Robert Appleton's Blog, page 5
August 11, 2011
Sci-Fi/ Fantasy Books Adapted into Movies
While reading Ray Bradbury's brilliant short story 'A Sound of Thunder' the other day, I couldn't help thinking what an awesome movie it would make. A time travel safari company, dinosaurs, adventure, a mind-bending finale; it's classic SF stuff. But when Hollywood tried to adapt it, the best they could do was a cheap-looking (despite being big-budget) and poorly executed FX actioner that didn't really expand upon Bradbury's ideas in any compelling way. It starred Edward Burns, Catherine McCormack, and Ben Kingsley--three really good actors--but wasted them all. Even reliable genre director Peter Hyams stumbled badly.
So let's see the RIGHT ways to adapt sci-fi/ fantasy books
Book(s): Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien)
Movie(s): Lord of the Rings (dir. Peter Jackson, 2001-3))
Jackson injected moments of real poetry into his epic adaptation of Tolkien's fantasy masterpiece. The movies are an unusual but winning mix of scope, intimacy, schlock and art. While not as magical as the books, they're near-perfect in terms of storytelling and technical virtuosity. And full of genuine emotion.
Book: Journey to the Center of the Earth (Jules Verne)
Movie: Journey to the Center of the Earth (dir. Henry Levin, 1959)
Changing the German protagonists into Scots does nothing to diminish this charming adaptation of Verne's classic subterranean adventure. It's fun, exciting, and James Mason is the ultimate Verne scientist, going head-to-head with dinosaurs, the unknown, and an opinionated female companion (surprisingly the best departure from Verne's novel, played by the formidable Arlene Dahl). Even Pat Boone is well-cast, and gets to croon a few folk songs along the way.
Book: Contact (Carl Sagan)
Movie: Contact (dir. Robert Zemeckis, 1997)
Sagan's visionary but cluttered novel was condensed and sharpened in every way by an excellent screenplay that keeps the focus solely on its heroine, Ellie Arroway. Zemeckis brings his usual visual panache to the tale of mankind's first message received from outer space, and the lonely, driven stargazer who uncovers it. Jodie Foster gives the performance of a lifetime.
Book: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne)
Movie: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (dir. Richard Fleischer, 1954)
James Mason, in his other, much darker Verne role, plays the brilliant-but-twisted Captain Nemo, master of the undersea realm, bent on vengeance against mankind's war-mongers. He's the polar opposite of Kirk Douglas's fun-loving rogue, Ned Land. The contrast of the two forms the heart of this marvellous Disney adaptation. Genius production design brings us the definitive Nautilus, impeccable interiors, and the famous giant squid battle. In my mind, the film's better than the book.
Book: The Mysterious Island (Jules Verne)
Movie: Mysterious Island (dir. Cy Endfield, 1961)
Harryhausen's giant creatures steal the show in this exciting adaptation of Verne's survival story. The original novel isn't fantasy, it's more like Robinson Crusoe with a bigger cast of characters, and the iconic balloon escape is pretty much the only action sequence that remains intact. Still, a strong, rugged hero, good monsters, and Bernard Herrmann's inspired score more than make the grade for a classic family adventure.
Book: She (H Rider Haggard)
Movie: She (dir. L. Holden, I. Pichel, 1935)
Hammer made a pretty good version in 1965, starring Ursula Andress, but it lacked the ambition of this Golden Age feast produced by King Kong's Merian C. Cooper. Sure, the performances are a little stilted, the pace leisurely, and the Arctic setting is nowhere near Haggard's original. But there's a genuine otherworldliness to the huge sets, the costumes, and overal scale of the production. Helen Gahagan isn't a beauty like Ursula Andress (or even Helen Mack, who steals the hero's heart early on), but she's a commanding presence. A good effort overall, if not a patch on the book.
Book: The Time Machine (HG Wells)
Movie: The Time Machine (dir. George Pal, 1960)
Charming version of Wells's classic time travel tale. It looks good, feels right--Rod Taylor is a fantastic Victorian hero--and there's just enough food for thought amid the family-oriented goings-on in the eight-thousandth century. Better than the 2002 remake, though the first twenty minutes of that one are brilliantly done.
Book: Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein)
Movie: Starship Troopers (dir. Paul Verhoeven, 1997)
Verhoeven gets rid of the power suits and other infantry tech, and gives them machine guns instead. This immediately makes them vulnerable, and when the first combat mission starts, they're chopped up big time. It's a huge SF war film with amazing aliens and a tongue-in-cheek fascist overtone. Nowhere near as intelligent as Heinlein's novel, it's still a genre extravaganza I'm glad they made. Endlessly rewatchable.
Book: Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)
Movie: Robinson Crusoe on Mars (dir. Byron Haskin, 1964)
One of the more interesting adaptations on the list, this is a fairly obscure SF film that tends to make a big impression on viewers who don't know what to expect. It's a smart, well-thought-out survival tale of an astronaut stranded on Mars with his pet monkey. Watch how the filmmakers turn staples of the novel--pirates, Man Friday, procuring food and drink, using items from his crashed ship--into imaginative science fiction. Good stuff.
Book: War of the Worlds (HG Wells)
Movie: War of the Worlds (dir. Byron Haskin, 1953)
Updated from Victorian London to 50's America, this is one of the best SF films ever made. It's tense, scary, snappily scripted and acted, and there's a genuine sense of apocalyptic menace as the alien invaders tear across the world in their impenetrable ships. One thing that usually impresses me about these 50's/60's SF/F films is the casting of the male lead. Here it's Gene Barry, a relative unknown at the time. He's a strong, intelligent actor, and he gets a lovely female co-star in Ann Robinson. I like the Spielberg/Cruise remake as well--it nails the novel's subjective point of view--but this original is the one against which all alien invasion movies are measured.
Book: Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
Movie: The Curse of Frankenstein (dir. Terence Fisher, 1957)
Most film buffs rate Karloff's 1933 original as the definitive adaptation of Shelley's tale, but I disagree. I find the eponymous doctor himself far more interesting than the monster. Here he's played by Peter Cushing, who strikes sparks off the script, the scenery and every thing else in the first of Hammer's legendary horrors. Good support is given by Hazel Court and Robert Urquhart, and of course Christopher Lee as the ill-fated monster. The film might lack the poetry of Whale's original, but it makes up for it with a far more complicated protagonist.
Book: Jurassic Park (Micheal Crichton)
Movie: Jurassic Park (dir. Steven Spielberg, 1993)
Crichton's ingenious concept of a dinosaur theme park allowed him to explore genetic engineering and science ethics in a very clever, readable novel. Spielberg hand-picked some of the best action set-pieces and kept several intelligent conversations intact for the movie. Goldblum's Ian Malcolm gets all the best lines, while the CG dinosaurs made history. It's scary and enormous fun. One of the definitive summer blockbusters, and a very good cautionary SF tale (Crichton's forte).
