The Free Range

Conan the Barbarian was created in 1932 by Robert E. Howard. Initially appearing in pulp magazines of the day, the character has spread into every form of media imaginable: novels, comics, movies, games and art. Beyond the Black River was written after Howard had developed the character quite thoroughly. It is the first of the "King Conan" stories, in which the titular character is more mature and wise -- though still ultra-violent in his approach to problem-solving. Which, it must be admitted, is his most endearing quality. We can all sympathize with the desire to yank out a broadsword and go to work when we are sitting in traffic, watching as some mouth-breather does something immensely and infuriatingly retarded. Alas, civilization forbids. For now.

(Image copyright 2015 by Georgi Simeonov)

Howard himself was a troubled young man. Much like his contemporary fellow writer H.P. Lovecraft, he held a cynical view of life that is uncommon -- and arguably unhealthy -- in one so young. He was terrified of growing old and wrote on several occasions of his desire to die young. At the age of 30, with his beloved mother on her deathbed, Robert E. Howard walked out of her bedroom to his car, pulled a pistol from the glove compartment and shot himself in the head. Thus ended the life of the man who is widely acknowledged as the father of the swords and sorcery literary genre and all that it has spawned over the last century.


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The Free Range

New feature. Yes, something new! I'm not dead just yet. Mind you, I do occasionally glimpse a shadowy figure off in the distance that dances out of sight when I turn to look more closely. Sneaky devil, that Reaper. Gotta keep on your toes if you want to postpone being taken to the dance by him.

Anywho, the Newness. I'm going to start recommending (or not, as the case may be) free e-books. I'm going to shoot for one book a week, though it may stretch a bit as I've less reading time than I used to enjoy. Between Amazon, Internet Archive, and the Gutenberg Project, there is plenty of gratis literature available. And so into the breach!

Armageddon - 2419 A.D. is the original Buck Rogers story, although it bears only a passing resemeblence to the serialized sci-fi you're probably familiar with -- and absolutely no resemblence to the execrable television series of the late 1970s, which possesed only two redeeming features:



Or possibly four redeeming features, depending on exactly what you're counting. Ahem.

Back to our story. Armageddon - 2419 A.D. was written by Philip Nowlan and published in Amazing Stories in 1928. It was quite well-received and generated a sequel the next year. It revolves around a protaganist from the 1920s named Anthony Rogers, (he is never referred to as 'Buck' in the story; that was a marketing invention when the character was first serialized in a comic strip), who ends up in the 25th century via "science." I shan't spoil it for you, as it's delightfully naive. In any event, the future he finds is not one of a high-tech spacefaring culture, but rather the aftermath of a massive global war in which the United States was eventually conquered by China. The Han maintain a high-tech civilization in North America, while the descendents of Americans hide from them in the forests and plot their vengenace. Unto this scene arrives Mr Rogers, and great adventure ensues.

The story is unusually sophisticated for one of the era, written in a flowing style that's easy for a modern reader to enjoy, which is not always the case with century-old science fiction. The made-up technology is very creative and eerily prescient, foretelling the ideas of vacuum-point energy and subatomic manipulation of matter long before quantum mechanics had gone mainstream. The characters are quite progressive for the day while still adhering to cultural sensibilities. For example, the heroine character of Wilma Deering remains very feminie while still having an equal voice, undoubtedly a result of flappers' brazen (for the time) public behavior of the Roaring Twenties.

Overall the book is a fun read and grants some insight into the very early roots of American science fiction. It is perhaps unfortunate that the radio and screen adaptations took the Buck Rogers franchise in a different direction than the original story, but understandable given the fact that rocketships had become all the rage by the 1940s. Let's hope that the idea of a Chinese conquest of America doesn't turn out to be prescient, as well.


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Starstruck

Star KIC 8462852 appears to be dimming rapidly, both over time and in periodic bursts. Hypotheses are rampant, with the most intriguing being construction of a Dyson sphere or ringworld structure around the star by Little Green Men. Fact is, we won't know until we get out there and put our peepers on it up close, and that's not happening anytime soon. Maybe your great-great-great-grandchildren will find out.

