Sunday, October 31, 2021

PIRATES, TROLLS & DRAGONS

PIRATE DAYS ALONG THE YANN

By Ken St. Andre
Front and back covers illustrated by Robin Stacey
Edited by David A. Ullery
Genre:Fiction, Fantasy
,  18 pages
Provided by TrollGodfather Press

An Homage to Lord Dunsany IDLE DAYS ON THE YANN 1912 as well as J.M. Barrie's Peter and Wendy (Peter Pan).

"Join Captain James Hook and his jolly band of pirates as they sail down the mighty Yann river through Lord Dunsany's Dreamland toward a fateful encounter with the pleassue barge called Bird of the River."

When Lord Dunsany wrote, he created lush, beautiful sentences that were complex, layered, filled with archaic but apt phrasing.  There is a sound to it that lingers upon your mouth as you speak, lingers upon your lips for the beauty but it lingers even longer in your mind for the layers and exquisite composition. When he wrote of pirates or warriors, beasts or children, there was a connection to the human spirit that makes me just listen, and enjoy.  There is also something, even in his darkest works, called whimsy, and that is also a wonderful area of connection in JM Barrie's Peter and Wendy.  I wasn't big on Peter Pan growing up, but when I saw my son think he could fly, after a single reading, I understood it. As Ken St. Andre chose to create a work that reminds me of both writers, I might have been skeptical.  Why? Well he is a modern man, whereas Dunsany was not, and Ken writes about adventures in a world with Trolls and other dark sorts of beings. He roots for the outcast, he loves the rogue.

Slight Spoilers in the next paragraph


Then I saw exactly his angle of approach. Ken St. Andre is a romantic, roots for the underdog, and tells their stories, through adventure and prose. This work is short but has a great deal of fun, beauty and homage that has an extraordinary presentation.  Could this be a certain captain taking his crew from the river Yann to the Sea of Dreams as we are reading his adventures prior to Peter Pan? Is the Captain someone else, someone who lived closer to our time and adored whimsy (Lord Dunsany), and has changed his name and face to himself enjoy the time upon the Yann? Or, is the character a person from the present, who loves romantic tales, roots for the underdog, and his own sense of whimsy? That is right, though the author might wish for us to see Lord Dunsany in the Captain's chair, I think it is the author himself who we are seeing. Perhaps I am wrong.

I do know you can find this on Drivethrurpg.com but my computer is unable to visit that site at the moment, nor, for that matter, wikipedia or Facebook. I'm writing upon an ancient computer, and the browser doesn't work well. We live in an era where fiction and adventure is growing more and more expensive, but I'd suggest, it is a good idea to support the creative people you like, since the world is entering a period where few creatives can afford to continue, buying their work is one way to make certain you can keep getting more work from them. When Ken St. Andre sent me the Pirate Days Along the Yann I found the layers and intricacies found in the homage and Ken's straight forward story. That there was even more to consume, the voice of Dunsany ringing, the whimsy, and the possibility that Ken was the character of the captain, all made it a perfect storm.

Beyond this tale, I'd like to just suggest that Ken St. Andre, who refers to himself as a TrollGodfather is a creative person who has much to offer. A retired librarian, avid reader, game player, he is filled with information and ideas. His RPG game Tunnels & Trolls, the second true RPG that was ever created, is filled with whimsy. Few people who look in from the outside have a finger on the pulse of how prolific and fun a creator can be. I guess I am fortunate, I've known Ken online, at least, since about 2006.  Watching him share his life on Twitter and Instagram (when I was still on Instagram) is a fun, rewarding, even comforting experience. 

I interviewed Ken 5 or 6 years ago, and it was an excellent experience. I have mentioned my affection for his game Tunnels & Trolls. I never gamed with others using T&T, since the typical gamer prefers to stick to what they already know, or try things in different genres, rather than a new system in a genre they like.  I've spent time in my life where I had finished graduate work, or was alone for a week, and was tired of reading. T&T was able to be played as in solitaire and it was not wasting time, it was fun, and I was very much happy to do so, and to that additional extent, I am grateful for what he has created. 