So let's see the RIGHT ways to adapt sci-fi/ fantasy books
Book(s): Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien)
Movie(s): Lord of the Rings (dir. Peter Jackson, 2001-3))
Jackson injected moments of real poetry into his epic adaptation of Tolkien's fantasy masterpiece. The movies are an unusual but winning mix of scope, intimacy, schlock and art. While not as magical as the books, they're near-perfect in terms of storytelling and technical virtuosity. And full of genuine emotion.
Book: Journey to the Center of the Earth (Jules Verne)
Movie: Journey to the Center of the Earth (dir. Henry Levin, 1959)
Changing the German protagonists into Scots does nothing to diminish this charming adaptation of Verne's classic subterranean adventure. It's fun, exciting, and James Mason is the ultimate Verne scientist, going head-to-head with dinosaurs, the unknown, and an opinionated female companion (surprisingly the best departure from Verne's novel, played by the formidable Arlene Dahl). Even Pat Boone is well-cast, and gets to croon a few folk songs along the way.
Book: Contact (Carl Sagan)
Movie: Contact (dir. Robert Zemeckis, 1997)
Sagan's visionary but cluttered novel was condensed and sharpened in every way by an excellent screenplay that keeps the focus solely on its heroine, Ellie Arroway. Zemeckis brings his usual visual panache to the tale of mankind's first message received from outer space, and the lonely, driven stargazer who uncovers it. Jodie Foster gives the performance of a lifetime.
Book: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne)
Movie: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (dir. Richard Fleischer, 1954)
James Mason, in his other, much darker Verne role, plays the brilliant-but-twisted Captain Nemo, master of the undersea realm, bent on vengeance against mankind's war-mongers. He's the polar opposite of Kirk Douglas's fun-loving rogue, Ned Land. The contrast of the two forms the heart of this marvellous Disney adaptation. Genius production design brings us the definitive Nautilus, impeccable interiors, and the famous giant squid battle. In my mind, the film's better than the book.
Book: The Mysterious Island (Jules Verne)
Movie: Mysterious Island (dir. Cy Endfield, 1961)
Harryhausen's giant creatures steal the show in this exciting adaptation of Verne's survival story. The original novel isn't fantasy, it's more like Robinson Crusoe with a bigger cast of characters, and the iconic balloon escape is pretty much the only action sequence that remains intact. Still, a strong, rugged hero, good monsters, and Bernard Herrmann's inspired score more than make the grade for a classic family adventure.
Book: She (H Rider Haggard)
Movie: She (dir. L. Holden, I. Pichel, 1935)
Hammer made a pretty good version in 1965, starring Ursula Andress, but it lacked the ambition of this Golden Age feast produced by King Kong's Merian C. Cooper. Sure, the performances are a little stilted, the pace leisurely, and the Arctic setting is nowhere near Haggard's original. But there's a genuine otherworldliness to the huge sets, the costumes, and overal scale of the production. Helen Gahagan isn't a beauty like Ursula Andress (or even Helen Mack, who steals the hero's heart early on), but she's a commanding presence. A good effort overall, if not a patch on the book.
Book: The Time Machine (HG Wells)
Movie: The Time Machine (dir. George Pal, 1960)
Charming version of Wells's classic time travel tale. It looks good, feels right--Rod Taylor is a fantastic Victorian hero--and there's just enough food for thought amid the family-oriented goings-on in the eight-thousandth century. Better than the 2002 remake, though the first twenty minutes of that one are brilliantly done.
Book: Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein)
Movie: Starship Troopers (dir. Paul Verhoeven, 1997)
Verhoeven gets rid of the power suits and other infantry tech, and gives them machine guns instead. This immediately makes them vulnerable, and when the first combat mission starts, they're chopped up big time. It's a huge SF war film with amazing aliens and a tongue-in-cheek fascist overtone. Nowhere near as intelligent as Heinlein's novel, it's still a genre extravaganza I'm glad they made. Endlessly rewatchable.
Book: Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)
Movie: Robinson Crusoe on Mars (dir. Byron Haskin, 1964)
One of the more interesting adaptations on the list, this is a fairly obscure SF film that tends to make a big impression on viewers who don't know what to expect. It's a smart, well-thought-out survival tale of an astronaut stranded on Mars with his pet monkey. Watch how the filmmakers turn staples of the novel--pirates, Man Friday, procuring food and drink, using items from his crashed ship--into imaginative science fiction. Good stuff.
Book: War of the Worlds (HG Wells)
Movie: War of the Worlds (dir. Byron Haskin, 1953)
Updated from Victorian London to 50's America, this is one of the best SF films ever made. It's tense, scary, snappily scripted and acted, and there's a genuine sense of apocalyptic menace as the alien invaders tear across the world in their impenetrable ships. One thing that usually impresses me about these 50's/60's SF/F films is the casting of the male lead. Here it's Gene Barry, a relative unknown at the time. He's a strong, intelligent actor, and he gets a lovely female co-star in Ann Robinson. I like the Spielberg/Cruise remake as well--it nails the novel's subjective point of view--but this original is the one against which all alien invasion movies are measured.
Book: Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
Movie: The Curse of Frankenstein (dir. Terence Fisher, 1957)
Most film buffs rate Karloff's 1933 original as the definitive adaptation of Shelley's tale, but I disagree. I find the eponymous doctor himself far more interesting than the monster. Here he's played by Peter Cushing, who strikes sparks off the script, the scenery and every thing else in the first of Hammer's legendary horrors. Good support is given by Hazel Court and Robert Urquhart, and of course Christopher Lee as the ill-fated monster. The film might lack the poetry of Whale's original, but it makes up for it with a far more complicated protagonist.
Book: Jurassic Park (Micheal Crichton)
Movie: Jurassic Park (dir. Steven Spielberg, 1993)
Crichton's ingenious concept of a dinosaur theme park allowed him to explore genetic engineering and science ethics in a very clever, readable novel. Spielberg hand-picked some of the best action set-pieces and kept several intelligent conversations intact for the movie. Goldblum's Ian Malcolm gets all the best lines, while the CG dinosaurs made history. It's scary and enormous fun. One of the definitive summer blockbusters, and a very good cautionary SF tale (Crichton's forte).
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books Adapted Into Movies
While reading Ray Bradbury's brilliant short story 'A Sound of Thunder' the other day, I couldn't help thinking what an awesome movie it would make. A time travel safari company, dinosaurs, adventure, a mind-bending finale; it's classic SF stuff. But when Hollywood tried to adapt it, the best they could do was a cheap-looking (despite being big-budget) and poorly executed FX actioner that didn't really expand upon Bradbury's ideas in any compelling way. It starred Edward Burns, Catherine McCormack, and Ben Kingsley--three really good actors--but wasted them all. Even reliable genre director Peter Hyams stumbled badly.
