R.A. Goli's Blog, page 2
June 16, 2020
Pulp Appeal: The Beastmaster
Posted on July 8, 2019 by Matthew X. Gomez
(Editor’s Note: R.A. Goli is an Australian writer of horror, fantasy, and speculative short stories. In addition to writing, her interests include reading, gaming, the occasional walk, and annoying her dog, two cats, and husband.Check out her numerous publications including her fantasy novella, The Eighth Dwarf, and her collection of short stories, Unfettered at https://ragoliauthor.wordpress.com/ or stalk her on facebook https://www.facebook.com/RAGoliAuthor/. Her stories have appeared in issues 1 and 9 of Broadsword and Blasters).
The Beastmaster is a classic sword and sorcery tale, loosely based on the novel of the same name by Andre Norton, released in 1959. The movie, released in 1982, stars Marc Singer as Dar (Dallas, 1986), Tanya Roberts as Kiri (Charlies Angels, 1981), Rip Torn as Maax (30 Rock, 2007-2009), and John Amos as Seth (Good Times, 1974-1976).
The movie begins with three dark-robed priests entering a temple where a trio of witches’ chant as they scry into a cauldron. The witches prophesize the death of the high priest/cult leader, Maax (pronounced, Mayax), at the hands of King Zed’s unborn son. Upon learning of Maax’ scheme to sacrifice his child to the god, Ar, King Zed banishes Maax and his priests. Maax sends one of the witches to deal with the problem. She casts a spell and transfers the baby from the mother’s womb into a cow’s womb, then slices it from the bovine’s stomach. She brands the baby with the mark of Ar, but before she is able to sacrifice him, a passer by intervenes, killing the witch and taking the baby to raise as his own, because that is what you did in those days.
The man trains his adoptive son, Dar, to fight and during a sparring session, a bear mauls another villager. Dar’s special ability becomes apparent when he telepathically communicates with the bear and sends it on its way. His father warns him that power such as his must be kept secret.
Years later and now a grown man, Dar’s peaceful life is shattered when Maax sends an army, known as Jun, to attack the village. Dar is spared and wakes up with ‘eagle sight’. Dar remembers a conversation he had with his adoptive father; should anything happen to him, his sword and caber (throwing weapon), would be Dar’s ‘trusted companions’, and that he must search for his enemies and seek his destiny. With everyone dear to him now dead, he sets off on his quest for revenge, with the eagle; Sharak in tow.
Along the way, Dar befriends two thieving ferrets, (Kodo and Podo), and a black tiger (Ruh). Now Dar has the eyes of the eagle (though later he realizes he can also see through the tiger’s eyes), the cunning of the ferrets, and the strength of the black tiger. By chance he meets a beautiful slave, Kiri, and decides to follow her to save her from her enslavement, but loses his way and comes across a tribe of half-man, half-bird creatures who consume the flesh of men by trapping them within their large bat-like wings. The bird-men worship eagles so when they see Sharak, they allow Dar to pass unharmed. One of the creature’s gifts Dar with a medallion depicting an eagle, which he will later use to call on their aid during the final battle.
There’s a lot of rescuing in this film. First Dar is joined by Seth and Tal (the King’s other son), and they save Kiri from being sacrificed, then save the king from Maax. King Zed’s thirst for revenge is too great and against Dar’s advice, he sends Dar away, then attacks the priests, thus Kiri, Seth, Tal and Zed are captured once again. Dar arrives to save the day again and finally kills Maax and the rest of the priests, only to have to fight the large Jun army. He sends Sharak off with the medallion and the bird-men join the battle.
The Beastmaster has our classic, well-muscled, loin-cloth wearing, sword-wielding hero, magic in the form of witches casting spells, and an enchanted seeing-eye ring, and the classic sacrificing people to a god. It’s an epic quest for revenge.
I loved this movie as a kid. My favorite parts were watching the antics of Kodo and Podo; who wouldn’t want a couple of ferret travelling companions to do their bidding? I’d not watched The Beastmaster for many years, I feared I’d be disappointed, having remembered the film through child-eyes, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. While almost two hours long, it didn’t drag, was full of adventure, had a dash of humor, a few sad moments, and also, Dar in a loin cloth.
