Here are Eight Myths new writers should consider. While you’re at it, why don’t you have your own website yet? One with your name, that is.
Monthly Archives: November 2015
Heeding the Warning
When William R. Forstchen wrote One Second After in 2009, the novel warned us of the dangers of man- or nature-caused EMP events. These can induce a domino collapse to civilization as we know it. Now in the recent sequel, One Year After, he writes in the preface that not much has changed:
…frustratingly, much is still the same. I had hoped that by now there would have been government action at the national level to better secure our power grid, create plans both for defense and for public preparedness, and a more robust foreign policy that makes clear that the acquisition by rogue nations a weapons that could generate an EMP will NEVER be tolerated. None of this has happened.
Rather than spending the money to secure the vulnerable and ancient power grid, and investing in defense measures, the government spends billions buying votes, pay off contributors and whatever else allows them to hold on to power. This isn’t a partisan issue, yet we (the citizens) have let them (the professional politicians) ignore an avoidable catastrophe that defies anything we have seen. Forstchen continues:
The books are fiction, but the scenario could be real…Our parents and grandparents of the “Greatest Generation” allowed their leaders to close their eyes to the growing threats around the world…and a terrible price was paid. History has a hundred such examples…I pray that thirty years hence, these books are forgotten as dark tales of warning that never came true…I pray that I never one day hear, “Bill, you were right.”
Categories: Books, Fiction
Tags: EMP, One Second After, One Year After, William R. Forstchen
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What Could Have Been
Not much holds my attention on television, creativity has plummeted. Leave to Amazon to change that with its original series A Man in the High Castle. Based on famed sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick’s novel, it opens with this disturbing premise:
The Allies lost World War II and the Nazis and Imperial Japan rule the United States.
A fledgling resistance and simmering unrest between Japan and Germany is set in a dystopian 1960s that isn’t exactly the ’60s we remember. The producers have put fort a movie-level effort in the reimagining what the country would be like. The production design, subtle FX and the historical allusions (like the disturbing cause of the “snow” on one scene of the pilot episode) combined with a well-realized plot for an immersive, and cautionary, tale.
Having watched Season 1 in its entirety, one thing is for certain: Amazon has officially put itself on the map for original television (networks take note).
P.S. Read more on the series here. And muse over the irony of a show on fascism having its ads censored.
Categories: Modern History
Tags: A Man in the High Castle, alternate history, Amazon, Philip K. Dick, television, World War II
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Thongor of Lemuria
In my continuing quest to find great “vintage” sci-fi and fantasy, I now turn to Lin Carter’s Thongor books. The six volume series takes place in the mythical lost continent of Lemuria. Thongor of Valkarth, the near-barbarian exile, finds himself on one near-death adventure after another across Lemuria. Not surprisingly, he rescues himself a princess and becomes a ruler and warrior of note. Often compared to Conan (which Carter also contributed to), but the stories ring closer to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ tales of peril. Perhaps that’s why I was drawn into this series more than Conan. The first outing is rather brief and straight-forward, but the storytelling in book 2 reaches that Burroughs-level of constant, page turning escapades. I think this kind of quick and fun adventure will, if it hasn’t already, find success with modern audiences. Sometimes authors try a little too hard in their world-building and narrative. Unfortunately, this series is a short one.
Sometimes – if not quite often – readers want to be swept away into another world full of larger-than-life, sword-swinging heroes facing unimaginable peril and rescuing their beautiful women. Thongor is all of this.
Politically incorrect? Perhaps to some. Fun and entertaining? Most certainly.
Categories: Books, Fiction
Tags: Adventure, Conan, fantasy, Lemuria, Lin Carter, sword and sorcery, Thongor
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Indie Film Fest 2: The End
It’s been awhile since my last Indie Film Fest, but the indie film industry continues to flourish. Whether limited release or the direct-to-home market, the industry has benefited from digital platforms like Netflix and Amazon. This is not unlike how publishing and music has been revolutionized by technology, though the expense of filmmaking makes a bit more of a challenge. Nevertheless, these films often attract established stars and provide a refreshing counter to big budget spectacles (not that many of those aren’t great as well). Here are three post-apocalyptic choices that, like the best in the genre, explore the good and evil that simmers all around us:
In The Last Survivors, we find 17-year old Kendal trying to survive in the parched-out valley where her family once lived. Of course, there is a self-proclaimed “baron” who is trying to claim all land (and remaining water) so his group can survive. A very visual and well-thought out film which allows you to overlook some minor script or direction issues. A small-scale version of Mad Max or The Book of Eli with the classic post-apocalyptic story of the best and worst of people.
Snowpiercer finds the world’s survivors locked in a new ice age. Ironically, it was caused by the world’s governments trying to “fix” the climate – a little warning missed by most reviewers. If you can overlook a few plot issues – such as if they can keep this train running, can’t they figure out a stationary location? Who’s out there maintaining the tracks? – there are some great themes in here. Some see it as depicting class warfare, but it can seen as a warning over oppression and government meddling.
Z for Zachariah is a more subtle film. Not driven by typical action, but driven forward by the interactions and decisions of three survivors of the end of the world. Ann has survived the fallout in a shielded valley, alone for some time until two others stumble through. I think many reviewers failed to put themselves into the mind of the characters and what they would be thinking and decisions they would make, much like in The Road. It is also, at one level, a modern spin on Adam and Eve in a Garden of Eden.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: films, indie films, motion pictures, Snowpiercer, The Last Survivors, Z for Zachariah
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Why Fantasy Films are Awesome
And books, too, of course:
Darrick Dean 