So let's see the RIGHT ways to adapt sci-fi/ fantasy books
Book(s): Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien)
Movie(s): Lord of the Rings (dir. Peter Jackson, 2001-3))
Jackson injected moments of real poetry into his epic adaptation of Tolkien's fantasy masterpiece. The movies are an unusual but winning mix of scope, intimacy, schlock and art. While not as magical as the books, they're near-perfect in terms of storytelling and technical virtuosity. And full of genuine emotion.
Book: Journey to the Center of the Earth (Jules Verne)
Movie: Journey to the Center of the Earth (dir. Henry Levin, 1959)
Changing the German protagonists into Scots does nothing to diminish this charming adaptation of Verne's classic subterranean adventure. It's fun, exciting, and James Mason is the ultimate Verne scientist, going head-to-head with dinosaurs, the unknown, and an opinionated female companion (surprisingly the best departure from Verne's novel, played by the formidable Arlene Dahl). Even Pat Boone is well-cast, and gets to croon a few folk songs along the way.
Book: Contact (Carl Sagan)
Movie: Contact (dir. Robert Zemeckis, 1997)
Sagan's visionary but cluttered novel was condensed and sharpened in every way by an excellent screenplay that keeps the focus solely on its heroine, Ellie Arroway. Zemeckis brings his usual visual panache to the tale of mankind's first message received from outer space, and the lonely, driven stargazer who uncovers it. Jodie Foster gives the performance of a lifetime.
Book: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne)
Movie: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (dir. Richard Fleischer, 1954)
James Mason, in his other, much darker Verne role, plays the brilliant-but-twisted Captain Nemo, master of the undersea realm, bent on vengeance against mankind's war-mongers. He's the polar opposite of Kirk Douglas's fun-loving rogue, Ned Land. The contrast of the two forms the heart of this marvellous Disney adaptation. Genius production design brings us the definitive Nautilus, impeccable interiors, and the famous giant squid battle. In my mind, the film's better than the book.
Book: The Mysterious Island (Jules Verne)
Movie: Mysterious Island (dir. Cy Endfield, 1961)
Harryhausen's giant creatures steal the show in this exciting adaptation of Verne's survival story. The original novel isn't fantasy, it's more like Robinson Crusoe with a bigger cast of characters, and the iconic balloon escape is pretty much the only action sequence that remains intact. Still, a strong, rugged hero, good monsters, and Bernard Herrmann's inspired score more than make the grade for a classic family adventure.
Book: She (H Rider Haggard)
Movie: She (dir. L. Holden, I. Pichel, 1935)
Hammer made a pretty good version in 1965, starring Ursula Andress, but it lacked the ambition of this Golden Age feast produced by King Kong's Merian C. Cooper. Sure, the performances are a little stilted, the pace leisurely, and the Arctic setting is nowhere near Haggard's original. But there's a genuine otherworldliness to the huge sets, the costumes, and overal scale of the production. Helen Gahagan isn't a beauty like Ursula Andress (or even Helen Mack, who steals the hero's heart early on), but she's a commanding presence. A good effort overall, if not a patch on the book.
Book: The Time Machine (HG Wells)
Movie: The Time Machine (dir. George Pal, 1960)
Charming version of Wells's classic time travel tale. It looks good, feels right--Rod Taylor is a fantastic Victorian hero--and there's just enough food for thought amid the family-oriented goings-on in the eight-thousandth century. Better than the 2002 remake, though the first twenty minutes of that one are brilliantly done.
Book: Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein)
Movie: Starship Troopers (dir. Paul Verhoeven, 1997)
Verhoeven gets rid of the power suits and other infantry tech, and gives them machine guns instead. This immediately makes them vulnerable, and when the first combat mission starts, they're chopped up big time. It's a huge SF war film with amazing aliens and a tongue-in-cheek fascist overtone. Nowhere near as intelligent as Heinlein's novel, it's still a genre extravaganza I'm glad they made. Endlessly rewatchable.
Book: Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)
Movie: Robinson Crusoe on Mars (dir. Byron Haskin, 1964)
One of the more interesting adaptations on the list, this is a fairly obscure SF film that tends to make a big impression on viewers who don't know what to expect. It's a smart, well-thought-out survival tale of an astronaut stranded on Mars with his pet monkey. Watch how the filmmakers turn staples of the novel--pirates, Man Friday, procuring food and drink, using items from his crashed ship--into imaginative science fiction. Good stuff.
Book: War of the Worlds (HG Wells)
Movie: War of the Worlds (dir. Byron Haskin, 1953)
Updated from Victorian London to 50's America, this is one of the best SF films ever made. It's tense, scary, snappily scripted and acted, and there's a genuine sense of apocalyptic menace as the alien invaders tear across the world in their impenetrable ships. One thing that usually impresses me about these 50's/60's SF/F films is the casting of the male lead. Here it's Gene Barry, a relative unknown at the time. He's a strong, intelligent actor, and he gets a lovely female co-star in Ann Robinson. I like the Spielberg/Cruise remake as well--it nails the novel's subjective point of view--but this original is the one against which all alien invasion movies are measured.
Book: Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
Movie: The Curse of Frankenstein (dir. Terence Fisher, 1957)
Most film buffs rate Karloff's 1933 original as the definitive adaptation of Shelley's tale, but I disagree. I find the eponymous doctor himself far more interesting than the monster. Here he's played by Peter Cushing, who strikes sparks off the script, the scenery and every thing else in the first of Hammer's legendary horrors. Good support is given by Hazel Court and Robert Urquhart, and of course Christopher Lee as the ill-fated monster. The film might lack the poetry of Whale's original, but it makes up for it with a far more complicated protagonist.
Book: Jurassic Park (Micheal Crichton)
Movie: Jurassic Park (dir. Steven Spielberg, 1993)
Crichton's ingenious concept of a dinosaur theme park allowed him to explore genetic engineering and science ethics in a very clever, readable novel. Spielberg hand-picked some of the best action set-pieces and kept several intelligent conversations intact for the movie. Goldblum's Ian Malcolm gets all the best lines, while the CG dinosaurs made history. It's scary and enormous fun. One of the definitive summer blockbusters, and a very good cautionary SF tale (Crichton's forte).
So let's see the RIGHT ways to adapt sci-fi/ fantasy books
Book(s): Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien)
Movie(s): Lord of the Rings (dir. Peter Jackson, 2001-3))
Jackson injected moments of real poetry into his epic adaptation of Tolkien's fantasy masterpiece. The movies are an unusual but winning mix of scope, intimacy, schlock and art. While not as magical as the books, they're near-perfect in terms of storytelling and technical virtuosity. And full of genuine emotion.
