T.P. Archie's Blog, page 6
March 23, 2013
There’s Snow Up North
A week ago we had snow. That’s the sort of thing you have with weather; change. So I took a walk over near Clowbridge Reservoir.
The Reservoir at Clowbridge
Memorial Forest above Clowbridge Reservoir
Dunnockshaw Community Woodland from a distance
This reservoir is just south of Burnley, a former mill town and slap bang in the middle of Up North. Here’s a map showing my position for the pictures.
Clowbridge-Walk – my field of vision as I looked to t’reservoir
I’ve cunningly amended the following map to make it look like Up North is near to Manchester, UK.
The area – a place where the parallel reality of Up North interacts with real places such as Manchester, UK
Back in Rossendale, the snow shifted ever so briefly. This allowed me to get in a couple of shots of the river Ogden, near to Snig Hole
Sun Rise over Snig Hole
The River Ogden overlooked by Snig Hole Park
The River Ogden flows toward Snig Hole. It later joins the River Irwell, which eventually transforms into the Mersey.
The inhabitants of Up North are dour hardy creatures; not fazed in the least by a bit of snow. In a parallel but strangely similar world, snow can bring local life stumbling to a halt, including mine. The wind was biting and I had that most debilitating of conditions that can prove fatal to modern man; a sore throat. (cough, cough). So I went to the shop instead.
Here we have the snow that ATE UP ARCHIE’S GARDEN.
Archie tries to use a camera – and hogs the picture
A raging blizzard clearly threatens the garden; Archie makes a last valiant attempt to take a picture from the safety of his kitchen
Awful isn’t it. I’m not going out in that!! But the dogs love it so five minutes later, I was out there throwing snowballs for them to catch (and kill!)
A recent batch of snow left me puzzling whether to go on one of my regular walks. Some may find snow dreary, but not me; there’s always something new to see. It never looks the same, no matter where you go…
Tussocks of snow on the road to Littleborough
Bare trees on the road from Todmorden to Littleborough
until the snow ploughs come out.
[Edit - in my haste last night, some of the photo captions became truncated. I 'improved' 'em.]
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March 22, 2013
Review of Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Panther Science Fiction (10807) 1969, 25p
This post came about as a result of chit-chat with Chester_Goode, Lao, Quinx and RetiredGrumpy on MyTelegraph. As a result I decided to reread Asimov's Foundation and re-evaluate. I last read this over twenty years ago. In the intervening time my interests have changed and by chance I have become more acquainted with classical civilisations such as the Romans and the Greeks. Did foundation speak to me of them?
Sometimes when you revisit an old favourite, the words forced out of you are not the ones you expect.
March 20, 2013
Restoration Time
I got to page 106 of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation
Isaac Asimov’s Foundation
When this turned up:
Beowulf, Keats and Shakespeare (Anthony and Cleopatra + Sonnets) on vinyl
I took some photos.
A deskful of future delights
Anthony and Cleopatra
Sonnets
Living Shakespeare
I feel a vinyl to digital restoration coming on.
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March 15, 2013
Aristotle’s Poetics
Penguin Classics 978-0-14-044636-4
£8.99
Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Malcolm Heath
Aristotle lived in an age where there were few lengthy narratives. Plays and poetry formed a significant proportion of creative output. His treatise focuses upon these. There were a few outstanding works that fell outside the scope of Poetics and Aristotle refers to these explicitly and says whether they are [partly within / partly beyond] his scope.
Aristotle’s Poetics gives us a point of view / a prism for understanding the work of others. This is a general point. On my reading, much that is written now is encompassed by his analysis.
Initially I read the piece along with the translator’s preparatory text. I confess to some irritation with some of Malcolm Heath’s rationalisations...
The rest of this post needs a tidy up.
Heinlein, Asimov, Burroughs & Blish
I had a look in my archives and came up with a few golden oldies.
Isaac Asimov
Isaac was great at explaining science. His story skills were great when he had something to convey. I last read the Foundation trilogy (Yeah – I know he wrote more) over twenty years back. It’d be nice to go through them and re-evaluate.
—The Gods Themselves—
Isaac Asimov’s The-Gods-Themselves
James Blish
James Blish had some great ideas. It’s a pity the audience wasn’t there to make it worthwhile for him to develop them more. The Day After Judgement prefigures a lot of what is being written now.
—The Day After Judgement—
James Blish’s The-Day-After-Judgement
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs set the standard for exploitation of an idea. Over and over. He plagiarised himself shamelessly. As the writer, it was his choice.
—Tarzan of the Apes—
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan-of-the-Apes
Robert Heinlein
Robert was diametrically opposed to the Burroughs method. Once he broke with the juveniles, he broke the mould. Stranger in a Strange Land was the first SF best-seller. He wrote wherever his muse led. Sometimes he got wordy and the novels became long and sprawling – but I read ‘em if I could get ‘em.
