Bran the Blessed

Just finished Oswald Levett's Papilio Mariposa about an ugly jew turning himself into a man eating butterfly. It seems like something I am told Christian would like and how often do you get to read such a story set in Austria ?

The author also wrote a time travel novel, Verirrt in den Zeiten, which I have, but have not read yet, That seems to be it for his original works, mind you. And yes, considering he was killed in a concentration camp soon after, one would have guessed correctly that that was the reason.

I'd say it's worth reading, if you agree with the politics. It's a very preachy book. It's also very much written in the pulp style of the time, although with a Socialist message, which was extremely rare for most of that era's pulp fiction.

I found it a fun read.

England is most famous for his short story "The Thing from Outside", which is a very Lovecraftian-type of story. It was very influential on John W. Campbell's classic story "Who Goes There?".

Never heard of that story either. Did England have any noteworthy collections ?

I wonder what year that novel was written? It sounds similar in plot to George Allan England's The Air Trust.

In The Air Trust, a billionaire industrialist orders his scientists to discover a way to control the amount of oxygen in the air and files a patent for said invention, so that he owns a monopoly on the air humans breathe. Then, he sets out charging people for their usage of oxygen.

A working class movement arises to challenge his power.

It's a neat novel. It was written in 1915.

It would hardly be surprising to see a far Right fascist figure plagiarizing a Left-Wing Socialist viewpoint....

 

There's a short story by Karl Hans Strobl included in Jeff Vandermeer's Big Book of Science Fiction anthology, titled "The Triumph of Mechanics". It's not a bad dystopian story, about mechanization out of control.

Never heard about Englang's book. And it was originally published in 1910.

I finally finished a Nazi's two part, near 800 page fantasy epic.

To call Karl Hans Strobl a Nazi would not even be an insult, he was an outright Nazi, member of the Party and local manager of the Nazi Germany's writer's chamber, Strobl was nevertheless born in Jihlava. He apparently wrote many different types of novels, be it straight up historical ones (a novel about German tribes fighting against the Romans, or about Friedrich Barbarossa), novels about students (Das Wirtshaus „Zum König Przemysl“ for example, although this contains a lot on German-Czech animosity and tensions in the late 19th century) but also fantasy work.

Among this stands most openly his 2 volume opus, Eleagabal Kuperus. The title character, the benevolent magician/alchemist isn't really the main character. He is, if anything, the all-knowing or mostly all-knowing magical being that observes the characters from afar, but cannot interfere too much, on the grounds there wouldn't be that much of a plot. Most of the novel concerns the various people somehow connected or persecuted by billionaire industrialist Thomas Bezug. Early in Volume I, he is given the means to accomplish the diabolical scheme of making plants unable to produce oxygen and thus rendering him the sole producer of air on the planet.

However, this enterprise is pushed to the background and remains barely acknowledged as we focus on all the characters surrounding Bezug, especially the young Poet and quasi-main character Adalbert Semilasso, who was raised in a cave. At one point several chapters are devoted to ennumerate the breathtaking array of events organised for the betrothal of Bezug's daughter to the man who wants to help him with his scheme. While the opulence on display here fits what we have already seen of Bezug previously, the fact that so much time is given to these doings does somewhat irritate you when you are waiting to see the result of this man brutally overthrowing the Earth and how his monstrous world-shattering power is to be defeated in the long run.

How sad you will find yourself to realise Strobl never intends to write that book ! Instead he has the sole mind behind the operation, Bezug's son in law, be forced to commit suicide by his bride and so the entire scheme, as interesting and with as many possibilities as it presents for interesting storytelling, goes up in smoke.

There is still enough there in the first part of the novel of both the Magician and the Millionaire to keep you interested, but you do find yourself a bit cheated by this revelation. Instead, in a turn of events that validates the comparisons to Meyrink I have seen (The Green Face for it's apocalyptic metaphysics, but I'd also argue one can find comparison to Valpurgisnacht with it's raw, unbound carnage) but which feels like it does come a bit late in the game, and rather accidentally mind you, with no real narrative connection to the antagonist's plans for most of the book, a Planet is seemingly about to strike Earth and society almost crumbles. There's hideous sects and debauchery and degradation and it all feels like finally we are given a glimpse of the sheer fantastic and horror-esque that the novel has been promising us from the start.

