Weeping May Tarry, Raymond F. Jones and Lester del Rey, Pinnacle Books, 1978
Several generations ago, the nova of a nearby star caused a lot of genetic damage to the planet Alcor. Things seem to have quieted down in that part of the sky, so a survey vessel is sent to investigate.
Alcor is a religiously rigid sort of world, where everyone worships The Keelong. It's a vague, unknowable thing in the universe that has kept Alcor together, and peaceful, for the past thousand years. An important part of the crew is the Ama (priest), an elderly, inflexible type named Toreg. He expects total obedience to the proper rituals; if he doesn't like what he sees, he has the authority to exile members of the crew to whatever planet they are on at that moment. He can even order the ship turned around and headed back to Alcor. Privately, Toreg knows that The Keelong's "days" are numbered; questioning The Keelong, or even outright unbelief, is growing among the people.
They approach a desolate planet that shows obvious signs of having been through a major planet-wide war, with ruins and blackened landscape everywhere. A few meters above the planet, explosions occur all over the ship. It lands safely, but it is not soon going anywhere, maybe permanently. As they prepare for a long-term stay on this planet, the crew finds a stone building that is not too badly damaged. It's a large room, with rows of benches facing a raised area at one end. Digging through the rubble, Toreg finds a large figure of a hideous being nailed to a cross and in great pain (the people of Alcor look like green-scaled lizards with tails who walk upright). This was obviously a war building, to spread information (and propaganda) among the people. The figure is kept as a constant reminder of The Enemy; any beings who can inflict that sort of pain on another being...
The linguists work to translate a book found in a nearby strongbox. Each night, the crew gathers to hear that day's translation of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Toreg urges the crew to return to The Keelong, and ignore this false deity, but it's not working. The crew is listening to Jesus. Meantime, winter has come to their mountain valley. In a desperate attempt to destroy the cross, Toreg drags it up the mountain to throw it into a large canyon. Holed up in a cave, and exhausted, Toreg starts to read the rest of the book (which he also intends to destroy), while the face on the cross seems to be watching him.
It's a pretty good book that does not overdo the religious aspect. This is worth reading for those who are religious, and not so religious.
Showing posts with label jones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jones. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book
Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book, Gerard Jones, Basic Books, 2004
This book is a history of that ubiquitous part of contemporary American adolescent life, the comic book.
In the early part of the 20th Century, there were an entire generation of male geeks and outsiders who enjoyed reading this crazy literature called science fiction. Mainly Jewish, and usually living in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, they combined their fantasies and youthful traumas into the square-jawed heroes who are now a central part of pop culture.
A central part of this book are Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, a couple of kids from Cleveland who created the first superhero, Superman. They learned, the hard way, that hard-nosed businessmen of questionable reputations, like pornographer and bootlegger Harry Donnenfeld, now ran the business. In the beginning, Siegel and Shuster signed away the rights to their creation (standard procedure). It took until the 1970s, just before the first Superman movie, for the pair to get official recognition, and something like a reasonable amount of money, for Superman.
The 1930s saw an explosion in comic book popularity. Even the shadiest, two-bit publisher could put out the worst schlock ever created, and it would be vacuumed up by the public. A seemingly infinite number of superheroes came before the public, teamed up with every other superhero, fighting any villain that could be put on paper. Some combinations worked, while others failed. Hitler and the Nazis provided a ready-made villain during the 1940s, which saw the public turn away from superheroes. Wartime paper restrictions put most publishers out of business; those that remained put out crime stories, westerns, and horror stories, to name a few. In the 1950s, Congress discovered the comic book. They were accused of corrupting America's youth, especially the horror stories.
For the artists in the industry, working conditions were little better than a sweatshop. For instance, if 64 pages of material were due at the printer in three days, there was no possibility of leaving the office until those pages were done. With such time constraints, many details were left out of panels and chunks were taken from other stories, even if the two had nothing to do with each other.