The filming locations were breathtaking, especially the huge red sandstone formations of Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada. Other locations included Las Vegas, Simi Valley, and Lake Pyramid, California. Director Don Coscarelli (Phantasm, 1979), considered filming in Spain and Mexico, however both locations would have been too costly.
Coscarelli revealed a few fun facts during the director’s commentary. Dar’s sword was made especially for the film and was stolen post-production. Despite the many slayings, viewers will notice a lack of blood on Dar’s sword. Paul Pepperman (co-writer) explains that they wanted a PG family rating for the movie. I guess they were less concerned showing bare-breasted women on screen.
Approximately twenty ferrets were used to act as Kodo and Podo, and Pepperman, kept two of them. In the scene where the witch transfers the unborn child into the cow, she pours a magical blue liquid over the king and queen’s necks, rendering them unable to move. The blue liquid used was from emergency lights, similar to glow sticks. The original script had a black leopard as Ruh, but animal trainers insisted tigers were easier to work with and so dyed some tigers black. I personally think it’s cooler to have a black tiger.
Apparently Pepperman didn’t think the movie would be a hit or have longevity, and he was right in one respect as it only grossed around $14 million at the box office, but it has also enjoyed many late-night re-runs on various cable networks and like all great 80’s movies, has become a cult classic. If you love sword and sorcery, but haven’t seen The Beastmaster yet, do yourself a favor and watch it. If only for the ferrets.
I still miss you, Kodo.
Pulp Appeal : Clash of the Titans (1981)
Posted on September 17, 2018 by Matthew X. Gomez
(Editors’ Note: R.A. Goli is an Australian writer of horror, fantasy, erotic, and speculative short stories. In addition to writing, her interests include reading, gaming, the occasional walk, and annoying her dog, two cats, and husband. Her short story collection Unfettered is currently available at Lulu. Her fantasy novella, The Eighth Dwarf is available at [image error][image error]Amazon and [image error][image error]Fantasia Divinity Magazine. Check out her numerous short story publications at her website [image error][image error]https://ragoliauthor.wordpress.com/ or stalk her on [image error][image error]Facebook)
Clash of the Titans is an epic tale of Olympian gods, mythological monsters and heroic mortals. Released in 1981, it stars Laurence Olivier as Zeus (Spartacus, 1960), Harry Hamlin as Perseus, (who later goes on to star in LA LAW), Maggie Smith as Thetis (Downton Abbey), and Ursula Andress as Aphrodite (who only has one line).
The movie opens with Acrisius, King of Argos, condemning his daughter, Danae and her infant son Perseus to a horrible death by throwing them into a wooden trunk/coffin and tossing it into the ocean. Zeus had previously visited Danae and their lovemaking resulted in Perseus, so Zeus ensures they are deposited safely on a beach where they can live happily ever after. Zeus then kills Acrisius and orders Poseidon to ‘Let Loose the Kraken”, a mythical sea-creature similar to Godzilla, who destroys the kingdom of Argos.
Years later, he punishes Calibos, the son of Thetis, for many atrocities such as hunting several wild creatures – including Zeus’ winged horses – to near extinction. He transforms the once handsome Calibos into a hideous monster with horns, a tail, and a cloven hoof. Thetis seeks revenge by transporting Perseus, now a grown man, to Joppa. He eventually reaches the city and speaks to an incredibly chatty guard who tells him everything there is to know about what’s going on in Joppa. Any man can present himself for the chance to marry the beautiful, Andromeda, once betrothed to Calibos, however, the suitor must answer a mysterious riddle, which changes with every suitor, and failure to solve the riddle results in a fiery death.
Calibos works on his villainous slouch.
When Perseus solves the riddle, the people of Joppa are delighted. Things seemed to be looking up for Zeus’ son, until his new mother-in-law, Cassiopeia, insults the goddess Thetis by claiming Andromeda is more beautiful than the goddess herself. Thetis demands Cassiopeia sacrifice Andromeda to the Kraken or she’ll destroy the city. This is where the adventure really begins and Perseus will face Stygian witches, the two headed dog dioskilos, the gorgon Medusa, giant scorpions, Calibos, as well as the Kraken in an attempt to save Andromeda.
The Kraken prepares to feast.