Book: Journey to the Center of the Earth (Jules Verne)
Movie: Journey to the Center of the Earth (dir. Henry Levin, 1959)
Changing the German protagonists into Scots does nothing to diminish this charming adaptation of Verne's classic subterranean adventure. It's fun, exciting, and James Mason is the ultimate Verne scientist, going head-to-head with dinosaurs, the unknown, and an opinionated female companion (surprisingly the best departure from Verne's novel, played by the formidable Arlene Dahl). Even Pat Boone is well-cast, and gets to croon a few folk songs along the way.
Book: Contact (Carl Sagan)
Movie: Contact (dir. Robert Zemeckis, 1997)
Sagan's visionary but cluttered novel was condensed and sharpened in every way by an excellent screenplay that keeps the focus solely on its heroine, Ellie Arroway. Zemeckis brings his usual visual panache to the tale of mankind's first message received from outer space, and the lonely, driven stargazer who uncovers it. Jodie Foster gives the performance of a lifetime.
Book: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne)
Movie: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (dir. Richard Fleischer, 1954)
James Mason, in his other, much darker Verne role, plays the brilliant-but-twisted Captain Nemo, master of the undersea realm, bent on vengeance against mankind's war-mongers. He's the polar opposite of Kirk Douglas's fun-loving rogue, Ned Land. The contrast of the two forms the heart of this marvellous Disney adaptation. Genius production design brings us the definitive Nautilus, impeccable interiors, and the famous giant squid battle. In my mind, the film's better than the book.
Book: The Mysterious Island (Jules Verne)
Movie: Mysterious Island (dir. Cy Endfield, 1961)
Harryhausen's giant creatures steal the show in this exciting adaptation of Verne's survival story. The original novel isn't fantasy, it's more like Robinson Crusoe with a bigger cast of characters, and the iconic balloon escape is pretty much the only action sequence that remains intact. Still, a strong, rugged hero, good monsters, and Bernard Herrmann's inspired score more than make the grade for a classic family adventure.
Book: She (H Rider Haggard)
Movie: She (dir. L. Holden, I. Pichel, 1935)
Hammer made a pretty good version in 1965, starring Ursula Andress, but it lacked the ambition of this Golden Age feast produced by King Kong's Merian C. Cooper. Sure, the performances are a little stilted, the pace leisurely, and the Arctic setting is nowhere near Haggard's original. But there's a genuine otherworldliness to the huge sets, the costumes, and overal scale of the production. Helen Gahagan isn't a beauty like Ursula Andress (or even Helen Mack, who steals the hero's heart early on), but she's a commanding presence. A good effort overall, if not a patch on the book.
Book: The Time Machine (HG Wells)
Movie: The Time Machine (dir. George Pal, 1960)
Charming version of Wells's classic time travel tale. It looks good, feels right--Rod Taylor is a fantastic Victorian hero--and there's just enough food for thought amid the family-oriented goings-on in the eight-thousandth century. Better than the 2002 remake, though the first twenty minutes of that one are brilliantly done.
Book: Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein)
Movie: Starship Troopers (dir. Paul Verhoeven, 1997)
Verhoeven gets rid of the power suits and other infantry tech, and gives them machine guns instead. This immediately makes them vulnerable, and when the first combat mission starts, they're chopped up big time. It's a huge SF war film with amazing aliens and a tongue-in-cheek fascist overtone. Nowhere near as intelligent as Heinlein's novel, it's still a genre extravaganza I'm glad they made. Endlessly rewatchable.
Book: Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)
Movie: Robinson Crusoe on Mars (dir. Byron Haskin, 1964)
One of the more interesting adaptations on the list, this is a fairly obscure SF film that tends to make a big impression on viewers who don't know what to expect. It's a smart, well-thought-out survival tale of an astronaut stranded on Mars with his pet monkey. Watch how the filmmakers turn staples of the novel--pirates, Man Friday, procuring food and drink, using items from his crashed ship--into imaginative science fiction. Good stuff.
Book: War of the Worlds (HG Wells)
Movie: War of the Worlds (dir. Byron Haskin, 1953)
Updated from Victorian London to 50's America, this is one of the best SF films ever made. It's tense, scary, snappily scripted and acted, and there's a genuine sense of apocalyptic menace as the alien invaders tear across the world in their impenetrable ships. One thing that usually impresses me about these 50's/60's SF/F films is the casting of the male lead. Here it's Gene Barry, a relative unknown at the time. He's a strong, intelligent actor, and he gets a lovely female co-star in Ann Robinson. I like the Spielberg/Cruise remake as well--it nails the novel's subjective point of view--but this original is the one against which all alien invasion movies are measured.
Book: Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
Movie: The Curse of Frankenstein (dir. Terence Fisher, 1957)
Most film buffs rate Karloff's 1933 original as the definitive adaptation of Shelley's tale, but I disagree. I find the eponymous doctor himself far more interesting than the monster. Here he's played by Peter Cushing, who strikes sparks off the script, the scenery and every thing else in the first of Hammer's legendary horrors. Good support is given by Hazel Court and Robert Urquhart, and of course Christopher Lee as the ill-fated monster. The film might lack the poetry of Whale's original, but it makes up for it with a far more complicated protagonist.
Book: Jurassic Park (Micheal Crichton)
Movie: Jurassic Park (dir. Steven Spielberg, 1993)
Crichton's ingenious concept of a dinosaur theme park allowed him to explore genetic engineering and science ethics in a very clever, readable novel. Spielberg hand-picked some of the best action set-pieces and kept several intelligent conversations intact for the movie. Goldblum's Ian Malcolm gets all the best lines, while the CG dinosaurs made history. It's scary and enormous fun. One of the definitive summer blockbusters, and a very good cautionary SF tale (Crichton's forte).
July 28, 2011
Books I've Read Recently
For whatever reason, the first half of 2011 was my busiest reading period ever, by a long, long way. Plenty of re-reads, a lot of first-try authors, and some bona fide masterworks. Science fiction dominated, but I managed to squeeze in a few historical, romantic, horror and adventure books in there as well. Here's a selection (in no particular order):
Dune by Frank Herbert (SF, Novel) - Brilliant, epic worldbuilding. A SF triumph.
The Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brian (Historical Fiction, Novel) - Book 4 in the Aubrey/Maturin series. Excellent as always.
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (SF, Novel) - Sequel to Ender's Game. Much more mature and complex. Ingenious story, but not quite as compelling as EG.
The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale by Christine Bell (Steampunk Romance, Novella) - Wickedly funny time travel story with heroine I'd like to read more of.
Barsoom Series 1-4 by Edgar Rice Burroughs (SF/F, Novels) - Yearly re-read of first three, plus Thuvia, Maid of Mars for first time. Phantom bowmen are sublime creations, but overall Book 4 not as memorable.
