Burton and Cyb: The Mine

Burton and Cyb
'The Mine'
by Antonio Segura (story) and Jose Ortiz (art)
from Heavy Metal magazine
November 1991

This episode of 'Burton and Cyb' first appeared in the Spanish magazine (revista) Zona 84 in issue 50, July 1988, titled La Mina....Para Quien La Trabaja.

When our boys decide to help a professor conduct an experiment to raise the IQ of a band of hominids, things don't exactly go as planned...........

Book Review: We Are All Legends

Book Review: 'We Are All Legends' by Darrell Schweitzer

4 / 5 Stars

Darrell Schweitzer (b. 1952) is a prolific editor, poet, novelist, essayist, and critic of sf and fantasy literature (his ISFDB entry is several pages long).

During the 1970s and early 1980s Schweitzer wrote a number of fantasy short stories featuring 'Julian the Apostate'. Set in the Middle Ages, in a world that contains both real-life and legendary locales, the stories pit Julian - a disgraced knight - against all manner of supernatural phenomena, including demons, vampires, wizards, and even minor deities of one sort or another.  

The Julian stories mingled the action-driven narratives of sword-and-sorcery fiction with the more contemplative, poetic approaches taken by H. P. Lovecraft and Lord Dunsany in their fantasy pieces. As well, others of the Julian stories, such as 'Divers Hands', could be categorized as horror stories rather than fantasy tales.

For reasons that are unclear, Schweitzer's stories never got the attention they deserved from the editors of fantasy anthologies - particularly the DAW anthologies - that were published throughout the 1970s. 

While 'Divers Hands' made it into 1979's The Years Best Horror Stories: Series VII, only one of the 14 volumes of DAW's The Year's Best Fantasy Stories ever featured an entry from Schweitzer ('Transients', in The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 14, 1988). 

Given the presence of quite a few duds in every volume of The Year's Best Fantasy anthologies - many of these duds originating from editor Lin Carter, in particular - one would think that more of Schweitzer's stories would have been anthologized by Carter (and later, editor Arthur Saha), but this did not prove to be the case.

Getting hold of Schweitzer's material can be problematic. Unlike other fantasy authors of the 70s, such as Carter, Tanith Lee, Karl Edward Wagner, Fritz Leiber, L. Sprague de Camp, Brian Lumley, etc., etc., Schweitzer's fiction was published in the small press, rather than mass market paperbacks. This is true even today, where an examination of Schweitzer's amazon pages shows his works being issued from myriad small press and ebook outlets.

Which brings us to 'We Are All Legends' (193 pp), printed in 1981 by the small press company Starblaze. The book is illustrated by Stephen E. Fabian. A bit larger than a mass-market paperback, 'We Are All Legends' doesn't have the print quality of modern-day Print on Demand / KDP Print books, so readers will need to consider this if they are interested in acquiring it. 

L. Sprague de Camp provides an Introduction, followed by 13 'Julian' stories that saw print between 1978 and 1981, most of these in zines such as Void (Australia), as well as anthologies like Andrew Offutt's Swords Against Darkness.

Summing up, if you are a fan of fantasy fiction of the 70s and 80s and you see a copy of 'We Are All Legends' on shelf, it's worth picking up: Schweitzer's stories are as well done, and sometimes superior, to those of the above-mentioned authors.

'A Clockwork Orange' and the future on-location

How 'A Clockwork Orange' Captured the Feel of the Future On-Location

An interesting video explaining how Stanley Kubrick scouted the metropolitan London area for real-world, 'futuristic' buildings and landscapes for use in the film.

(reposted from the Pulp Librarian Twitter feed - be careful, you immediately can get forever lost in its pop culture detritus.........)

Book Review: High Couch of Silistra

Book Review: 'High Couch of Silistra' by Janet E. Morris

3 / 5 Stars

‘High Couch of Silistra’ (246 pp) first was published by Bantam Books in May 1977; this January, 1981 edition features cover art by Lou Feck. Succeeding volumes in the ‘Silistra’ series include ‘The Golden Sword’ (1977), ‘Wind from the Abyss’ (1978), and ‘The Carnelian Throne’ (1979).

'High Couch' was the debut novel from Morris (b. 1946), who went on to become a prolific contributor to the 'Heroes in Hell' and Thieves' World' franchises, as well as original novels co-written with her husband, Chris Morris, and veteran sci-fi writer David Drake. 

‘High Couch’ is a planetary romance in the vein of the ‘Gor’ novels of John Norman, which, by 1977, were very successful books, and undoubtedly paved the way for the Silistra franchise. I do remember seeing the Silistra novels on the bookshelves during the late 70s and early 80s, but never picked any of the novels up, as they looked to be even cheesier than the Gor books…….

Estri Estrazi, the heroine of ‘High Couch’, is – quite simply – a Ho (or, if you prefer, a Sex Worker). Blessed with the body and looks of a swimsuit model, Estri accepts only the highest-paying of those customers who come to the planet of Silistra in search of sensual delights from its renowned brothels.

