Pippa Jay's Blog, page 88

The Crimson Pact: Volume 2 - edited by Paul Genesse

My review for The Crimson Pact: Volume 2 is now live on the Fantasy Book Review site here. "If you like demons and dark fantasy this is definitely the anthology for you." Please go and check it out.

As an addition, if you're interested in having one of your stories selected to go in a future volume, check out the terms and conditions here. Submissions to the anthologies are by invitation only if you manage to impress the publisher with a piece of flash fiction submitted during their reading period, which is through 1 February 2012.

Inspirations - Scifi/Fantasy Films

Staying with inspirations, these are my top five scifi/fantasy films that I wanted to share with you - let me know if you agree or what your alternative listing is! :)

1.Star Wars. Okay, slight cheat here as this refers to all three films of the original trilogy (and not the later-made prequels). If you want me to stick to the 'rules' then I'd put The Empire Strikes Back in the top slot. For me, this film is 'the Trials of Luke Skywalker' in the finest tradition of testing a young hero, and his struggle to deal with his new-found powers and his dedication to the Jedi religion while still being true to the people he loves. These were the films that converted me from my early love of fantasy to the world of science-fiction. Well, that, and a small crush on Luke Skywalker.<blushes>


2.The Fifth Element. Although I think the story is a little weak and Zorg (Gary Oldman) comes across as one of the most ineffectual villains I know, I love this film. Visually entertaining and with some fab music, it has redeeming features, the feisty and yet fragile Leeloo for one. There's also some great humour in this, and Zorg's crowning moment is his reaction when, having deactivated his own bomb, the device set by the Mangalores activates and explodes. The clip here is the Diva's performance - and it's probably not what you'd expect if you haven't seen the film. I love the mix of classical with funky electronica in this piece. Also evidence that I'm not the first person to have blue aliens, and to do so is not simply 'copying' Avatar. :-/


3.Galaxy Quest. A parody of Star Trek and similar scifi shows, this has some fantastic humour in it, but also rather poignant. If you were famous for a particular scifi role and the show got cut and you couldn't find another job, what would you do? Tim Allen as Jason Nesmith, the actor who played Cmdr. Peter Quincy Taggart, throws himself whole-heartedly into conventions and playing to his fans, only to discover that his 'crew' hate him. Just as he loses faith in himself and everything he's done, a group of aliens who have taken the show as reality - 'historical documents' - seek him out and ask for his help. The show's catch phrase of 'Never give up, never surrender!' is a cry all aspiring authors could adopt. :) The one down-point in this film for me is the death of Quellek. :( Strangely for me, I didn't feel my general nerdiness was being mocked - as scifi geek Brandon in the film says; I'm not a complete nutcase, you know, I understand it's not real. :-P

4.A Knight's Tale. Okay, this appeals more to my mushy side I'm afraid. I love the medieval era and have used touches of it in my writing. I adore Heath Ledger's character in this - a young man striving for his dreams, prepared to take any risk to achieve it, and despite the odd tantrum, he does so with the same nobility of the high-born knights he hopes to emulate. In fact, his behaviour is a darn sight more noble than some of the so-called champions he meets. The use of some classic rock music rather than the more historically-accurate kind makes this stand out for me, and the romantic elements are enough to touch my heart without making me cringe. Sir Ulrich and his lady Jocelyn are well-matched, and his heart-felt belief in himself and determination to succeed are inspiring!


5.The Dark Crystal. I adore this film. For me, it's unique and special. The skill that was needed to make it, the weird and wonderful characters - the whole concept of it. At a time when computerized special effects were laborious and still required the use of models and blue screen, in the early days of animatronics, this film is iconic. To this day, I still collect Brian Froud's fairies, and I even have a couple of the figures - Jen and Kira - that my husband bought me as a birthday present one year. My first full length story was based on this film. Am I gushing too much? :-P


So tell me your top inspiring films, and why they did it for you. :)

Scifi Sunday #8

[image error] Hi all and welcome to another #scifi snippet. Thanks for stopping by. :) This will be the last posting for Gethyon as the MS is going out on submission - hopefully you'll get to see the full work in the not too distant future - fingers crossed. But that does mean the snippets I've posted will be removed.