The Sevenfold Spell by Tia Nevitt (Fantasy Romance, Novella) - Offbeat, irreverent reimagining of Sleeping Beauty fairytale. Bawdy and funny, with a big-hearted heroine. Charming.
The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook (Steampunk Romance, Novel) - Big, brassy steampunk adventure with a tempestuous romance and some clever worldbuilding. Not sure about the nanotech, though. Excellent writer.
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (Steampunk, Novel) - Grungy, grimy steampunk horror that improves as it goes. Top marks for author vision. Not one of my favourites but very solid.
Blue Galaxy by Diane Dooley (Space Opera Romance, Novella) - Firefly-esque SF with a fast pace and a wildly unpredictable heroine. Fun stuff. Ms. Dooley has a nice feel for space opera.
Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke (SF, Novel) - Another intelligent, provocative future tale from Clarke. Ingeniously wrought, but ultimately one to admire rather than love. My reaction to the ending was extremely ambivalent.
Next by Michael Crichton (SF Futuristic, Novel) - Cluttered but always interesting eugenics story. Crichton's tone is nicely satirical at times, and full of his cautionary touches.
At the Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft (Fantasy/Horror, Novella) - Imaginative, atmospheric and creepy as hell. Set in the ruins of an ancient, long-dead civilization in the mists of Antarctica. Lovecraft builds an air of dread on a massive scale. Loved it.
People of the Mist by H Rider Haggard (Adventure, Novel) - Typical Haggard adventure. In other words, a joy to read and soak up his eloquent prose and pulpy derring-do. Classic stuff.
Dune by Frank Herbert (SF, Novel) - Brilliant, epic worldbuilding. A SF triumph.
The Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brian (Historical Fiction, Novel) - Book 4 in the Aubrey/Maturin series. Excellent as always.
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (SF, Novel) - Sequel to Ender's Game. Much more mature and complex. Ingenious story, but not quite as compelling as EG.
The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale by Christine Bell (Steampunk Romance, Novella) - Wickedly funny time travel story with heroine I'd like to read more of.
Barsoom Series 1-4 by Edgar Rice Burroughs (SF/F, Novels) - Yearly re-read of first three, plus Thuvia, Maid of Mars for first time. Phantom bowmen are sublime creations, but overall Book 4 not as memorable.
The Sevenfold Spell by Tia Nevitt (Fantasy Romance, Novella) - Offbeat, irreverent reimagining of Sleeping Beauty fairytale. Bawdy and funny, with a big-hearted heroine. Charming.
The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook (Steampunk Romance, Novel) - Big, brassy steampunk adventure with a tempestuous romance and some clever worldbuilding. Not sure about the nanotech, though. Excellent writer.
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (Steampunk, Novel) - Grungy, grimy steampunk horror that improves as it goes. Top marks for author vision. Not one of my favourites but very solid.
Blue Galaxy by Diane Dooley (Space Opera Romance, Novella) - Firefly-esque SF with a fast pace and a wildly unpredictable heroine. Fun stuff. Ms. Dooley has a nice feel for space opera.
Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke (SF, Novel) - Another intelligent, provocative future tale from Clarke. Ingeniously wrought, but ultimately one to admire rather than love. My reaction to the ending was extremely ambivalent.
Next by Michael Crichton (SF Futuristic, Novel) - Cluttered but always interesting eugenics story. Crichton's tone is nicely satirical at times, and full of his cautionary touches.
At the Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft (Fantasy/Horror, Novella) - Imaginative, atmospheric and creepy as hell. Set in the ruins of an ancient, long-dead civilization in the mists of Antarctica. Lovecraft builds an air of dread on a massive scale. Loved it.
People of the Mist by H Rider Haggard (Adventure, Novel) - Typical Haggard adventure. In other words, a joy to read and soak up his eloquent prose and pulpy derring-do. Classic stuff.
June 30, 2011
New Cover Art: Sparks in Cosmic Dust
Croco Designs came up with this colourful, exotic cover for my upcoming SF adventure novel Sparks in Cosmic Dust. It instantly captures the alien wildness of the faraway moon, Zopyrus, and the story's ebullient air of mystery. This is the largest-scale book I've written (in word count and scope), and features some of my most complex characters. Check out the official blurb from Carina Press:
The final frontier is shrinking. Interstellar Planetary Administration sanctions are forcing the border colonies of deep space into extinction. Kappa Max is one of the last major cutthroat outposts, home to the lawless and the lonely…
Varinia Wilcox, the star attraction of a lucrative bordello gambling house.
Solomon Bodine, spurned by his lover and looking for distraction.
Clayton Barry, AWOL and a few drinks away from having to live in the gutter.
Lyssa Foaloak, a double-crossing criminal who'll kill anyone for a few credits.
Four strangers, each with secrets that could cost them their freedom, are desperate to get off-planet. They meet Grace Peters, a cynical ex-doctor with an intriguing offer: a six-month trip to a faraway moon where she claims a stunning fortune awaits. But this adventure is no easy escape. Danger, passion, secrets and madness await. Can they survive the mission, and each other, to make it out alive?
The release date for this one is September 26th, 2011 at Carina Press. Can't wait!
June 29, 2011
Movie Review: Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D
Say what you will about the "soulless" brand of movie mayhem served up by the likes of Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer and Roland Emmerich; roll your eyes at the crassness of it all; but have no doubt: audiences love this stuff. They're not being hoodwinked or manipulated into seeing anything they don't want to see. They, we, I know exactly what I'm paying my tenner for.
On the way out of a screening of Emmerich's 2012, someone described the experience as "like an apocalyptic rollercoaster." And that's a pretty fair summary, if you ask me. These are sensorial thrill-rides, state-of-the-art theme park attractions as much as they are movies. Audiences want to be blown out of their seats by the audiovisual experience. As long as the plot is coherent, the characters are likeable enough for us to care whether they survive or not, there's an occasional laugh throw in to preserve that rollercoaster giddiness, well, there's your formula for this sort of thing. I can imagine select 3D scenes from this third Transformers film playing to sell-out crowds in any Universal Studios or techno theme park.
Dark of the Moon has stupendous scenes of destruction, perhaps even surpassing the aforementioned 2012. Director Bay's robot battles are epic. The hour-long showdown in a battered Chicago is worth the admission price alone. Vehicular carnage, military firepower, transformer face-offs galore--this sequence has it all, including skyscrapers being crushed and toppled by giant robot snakes. The 3D, too, is stunning, with a daredevil freefall by Josh Duhamel and his special ops rangers into a maelstrom of robo-carnage being the standout. It's eye-popping stuff, and just when you think Bay has peaked, he ups the ante tenfold until your brain can barely process what he and his filmmaking wizards have wrought with their limitless FX budget.