As the novel opens, Estri comes into the possession of artifacts from her late mother, and learns that her father was a man named Estrazi, from the mysterious planet of Zredori. Estri is enjoined by her mother to find her father, but to do so will require consultations with oracles and sacred shrines. Accordingly, Estri sets aside her meretricious duties and embarks on a quest that will take her through the wild lands of Silistra – where lurk bands of brigands and predatory animals.

Should she survive that portion of her quest, Estri then will have to negotiate the complex political and social mores of the city of Arlet; its mercenaries, the Slayers; and its enigmatic holy men, the Day Keepers. But waiting at the end of her journey is the biggest mystery of all: what is the secret of the Shapers, the godlike beings said to have created the universe ? And how does her parentage relate to the Shapers and their designs upon not just Silistra, but the entire galaxy ?

‘High Couch’ is a better-written novel than the Gor books. But the fact that 23 of its 246 pages are reserved for a Glossary means that the narrative expends considerable effort on world-building, and this can be taxing to the reader. For example, here’s an exposition on the Silistran calendar:

…….it was Detarsa first first, that is, the first day of the first seven-day set, or of the pass of Detarsa, our fifth month from winter solstice. Yesterday had been Macara fourth seventh, that is, the last day of the of last set of the pass Macara. We have on Silistra a fourteen-month revolution, each month containing twenty-eight days. Our year is eight days less than the standard B. F. year of four hundred days. Our day is forty minutes shy of the Bipedal Federate Standard day of thirty hours, but we divide it into twenty-eight “enths,” or “bells.” Each enth, or bell, contains seventy-five iths.

The persistent reader will find the novel becomes a little more engaging past its midpoint, and concludes with a denouement that avoids being contrived or underwhelming.

Summing up, it would be unfair to criticize ‘High Couch’ for being exploitative and un-Woke, as it was written in the era in which such concepts didn’t exist, and marketing to Gor Fanboys was a self-obvious endeavor. And while I can’t say I was sufficiently intrigued by ‘High Couch’ to move immediately to the sequels, those with a fondness for late 70s sci-fi / fantasy adventure novels will find it stands the test of time, and thus earns a solid three-star review.

Dave Davies Imaginations Real

Dave Davies
'Imaginations Real'
1980

In 1980, Kinks guitarist Dave Davies released a solo album, titled simply 'Dave Davies (AFL1-3603)'. That Summer I remember hearing WAAL, the album oriented rock radio station in my hometown, playing the track 'Imaginations Real'.

'Imaginations Real' is a great example of guitar-centered 'trippy' rock. It deserved more attention than it got, way back when............

Voices across all the nation,
Echo in my mind.
In the streets,
In the factories,
In the towns.
Living out what imagination made real.
Got to leave the old world behind,
Use a fantasy,
Imagination is real.

Chorus
I'm so much in love,
I can't explain,
Imaginations real.
Build your dreams,
And make them strong,
lmaginations real.
Imaginations real,
Imaginations real,
Imaginations real,
Imaginations real.

No solution,
Hatred,
Fear of what's to come.
Don't cry,
Can't you feel it inside,
Can't you see it's the only way it can be.
For our past has left us alone,
With a cold reality,
Imagination made real.

Chorus
If you use a dream
To change a mind,
Then imaginations real.
Think with your heart,
And you will see,
Imaginations real,
Imaginations real,
Imaginations real,

Imaginations real.

'Dangerous Visions and New Worlds' comes out in 2021

Dangerous Visions and New Worlds
coming in 2021

According to the Pulp Curry blog, the latest installment in the series of illustrated overviews authored by Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre on popular literature is titled Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction 1950 - 1985. It is tentatively scheduled for publication in 2021.

Dangerous Visions and New Worlds looks to retain the same format as the previous volumes Girl Gangs, Biker Boys, and Real Cool Cats and Sticking it to the Man. Judging from the books featured on the cover, it will address works of interest to the readers of this, and other, sci-fi blogs.

Certainly something to keep an eye out for during the next year................

Book Review: All the Time There Is

celebrating Pride Month 2020

Book Review: 'All the Time There Is' by Toby Stein

4 / 5 Stars

Here at the PorPor Books Blog, we like to celebrate Pride Month by highlighting a fiction or nonfiction book that illuminates the LGBTQ Experience. 

For June 2020, our selection is 'All the Time There Is', a novel by Toby Stein.

‘All the Time There Is’ (213 pp) first was published in hardback in 1977; this mass-market paperback edition was published by Bantam Books in July 1978.

I couldn’t find much information about Toby Stein, save that she was born in New York City in 1935, studied history, and was living in New Jersey at the time she wrote ‘All the Time There Is’. Stein published another romance novel, ‘Only the Best’, in 1984.

‘All the Time There Is’ takes place in New York City in the late 70s. The first person narrator is Anne Durham, a 43 year-old widowed for the past 11 years (her husband dropped dead of a heart attack). Anne lives in a nice apartment building in Manhattan, and works as a clerk in a shoppe that sells antique silverware. Aside from her daughter Alex, who always is trying to fix her mother up with one middle-aged man after another, Anne has few personal connections, but remains content with the single life.