If this sort of mystery interests you, I can recommend a really great book, Pandora's Star by Peter Hamilton. It's the first book of his Commonwealth Saga, one of the best sci-fi stories ever written. Hamilton's stories are similar to Iain Banks' Culture series, with a strong tendency toward Dickens-style dramatis personae.


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Book Recommendation

If you haven't read it, I highly recommend the book "The Victory at Sea." It's free on Kindle.

This is not a tie-in to the 50s television series, but rather a personal account of American naval involvement in World War One. It was written in 1920 by Rear Admiral William Sims, who served as the President of the Naval War College before the war and as the American naval attache to British Admiralty House during the war.

Far from a dry accounting of mere facts, the book is full of rare inside information and astute geopolitical analysis, as well as fascinating anecdotes and first-hand stories about famous people who were central to the war such as John Jellicoe, Admiral Bayly and David Lloyd George.

It is very interesting to read an account of the naval war in 1917-18 written immediately after the event, as Admiral Sims had no way of knowing about political and technological developments which would occur during the interwar years, developments which we now take for granted. There is a tendency among many historians to overshadow World War One, specifically understating the threat posed by U-boats, but the situation was every bit as dire in 1917 as it was in 1941. Without American intervention, it's very possible the Germans would have won the war. Though modern Englishmen and Europeans chafe to admit that, the people in charge of defending the British Isles at the time -- like Jellicoe and George -- knew it only too well. The coat of glossy paint applied by modern history texts is not present in this book, as it was written by a direct participant immediately following the event, one who was fairly high up in the political food chain. As students of history know, that's a rare treasure indeed.

If you've any interest in naval power and the early development of post-imperial Western policy, I think you'll find it an entertaining read.

And it's free. So try it; you might like it.

Download here


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The future of SciFi publishing

While reading a blog article about the latest PC kerflufle taking place within the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), one of the more lengthy comments by a B Lewis I found rather interesting, talking about why they believe that "Mainstream SF is DOA" and why he thinks independent publication if where the future is at....

"Almost all mainstream SF authors now have to convince a merciliess gauntlet of editorial Red Guards that their creative content does not promote white supremacy, white privilege, phallocracy, or the Christo-capitalist exploitation of workers, wymyn, blacks, People of Color, Women of Cover, Muslims, Jews, animals, or any member of the LGBTI2LS/MFTOMGWTFBBQ Rainbow of Victimhood. Any deviation from Mao Zedong Thought and it’s no bookshelf for you, you racist, homophobic oppressor of the masses!"

Link to the comment is here.

Books - The Culture Series

I like Churt's "Recommend a Book" theme, so I'll play along. He already put in a good word for what I consider the best epic fantasy series to date, so I'll move over to the sci-fi side.

I've been voraciously consuming sci-fi novels for over 30 years, and I can say with total confidence that Iain Bank's Culture series is the best I've ever read. Banks doesn't just think outside the box, he delights in setting the box on fire and pissing on the smoldering embers. Even jaded readers will find a new, oh-my-God-that's-so-freaking-cool idea on nearly every page of the extensive series.

This is not laser-blasting Star Wars fare, but neither is it Vonnegut-style navel gazing. It's something completely in its own category. Banks doesn't shy away from incorporating social and scientific concepts that are (to put it mildly) on the bleeding edge. Neither, however, does he make a point of rubbing your face in them. The author doesn't seem to have any social, political, or philosophical axes to grind; he merely postulates that this is what humanity may become, given the virtually unlimited resources and riches the universe has to offer. Whether you like his vision of the future or not, I guarantee you'll never forget it. The Culture, the most advanced branch of humanity in the books, is a combination of Roddenberry's utopia and Huxley's dystopia, mixed with a large dash of Thackeray's Vanity Fair.

The first book of the series is Consider Phlebas; give it a read. Just understand that this is not Star Trek or Star Wars or anything like you've ever encountered in popular culture bearing the sci-fi label; this is "hard" sci-fi at its hardest, but also its most fascinating.

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Book Recommendations - Game of Thrones

Just added a new label for book recommendations. I keep having trouble remembering what book Jar or Banduar mention to me so was hoping to make use of the blog for this purpose. Just use books as the label.

Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin will be the first. I haven't finished the series but seems good so far. I know I've been given other recommendations but I never can remember them after sleeping.