The series' throwaway humour is as hit-and-miss as ever, with John Turturro's oddball Agent Simmons and his even weirder German sidekick (Alan Tudyk) generating the most laughs. Ken Jeong is atrocious in his brief (but not brief enough) role as a paranoid office worker--probably the most grating comedy performance since Chris Tucker's screechy turn in The Fifth Element. Other series newcomers include John Malkovich and Frances McDormand; the former is given nothing to do, while the latter is good fun in her role as the brassy National Security Chief.
Duhamel and Tyrese are solid as ever in their stock gung-ho roles. Shia Laboeuf goes hysterical once too often but at least his character, Sam Witwicky, wants to join the action this time around. Brit model Rosie Huntington-Whitely is sweet as his new girlfriend, Carly, and makes a decent replacement for the Fox (whom I did miss, I have to say). In the transformers' cast, Leonard Nimoy makes a great contribution as the powerful and crucial Sentinel Prime.
I'm going to recommend Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D to anyone who enjoyed the first movie, those who love action on a grand scale, or anyone who wants to see the potential of 3D technology. The SF prologue, including a nice alternate history reveal during the Apollo 11 EVA, showcases some breathtaking 3D framing and depth design. And the extended finale in Chicago is the must-see action event of the summer.
It's pretty much indefensible as anything but a thrill-ride, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one, as did the (astonishingly multi-cultural) audience at my IMAX 3D screening. It runs a bit long at two and a half hours, but once the Chicago sequence starts, you'll be gripped to the end.
On the way out of a screening of Emmerich's 2012, someone described the experience as "like an apocalyptic rollercoaster." And that's a pretty fair summary, if you ask me. These are sensorial thrill-rides, state-of-the-art theme park attractions as much as they are movies. Audiences want to be blown out of their seats by the audiovisual experience. As long as the plot is coherent, the characters are likeable enough for us to care whether they survive or not, there's an occasional laugh throw in to preserve that rollercoaster giddiness, well, there's your formula for this sort of thing. I can imagine select 3D scenes from this third Transformers film playing to sell-out crowds in any Universal Studios or techno theme park.
Dark of the Moon has stupendous scenes of destruction, perhaps even surpassing the aforementioned 2012. Director Bay's robot battles are epic. The hour-long showdown in a battered Chicago is worth the admission price alone. Vehicular carnage, military firepower, transformer face-offs galore--this sequence has it all, including skyscrapers being crushed and toppled by giant robot snakes. The 3D, too, is stunning, with a daredevil freefall by Josh Duhamel and his special ops rangers into a maelstrom of robo-carnage being the standout. It's eye-popping stuff, and just when you think Bay has peaked, he ups the ante tenfold until your brain can barely process what he and his filmmaking wizards have wrought with their limitless FX budget.
The series' throwaway humour is as hit-and-miss as ever, with John Turturro's oddball Agent Simmons and his even weirder German sidekick (Alan Tudyk) generating the most laughs. Ken Jeong is atrocious in his brief (but not brief enough) role as a paranoid office worker--probably the most grating comedy performance since Chris Tucker's screechy turn in The Fifth Element. Other series newcomers include John Malkovich and Frances McDormand; the former is given nothing to do, while the latter is good fun in her role as the brassy National Security Chief.
Duhamel and Tyrese are solid as ever in their stock gung-ho roles. Shia Laboeuf goes hysterical once too often but at least his character, Sam Witwicky, wants to join the action this time around. Brit model Rosie Huntington-Whitely is sweet as his new girlfriend, Carly, and makes a decent replacement for the Fox (whom I did miss, I have to say). In the transformers' cast, Leonard Nimoy makes a great contribution as the powerful and crucial Sentinel Prime.
I'm going to recommend Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D to anyone who enjoyed the first movie, those who love action on a grand scale, or anyone who wants to see the potential of 3D technology. The SF prologue, including a nice alternate history reveal during the Apollo 11 EVA, showcases some breathtaking 3D framing and depth design. And the extended finale in Chicago is the must-see action event of the summer.
It's pretty much indefensible as anything but a thrill-ride, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one, as did the (astonishingly multi-cultural) audience at my IMAX 3D screening. It runs a bit long at two and a half hours, but once the Chicago sequence starts, you'll be gripped to the end.
May 22, 2011
Four Sci-Fi Classics I'll Never Forget
Since I'd read SF off and on since primary school, I was more than a little surprised/excited when I came across the list of books chosen for Orion's SF Masterworks series several years back. You see, I hadn't read most of them—hadn't even heard of some. And being such a painfully slow reader, I knew I had to get cracking if I wanted to improve as a SF writer.
My first title from this new line was Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, a tense, wonderfully intimate post-apocalyptic thriller. But I'd already read his earlier work, The Shrinking Man, and knew how great Matheson was. A couple of Wells novels later—quality, but again, I knew what to expect from ol' H.G.—I decided it was time to "discover" an author unfamiliar to me.
1. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
Bester I'd heard of by reputation—a titanic reputation—and of his two most revered works, I chose this one because I loved the title. It smacks of the grandiosity and mystery Star Trek purports to pursue but rarely does: exploring the unknown regions of the universe, etc. Well, as it turns out, neither does The Stars My Destination. Bester's anti-hero, Gully Foyle begins the story marooned in the wreckage of his spaceship. After subsisting for weeks on his own, he sees another ship approach. But rather than stop to help, the vessel speeds away and leaves him for dead. From that moment on, Gully is a man driven by revenge—an insane, unquenchable revenge that transforms him from an illiterate janitor to a sophisticated criminal and phenomenal "jaunter".
Jaunting is the most ingenious use of teleportation I've ever come across. It's a part of human evolution in Bester's future. Some can do it and some can't, but the idea of mass teleportation, entire populations migrating across the world by the power of thought, frankly blows my mind. Gully's such a single-minded guy, his quest is so dangerous and nuts, you can't help but root for him. I love the unpredictable story. It follows through on all its early promise and keeps going. By the end, I was ready for anything. Bester scored a knockout.
2. Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
The set-up of this one is incredibly simple. A mysterious object of vast proportions is found drifting through our solar system, and only one ship has time to rendezvous before the object reaches perihelion. It turns out to be a massive, artificial cylinder, and better still…it's hollow. The international investigating crew decides to venture inside…and one of my new favourite SF adventures begins.
I'd started another of Clarke's books a few years before and found it too dry. But Rama fascinated me from start to finish. There's an addictive anticipation from chapter to chapter, and you're floating, climbing, even cycling alongside the crew every inch of the way. Nothing compares to a truly alien mystery, and the secrets of Rama amount to a very special SF read indeed. I'll be revisiting this one often.
3. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Our very own Shawn Kupfer's recent novel 47 Echo reminded me that I hadn't read any Military SF in a while, and that it was about time I gave The Forever War a chance. It had languished on my shelf for a couple of years, and I don't know what I was expecting. An author friend of mine cited it as one of the three best SF books ever written.