Living across the hall from Anne are Charles Robinson, a well-comported man in his late thirties, and his ‘roommate’, a younger man named Raymond Elliott. Anne maintains a cordial relationship with both men.

Within the opening chapters, Raymond dies, and Anne can’t help but notice that Charles, as an outcast from society, is obliged to grieve alone. Moved to compassion, Anne decides to bake and deliver, in person, a chocolate cake to Charles. This starts a friendship that grows as Spring in the city turns into Summer, and then early Fall. 

Whenever one of the middle-aged men that Anne dates turns out to be a self-centered pig, she turns to the understanding Charles for companionship and consolation. And whenever one of Charles’s bleached-blond surfer-boy hustlers dismisses him as an aging Queen, Anne is there to provide comfort and consolation in equal measure.

Anne realizes that Charles is affectionate, sensitive, empathic, cultured, and sweet. Could it be that she has more than just friendly feelings for Charles ? And if she does………what will it take to persuade him to Switch Sides……..?!

‘All the Time There Is’ is a quick and entertaining read, and very much a product of its time and place. So, I would caution against dismissing it as another example of the wish-fulfillment genre of romance novels in which a bourgeoise white woman heroine finds true love with someone who is Different.

‘All the Time There Is’ does succeed as a portrait of New York City in the late 70s and how, even as the city was sinking into decay, the members of its upper-crust white society persisted in their rituals of regularly attending classical music concerts, doing the New York Times crossword puzzle, dining at fine restaurants, patronizing the Film Festival at Lincoln Center, strolling through Chinatown, and going for walks in evening twilight. There is an awareness that things are not right in the city - Anne refuses to walk home alone, after dark - but the lead characters are blissfully unaware of the fact that their city is turning into a crime-infested hellhole.

Summing up, ‘All the Time There Is’ is a reasonably interesting novel and while I can't say it's worth searching out, if you see it on a store shelf it might be worth picking up.

Judge Dredd in 'Varks'

Judge Dredd in 'Varks'
Prog 503, January 1987
2000 AD 

'An ALIEN'S eating my MUMMY' !

An immortal line of dialogue to start off this Judge Dredd adventure from January 1987.......featuring art by Kevin O'Neill, long before 1999, and his pencils for Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.............

Book Review: Empire of Two Worlds

Book Review: 'Empire of Two Worlds' by Barrington J. Bayley

3 / 5 Stars

'Empire of Two Worlds' (157 pp) was published by Ace Books in 1972. The cover art is by John Schoenherr.

The novel is set far in the future, thousands of years after Man has settled the planet Killibol. Killibol is not a pleasant place; it's a dimly lit, gray, arid wasteland whose cities resemble giant termite mounds. Within these cities, the residents live out their lives dependent on continuous access to synthetic protein grown in massive 'tanks'. Transgressions are punished by cancellation of ration cards, forcing affected residents to starve, or fend for themselves within the ghettos occupying the bowels of the cities.

The opening chapters of 'Empire' introduce us to Klein, the first-person narrator. Klein, a resident of the city of Klittman, once had been a law-abiding member of society, but an argument with his supervisor had led to the loss of his ration card......and eventual banishment to the ghetto. 

While working in a Mud Street dive named Klamer's, Klein finds himself caught up in a mob-driven takeover. The new owner of Klamer's is a stocky, hardcase criminal overlord named Becmath. Because Klein has brains as well as brawn, Becmath invites him to become his ally in his efforts to take control of Klittman.

At first, Becmath's scheme bring results, but when the city authorities realize the threat he represents, the whole plan falls apart and Becmath, Klein, and an assortment of fellow criminals and eccentrics are forced into exile aboard a big-tired vehicle known as a sloop.

Condemned to wander the wasteland as the supplies of water and food within the sloop run out, Klein regrets allying himself with Becmath. But it turns out that Becmath has a plan: somewhere in the wasteland is the Stargate from which humans first came from Earth to Killibol. And if Becmath can find the Stargate, then travel to Earth is possible. And maybe, just maybe, Earth is not well prepared to deal with a takeover fostered by a syndicate of brutal, clever, and desperate criminals............

Perhaps reflecting the ethos of the New Wave era, 'Empire of Two Worlds' takes an offbeat approach to the action sci-fi genre by featuring reprobates as its lead characters.  Becmath and Klein are willing to visit mayhem on all and sundry, if so doing brings their goals within closer reach. They also are not above making alliances of convenience with other parties of questionable morality. These facets of 'Empire' make it an effective counter to the usual sci-fi trope of the square-jawed, noble hero dedicated to righteousness and the abolition of evil. 

Where 'Empire' suffers is in its short length, which has difficulty accommodating all of the plot developments introduced by author Bayley. The result is an overly compressed narrative in which major plot shifts take place in an almost casual manner. This can't help but lend a note of contrivance to the recounting of the adventures of the outcasts from Killibol.

The verdict ? Those readers who are fans of Barrington J. Bayley likely will want to have a copy of 'Empire of Two Worlds' in their collection. Others can pass on it without penalty.

Dragonslayer Part Two

Dragonslayer
Marvel Super Special No. 20, 1981
Part Two