kind of ‘likes’ or ‘upvotes’ like in the episode of The Orville or Black Mirror). All sounds VERY teen... Then there were ‘influencers’ - which we are all unfortunately familiar with today. The fear of death had become a thing of the past as people had the ability to ‘back-up’ their lives (care of, I think, some sort of electronic device in their head) which could then be downloaded into a new cloned body on demand. Seemingly this wasn’t 100% fool-proof (presumably unless you’re RICH) and a few issues with the technology was used (badly I thought) as a plot device to add ‘tension’ – which it singularly failed to do.      

Overall, I was not exactly impressed with this one. I’m giving the author a slight pass because it's his first book (and its over 20 years old so SF has moved on quite a bit since then) but I’m hoping that he gained his reputation as an innovator from his much better later works. I'm not 100% sure that this is my worst read of the year (so far), but it's definitely in the running. Not recommended. 

Just Finished Reading: By the Pricking of Her Thumb by Adam Roberts (FP: 2018) [260pp] 

It was, without much doubt, Alma’s strangest case. It was no wonder that the police had requested her services as an official advisor (the plus being that she was going to get paid even if at the basic rate). The only certain thing they could all agree on was that the victim was dead. The question was: How? The only ‘weapon’ used was a needle pushed, deliberately, through the victim's thumb. No toxins were discovered in her system, no trauma, nothing. So, what killed her exactly? Reluctantly, Alma agreed to take the case and, with her partner, started looking into possibilities... But lightening does indeed strike twice. Before Alma had more than viewed the body another even stranger case arrived and this one could pay very well indeed. One of the four richest people on the planet – from a group inevitably known to all as the ‘Fab Four’ - wanted Alma to investigate the death of one of the Four. The problem was that it was uncertain exactly who had died or how... Or when. The ‘Four’ had developed an online Gestalt and it was ‘off’ in some way. Something had changed in a hard to pin down fashion. Alma would certainly have her work cut out for her. The rich, never mind the hyper-rich represented by the Four, where not known for their willingness to open up to the police, never mind a private investigator drowning in debt.  

This was the sequel to ‘The Real-Town Murders’ that I greatly enjoyed back in September of 2023. I am a fan of well mashed genres and Sci-Fi/Crime is certainly one of them that I (generally) enjoy a great deal. Where forensic science is making crime more problematic and solving crimes arguably easier (and quicker) imagine a future with clones to mess up your DNA analysis, imagine trying to commit the perfect murder when the police have access to Time Travel.... But neither of those scenarios apply here... It’s the near(ish) future and the vast majority of people live most of their lives ‘online’ in The Shine where everything is possible – imagine a cross between the Matrix and the OASIS from Ready Player One. The ‘problem’ for the super-rich is how to make money from an existence where almost everyone can have almost everything they want for FREE. Money becomes meaningless in such a reality – unless... The Four have a variety of competing plans to monetise The Shine and if one of them is dead is that a move from one (or the rest) of the Four? How is the desire for and the move towards ‘absolute wealth’ going to play out in both the virtual and the real world. It's certainly enough to kill for, but who’s doing the killing? 

One of the great things I SO enjoy about this author is that he looks at things we’re getting used to – like Artificial Intelligence or Virtual Environments – in unique ways. He is, I think, quite the philosopher and has made me pause and really THINK about what he says more than once. I’m still mulling over one of his AI observations from his last book and consider it to be one of the most brilliant observations on the subject I’ve heard so far. Likewise, this novel is, above all else about Money, Wealth and Debt as PHILOSOPHICAL ideas (money after all hasn’t been ‘real’ for a very long time). It asks questions as fundamental as ‘What IS money’, ‘How Exactly do you Define Rich or Wealth’, ‘Is it possible – even theoretically – to be Absolutely Wealthy’, ‘What is Debt, and can it coexist in a world where “money” is more philosophical than ‘real’ and finally ‘Does money exist, indeed can it exist, in a post-scarcity world’? If you like to muse over such things and see just how DEEP the ribbit-hole goes then I think you’ll enjoy this novel. I did find it a little slow in places (quite a bit of conversations – interesting, but still) and a little self-indulgent in others (a slightly too long homage to the movie 2001) but I forgave the author these few missteps (in my mind anyway) because of the quality of the vast majority of the book. I’ve only come across this author comparatively recently but intend to read everything he’s produced. Definitely recommended for anyone looking for cerebral Science Fiction. 

Just Finished re-Reading: The Syndic by C M Kornbluth (FP: 1953) [160pp] 

Charles Orsino was a low-level operative for The Syndic (The Syndicate) in New York and was rather surprised when, at the theatre, one of his own bodyguards tried to kill him. On reporting the failed hit, he was even more surprised to discover that three other hits that night had been successful. Someone was looking to start a war – but who? The Mob? Maybe, but why? Or was it the rump of the US Government holding on in Ireland? They certainly had the motivation to take the American continent back but how did they imagine they could achieve that aim after 100 years in exile? In order to find out, Orsino was to be sent into the belly of the beast and discover, if he could, the Government secret plans and return to tell the tale – if he could. 

On reflection, I’m not exactly sure why I (re)read this. Part of it, I think, was that I thought – wrongly as it turned out – that this was a work of dystopia or possible post-apocalypse which I’ve been hankering after for some reason. The blub at the back helped calling this the author’s ‘most brilliant and fascinating work’ and even boldly stating that it ranked alongside 1984 as a ‘terrifying vision of the future’. As advertising goes this was, to say the least, misleading.  