It's certainly up there, I have to say. It's no Starship Troopers clone; instead, Haldeman really nails the insulation/isolation of a soldier's tour of duty across light-years of space. Over the course of the story, the time dilation he experiences from constantly travelling at near the speed of light means that while he's aged only several years, Earth has advanced many thousands of years. He returns to civilization periodically, but things have changed beyond all recognition. He and Marygay, his fellow trooper and the love his life, develop a lasting bond I found extremely moving.
Haldeman's unfussy prose works so well because there's so much going on between the words. His world-building is rich and the protagonist, Private Mandella, displays deep humanity underneath what Audie Murphy referred to as "a weary indifference" to war. This is a great book.
4. Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon
Be warned, this one's a bit of an oddity. It's a dense, first person account of an extraordinary out-of-body odyssey that spans the entire life of the cosmos and beyond. We meet myriad worlds, alien life-forms ranging from crustaceans to conscious galaxies, and even the Star Maker himself, the great Creator. I don't know what Mr Stapledon was smogged on when he wrote this but I've never seen this many SF ideas packed into one novel. He penned it in 1937, which is kind of staggering because it means he probably coined more SF concepts in Star Maker than anyone else has in a full career.
It's tough going in places due to the relentless bombardment of ideas without a proper narrative. The author also drifts outside SF throughout; he's spiritually/philosophically inclined. But he's also a poet, and I really lapped up the eloquence of his prose. My imagination reeled for days after finishing it. As trailblazing SF, it's a one of a kind.
My first title from this new line was Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, a tense, wonderfully intimate post-apocalyptic thriller. But I'd already read his earlier work, The Shrinking Man, and knew how great Matheson was. A couple of Wells novels later—quality, but again, I knew what to expect from ol' H.G.—I decided it was time to "discover" an author unfamiliar to me.
1. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
Bester I'd heard of by reputation—a titanic reputation—and of his two most revered works, I chose this one because I loved the title. It smacks of the grandiosity and mystery Star Trek purports to pursue but rarely does: exploring the unknown regions of the universe, etc. Well, as it turns out, neither does The Stars My Destination. Bester's anti-hero, Gully Foyle begins the story marooned in the wreckage of his spaceship. After subsisting for weeks on his own, he sees another ship approach. But rather than stop to help, the vessel speeds away and leaves him for dead. From that moment on, Gully is a man driven by revenge—an insane, unquenchable revenge that transforms him from an illiterate janitor to a sophisticated criminal and phenomenal "jaunter".
Jaunting is the most ingenious use of teleportation I've ever come across. It's a part of human evolution in Bester's future. Some can do it and some can't, but the idea of mass teleportation, entire populations migrating across the world by the power of thought, frankly blows my mind. Gully's such a single-minded guy, his quest is so dangerous and nuts, you can't help but root for him. I love the unpredictable story. It follows through on all its early promise and keeps going. By the end, I was ready for anything. Bester scored a knockout.
2. Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
The set-up of this one is incredibly simple. A mysterious object of vast proportions is found drifting through our solar system, and only one ship has time to rendezvous before the object reaches perihelion. It turns out to be a massive, artificial cylinder, and better still…it's hollow. The international investigating crew decides to venture inside…and one of my new favourite SF adventures begins.
I'd started another of Clarke's books a few years before and found it too dry. But Rama fascinated me from start to finish. There's an addictive anticipation from chapter to chapter, and you're floating, climbing, even cycling alongside the crew every inch of the way. Nothing compares to a truly alien mystery, and the secrets of Rama amount to a very special SF read indeed. I'll be revisiting this one often.
3. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Our very own Shawn Kupfer's recent novel 47 Echo reminded me that I hadn't read any Military SF in a while, and that it was about time I gave The Forever War a chance. It had languished on my shelf for a couple of years, and I don't know what I was expecting. An author friend of mine cited it as one of the three best SF books ever written.
It's certainly up there, I have to say. It's no Starship Troopers clone; instead, Haldeman really nails the insulation/isolation of a soldier's tour of duty across light-years of space. Over the course of the story, the time dilation he experiences from constantly travelling at near the speed of light means that while he's aged only several years, Earth has advanced many thousands of years. He returns to civilization periodically, but things have changed beyond all recognition. He and Marygay, his fellow trooper and the love his life, develop a lasting bond I found extremely moving.
Haldeman's unfussy prose works so well because there's so much going on between the words. His world-building is rich and the protagonist, Private Mandella, displays deep humanity underneath what Audie Murphy referred to as "a weary indifference" to war. This is a great book.
4. Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon
Be warned, this one's a bit of an oddity. It's a dense, first person account of an extraordinary out-of-body odyssey that spans the entire life of the cosmos and beyond. We meet myriad worlds, alien life-forms ranging from crustaceans to conscious galaxies, and even the Star Maker himself, the great Creator. I don't know what Mr Stapledon was smogged on when he wrote this but I've never seen this many SF ideas packed into one novel. He penned it in 1937, which is kind of staggering because it means he probably coined more SF concepts in Star Maker than anyone else has in a full career.
It's tough going in places due to the relentless bombardment of ideas without a proper narrative. The author also drifts outside SF throughout; he's spiritually/philosophically inclined. But he's also a poet, and I really lapped up the eloquence of his prose. My imagination reeled for days after finishing it. As trailblazing SF, it's a one of a kind.
SF Book Review: Ender's Game
I read Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game for the first time last night. I'd caught snippets of controversy over the years, heard bits and pieces about the plot, and I even recall one of my favourite film directors, Wolfgang Petersen, was attached to make it as a Hollywood blockbuster at one point (um, good luck to anyone who tries!). I've had such good luck with my run of SF classics recently, I thought I'd give this immensely popular novel a try.
Six-year-old child prodigy Ender Wiggin is the youngest of three siblings with unlimited potential. They've all been monitored by the military authorities, and Colonel Graff, charged with selecting a child to be groomed for eventual leadership in a pending war against the alien "buggers", picks Ender. His brother Peter is cruel and heartless, while his sister Valentine is too nice to ever hurt anyone. Ender, meanwhile, possesses the best attributes of both, from a military point of view. He is compassionate enough to make friends and inspire loyalty, but he also has a single-minded survival instinct that is cold and calculating. Graff reckons that with sufficient training, he can coax Ender into becoming a military tactician to rival Alexander the Great or Napoleon.
Did I mention Ender is only six?
Throughout his time in Command School, a top secret orbital station, the best and the worst of Ender are brought out—his will to succeed, to become master of the battleroom, sees him progress up the ranks with astonishing speed. He makes friends and enemies along the way, and is deeply haunted by memories of his cruel brother and the sister he loved. Graff is ever present behind the scenes, pulling the strings, manipulating the young genius into becoming the best he can be. The stunning third act is full of twists and turns as Ender must struggle to realize his true, frightening potential.
