SCIENCE FICTION: THE COLLECTED STORIES OF ROGER ZELAZNY VOLS 1-4 (NESFA PRESS 2009)

If you are going to produce a complete collection of the short stories of one of Science Fiction's greatest writers then this is the way to do it. These are the first four volumes of a 6-book series, with the final two due to be published next year. They are printed on high quality acid-free paper with a cover by Michael Whelan with each volume progressively revealing more of one long painting packed with allusions to Zelazny's work. The spines also match up to appear as one single image which looks great on the bookshelf.

Apart from the stories, there are introductions by other writers, notes by Zelazny on each story (and poem, for they are there too), notes on the stories by the editors explaining various references, essays by Zelazny, plus a variety of other material '-curiosities'-, unclassifiable bit of Zelany writing- original publication details, biographical and autobiographical pieces. It would be churlish to criticise this book for putting too much in, though not everything will be of interest, though that point should be noticed. Although I like the poetry of Zelazny's prose, poetry itself is not something I have much interest in.

The stories.

They appear in order of publication which is not synonymous with the order in which they were written. I was amazed to learn that the story he wrote first was A Rose for Ecclesiastes  but which he held back from submitting due to his being insecure about science already making the story implausible. As if that mattered! Some of the stories have never been collected before but that doesn't mean they are bad stories, rather they are minor ones in the Zelazny canon though this is not synonymous with 'without interest'. A few are collaborations.

I tend to think that Zelazny works best at novellette or novella length and there are many examples of this including the original magazine versions of The Dream Master as He Who Shapes, and This Immortal as And Call Me Conrad, plus the stories which make up the My Name Is Legion sequence, and many more.

Some authors improve as they get older. Sadly, this wasn't the case with Roger Zelazny. He exploded into action in the 60's and, I'm afraid, never bettered, or even matched, his initial splendid outpourings. He maintained a high standard, of that there's no doubt, and it's arguable but plausible that his later short fiction did reach a higher level than that of his later novels which were, by the standard of his earlier works, a touch pedestrian. No matter, these stories were, are, and will remain a high watermark of Science Fiction.

This is simply an amazing work which, for various reasons, partly, no doubt, because NESFA is a small press associated with SF fandom (many of its publications include chapbooks by/about worldcon guests of honour and produced for the annual worldcon) is not available in the UK from Amazon, though specialist dealers would probably be able to get copies. I paid around £23 including postage from Amazon.com and they are worth every penny. This is a magnificent achievement of publishing. NESFA have done the late author very proud indeed and provided a service to his many fans. The editors -David G. Grubbs, Christopher S. Kovacs, and Anne Crimmins- surely deserve some kind of recognition at the 2010 Worldcon for this labour of love.

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

Post Script

It appears that as of today they are available, albeit not actually in stock,  from AmazonUK for around £17.00. Go get them.

I have also submitted this review to AmazonUK.

BOOK, DVDs: RECENT AMAZON REVIEWS

Zelazny turns to crime, 22 Sep 2009

So, is this recently discovered thriller (written in the early 70's) by the legendary Science Fiction writer as good as his SF of the period?

Well... It shares a number of characteristics in common. There are the unmistakable attention-grabbing chapter openings and the well constructed sentences. There are the extremely, if occasional, long paragraphs such as a main character delivering plot exposition for a page and half without a break. There's the not always sympathetic character who (like the author at the time) smokes a lot -so many I was surprised he wasn't dying of lung cancer by the end of the book. There's the casual erudition and display of knowledge which is relevant to the plot -in this case Paintings (with a capital P for Art). And the purveying air of cynicism by the protagonist.

Otherwise... It's a moderately efficient thriller which wouldn't have been harmed by about 10,000 words of pruning. There's a twist which I'm sure Zelazny was neither the first nor the last to use and which I spotted early on. The story develops into something more and morally higher than it first appeared which you will have to find out for yourself as I'm not doing any spoilers here.