So, the chase is over, but now Gethyon is forced to think back over the events that have sent him on the run ...

The night and the ocean seemed unending, a blackness that reached to infinity, touched by ghostly moonlight and flickers of distant silver shimmers where the water caught moonbeams and broke them into fragments. In his exhaustion, the line between reality and dreams had shattered. Gethyon flew over the platinum-crested ripples of the sea in a haze, protected from the chill of the air and the spray of the water by the buzzing shield of the Trilobyke. The whine of its engines blurred into the constant susurration of the sea, his hands locked into the controls so tightly that he felt as though his flesh had melded itself to the metal, that he and the bike had become a single entity fleeing into the night. The only warmth that touched him came from Callon slumped against his back, her arms still clasped around his waist.As if from a distance he could dimly sense her sleeping mind reliving the nightmare of Dephon's murder, and the terrifying pursuit that had followed. Gethyon's own mind refused to contemplate the thought; surely, he couldn't have killed someone? Had it really been him?

© 2009-2011 Copyright Philippa J. Green All Rights Reserved

Jedi on a Shoestring

At the age of eight I saw Star Wars on TV for the first time. I was instantly converted from fantasy to scifi (plus having my first crush on Luke Skywalker), and dreamed of being a Jedi. But try as I might, I never managed to get the Force to work, never built my own lightsabre and never flew an X-wing. However ...


A friend decided to hold a Star Wars party for his birthday last weekend. Fancy dress was optional, but I wasn't going to pass up the chance to fulfil another ambition. I decided I didn't want to pay out for a flimsy Star Wars costume off the web. For one thing, the only options in terms of female characters are Leia's slave get-up (not in October!) which I do not (sadly) have the figure for, the classic white Leia dress or Amidala's white two piece (again I no longer have a stomach I'd show to ANYONE!)



So I started hunting around. I'm not an expert dress maker, but one quintessential item of Jedi clothing is the cloak. You can find a basic pattern for one here which is dead easy to make. And while I'm not the greatest seamstress I can usually manage to stitch something together. I made myself a Blake's Seven outfit as a teenager without any pattern at all, but I did find this one on ebay.(see below)
This is from the States but ships to the UK, and very handy if you wanted to do Lord of the Rings as well. :) It wasn't too expensive either and came in good time. However, my back-up plan of raiding the local charity shops paid off well enough that I didn't actually have to make anything in the end (even if I did end up looking like Ewan McGregor's Ben Kenobi without the beard.).
And no, this isn't actually me
I bought a pair of cargo trousers, a heavy belt and a pale top with cross-over design on it that made up my basic Jedi outfit. My cloak was a bit of a cheat. My older brother-in-law does Roman/Celtic re-enactment, and loaned me one of his genuine woollen cloaks for the event. My nephew donated a lightsaber from his Star Wars collection, and my padawan rat's tail came from Claire's Accessories. It's cost me about £20 in all, and most of it I can wear again as 'normal' stuff.
This is me.

And, um, yes - that IS my husband dressed as Princess Leia. It WAS a joke!(Incidentally, his dress is taken from the same basic pattern for the cloak, the link for which is here.)
So what do you think? Good enough? How have you gone about making your scifi costumes? Do you make them from scratch, shop around for pieces that will do the job or buy the ready-made ones? I wish you could all post some pics!

Scifi Sunday #7

Hi all and welcome to another #scifi snippet. Gethyon's still trying to shake one last pursuer, but it seems other forces are at work ...

Tyos revved his craft alongside. For an instant he glared at Gethyon, the hate-filled expression demonic by moonlight, before a bright flash exploded between them and Tyos fell away. Gethyon darted a glance back, saw the craft blazing before it struck the water and threw its rider out into the sea. Had it been that badly damaged? The flash had looked like a weapon blast, but who would shoot Tyos down? Or had they been aiming at him?Gethyon focused ahead and accelerated to top speed. I'm not waiting to find out either way.

© 2009-2011 Copyright Philippa J. Green All Rights Reserved

Call For Science Fiction Submissions

For all you #scifi writing peeps out there, just a quick post to let you know about a couple of opportunities for submitting works of scifi.

