Righto, I’ve finished the initial editing of Orbus and now await its return from the copy editor. Next, I’ve written an article for the BSFA, The British Science Fiction Association, which is
…currently producing a series of special pamphlets for its members. Previous pamphlets include a small press sampler.’ Martin Lewis would like to produce one consisting of brief articles of SF writers on SF films. The idea is that each contributor writes an 750 word piece on a SF film which means something special to them. It might be your favourite film, it might be a guilty pleasure, it might be a film that was your gateway into the world of science fiction. I would be happy for contributors to use the broadest possible definition of science fiction and to be as popularist or obscure as they wished.
Bearing this in mind I chose Aliens, which is certainly one of my favourite films and which I might have described as a ‘guilty pleasure’ where it not for the fact I’m not pretentious enough to feel guilty about anything I enjoy. You certainly won’t get one of those film lists from me including something French with subtitles, or utterly obscure, or both, and the words ‘noir’ or ‘surreal’ will not be in evidence.
Next on the agenda is getting back to writing the ‘Owner’ story which still doesn’t really have a title. Presently I’m approaching 90,000 words, but I’ve been knocking the hell out of the story changing it from 1st person to 3rd, expanding the scale of the scenery and the scale of the problems faced by the somewhat nasty hero.
Back to work now.
6 comments:
Aliens is like any other cliche army movie. with big bugs. if it was meth addled Vietcong with turkey basters full of acid and black nfl outfits running around the pentagon would you still like it?
i fukin hate that movie. it fits all the requirements of "rock and roll, go, go, go!" military stupidity with very little brainpower worked into the plot. after seeing the haunted house, heartbeat as soundtrack, first Alien movie (with the A.E. VanVogt rip from "Voyage of the Space Beagle") i was really really bummed out. it was depressing! they dummed the fuker down so the army could get some air time with small word balloons. was like being in gym class with pinhead jocks trying to be clever. which was always an impossible, embarrassing task. torture incarnate. for me.
somebody better give Sheckley's The 10th Victim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_decima_vittima) a review or ..."rock and roll, go, go, go!". its not obscure in Europe at least, fukin Bondbomb Andress and Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni for crete's sake.
one more fart in the wind:
i would recommend watching the polish movie Silver Globe with the subtitles off, while youre working on some electronics repair or your hobby of choice. cant recommend it on any other basis than it's fun to work to.
the preceding existence of such expressed opinions suffices only for the vaudeviewer and not your intended audience. some of you might want to plug into this while rereading the above.
http://soundcrack.net/music/soundcrack_08.27.07_archive.mp3
Looking forward to your piece on Aliens.
"Somewhat Nasty" awesome... I have a feeling that this phrase includes people willing to blow up inhabited planets... ;)
aliens is a decent enough film - the setting and the shift in pace/tension from the 1st onereally made it, but i did like Alien more....
really looking forward to Orbus, Neal - sounds great, just wish we didn't have to wait till the end of the year for it!!
All good news for us fanboys. I can see why you like Aliens and it's far less cliche than picking Alien
"somewhat nasty hero" sounds indeed very promising! :-)
In other news your Shell Game seems to come out at last!
The New Space Opera 2 edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan
And looking at the other writers like Wilson, Watts, Scalzi, Sterling, Resnick, Williams, ... this seems to be one heck of a collection.
Anyone here bought the first one in 2007/2008?
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