Clash of the Titans is classic sword and sorcery; the story draws heavily from mythology and we have a sword-wielding hero. When Perseus is stranded in Joppa, Zeus orders the goddesses to gift him with magically imbued weapons. Perseus receives a sword from Aphrodite that can slice through marble, a helmet from Athena, that renders the wearer invisible (this will later aid in him capturing Pegasus), and a shield from Hera. The shield projects an image of Zeus who tells Perseus it will save his life one day and that Perseus must find and fulfil his destiny. There’s magic, gods, mythical creatures, swords, an epic quest, a virgin sacrifice. It’s the ultimate battle of good versus evil.
In an interview with visual effects artist and co-producer, Ray Harryhausen, he explains how he was bored of monsters destroying cities and prefers the past to the future, which is why mythology appealed.
“Cinema was made for fantasy, not normal mundane things.” – Ray Harryhausen.
Filming locations were over England and Europe. The opening scene was filmed in Cornwell and crew had to wait until there was a storm. Flood scenes of Argos were filmed in Malta, the rocky formations around the Stygian witches’ lair were filmed in Antequera, Spain and the outside of Medusa’s temple was in Southern Italy. Interestingly, some scenes from Jason and the Argonauts, (also featuring Harryhausen’s stop-motion monsters), were filmed there too. The final epic battle with the Kraken is in Malta again.
Most of the special effects rely quite effectively on shadow imagery and stop-motion animation using Harryhausen’s hand-made monsters, but considering it was filmed in 1981, I think it’s pretty good. And so did audiences at the time. Clash of the Titans grossed $41 million dollars, making it the eleventh highest grossing film of 1981.
In Greek mythology, Dioskilos has three heads but only two in the movie because Harryhausen thought it’d look too awkward with three during the fight scenes.
The Kraken is not technically part of Greek mythology, there is a Greek mythological sea-creature called the Leviathan, but the Kraken comes from Norway and is a giant sea-creature similar to an octopus or crab. Calibos is reportedly based on a character from ‘The Tempest’, named Caliban.
The mechanical-owl Bubo also not from mythology, was added to the movie for comic relief and to give the audience a chance to catch their breath between epic battles. Bubo makes a ‘guest appearance’ in the 2010 version when Perseus (Sam Worthington), comes across him while looking for weapons in the armory. The remake has spectacular special effects, as do all movies made with CGI, but it will never take the place of the original in my heart. And at the risk of sounding like my dad; they don’t make movies like they used too.
We’d be dubious about the use of a mechanical owl as well.
(Editor: Interested in writing a Pulp Appeal article for Broadswords and Blasters? Drop us a line through our contact page and let us know what you’re interested in contributing.)
January 27, 2020
Inner Circle Writers’ Magazine
[image error]I’ve been featured in the Christmas edition of the Inner Circle Writers’ magazine. It’s a pretty comprehensive interview where I talk about writing and personal stuff and try to be funny.
There’s also a really weird and ugly picture of me on the cover. I’d accidentally sent my editor the wrong pic and by the time I realised, it was too late to change it. So, now if I’m ever famous, this pic will haunt me.
The mag is predominantly a writer’s magazine, but also includes great fiction and free gifts for readers. You can grab a copy for £2.00 or subscribe for £20.00 to get 12 issues!
“Inside the inspiring eleventh issue, rising star author R. A. Goli talks about her life and work. We get a glimpse behind the scenes of Welcome to Blekeleigh Court , plus enjoy our Christmas fiction including Love’s Gift by C. L. Steele, The Bard by Mark Kodama, Claire’s Special Day by Shawn M. Klimek read more…”
September 25, 2019
Changes are coming…
Dear readers,
I’m making a few changes to the website and how I let you know of upcoming release dates/publications etc. If you are a current email subscriber or follower, and you want to continue receiving updates, please subscribe/re-subscribe to my mailing list via the following link:
[image error] Awesome Peeps Click Here!
Not only will you get latest release news, sneak peaks and writing updates, but subscribers will also receive the occasional free short story, starting with Clash of Goddesses, a Norse Mythology inspired tale. I’ll also keep you in the loop about any book deals you might be interested in, and other freebies and fun things.
I promise not to spam your in box. I plan on doing a monthly-ish newsletter, which you can unsubscribe from anytime.
