Början

The date is very significant. It is a view written before
the general release of The Force
Awakens. And it begins with a prediction: a predication about the reviews that
will come following the release if the film. No spoilers here.

Whilst there will be some that say this is the best Star Wars
yet, that the mythology has been fully restored, and JJ is destined for
sainthood, there will be others wishing him to fall on his sword-and if he
cannot provide his own they’ll willing help out, at least metaphorically.

But I suspect the majority will say it’s not as good as the
originals, but at least a whole lot better than the prequels. I have some further
comments to make on those demonized films later–but this prediction may seem
blindingly obvious. Yes it is, but a more interesting question is why?

I think the mythos surrounding Star wars is about recovering
childhood dreams. Or not.

Were the originals made for children (as has been suggested
about the first of the prequels)? Well, I remember a quote taken from George
Lucas (and I paraphrase) “I never expected to end up making films for children”
So possibly. But the originals and the prequels too were a reflection back to
the experience of Saturday Matinee cinema established for kids where we find
Flash Gordon looming in shades of grey. An interesting aside relating to this comes
from the blog of SF author, Peter F. Hamilton. He took his young son to the 3D
version of the Phantom Menace. The son liked it, and when asked for a highlight
the boy mentioned the funny guy, you know Binks. So what I am suggesting is
that your view point will reflect the age you first experience the films. I was
just out of school and experiencing my first attempt at living away from home
when I saw the original film, so still a big kid at heart. It is clear nobody
and nothing is going to be able to recapture that moment. So the prequels were
destined to fail for the generation that grew up with the originals.

Now to a confession. I actually quite enjoyed them, and I
might say though the first trilogy’s Empire Strikes Back is something of a high
watermark (I saw it at the massive Leicester Square Odeon cinema in London –
and it blew me away). The Return of the Jedi, with Ewoks…. Hum.

So what was it that appealed to me about the prequels? Well
I actually thought that Ewan McGregor cut a dashing young Alec Guinness and
then there was the art. Now my favourite game when I was younger was Myst and
particularly its sequel, Riven. I thought those games should have been
reclassified as a work of art. I love the realism that 3D computer art brought
in to my dream worlds making them concrete. I remember Andy Serkis and Gollum
here, not Jar Jar.

Visually, the original Star Wars used 2001 special effects
to tell a story which my Dad (a westerns buff) reported back was “Cowboys in
Space”. The space fantasies I had
dreamed about as a child were there on the big screen and looked real. Though
to the discerning eye they were limited by the technology of the day. By the
time the prequels came along 3D computer art was reaching new heights and we
saw this on the screen. So my appreciation here comes perhaps more for the
artwork and less for the story telling. Nonetheless I really enjoyed “Attack of
the Clones”.

As a post-script to these comments I just watched a
rescreening of the original Star Wars on TV (part of the media hype to the
Force Awakens). Maybe it was because it was on the small screen, maybe it’s
because I have become old and jaded, but the magic wasn’t there any longer for
me. Let’s see what this new film awakens…

There has
been a long hiatus on this blog .

In the
pipeline is a WorldCon report many months after the event and a piece on one of
my favourite SF shows of recent years.

But all that
is on hold now to announce my second published story, Catharsis at Steamboat
Springs, which is in Dana Bell’s new anthology, Supernatural Colorado.
Originally open to just Colorado writers, and with the mandate that it must be
set in Colorado, I squeezed in with a story based on my very first visit to the
US. First visits to any country tend to be memorable and so I tapped into my
experiences of Steamboat Springs to write this short piece. In my conscious
mind I am a SF writer, but a more honest reflection of my so far unpublished
output finds several stories which sit comfortably in the fantasy genre. This
is one.

As before
with the Different Dragons anthology, an introductory offer allows for 25%
discount on the price. And if you would like to review it, I can send a link to
a free e-version.

A second
published story helps to dispel the illusion that the first was just a fluke. I have currentlyy got several more in the pipeline, one of which was
workshopped at the World Science Fiction convention in London this year. That
was an education…

A message
from the publisher, Wolfsinger Publications follows below with links for discounts,
note the short time limit.