I had to make a little effort to keep reading early in the book but by the end was racing through it. However, the answer to the question mooted above is: no. Whatever this novel's virtues and it does possess them, Zelazny does not bring the magic apparent in his Science Fiction and I speak as someone who has just ordered the first four volumes of his complete short stories and whose favourite novel is Lord of Light. I also speak as someone who enjoys crime novels a great deal.

You aren't wasting your time buying this, and it is a nice pulp-pastiche edition from Hard Case Crime, but you aren't getting the real Roger Zelazny.

4 stars, a very strange kid's movie.

Let's get the basics sorted out right now. The target audience is approximately 9-14 years old, though it can also be enjoyed by older age groups and I certainly liked it. I would be very wary, however, of showing it to younger children without the presence of an adult. Apart from the scary aspects of which there are many and I'll mention them later, it deals directly with the death of a parent and could be upsetting on that level alone. Also it's immediately preceded by what may be a trailer for a sequel and is far scarier than anything in the film.

Okay, on with the show. Kitaro is a character who has been around in Japanese culture, in one form or another, since the 1930's and is half-human, half-yokai. The yokai are essentially forest spirits who appear in a variety of forms and with a variety of natures. In appearance they can be cute, human-like, spooky, hideous, and downright pants-wettingly scary. Their natures are friendly, mischievous, selfish, nasty, or downright malevolent and all shades in between.

The movie opens with a protest against a development which infringes on the forest and also involves destroying peoples' homes. A young boy writes to Kitaro (in whom his sister doesn't believe) for help. Kitaro turns up in time to save people from yokai employed by the selfish Ratman who is in turn employed by the developer. But this is only to set the scene for the real story which involves an evil stone falling into the hands of the boy's unemployed father with disastrous consequences such as being hunted by wolfman-like foxe spirits. I won't say more as it would only spoil what follows which involves a lot of action, some scary yokai, humour, a little tentative romance, and tragedy.

Visually this is an engaging film with very good special effects and some of the most weird and wonderful creatures ever seen in a live-action movie. While not perfect and not following rigorously through on an important sub-plot, I enjoyed this much more than I was expecting. Older kids will certainly enjoy it as will anyone with a taste for the fantastic.

It's in Japanese with English sub-titles (surprisingly not dubbed given its target audience) and the only extra is an hour-long collection of pieces from You Tube in which the trailer is repeated several times -could have been edited out.

The most original vampire movie you will ever see, 20 Sep 2009

This is simply an amazing piece of work that succeeds because it avoids every cliche of the horror movie. It is not structured like a horror movie and it does not behave like a horror movie. While the violence is explicit and the horror is real, there is no attempt to build up to a shock. The viewer can anticipate almost every moment and there is little attempt to surprise and shock. Events proceed clearly photographed in a pristine manner. For example we know one character becomes intensely disfigured at one point but the reveal is gradual and partial before the full genuinely gruesome exposure. It isn't filmed like a horror movie, it isn't scored like a horror movie, and the actors don't act as if they're in a horror movie. All this makes it completely refreshing as it overturns your every expectation of what a horror movie should be.

While steeped in traditional vampire lore and also going in unexpected directions, the take is radically different. Eli the vampire is not a monster, just someone who has been 12 years old for a long time and who needs human blood to survive. That she kills after drinking is a consequence of her condition. Despite what she does, and some of it is very brutal, she is and remains a figure of pity. The young actress who portrays her does a stunning job.

I could write a long review extolling the many virtues such as the use of music and the photography but I'd end up giving away too much and this really should be experienced with as few preconceptions as possible. Alas, I had read the equally excellent original novel, to which this film is very faithful, a couple of years ago. However, while I doubt if I'll be rereading the book, this is a movie I'm sure I will be returning to more than once.

STUFF I GOT: DVDs, MUSIC DOWNLOAD, GRAPHIC NOVELS, BOOKS

And in reverse order we start with Alan Moore & David Lloyd's Absolute V for Vendetta. DC Comics Absolute editions are wonderful things to have -larger than originally printed, packed (usually, sometimes more, sometimes less) with additional material in a hardback and cased. This is one of the earlier work that made Moore's name as the greatest comics writer of our time. I've also got the first volume of Moore's more recent work The Absolute Promethea on order which features amazing artwork by JH Williams.