Are you ready to get your free download?
September 18, 2019
Portals
My 100-word story, PORTALS, has been published in Black Hare Press’ BEYOND: A PARANORMAL MICROFICTION ANTHOLOGY (DARK DRABBLES BOOK 4).
Micro myths of the paranormal; poltergeists, spirit boards, ghosts and ghouls, avenging apparitions and horrifying hauntings.
What miracles can more than one hundred debut to bestselling authors do with 100 words? More than three hundred 100-word drabbles from around the world.
Available in hardback, paperback & kindle versions. Get your copy here: Amazon AU or Amazon US
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August 31, 2019
Dark Intervention
My 100-word short story, DARK INTERVENTION, has been published in Blood Song Book’s anthology CURSES & CAULDRONS, Tiny Tales Volume 1. The anthology is filled with stories about witches, all exactly 100 words in length.
Over 200 tiny dark tales of magic, mischief, murder, mayhem & madness…
You do not want to get on the wrong side of these witches!
Let us cast a spell on you… with just 100 words.
CURSES & CAULDRONS is available at Amazon AU & Amazon US
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August 29, 2019
Ghost of the Past: 2019 Anthology
Fantasia Divinity Magazine is once again releasing a ‘Best of’ anthology this year. Last year my flash fiction story ‘Silent Conversations‘, first published in Issue 18 of Fantasia Divinity Magazine, was selected by editors for inclusion in the 2018 Best of Anthology, ECHOES OF THE PAST.
This year is a little different in that readers will also have a chance to nominate and vote for their top 3 favorite stories published by FDM in 2019. So, feel free to nominate my story: SEA, SERPENTS, AND STONE HEARTS published in Fantasia Divinity’s Curse of the Gods: A Greek Myth Anthology. The story is a slightly re-imagined version of how Medusa became the Gorgon monster we know and love. Or any other story you loved!
For details on how to nominate, visit the FDM GHOSTS OF THE PAST: 2019 Anthology Facebook post.
August 28, 2019
Sea, Serpents, and Stone Hearts
My fantasy story SEA, SERPENTS, AND STONE HEARTS has been published in Fantasia Divinity’s Curse of the Gods: A Greek Myth Anthology. The story is a slightly re-imagined version of how Medusa became the Gorgon monster we know and love.
Epic wars fought in the name of the gods, mighty heroes rising up to slay the beasts; Greek legends are filled with tales of love and adventure. However, time is a fickle mistress and legends change over the centuries. Was Persephone kidnapped by Hades, the God of the Underworld, or did she go willingly? Was Medusa really the heartless beast everyone imagines her to be? Is Aphrodite a carefree goddess filled with love and happiness or does she long for something more?Experience some of the classic Greek myths like you never have before, re-imagined and brought to life by 18 talented authors!
Available directly from Fantasia Divinity and Amazon.
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August 22, 2019
The Itch
My 100-word story, THE ITCH as been published in Black Hare Press’ MONSTERS: A HORROR MICROFICTION ANTHOLOGY (DARK DRABBLES BOOK 3).
Wendigos, vampires, things that go bump in the night or hide under the bed, witches, demons, upirs, kelpies, toad people, zombies, sirens and hundreds of other tiny terrifying tales.
What miracles can one hundred debut to bestselling authors do with 100 words?
More than three hundred 100-word drabbles from around the world.
Available in hardback, paperback & kindle versions. Get your copy here: Amazon AU or Amazon US
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August 14, 2019
Lulu Sale
Lulu currently has 10% off print books. If you haven’t already, what a great time to grab yourself a copy of my short story collection, Unfettered.
A bird succubus that comes in a storm; a bed-and-breakfast from Hell; secret histories from before fairy tales and myths; an asylum from beyond your darkest nightmares… This is a collection not for the squeamish or faint hearted – be prepared to have your spine tingled: this is not a book to be read alone, at night. But here you’ll also meet wonders, including fairies who wield snow and a horse that rides on the air; you’ll participate in a mermaid orgy and see how sensuality can lead to predicting the future. Including the award-winning story ‘A Flicker of Time’, this collection displays the creative talents of the Australian author R. A. Goli – a rising star in the fiction