From now
until 15 February

you can
direct readers to the CreateSpace link above and give them discount code:
TGERED9J for a 25% discount.

https://www.createspace.com/5259782

For your
readers who prefer eBooks – you can direct them the Smashwords link and give
them coupon code: BE24L for a 25% discount

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/513268

In my writing journey I have now reached the SF/Fantasy
professional borderlands, as my first
paid sale has just appeared in a print anthology, Different Dragons. The story
is a present day hard SF tale set in Antarctica, and so somewhat of a contrast
to many of the other stories you will find in the anthology which is rich in
variety. As the title suggests the editor encouraged dragon stories which move
away from the traditional fantasy tropes. I think its a great idea, but “the proof of the
pudding is in the eating”, and I’m too close to the project to make that
judgment

My story was inspired by Lake Vostok, the huge lake hidden two miles under the Antarctic Ice sheet.

It’s unusual for me as its the first story I have written to
a specific “call” and subject. There is the possiblity of a sequel if it is well received…

More details follow:

Story “HC SVNT DRACONES”

In: Different Dragons, edited by Dana Bell and published by
Wolfsinger Publications.

The publisher has given me a couple of links where I can
offer 25% discount up until the 15th of May,

One is for an ebook (many different file formats) and the
other is for the paper back

E-book-many different formats to choose from.

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/309412

discount code is: TY73G

Paperback

CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/4263866

discount code is: TGERED9J

Overall a very small step for mankind but a giant leap for
this man…

It’s also available on Amazon as paperback and Kindle (USA
and UK) and probably Barnes and Noble too…

USA

http://www.amazon.com/Different-Dragons-ebook/dp/B00CHXTYHI/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367441605&sr=1-3&keywords=Different+Dragons

UK

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Different-Dragons-Dana-Bell/dp/1936099454/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1367864814&sr=8-2&keywords=Different+Dragons

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Different-Dragons-ebook/dp/B00CHXTYHI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1367864893&sr=1-1&keywords=Different+Dragons

Gerry Anderson

Just before Christmas my childhood arrived packed in 3
boxes. They contained DVD sets of
Stingray, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlett. Sadly, shortly after Christmas
their creator, Gerry Anderson departed. These three series of Supermarionation were probably one of the
greatest influences on my developing an interest in science fiction. It seems I am not
alone in this, as I have heard them mentioned by several notable British SF writers, e.g. Stephen Baxter, Peter Hamilton & Ian MacDonald.

I fairly quickly watched the pilots of all three. There is a
jump of sophistication from Stingray through to Captain Scarlett, but my
favourite vehicle is still Stingray, followed by Thunderbird 2 and the Spectrum
Pursuit Vehicle (SPV). Most revealing was the added commentary by Gerry
himself.

Iain M. Banks

An unfolding tragedy is the terminal cancer announced by
Scottish SF and literary author Iain Banks.

I was introduced to him by a friend when we
found we shared a mutual interest in SF. In exchange, he learned all about Gene
Wolfe, my particular favourite. Through this interest in Bank’s work I later
discovered the British wave of the New
Space Opera, adding Stephen Baxter, Peter Hamilton and then Alastair Reynolds (and most recently John Meaney ;)) to my reading lists .

I have never been tempted to read his literary works after a
plot summary and some selective reading on the radio of ‘The Wasp Factory’.
Although when you read ‘The Use of Weapons’, you can see that he’s that
same guy. Personal favourites are the Culture
books ‘ Player of Games’ and ‘Excession’and the non-Culture books: ‘Feersum Endjinn’ and ‘The Algebraist’. The last few of his books have been all
bought in hardback as I couldn’t wait for the paper back… I haven’t yet read my
copy of ‘The Hydrogen Sonata’ so, uncomfortably,
the last book I read was ‘Surface
Detail’ with its focus on a rather grim afterlife. This accentuated for me the feeling of loss and tragedy on
hearing his recent anouncement. His literary weight is probably also responsible
for showing that Space Opera was cool again and made me realise that the SF I could write people might be
interested in …

Keith Marsh

The death of a classic British character actor, Keith Marsh in
January got flagged on a SF website because of his role in a Dr. Who spinoff
film starring Peter Cushing: ´Daleks –
Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.’ He also had a
small part in the orignal Quatermass and the Pit. However, he is most famous for his recurrent role in the
seventies sit-com ´Love Thy Neighbour´ where he played Jacko- the permanent
feature of the local pub- whose catch phrase was “I’ll ‘ave half”.
He was also the gardener in the late-sixities Sid James/ Peggy Mount sit-com ´George and the Dragon´ as well as bit parts
in several other Britsh sit-coms, dramas and many, many TV adverts. I know
about most of them because Uncle Keith (as we knew him) sent his Aunt (my Gran)
advance notice of all his appearences so she could watch him. He also
faithfully sent flowers on her birthday, no mean feat since she lived to 98.