Fables The Dark Ages by writer Bill Willingham and a variety of artists is the latest in the Fables series. The premise is that the Fables (creatures from myth, fairy tales, legends, folk tales and more recent fiction like the Wind in the Willows) have been driven from their worlds to earth by an evil emperor. In this, vol.12, the Fables have won the war against the Empire and now have to face the unexpected consequences of victory which are far darker than they could have imagined or even currently know. This is a scene-setter for what's to come but is no less entertaining than what's gone before and Fables is probably the best comic DC/Vertigo have got at the moment.

I've reviewed the Roger Zelazny thriller for Amazon but it hasn't appeared yet and, assuming it does, I'll reprint that here.

The Big Bang Theory was an impulse when I saw it on Amazon for under £9.00. I've enjoyed the episodes I've seen but never made a point of watching it regularly. If I had I would have probably bought the DVD sooner as it's one of the funniest series I've ever seen. The fact that the main characters are geeks -into superhero comics and science fiction movies (as well as fantasy gaming)- has nothing to do with it, more the wonderful dialogue, intelligent jokes, and likeable if intensely annoying characters. Sheldon is an amazing creation who must be seen to be believe. Season 2 is out in mid-October and I've already ordered it.

I've just got, as a download, Alela Diane's latest album To Be Still and have only played it once. I suspect it will take a few more to fully appreciate it. It's nominally folk in that it's mostly acoustic but the songs are all self-penned and come across as a sort of mix between Sandy Denny's Fairport Convention and Joni Mitchell. Delicate and pleasant but needs careful listening.

Folk-Rock was big when it evolved in the late 60's but I believe there's no real difference between it and Folk Music these days as many 'authentic' folk artists will employ rock instrumentation and folk music anthology albums blend both without needing to make note of any difference. Just thought I'd mention it.

Also arrived but I'll probably save it for a proper review is Outlander, a DVD featuring Vikings and a human-like alien versus an alien monster. Looking forward to it.

BOOKS: "I THINK I'M GOING BACK..."

Photo: Henry Kuttner & C.L. Moore

Oddly, just when I think I'm opening up to new music, I find myself more attracted to the kind of books I read when I was much younger. I'm talking Science Fiction here. for at least half my life I lived and breathed SF and I still can't quite leave it behind. I still regard myself as a Science Fiction fan even though my days as someone actively involved in SF Fandom are long goneand I don't read that much SF these days.

That said, I've recently bought and read Henry Kuttner's (and no doubt written with his wife CL Moore) The Dark World (see my Amazon review) and Fury. I'm about to read his Elak of Atlantis sword and sorcery stories from the late 30's. I've ordered a massive collection (900pps) of his & Moore's short stories. I've also ordered (from Amazon.com) 4 volumes of the complete short stories of Roger Zelazny and (from the same publisher, Nesfa Press) the complete short stories of Cordwainer Smith.

I've got the latest Iain Banks (one of my favourite mainstream authors, along with Haruki Murakami) contemporary novel Transition to read downstairs and yet all I want to do is read pulp fiction about Elak of Atlantis. Maybe I'm just in a nostalgic mood which will pass.

And yet, and yet, I've been buying quite a few compilation CDs of rock artists I've liked for years. But what really worries me is that I put on my Amazon wish list a compilation by Peter Paul & Mary who I liked when I was 14 and hadn't yet heard of Bob Dylan. Now that is surely going too far.

I shall write more on this when it isn't so late at night and I am less influenced by almost a full bottle of Banrock Station's Shiraz-Mataro, my favourite Australian plonk.

Post Script

It's the following morning, I'm sober, and I've removed the PP&M CD from my Wish List. It really is just too twee musically for me. If I'd bought that, what would be next -Barry Manilow?