For a Sci-Fi novel of the early 50’s it wasn’t actually terrible. There were the expected heavy references to psychology and even some moderately interesting views on government, but the rest of the narrative was, at best, all rather weak. The characterisation was solidly two-dimensional, the world-building nonsensical, and the eventual outcome nebulous. For reasons unknown – except a failure to ‘give the people what they wanted’ - the US government and their military had been beaten and ejected from the country by a rebellion led by Organised Crime. If that wasn’t silly enough apparently the rest of the world's nations collapsed into primitive barbarism because their crime lords were not organised enough (ignoring Italy of course). Ireland, now at least partially occupied by US Forces, had degenerated – in FOUR generations – back to the early IRON Age... Needless to say, despite finishing this thankfully short book, I didn’t exactly enjoy it. Hopefully my next dystopia will be more fun. Not recommended.  

Happy Birthday: Alfred Elton van Vogt (April 26, 1912 – January 26, 2000) was a Canadian-born American science fiction writer. His fragmented, bizarre narrative style influenced later science fiction writers, notably Philip K. Dick. He was one of the most popular and influential practitioners of science fiction in the mid-twentieth century, the genre's so-called Golden Age, and one of the most complex. The Science Fiction Writers of America named him their 14th Grand Master in 1995 (presented 1996).

Van Vogt's first completed novel, and one of his most famous, is Slan (Arkham House, 1946), which Campbell serialized in Astounding (September to December 1940). Using what became one of van Vogt's recurring themes, it told the story of a nine-year-old superman living in a world in which his kind are slain by Homo sapiens.

Others saw van Vogt's talent from his first story, and in May 1941 van Vogt decided to become a full-time writer, quitting his job at the Canadian Department of National Defence. Freed from the necessity of living in Ottawa, he and his wife lived for a time in the Gatineau region of Quebec before moving to Toronto in the fall of 1941.

Prolific throughout this period, van Vogt wrote many of his more famous short stories and novels in the years from 1941 through 1944. The novels The Book of Ptath and The Weapon Makers both appeared in magazines in serial form during this period; they were later published in book form after World War II. As well, several (though not all) of the stories that were compiled to make up the novels The Weapon Shops of Isher, The Mixed Men and The War Against the Rull were published during this time.

When the 1979 film Alien appeared, it was noted that the plot closely matched the plots of both Black Destroyer and Discord in Scarlet, both published in Astounding magazine in 1939, and then later published in the 1950 book Voyage of the Space Beagle. Van Vogt sued the production company for plagiarism, and eventually collected an out-of-court settlement of $50,000 from 20th Century Fox.

[I was a BIG fan of A E van Vogt back when I was consuming SF on an industrial scale. He's definitely a founding father of Sci-Fi and one reason why I love the genre so much.]

Just Finished Reading: Desert Raiders by Lucien Soulban (FP: 2007) [245pp] 

The distress signal was strong. Strong enough to kill the receiving psyker and incapacitate three others. An Imperial Guard unit had been eliminated, and naval units were dispatched to find out who, where and how. Two battered Tallarn regiments, barely recovered from previous battles, had been dropped on the barren desert planet – previously unknown and presently unregistered – to investigate. Within hours of their arrival the orbital fleet was directed to another emergency and assured the Imperial Guard units that further supplies would be dropped in 90 days. After months of base building, patrolling and growing tension between factions with a long and troubled history contact with the fleet and Sector command had not been established. For now at least they were on their own. With supplies running low and infighting becoming a real possibility, a sudden arrival from space manages to concentrate minds. It would certainly explain why they had been abandoned and why their supply drop was so overdue. Two hundred kilometres away in the deep desert a ship had arrived that drove fear into the hearts of the most experienced warriors amongst them. They were about to face the horror of the galaxy, the relentless force with only one aim, one mission, one drive – to feed. The Tyranids had arrived... 

This is my second Warhammer 40K novel. As much as I enjoyed my first experience with the novel side of things (I’ve been playing the PC game versions for years) I enjoyed this even more. It did start rather slowly with lots of good character building, world building and the expected sprinkling of 40K lore but I forgave all of that once the action started. The Tryranids are a truly terrifying species – imagine the xenomorph from Aliens except there are THOUSANDS of them and some of them are HUGE, some can fly or burrow through solid rock and some of them carry guns firing living hungry bullets – so the carnage was sometimes quite breathtaking. The second half of the novel, except for short breaks and breathing spaces, was almost constant combat so if you’re put off by that kind of Sci-Fi based fighting this is definitely not the book for you! If, however, you’re a fan of Combat SF then this will definitely tick ALL of your boxes. 

I actually wasn’t expecting all that much from this novel sequence. I suppose that I assumed that they’d just be disposable fun (for an existing 40K fan) but I’ve been surprised by how creditable the writing is over and above the action and the lore. The characterisation here was particularly good with respectable nuance and believable backstories and motivations. Some of it was clearly taken from the existing split in Islam but it still worked. Although there’s ZERO chance that I’ll get around to reading even a reasonable percentage of the books in this series produced so far, I’m definitely looking forward to reading more from this grim dark universe. Recommended for fans of 40K and of combat SF in general.