The big surprise, when meeting him in the flesh, was that his normal speaking
voice wasn’t the perenial Northern
accent he used in much of his acting career, but a refined BBC English, gained
presumably in Drama school…A fuller list of his appearances in many classic
British TV series can be found here http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0550595/?ref_=tt_cl_t4

Interestingly,
in a short story I’m developing at the moment, I will feature a set of
events he was involved in depicting as an actor-forgotten until I checked the
list above. Watch this space!

Despite the title, this is not a wind-up. It’s a true story about a walk in Scotland in August this year.

We were visiting my wife’s extended family in a gathering to celebrate her sister’s birthday. Her Dad is doing pretty well for a man in his early eighties and he decided to join us in a relatively easy walk to the Green Loch, close to the Cairngorm mountains. Unfortunately, whilst we four adults had visited the Loch before, it was probably twenty years since any of us had done this journey. We did take advice from the tourist information who instructed us to follow the path marked with blue posts. After the challenge of finding somewhere to park we set off following the blue trail. That is, until we came to a fork in the track where the markers plunged off down a small path to the right leaving the main track to go on ahead. My wife and her Dad were pretty convinced the main track ahead was the way to go. My sense of direction gene is seriously corrupted and so my opinion was not solicited. However, I am capable of retracing a single track, and so volunteered to go back to the car. There at least we had a large scale map which would be better than nothing.

About halfway back I met a group coming in the opposite direction. I wondered about asking them for help when the leading man, equipped with a map in hand, greeted me with a cheery salutation–as you do in the mountains. I seized the opportunity and asked if I could look at his map and explained our dilemma. This was no problem, and we looked together at the map. He looked vaguely familiar, but I was sure we hadn’t met before. In his wake were traveling a shorter woman and a group of kids, one of whom was of Asian origin. Taking up the rear was a bearded guy who had a child on each arm and was happily swinging them.

The woman was very friendly and chatty and I confessed we were only visiting from Sweden and didn’t come here often because I wanted to put her at her ease as I was starting to have suspicions about who I was walking with. Her origin was difficult to place but the two guys were Scots. I looked at the bearded guy intermittently, wondering. Fairly quickly we caught up with my family who were still pondering the conflicting information.

“Is that your party ahead?” asked my new guide.

“Yes, that’s them.“

The two groups converged and the map reader engaged in cheerful discussion with the rest of the adults of our party. Due to my aforementioned short-comings, I held back. The bearded guy–who I was now studying intently–was occupying his children. By now I was fairly convinced who we had met up with, but then I was faced with another dilemma. Do you say anything or not? In the end I thought it best to leave him in peace. None of the rest of my family seemed to have clicked at all. And you never know how people will react in such circumstances, especially your children. In the end the deliberations of the party leaders resolved that the Green Loch lay on the wide road ahead but the other party were following the blue trail. So we separated and walked ahead.

When they were out of earshot, I turned and smiled at our group “It’s not every day that you meet someone famous, is it?”

“Who?” they all chorused. For the benefit of my children I replied, “Obi-wan Kenobi” to the adults “Ewan McGregor.”

My sister-in-law’s countenance immediately lit up, she was fairly convinced too. Later, a quick Google confirmed my hypothesis as we looked at photos of Ewan, his wife and his brother, Colin—an airforce pilot possibly based close by to the Cairngorms and the leader of their group. The Asian looking girl was Ewan’s adopted daughter from Mongolia. And since the family decamped to California several years ago, the statistical chance of this meeting was quite low. The only remaining mystery was did Ewan realize I recognized him or not?

Will our paths cross again? I doubt it- my name is not Luke and it is not my destiny!

Well a week overdue and a new post. And I turn to two curious incidents…

Curiosity itself

Firstly, the obvious one. What I promised for last Sunday, actually happened Monday morning European time. Curiosity successfully landed on Mars.