The character of the good natured Eleagabal Kuperus does shine through very clearly in the last section of the book, and the Earth is saved and more or less in one piece.

Overall, I'd say I enjoyed the novel, though I feel it shied away from telling an interesting story in addition to the one it already did, as I don't see why the two couldn't happen near-simultaneously and flow one into each other naturally. But still, what we got is entertaining, if a bit long winded.

In the case of this edition, you're paying for a remarkably condescending introduction that Jones apparently penned under the assumption that somebody spending twenty-five quid for a complete collection of Lovecraft's work wouldn't know anything about Lovecraft's life or career, some rather nice pen and ink illustrations (Les Edwards, I think), and version of COC whose final paragraph starts with the line "Gthulhu still lives, I suppose..."

I was gonna make a joke about Gthulhu being the retarded family member they keep up in the attic and feed a bucket of human heads every day but eh.

Is that complete as in even the things he ghostwrote (is that even a word ?) for people like Bishop ?

Yeah, Milligan and Lemire certainly had their worst work published for a Hellblazer title. Oliver is more hit and miss for me, but he had just hit a career high right before starting on Hellblazer. It almost seems as if DC want to punish people for liking John Constantine rather than just canceling the book. An eternal purgatory for those of us sinners.

It's been a more recent development however, as Jamie Delano was doing his best work on Hellblazer. That was before DC decided that John Constantine should be a character who appeals to fans of, say, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, rather than, say, Ramsey Campbell.

 

How many incarnations of Papa Midnite have we seen now? Just because he first appeared in issue #2 of Hellblazer, he must considered one of those recurring characters whose legacy must be kept going from version to version, much like a Marvel Universe character like Blob (from X-Men) or Gladiator (from DD). They appeared so early in the titles, they must be important to the mythos and must keep being used from series to series, whether there's a good story for said character or not.

I'm not reading this new series, and heavily disagree on the Milligan (but you know that already), however I will say that I felt annoyed how Ennis killed Midnite off so damn quickly back in the day.

Disturbingly, I've zipped through both War Of Powers collections (900 odd pages) at great speed and enjoyed them so much I've been driven to mail order a few more of Vardeman's books that I didn't read as a teenager. Wonder if I'll enjoy reading them for the first time as much now this side of forty?

900 pages ?

That's....a lot. D'you think I'd be into that ?

It's a pity that Flintstones book will be ending with Issue #12 according to DC's latest solicits. But the writer does have a gay beat poet-reinvention of Snagglepuss in the works for anyone's that interested.

Dammit. I was really liking that one. Fuck you DC >_>

Happy Easter, folks. I got you bacon soap: http://www.prezzybox...bacon-soap.aspx

Words cannot express the giddiness I feel right now.

I'm done with the Pangborn, I really recommend it to anyone looking for a short fantastical little pseudo medieval story.

Just started reading Eleagabal Kuperus by Karl Hans Strobl. I heard this is Strobl's fantastic masterpiece, and I heard it compared to Meyrink and Alfred Kubin's Die Andere Seite.

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors anyone? Inhumanoids on the list?

Ah I've only seen a bit of the Inhumanoids.

It seems to be so anomalous, what with the running plot and the extreme gruessome visuals.

Would it make me sound like a meanspirited cynic if I said that the only reason they'd allow a Hellblazer anime was so that Milliganhe who must not be spoken of could write John shagging loads of cartoon schoolgirls?

I will never stop defending Milligan's run now ya hear !

: P

And probably.

I have a few things I've watched as a kid that I've not managed to remember yet.

One was this animated movie where there was this evil witch person who hypnotised this dude to marry her, and the church during the ceremony was full of undulating shadows instead of guests, but that's all I remember.

I just read Visiak's The Haunted Island and that was rather a standard pirate Romance, only a bit less focused and with the diabolical mad scientists dropping his idea of blowíng up England out of nowhere right before a volcano destroys his island base anyway. Seems kinda superfluous.

