2021 is well underway--the newest wall calendars are in place, and a new crop of Criterion movies are arriving (and leaving). And Britain is free of Europe, and the US is almost free of Trump. And we are all still stuck with covid for a long time yet.
In movie news, we watched a fascinating Egyptian film from 1969 called The Night Of Counting Years. A while back we had watched a short film by the same director, based on an ancient papyrus scroll that was found and translated. In this full length feature, the director tackles an episode in 1881, where the Cairo authorities are trying to locate the tombs and mummies from the 21st dynasty for preservation and knowledge. A fierce mountain tribe has located the horde, and has been systematically robbing the tombs and selling pieces on the black market. The picture is a quiet one, with stunning location photography and settings. The film has been restored and looks positively breathtaking. So many great films, and we actually have time for some of them!
Next came The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, a movie I have likely seen at least 20 times, mostly at the Plaza Theatre in Sudbury, where I would attend a triple feature every Saturday, for 25 cents. This was Harry Harryhausen's first colour feature, and it's a special effects circus. There are cyclops, a dragon, a dancing snake woman, a baby two-headed roc, a mama roc, a sword fighting skeleton, a magic lamp with genie, a shrunken princess, and the wonderfully evil magician, Sokura. There are parts of this film that terrified me as a child, when I would sneak out to the candy counter for a 5 cent treat, taking just long enough to miss the offending scene. Criterion had a wonderful print of the movie to show us, but it is now left the building. We waited till the last minute to watch it.
Turning now to books read last month, I managed to get through 11 tales related to my Avon/Equinox SF Rediscovery Series project. In addition, I read two "outside" books, and four more chapters of Beethoven's biography by Jan Swafford. By reading count was higher this month, as there was virtually no astronomy program due to cloudy nights.
I began and ended the month with works by Robert Silverberg. First came Across A Billion Years, an unusual story of space age archaeology. A group of scientists are exploring a site of The Old Ones, a mysterious civilization that vanished millions of years ago. Their artifacts, which remain puzzling and unexplainable, keep turning up of different planets. A young digger hits the motherlode object, which opens up the field of study like nothing ever before.
Silverberg is famous for his books on archaeology, and in fact it was through one of his science books that he first came to my attention as a young reader. He knows a lot about the subject, and obviously has fun with this well written adventure story. The ending disappointed me, as it was bound to do when dealing with such a subject, but I really enjoyed the book. At the end of December I read my 2nd Silverberg story of the month, called Three Survived. As the author explains in his introduction to my volume, he was asked to write a book for the Pacemaker Series in the late 1960s. This series of books was aimed at poor readers who wanted access to fun stories. So Silverberg took a story he'd written many years earlier and reworked it for young but willing readers. It is actually a novella, and not too bad a one, at that, with several good points to make. My only complaint, a frequent one with Silverberg and other authors of the time, is that there is not a single female character in the entire story! Obviously the book was intended for male readers, an opportunity missed yet again to involve females in the genre. The character Leswick could easily have been switched to female.
Next came Blue Adept by Piers Anthony, Book 2 of his Apprentice Adept series. Anthony tries to build a bridge between SF and Fantasy genres, and while he can be praised for trying something new, the book (and series so far) is more successful as fantasy. The chapters alternate between two worlds, one where rich people rule a planet decimated by pollution, living under domes and enjoying The Games, and its opposite world, where magic rules and things are still very green. In my opinion, since discovering his preference for writing fantasy (which at the time was vastly outselling SF), Anthony has been on a downhill treadmill. One reads him, enjoying certain situations, characters, and settings, but overall it is just a matter of passing time. I enjoyed the 2nd book more than the first one, but nothing would inspire me to reread either book.
Harry Harrison's thrill-a-minute conclusion to his 3-book series To The Stars was up next. The series (for me) began badly with a frustrating ending to book 1. However, things improved vastly in the 2nd book, and continued on in like manner till the final page of book 3. This book deals with the rebellion of the outer planets against Earth, and is a nail-biting story in the best pulp tradition. There are several highlights, including the author's comparison of how the UK works compared to the USA, and an older, wise black character that owns one of the last great hidden libraries of books, amidst the slums of LA. A recommended series, after you are finished throwing book one against a wall after reading it.
Bulmer's Blazon in a tale of extremely violent and cruel aliens suddenly attacking Earth colonies, and ruthlessly destroying people, animals, crops, etc. At first Earth is helpless against this unlooked for enemy, and their finest ships go down to defeat in any face to face encounter. Time for a secret weapon, one that can destroy the aliens and bring peace to the galaxy. From 1971, the story continues Bulmer's tradition of writing a good tale, and then something beyond. He always has something interesting to say about humans in his stories, both good and bad. In this story, the ultimate weapon gets a bit out of control, causing as much of a problem as the alien enemy once did.