It was a fascinating experience. Often what carries the emotional impact of an event is not the incident itself, but how people react. Watching human mirrors responding to events often gives us a deeper connection to them. So it was with the Mars landing. What follows are my impressions from watching NASA TV live.

We were in the control room at the JPL and immediately I was thrown back to watching the moon landing-yes that old! Long rows of people engaged in keeping the spacecraft on track-mostly men, and a few women –but with a big range of age and appearance. And some evidence of ethnicity. From those looking like they’re in their 30’s (and with suitably trendy haircuts) to many greyed or balding individuals or even one greying ‘hippy’ with long hair and a full beard.

As events unfold and reports come in from the different control stations there is polite applause as each step is successfully negotiated by the ship.

The concentration and tension mount as the spacecraft enters the atmosphere and has to do the various complicated somersaults to set the one ton landing rover on the surface. A picture of scientists at work: methodical, with carefully controlled actions and precise reporting one to the other.

Then Curiosity successfully lands.

And there is complete pandemonium.

The whole control room is an explosion of human emotion. They are on their feet in seconds, embracing, cheering, screaming and shouting. I was quite prepared to see the odd somersault too.

The human mirrors faithfully reflect the magnitude of the event.

As a new phase in space exploration was beginning, an old one ended– and with it a curious omission.

Sir Bernard Lovell

Sir Bernard Lovell, father of the Jodrell Bank telescope and pioneer in radio astronomy passed away at the age of nearly 99. As a youngster my brother and I were dispatched to Cheshire during the school holidays to stay with family friends in a big house in the countryside. Two things left a lasting impression: Jodrell Bank and Manchester Airport.

There was good coverage in the media and much celebration of his life, achievements and his contribution to science. A Hero of Science: the media loves a Hero of Science. We live in an Age of Science, and rationality. Superstition is banished (except in newspaper horoscopes– and anything that will sell copy or get good viewing figures).

Wikipedia reports in its entry Lovell’s all-round interests : a scientist that can engage with the Arts too. He loved music and played the church organ. But it hints at “An inconvenient truth…”, a church organ A deeper dig with Google will reveal passages like this from a book on the Big Bang Theory*—“Astronomer Bernard Lovell, for example, a devout Christian, believed that continuous creation of matter required by the theory, was as good a sign of God’s activity as any-” Whoops! Well, of course a Hero of Science cannot believe in God, it just doesn’t fit, so it’s best to bury the fact and not mention it at all. If it’s not in Wikipedia and the media hasn’t reported it, it has no material presence in this universe.

The other inconvenient truth is, of course, the fact that the huge investment to find evidence of life (at least at some time) on Mars– which rests on Curiosity’s strong metal back– might draw a blank, as other ventures have.

Notwithstanding Life on Mars, the excitement of Curiosity for me, along with the practicing science itself, is in the journey. As a scientist I am both detective and explorer in a world without previous human footprints. As Richard Feyman said “It’s the joy of finding out..” Hopefully this time people (especially high impact scientific journals) will be a little more circumspect about interpreting microscope rock formations as bacteria. But when you want to believe in something enough…

In complete contrast the next entry will be entitled “Obi-wan Kenobi and the Quest for the Green Loch “- a true story and nothing to do with fan fiction at all. Really! Until then…

*The Big Bang theory. What it is. Where it came from. And why it works Karen C. Fox (2002) p 84, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

In the beginning was the word…

This is not, in fact, a biblical allusion, but an admission that in the absence of a finished website, words are all I can give you

The name of the blog is Början, which is Swedish, and means the beginning. Chosen because although British, I am a permanent resident of Sweden.

I promised myself (and others) that the opening of the website would coincide with my first professional fiction sale. That has yet to happen, but off-stage things are moving. And as Curiosity nears its final destination, I have a feeling in my bones…

I wondered about a picture for the blog. What better for a science fiction writer than the above. Yours truly stands in its shadow, literally and metaphorically. With my breathing helmet on, so I can survive in the earth’s atmosphere. Most SF writers are not from around here…

There will be more shortly. Sunday perhaps, now what was happening on Sunday? Maybe you are as curious as I am, and maybe David Bowie gets an answer to his song?

Footnote: At the moment comments are not activated. If you would like to respond to the blog please mail cj@cjohnarthur.com, I promise to read all mails, however I may not be able to respond to each one individually.