First up, author Misa Buckley is looking for SFR short stories for an anthology. Works need to be between 5,000 and 10,000 words with strong scifi and romantic elements, and to a unifying theme. Please check out her website here for details.

Secondly, Carina Press have put out a call for science fiction novellas with a winter holiday theme, from 18,000 to 35,000 words and featuring science fiction elements. Again, please check out their site here for details. :D

Good luck!

Inspirations - Scifi/fantasy Series Part 3

Well, I'd only intended one post on this, but we're up to three already! This, however, is the last, and I hope I've stirred up a little nostalgia with these. Or possibly just shown my age and poor taste. :-O

9. Sapphire and Steel. I loved these, even though only six episodes were ever made. The stories creeped me out. Sapphire and Steel are two human-looking agents who travel throughout time and space keeping humanity safe. These are more though-provoking than action stories, and the SFX and sets are very limited, but that intrigued me. As a child who suffered badly from nightmares, this particular episode had me so freaked out that I imagined I could see 'the darkness' moving around in my own room. This clip is the worst and probably the source of my Siah-dhu - the dark entity in Keir and the associated stories.




10. Stargate. I enjoyed the film and watched the first series, although I found some of the story-lines a little dubious. Their use of the 'stargates' annoyed me a bit since I already had a similar mode of transport in mind for my own travellers, but what can you do?! :-P A scientific/military team of humans travel across space through special gateways, encountering alien races and battling the tyrannical parasitic Goa'uld.




11. The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I LOVED Douglas Adams! Not just this spoofy scifi series but the Dirk Gently books too (which, incidentally, got me into the poetry of Coleridge). The accidental travels of Arthur Dent and his alien companion Ford Prefect had me hooked from the first episode. Frankly I was a little disappointed by the film version. I liked the idea that alien space ships weren't all gleaming metal, that sticking a fish in your ear worked better than a translator, and that Vogon poetry is the third worst in the Universe. "Oh freddled gruntbuggly." Oh, and don't forget your towel. :D




12. Space 1999. This didn't even come up in the comments from the first Inspirations post, but I have to mention it. This was compulsive viewing for me on a Saturday morning. I'm not sure the idea was terribly feasible - the Moon is blasted out of Earth's orbit after a nuclear explosion (fair enough) but the number of aliens and other worlds they encounter on their journey deeper into space seemed beyond reasonable coincidence. My favourite character was the shape-changing Maya. Even though most of the aliens were awful rubber suits, some of the stories really stuck with me, and the opening credits with their dramatic theme got me every time. :)



So that's it - 12 scifi/fantasy series that have influenced me along the way. Did I miss any of yours out? :-P

Reviews - Jaine Fenn

This week I have TWO reviews up on the Fantasy Book Review website. Guardians of Paradise and Bringer of Light by Jaine Fenn.













Please stop by the review site and check them out. They also have a competition running until the 14th October -
Competition: Win a free copy of The Long Way Home by PD Blake (ebook)

Inspirations - Scifi/fantasy Series Part 2

So, continuing with the scifi and fantasy series that inspired me to write in the first place and the upcoming new ones that encourage me, here are the last four. Enjoy!

5.Red Dwarf. Although this is more comedy than scifi, it has to be on my list. All four main characters have some of the worst and most extreme character flaws ever, added to that the fact that only one is actually (barely) human - a cat that's evolved, an android, the last human being alive and a hologram of one of the dead crew, all aboard a mining vessel piloted by an artificial intelligence called Holly who has the mental 'IQ of 12000 traffic wardens.' The series follows their misadventures through space, and occasionally time as they try to return to Earth after three million years lost out in space. The clip is from a 'dream recorder' and features the Cat.



6.Primeval. Probably one of the lesser known series, and temporarily axed when ITV ran out of money to make it. Thankfully the BBC agreed to help fund it (makes my TV licence even more worthwhile!). 'Stealing' my idea of gateways through time and space (oh, wait, that was Stargate too ... ), a mismatched team originally comprising a Professor of Paleontology and his big-game hunting assistant, a nerdy conspiracy-theory student, a 'lizard girl' from a wildlife park, and a reluctant couple of civil servants, they track down anomalies that lead to Earth's prehistoric past. My kids adore this series, so it makes for one of the few times of family viewing where we all sit quiet and watch!