Also started reading The Silent Maid by fangborn. Link below if you want to read more about it, so far it's been a great pseudo historical fantasy romp. Remindse me a bit of Undine by Fouqé, if it had more bite to it.

https://www.lwcurrey...ndrous-song-and

Happy Birthday, Bran

Thank you, I completely missed this because I'm not used to be called Bran XD I may have said it before but that's not my actual name, just picked it up as something that kind of relates to Hellblazer when I joined.

Forgotten cartoons ?

That's my specialty : P

Anyone have any series they watched but can't remember ?

I only read his Swamp Thing run but he had a very unique art style.

A fair journey.

I just finished Eric Linklater's A Spell for Old Bones. Considering it concerns giants fighting each other in imaginary 1st century Scotland, I couldn't quite resist.

The novel is a bit more tongue in cheek sometimes, sometimes a bit farcical, sometimes wholly anachronistic, but the tone of the thing and the struggles of the work-shy poet Albyn, in the midst of it all, are very enjoyable to read.

Just a heads up, not one single title in this imprint for 2017 either.

So that basically means there's not going to be a Wakefield. Seven bloody years I've been waiting for this : /

Finished Prince Madog, discoverer of America by Joan Dane, It's an interesting enough novel, but most of it was about skirmishes in Wales.

Are you thinking of Frontios and these buggers?

Yep that's the one.

Funny that the Classic series could give us this but the new show is so content to give us bodysnatchers.

I want an alien companion in the Tardis VERY MUCH.

 

Well technically Nardole is one

 

though he's humanoid and....well Davies' show prattling on about mankind's massive space colonisation basically made it seem that every race we've ever met that looked human in the franchise were just that which while making sense made the encounter rate with actual fucking aliens, on screen, a pretty big rarity.

To be fair to Davies, there was a lot of that back in the Pertwee and Baker eras as well, so maybe it'd be fairer to blame that on Barry Letts, Phillip Hinchcliffe and Graham Williams, all three of whom had a bunch of stories about space colonies and human imperialism during their stints as producer.

 

(And I'm thinking about Rusty on a home makeover show now: "Handless Rusty, The DIY Dalek"...)

True but they didn't insinuate every single humanoid race in the universe are descendants of Human colonists.

What was that one Davison story about the planet where shit keeps falling all the time ? I think that had some sort of neat looking alien thing (better then The Pit's giant green ballsack : P) but I completely forget the name.

I want an alien companion in the Tardis VERY MUCH.

Well technically Nardole is one

though he's humanoid and....well Davies' show prattling on about mankind's massive space colonisation basically made it seem that every race we've ever met that looked human in the franchise were just that which while making sense made the encounter rate with actual fucking aliens, on screen, a pretty big rarity.

It was enjoyable, but the villains were not very intimidating to be honest. And I fucking hate they went the body snatcher route for the only Who episode of the year. That's literally incredibly cheap and they should have actually bothered with real alliens for crissake.

I also assumed the Doctor was mopey about Clara. Because he always was, in fact Twelve only had the one time with River onscreen and we've last seem him screw over the whole godamn homecoming because of his dependancy on Clara. I think Moffat really kinda downplayed River, to the point where it honestly never occurred to me they could be talking about her.

Okay so what I get from the post episode preview: We got a male companion in the Tardis again. While I found Nardole and the Doctor's chemistry to be a bit off, I still hope they won't kill him off in the first story so this new character can have centre stage.

Incidentally that person seems to literally fill every single damn box that every other sodding female companion has ticked since the relaunch.

* Young

* From Earth

* From Present Day

* From Britain

For crying out loud. It's not enough we barely ever go to other planets anymore in lieu of London, can we at least get someone from another planet as a companion ? Because, despite how Moffat blathers on about this, this makes it seem like the Doctor almost intentionally discriminates against non Earth people.

And yes I am being hyperbolic here and I know that Nardole technically fills that bid, but knowing Moffat, I wonder for how long ?

So I finished reading John Collier's No Traveller Returns. Was looking forward to this one, but it was a bit disappointing since it was a bit too overly satirical and kind of brief. I imagine if someone like Tiffany Thayer got arond to writing something like this, it'd probably have the potential to make you feel like shit for days ! Alas this is a little too on-the-nose satire and too little of grissly dystopia.