My readings of E C Tubb have lately centred around books of his that were unpublished in his lifetime, but have finally seen print more recently. The Freedom Army is from 1953, and is a good old fashioned pulp novel. Debracey's Drug has caused all humans who take it to lose their emotions and unwilling to tolerate any level of freedom. The original purpose of the drug was quite different, a story all too familiar today with many fine drugs on the market. Three freedom loving men are trapped in a bunker, being bombarded to death by the raging mob who hates them. Luckily (or we wouldn't have had a story at all) one of these men is a brilliant old professor, who is just finishing up his invention, which can lead them all to safety by sending into a different dimension. Same planet, but different. Away they go! To land in the fire from the frying pan they just left behind. Cruel aliens rule this Earth, and must be defeated and killed. Again, no females in this story at all. Sad but true. A good example of traditional SF pulp, it is one breathless adventurous moment after another.
Rogue Star, by Jack Williamson and Fred Pohl, is the concluding novel of their Starchild trilogy. This volume can be read without any knowledge of the first two books, as it takes place centuries after those stories, in a time when the past events are considered more myth than fact. In this story, star loves girl, girl hates star, star vows revenge on its elders (other stars). This is certainly one of the most unique stories I have ever read, and most certainly the strangest love story I have ever come across! There are some fine moments here, though overall it is a pulp SF novel at heart, with plenty of action, explosions, and heart-thudding adventures. The hero is quite a comical figure, like something out of an Iain Banks novel. I had expected the ending to somehow be twisted into a happy one (like so many Star Trek episodes), but I was pleasantly surprised at how original and suitable it really was. A good read if you want something off the beaten path.
The Distant Suns, a novel, and Flux, a 35 page story, were next, authored by Michael Moorcock. The novel is from 1975, but is a throwback to the pulp era. Three people leave for Alpha Centauri to find a planet suitable for overcrowded Earth to colonize. With references to the Morlock and to Neil Armstrong, and a hero named Jerry Cornelius and his wife Catherine, this is a fun read. There are some inexplicable moments (Asians came to the planet they discover first, many centuries earlier), but overall this is a fun SF novel, filled with strange people and things, and first rate adventure. Flux is Moorcock's tribute to H. G. Wells' The Time Machine, and in it he reveals the true secret of time travel. Quite a good story, which covers a lot of ground in very few pages.
Next came Miracles of Life, Ballard's autobiography. At last we get to separate fact from fiction. Ballard writes as well here as in any of his novels, and his sense of humour keeps things from becoming too serious. Completed just a year or so before his death, it is essential reading for fans of the author. His Shanghai experiences during WW II have seeped into every aspect of most of his novels, but he had many other experiences that also deepened his outlook, no the least of which was the death of his young wife. It is not a book that should be read before his major novels, but it is one I will come back to again.
The month's crowning achievement was reading Barry Malzberg's Herovit's World, a novel about a SF pulp writer slowly going crazy. All of Malzberg's novels feature someone going off the deep end, but this one really takes the cake! One of his best works, it is dark, very funny, and all too true. It is a book that should be read by every SF author (it likely has been!) and fan of the genre. Too incredible, and a must-read! Book of the month, if not the year!
Concluding my cycle of Avon/Equinox books (before starting over with Silverberg--see above) was James Blish's All The Stars A Stage, about a generational life ship heading for the stars with its hopeful human colonists. The story is slow to begin, but once in space things pick up a lot. First one planet is visited, but hope is abandoned after several unforeseeable obstacles prevent them from staying. One of these obstacles concerns insects, and is quite a fascinating take on alien life. A second planet is reached, again with not much hope of colonizing. The reasons this time are military, but too late the crew realizes that they could have made this one work. Will there be a third planet? By now most of the original crew have passed away, and it is the 2nd generation running things now. A good, solid SF story, sometimes reminding me of Aniara.
I had time for two books off of my 'normal' shelf of books to read. The first was given to me by Amanda, finally managing to work its way to the top of the pile, after a wait of several years. The Map and The Territory, a novel by Michel Houellebecq, concerns a successful artist and his sad life. The character is bland, uninteresting, and unemotional, and halfway through the book I didn't think I would finish it. He is supposed to be a great author, so I won't judge him by this book. But it seems to be a stinker. The book is so unmoving and uninvolving that suddenly, about two thirds of the way through, it becomes a murder mystery. Even the author must have realized he had dug himself into a nasty hole. Not recommended.
I finished off the month with a wonderful youth novel, Black Jack by Leon Garfield. This is a first rate adventure novel for young readers (early teens), and I ordered the book a while back after seeing the excellent film based on the book. Some authors are just so good at writing for young people that it makes me want to give up in despair. A joy to read!
Finally, in art news, I will begin the new year pretty much like the old one ended, with a Utopian painting that allows me some escape from this brown winter, where we are mostly stuck inside the house. This one involves the sea at sunset, with a ship waiting to take us away from here (though in this case, 'here' doesn't seem too bad).
I have two astronomy articles to write before my next post here, and another challenging vocal task for one of Deb's film series. After tackling these, I will return with more time filling excitement. Happy New Year!
Mapman Mike
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