An ecotopian fighter plane with tensile hang-glider wings on hydraulic “fingers,” husband-and-wife teams in the cockpit, and composite construction of titanium and bamboo with teflon-coated fiberglass wings.
One of Craig Hodgetts’ 1978 drawings for a proposed adaptation of Ecotopia.
On the sci fi art thread, I definitely read this book metioned on the awesome Ski-ffy blog: “Captain Bloodaxe - the terror of these seas - is known to give no quarter.”
I think one of the founders of like Phrack or 2600 took his name from this book.
This is the only game/rpg book I’ve read.
But then again I am somewhat the opposite of Alan Moore, in that I regard screen adaptations of my work with little more than simple childlike curiosity.
Gene Wolfe’s newest novel, An Evil Guest is now available for preorder, and set to be released on September 16th.
I linked Neil Gaiman’s review of a draft a while back, but the Amazon page has some more information.
It seems Wolfe indulges himself in a bit of a genre stew– mixing noir’s private detectives, Broadway glitter, sorcerers, iPods, cold war intrigue, and Cthulhu, itself.
From Caitlín R. Kiernan’s blurb:
The distinctions we draw between past, present, and future are discriminations among illusions. This paraphrase of Einstein stands as a sort of thesis statement for this deliriously anachronistic novel, which, though seemingly set near or at the end of the 21st century, feels more like a wild confabulation of the ’20s, ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, with a bit of the ’80s sprinkled here and there, and just a dash of the first decade of our new millennium.
Even as Wolfe warps time and space, he also warps and dismisses the too often indulged expectations of genre readers. There is no slavish devotion to dull futurism, but a swaggering, romantic, unabashedly unlikely tomorrowland.
Really, really poor cover choice though. Luckily, the UK edition appears to have a more tasteful design, thankfully avoiding the goth-vampire-meets-fairy-romance cover of the US version.
Our flagship product, Lexicon Urthus, which has been out of print since 2002, is available again in a new, expanded edition.
- The new edition has 1200 entries (up from 950 in first edition).
- The new edition is 440 pages (up from 304).
- All the corrections (and most of the additions) of the AE& series and NS-1 are included.
- All the named characters are added.
- The new edition is available for the first time in paperback.
Time to upgrade, Finn. You can pick it up in person next time you are in Berkeley, at one of the fine safe-havens for Gene Wolfe fans: Dark Carnival or (and how did I not know this place existed?) Other Change of Hobbit.
the funny (sad?) thing is that I have heard of the other change of hobbit.
I’m curious if this version will have the derivation of “undine” which iirc the old one was missing.
wpedia to the rescue. funny to think that wikipedia wasn’t complete enough for me to look up this term the last time I read these books.
The House Next Door relives the Summer of ‘83 in movies, featuring Krull:
Some topics for inquiry:
That Dainty Fey Hero: Who Was That Guy? Whatever Happened to Him?
Lysette Anthony, The Cleavage, The Inexplicable Enduring Love For said Dainty Fey Hero. That thing she was running around in—what was that?
Is Tim Curry In This Movie, or That Other Fantasy Movie With the Same Plot?
I can’t tell you how much I enjoy vintage science fiction illustrations like these. Yes, another Nonist link.
Ah bless Youtube. Someone has uploaded the BBC4 documentary on Hawkwind, entitled Do Not Panic. I need to find the DVD of this.
According to Moorcock:
The guy who did this documentary was very smart and generally well above the norm, so I suspect it will be good. He and his crew came to see me in Paris last year. I think he also interviewed Nick Kent.
Unrelentingly lurid and equally hilarious, TRIBULATION 99: ALIEN ANOMALIES UNDER AMERICA might be an X-ray of a rabid slacker’s seething brain. This 48-min. “pseudo-pseudo-documentary” is a skewed history of US intervention in Latin America AND a hysterical satire of conspiracy theory.
With a sci-fi plot suggesting that current unrest can be blamed on space aliens who live under atomic test sites, the film illustrates its argument with images culled from newsreels, horror flicks, and everything in between.
The film may induce in some the symptoms of information overload, brought on by the flashing graphics, manic gestures, and cheesy special effects.
pimp my spaceship?
We all know I have a weakness for concept albums– and I feel Julian Jay Savarin’s Waiters on the Dance is even more Modcult-worthy due to the fact it accompanies an an actual science fiction novel of the same name. Definitely shades of Moorcock/Hawkwind high concept rock ‘n’ roll in this one.
In print, Waiters on the Dance was the first novel of Savarin’s His Lemmus “time” trilogy. It’s out of print, but I did manage to find this backcover blurb:
And so the great expedition began; the expedition to the virgin plant of Terra – the green globe, rich in atmosphere, in animal life and in vegetation …the colonisation would change the course of the universe.
As for the record, it is lush progressive rock with nice female vocals by one time Catapilla vocalist Lady Jo Meek (great names abound on this record). Layered compositions with lots of mellotron, and some harder edged guitar passages as well. Savarin is credited with story, arrangement, organ, and mellotron.
Previously, Savarin orchestrated a similar project, Julian’s Treatment, who also released only one progressive concept album with a (different) female vocalist, A Time Before This.
We watched the Tomes & Talismans series in elementary school, and I’ve basically waited almost 20 years to see it again. Finally, someone put it up on the internet– all 13 episodes. I still have dreams about these videos. Praise Youtube.
ecotopia is a pretty awful book, but these images are fantastic.