Wow, talk about a provocative novel! I've seen it listed as Young Adult, but there's no end to the moral, ethical, political, social, and futuristic themes raked up here. Card doesn't dwell on any of them, doesn't preach; he tells his story the simplest way he can and lets the reader do most of the heavy lifting—if they want it. Because it also works as an exciting science fiction tale, a coming-of-age story, with a memorable climax.
Ender might be very young but he thinks and behaves with an ever-increasing maturity almost immediately. There's nothing condescending here. He's also prone to nightmares, and is shaped not just by Graff and the endless battleroom games, but by those around him. He has to contend with bullies, rivals, abusive teachers, personal demons: all of us have something in common with Ender Wiggin. Card's triumph here is the complexity he gives these boys and girls struggling to become men and women before their time. At their age, it might all be about winning games and points, but they're constantly aware there'll be a time when those games and points will end lives. We feel that responsibility weighing Ender down, and his will to overcome it becomes ours, vicariously. We don't want these children to ever graduate from the battleroom. But if they must, let it be under the leadership of someone with compassion and not just a killer instinct. Humanity must graduate intact.
Everyone needs a Valentine to temper their Peter.
I can't begin to say how much I enjoyed Ender's Game. It's a one-of-a-kind children's SF war story that isn't really for children at all. I'm telling everyone I know to read it (if they haven't already), and I can't wait to see what the sequels are like.
That makes six GREAT sci-fi novels in a row for me now. The previous one was Frank Herbert's Dune; next up is Roadside Picnic by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky. SF has always been my favourite genre, but I had no idea there were so many masterpieces out there, waiting to be discovered.
This is Robert, signing off for now.
Six-year-old child prodigy Ender Wiggin is the youngest of three siblings with unlimited potential. They've all been monitored by the military authorities, and Colonel Graff, charged with selecting a child to be groomed for eventual leadership in a pending war against the alien "buggers", picks Ender. His brother Peter is cruel and heartless, while his sister Valentine is too nice to ever hurt anyone. Ender, meanwhile, possesses the best attributes of both, from a military point of view. He is compassionate enough to make friends and inspire loyalty, but he also has a single-minded survival instinct that is cold and calculating. Graff reckons that with sufficient training, he can coax Ender into becoming a military tactician to rival Alexander the Great or Napoleon.
Did I mention Ender is only six?
Throughout his time in Command School, a top secret orbital station, the best and the worst of Ender are brought out—his will to succeed, to become master of the battleroom, sees him progress up the ranks with astonishing speed. He makes friends and enemies along the way, and is deeply haunted by memories of his cruel brother and the sister he loved. Graff is ever present behind the scenes, pulling the strings, manipulating the young genius into becoming the best he can be. The stunning third act is full of twists and turns as Ender must struggle to realize his true, frightening potential.
Wow, talk about a provocative novel! I've seen it listed as Young Adult, but there's no end to the moral, ethical, political, social, and futuristic themes raked up here. Card doesn't dwell on any of them, doesn't preach; he tells his story the simplest way he can and lets the reader do most of the heavy lifting—if they want it. Because it also works as an exciting science fiction tale, a coming-of-age story, with a memorable climax.
Ender might be very young but he thinks and behaves with an ever-increasing maturity almost immediately. There's nothing condescending here. He's also prone to nightmares, and is shaped not just by Graff and the endless battleroom games, but by those around him. He has to contend with bullies, rivals, abusive teachers, personal demons: all of us have something in common with Ender Wiggin. Card's triumph here is the complexity he gives these boys and girls struggling to become men and women before their time. At their age, it might all be about winning games and points, but they're constantly aware there'll be a time when those games and points will end lives. We feel that responsibility weighing Ender down, and his will to overcome it becomes ours, vicariously. We don't want these children to ever graduate from the battleroom. But if they must, let it be under the leadership of someone with compassion and not just a killer instinct. Humanity must graduate intact.
Everyone needs a Valentine to temper their Peter.
I can't begin to say how much I enjoyed Ender's Game. It's a one-of-a-kind children's SF war story that isn't really for children at all. I'm telling everyone I know to read it (if they haven't already), and I can't wait to see what the sequels are like.
That makes six GREAT sci-fi novels in a row for me now. The previous one was Frank Herbert's Dune; next up is Roadside Picnic by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky. SF has always been my favourite genre, but I had no idea there were so many masterpieces out there, waiting to be discovered.
This is Robert, signing off for now.
April 8, 2011
Amazing Steampunk Trailer From Carina Press
In anticipation of Steampunk Week at Carina Press (the last week in April), the staff there have put together this utterly gorgeous trailer showing off seven steampunk titles. My novella, The Mysterious Lady Law, is among them!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKFmn6H-VYI
How's that for a visual feast?
The individual titles are:
The Mysterious Lady Law by Robert Appleton
Badlands by Seleste deLaney
The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale by Christine Bell
Photographs and Phantoms by Cindy Spencer Pape
Island of Icarus by Christine Danse
Steam & Sorcery by Cindy Spencer Pape
Like Clockwork by Bonnie Dee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKFmn6H-VYI
How's that for a visual feast?
The individual titles are:
The Mysterious Lady Law by Robert Appleton
Badlands by Seleste deLaney
The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale by Christine Bell
Photographs and Phantoms by Cindy Spencer Pape
Island of Icarus by Christine Danse
Steam & Sorcery by Cindy Spencer Pape
Like Clockwork by Bonnie Dee
March 17, 2011
EPIC Award Winner 2011 - Sunset on Ramree
On Saturday 12th March, at Williamsburg, Virginia, Epicon announced Sunset on Ramree as the 2011 EPIC Award winner for Best Historical Fiction!! Fabulous news and a great honour. The Eppie is the highest accolade for a digitally published book. It's not only the first time I've won one, it's also the first for my publisher, Eternal Press. A special thank you to all my readers who've emailed to let me know how much they enjoyed the story. For those who haven't yet had the chance, you can learn more about history's deadliest crocodile attack here!
Best,
Robert
Three More Book Contracts With Carina Press!
Exciting news! The contracts just arrived for THREE upcoming books, all to be published by Carina Press! Sparks in Cosmic Dust is an epic sci-fi adventure novel with romantic elements--I'm currently editing it with Deb Nemeth for a September release. Alien Velocity is a re-release of my EPIC Award SF finalist, Charlie Runs Rings Around the Earth. And finally, Prehistoric Clock is a steampunk time travel adventure (short novel) I'm hoping to make into a series. Yep, this lot will keep me busy while I tackle my long-in-the-offing haunted house novel this year. I'll post updates on all these projects along the way.
In the meantime, you can read a bit more about them here.
Robert
In the meantime, you can read a bit more about them here.
Robert