—Stranger in A Strange Land—
Robert Heinlein’s Stranger-in-a-Strange-Land
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March 14, 2013
The Man Who Sold The Moon
I’ve little Heinlein in my study; most of my SF / fantasy is tidied safely away in my office. My study is full of nonsense such as Penguin Classics, philosophy and comic books! There are one or two paperbacks lying about though so…
Exhibit 1
The Man Who Sold The Moon
Bob Heinlein’s ‘The Man Who Sold The Moon’
As you can tell, the bottom part of this beast is damaged. This goes to show that you can’t dry your washing in the place where you stack books. (Hang your head in shame, Mrs Archie).
This printing 1971 (published by New English Library)
price 6/- (30p)!!! pp 240
Contents: Life-Line, ‘Let there be Light’, The Roads must Roll, Blow-ups Happen, The Man Who Sold the Moon, Requiem + JW Campbell intro and not forgetting the infamous future history chart.
Future History? Civ style planning – 20 years before the game. I was in heaven.
Exhibit 2
The King of Elfland’s Daugher
Lord Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter.
This printing 1969, Canadian Publisher Ballantine (I always thought the reversed B pretty cool). Adult Fantasy
Price 95¢ pp 240
Lord Dunsany was 18th Baron to Castle Dunsany in County Meath.
Exhibit 3
The Game Players of Titan
P. K. Dick’s The Game Players of Titan
This printing 1973 by UK Publisher: Sphere
Price 30p pp 160 (achieved by microscopic sized print)
The credits note: Original book publication © 1963 Ace Books!!!!
No wonder Dick didn’t make a dime. Where was his accountant / lawyer / agent?
Exhibit 4
The Eyes of the Overworld
Jack Vance’s The Eyes of the Overworld
This printing 1966 (probably) US publisher Ace Books
It collected much of Jack’s tales of Cugel the Clever at the end of time.
Price 45¢ pp 192
Look inside the paperback and here again the copyright is to Ace Books © 1966. Ace were reputed to pay their authors poorly. And the M book – about ¾” smaller than a traditional mass market paperback but they still somehow managed to squeeze 39 / 40 lines on each page.
Exhibit 5
Spell of the Witch World
Andre Norton’s Spell of the Witch World
This was the first book published by DAW books. DAW began publishing in 1972 and were set up by Donald A Wollheim when he left Ace books. I believe they planned to issue 4 books per month.
Despite the cover blurb ‘The long-awaited new book of extra-galactic super-science’, this collection merely continued Andre Norton’s fantasy series.
US Publisher DAW Books
Price 95¢ pp 160
this printing 1972
I’ll see if I can dig out better tomorrow.
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March 13, 2013
X-Men
Who remembers the X-Men? Populated by teenage misfits and outsiders.
No need. They’re a phenomenon shifting hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of comic books each month. But this wasn’t always the case.
Back, way back in time, before I looked like my avatar; each comic book featured a footer on the first page that declared ownership and publication detail.
X-Men Publisher Details #66
The original Uncanny X-Men was cancelled with #66 (Cover date March 1970, writer Roy Thomas, Artist Sal Buscema – Neal Adams’ run on the X-Men finished with # 65). Circulation then was as below:
X-Men 66 Circulation
Yes – that’s it. A mere 235,811 sales per month. This was definitely a title on the verge of being cancelled – and yep they used to publish their circulation details. And the Uncanny X-Men was cancelled.
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A popular artist / writer combo had left the book; things needed to quieten down a little. After a hiatus of several months Stan’s plan became plain… X-Men was taking a new direction… bi-monthy reprints. The first comic of this bold move was #67, cover dated December 1970. Would it work? Only time would tell.
By #81 Cover dated April 1973
X-Men publisher details #81
…we have the answer.
X-Men 81 Circulation
This is also tabulated below.
Paid circulation before cancellation – 235,811 (published monthly)
Paid circulation while reprinting old stuff – 140,848 (published bi-monthly)
A Marvel comic was never complete without an ad. Here’s one from #66
X-Men #66 ad for Ugly-Broken-Nails!
Cool, eh?
By X-Men #110 (April 1978) Marvel ads were little different (btw the image is less yellowed with age simple because it’s from the inside front cover)
X-Men #110 ad for Pocket Pen Radio
And not a single Cyclops in sight.
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Or is there???????
X-Men-66-cover
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March 9, 2013
Review of Animal Farm by George Orwell
The 1972 printing (Penguin Modern Classics, 14 000838 1) was used for this review.
March 4, 2013
Telly-Tubbies in China?
Chinese industrialisation, worshipped by the credulous and eulogised by those who should know better; has given rise to a new spirit of can-do. I was reminded of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil by China officials caught spray-painting grass green in Chengdu:
In areas blighted by quarries, entire mountains have been painted green in order to seem verdant from the air. “This is very advanced, we learned how to do it from the internet,” a spokesman for a local mining office in Shaanxi province said, when confronted….
Meanwhile, one comment translated by ChinaSmack, a blog, asked: “Can you also dye the sky blue?”
This is wrong on so many levels; yet I had to laugh. Perhaps China is preparing for an invasion of telly-tubbies. It’s either that or April 1st has come early.
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