7.Merlin. This is probably the most recent newcomer to my list. At first I was a little wary - 'oh, no, not another remake of the King Arthur legend, sigh' - but it does a fabulous job of it, with a twist. It follows the story of a young Merlin, new to his powers and trying to survive under the ruling of Arthur's father, Uther, who had banned all magic and executes anyone even suspected of witchcraft. Prince Arthur is an ass, even if a rather handsome, gallant one, and Merlin is a soft-hearted fool. The best thing is my daughter loves it too. :)


8.The Sarah Jane Adventures. Okay, okay, I know this one was really intended for kids, but again it's something I can watch with mine and for me it harkens back to the early days of Doctor Who before they revamped it with all the mushy stuff that gets in the way of the stories these days. Also, it starred my favourite companion, the first one not there solely to make the Doctor look good and to scream in all the right places. Sarah Jane had spunk and spirit! Sadly, the actress who played her - Elisabeth Sladen - passed away from cancer earlier in the year. Sarah Jane Smith was companion (briefly) to the dandy third Doctor Jon Pertwee, and then to the eccentric fourth incarnation Tom Baker. The new Doctors have made guest appearances in some of the Sarah Jane Adventures. No longer travelling in the TARDIS, Sarah Jane nevertheless continued to battle aliens intending to conquer the Earth, with the aid of two young side-kicks, an artificially created boy genius that she adopts as her son, K-9 and an alien super-computer.




So what are your top scifi or fantasy series?

Inspirations - Scifi/fantasy Series Part 1

After a discussion on Twitter about a certain scifi series, it got me thinking about all those I've watched over the years and that I've fallen in love with or felt inspired to write by watching. Once I started writing the post, I realized there were quite a few so I've split the post into two parts to make it easier. So, in no particular order, these are my top scifi/fantasy series. Enjoy!

1.Doctor Who. Probably the first scifi series I ever watched, and mostly because my parents were fans. The never-ending (?) journeys through time and space of the renegade Time Lord, now the last of his people, has been running since 1963, which must be a record. The earliest episode I can recall was the very last Jon Pertwee adventure - Planet of the Spiders - and I often wonder if it was the source of my spider phobia. :-/
Of course, it's come a long way since then ...



2.Star Trek. The pure, unadulterated original series! Again, my parents were fans so it was kind of compulsory viewing in our household, but even so my love for ST took me to watch all the following versions. Out of all of them, DS9 was probably my favourite, with Voyager coming a sadly-disappointing last. I tired so hard to like Captain Janeway, but she just didn't cut it for me. Seven of Nine was the only redeeming feature. :( Star Trek is often quoted as being ground-breaking because of the mixture of races and genders working together in a form of equality that many are still striving for even now. The range of story-lines, often covering moral dilemmas as much as Kirk's reputation of 'shoot to kill' make up for the periods of dodgy acting and even more dodgy special effects.


(I really like the Flintstones mash-up of the original, lol.)

3.Farscape. I LOVE Farscape! It's probably been the biggest influence on my writing that I've been consciously aware of. I even treated myself to the complete DVD set including the Peacekeeper Wars as a Christmas present. The idea of a living ship, of an alien that's a plant, of travel through wormholes, and helium farts (yes, you read that right) - fabulous! The relationships between all of the crew and the gradual romance between Crichton and Aeryn are all beautifully done. John Crichton, astronaut, falls through a wormhole to another universe and becomes part of a crew of escaping prisoners aboard a living ship - a Leviathan - called Moya as they attempt to evade the Peacekeepers.



4.Blake's Seven. My husband mocks my fondness for this lo-budget old scifi, but I loved it. It had a fab alien ship, elegant weapons and a hodge-podge of the most psychologically conflicting and demented characters ever. The constant sniping from sardonic Kerr Avon kept up the friction even when poor scenery and the odd dodgy storyline let it down. The iconic Deep Space Vehicle Two - better known as the Liberator - is a state-of-the-art space ship high-jacked by a band of criminals and led by the moral crusader Roj Blake as they attempt to evade the corrupt and tyrannical Federation. You could consider it an early version of Farscape without the romance.




So that's the first four, and I'll post the rest next week. But what's your top scifi series and why? :)