This book is excellent. Anyone who has ever read an old superhero comic book, or a newer "independent" comic, should read this book. It's also recommended for those interested in early 20th Century pop culture.
This book is a history of that ubiquitous part of contemporary American adolescent life, the comic book.
In the early part of the 20th Century, there were an entire generation of male geeks and outsiders who enjoyed reading this crazy literature called science fiction. Mainly Jewish, and usually living in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, they combined their fantasies and youthful traumas into the square-jawed heroes who are now a central part of pop culture.
A central part of this book are Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, a couple of kids from Cleveland who created the first superhero, Superman. They learned, the hard way, that hard-nosed businessmen of questionable reputations, like pornographer and bootlegger Harry Donnenfeld, now ran the business. In the beginning, Siegel and Shuster signed away the rights to their creation (standard procedure). It took until the 1970s, just before the first Superman movie, for the pair to get official recognition, and something like a reasonable amount of money, for Superman.
The 1930s saw an explosion in comic book popularity. Even the shadiest, two-bit publisher could put out the worst schlock ever created, and it would be vacuumed up by the public. A seemingly infinite number of superheroes came before the public, teamed up with every other superhero, fighting any villain that could be put on paper. Some combinations worked, while others failed. Hitler and the Nazis provided a ready-made villain during the 1940s, which saw the public turn away from superheroes. Wartime paper restrictions put most publishers out of business; those that remained put out crime stories, westerns, and horror stories, to name a few. In the 1950s, Congress discovered the comic book. They were accused of corrupting America's youth, especially the horror stories.
For the artists in the industry, working conditions were little better than a sweatshop. For instance, if 64 pages of material were due at the printer in three days, there was no possibility of leaving the office until those pages were done. With such time constraints, many details were left out of panels and chunks were taken from other stories, even if the two had nothing to do with each other.
This book is excellent. Anyone who has ever read an old superhero comic book, or a newer "independent" comic, should read this book. It's also recommended for those interested in early 20th Century pop culture.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Dark Detectives: Adventures of the Supernatural Sleuths
Dark Detectives: Adventures of the Supernatural Sleuths, Stephen Jones (ed.), Fedogan and Bremer, 1999
This is a group of all-British, mostly newer, detective stories. But these are not average private eyes; these investigators deal with supernatural happenings.
Among the authors represented are Clive Barker, William Hope Hodgson, Manly Wade Wellman, Neil Gaiman, Brian Lumley and Basil Copper. In seventh century Ireland, a rural innkeeper and his wife are being terrorized by strange noises. A story set in rural England early in the 1900s has a wonderful title, "The Adventure of the Crawling Horror." What looks like a grandfather clock with four hands, and strange symbols where the numbers should be, actually has a much more hellish purpose. Another story has to do with John Wayne supposedly being buried in a pink dress. Kim Newman contributes a multi-part short novel about a fist-sized ruby with the power to destroy mankind.
I am not much of a mystery or supernatural reader, but I really enjoyed these stories. They work as detective stories, and the occult part is just strange enough without being too strange. This is well worth reading.
This is a group of all-British, mostly newer, detective stories. But these are not average private eyes; these investigators deal with supernatural happenings.
Among the authors represented are Clive Barker, William Hope Hodgson, Manly Wade Wellman, Neil Gaiman, Brian Lumley and Basil Copper. In seventh century Ireland, a rural innkeeper and his wife are being terrorized by strange noises. A story set in rural England early in the 1900s has a wonderful title, "The Adventure of the Crawling Horror." What looks like a grandfather clock with four hands, and strange symbols where the numbers should be, actually has a much more hellish purpose. Another story has to do with John Wayne supposedly being buried in a pink dress. Kim Newman contributes a multi-part short novel about a fist-sized ruby with the power to destroy mankind.
I am not much of a mystery or supernatural reader, but I really enjoyed these stories. They work as detective stories, and the occult part is just strange enough without being too strange. This is well worth reading.
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