FIND KEN ON TWITTER
THE INTERVIEW WITH KEN



DRAGONS IN THE CLOUDS
David Blair
Author Reputation Press, LLC;
1st edition (December 8, 2020)
Ebooks provided by the publisher for review


In a purposely Arthurian themed and fantasy toned work, the dragons of the age of magic are discovered or encountered. There are knights and steeds, medieval era settings, and dragons. While some are surely large and dangerous, others seem to be kind and benevolent.  There is considerable work to show how our beliefs or expectations are often false, and that the magic encountered with a dragon generally is from awe but ought to more be gratitude, for they are nearly unique in all of our dealings with creatures other than humans.  Humans seek to kill, usually, and the dragon hunt here is used to show how humans kill what they fear, or do not understand.  There are even considerations in how oracles and seers look into the future, as well as UFOs.  The plot involves a king's order to to slay all dragons, his seer's desire to save them, and a child who gets to know a dragon on a personal level.

This seems to be a work aimed towards young adults, but I didn't see any rating for audience intended. As such I have to assume it is meant for adults. If it is meant for adults it is a bit more simply written than most works found in the genre of fantasy, that I've read.  That could be an issue, as fantasy readers tend to be bright as well as literary conscious.  However I don't believe that a simple writing style is a bad thing. Some authors, perhaps those like me when writing prose will often use too many words, when fewer are needed and will have more impact. As a writer of Arthurian stories I was somewhat disappointed in the naming of the characters, if one is to enjoy the Merlinius and Arturus roots of Merlin and Arthur, Sir Jonathan and his lot seem out of place, but this is a minor flaw, if it is a flaw at all.

Overall this is a short, direct work, that tells a worthwhile story about dragons. I don't know that people who read complex fantasy and science fiction will linger long in the glow after reading, but it isn't an unpleasant read.  I'd suggest that 12 year old kid who likes knights and dragons in their reading, would especially enjoy this work. I appreciate having had the opportunity to read it.  For adults I think it would also help for the reader to have an affection for dragons, but it remains a good read, whatever the readers starting point or age.

DRAGONS IN FANTASY

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” G.K. Chesterton

Through written history, humans have seen dragons in the skies. Perhaps they are remnant species, a lingering line of dinosaurs, metaphors, or comets with great tails, the idea of the dragon is anything but alien to mankind.

In history from one of the earliest tales of human pseudo history, God King Gilgamesh searched for the secrets of eternal life, slaying dragons, and coming to grips with mortal life, coming to an end. In Beowulf (whose name in original language means the "bright wolf") there is the tale of how a kingdom is threatened, and a young prince comes to serve his king, and save a people. He journeys to a distant land to slay a beast who is the descendant of the first evil human, Cain, from the Bible, and his mother.  But, he is more than a warrior...  he is a hero of the highest order. In the end he rules over the people he saved, and is faced in the end by a dragon. His war with the descendant of Cain, Grendel and his mother, is an example of the sort of hero who travels across the sea to save a people who cannot do what he is destined to do.

Some great fantasy books tell stories of our ancient foes, allies and unknowable lords of the mountains and sky. Beyond their look and their domination of humanity, the reason the dragons are remembered and celebrated in fantasy, is one thing.  It is not their size.  It isn't the danger they pose.  It is the intelligence that marks their being.  And an intelligent opponent, who is nearly as large as than the castle you defend, is a mighty foe.  

“My armor is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!” J.R.R. Tolkien


About Getting Reviews from Me

First off, I can be found on FacebookTwitter or through email at Alexanderness63@gmail.com. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street address. I no longer have a post box, although I regret that.  It was a crushing defeat to no longer have a p.o. box, when I came to realize I was getting so little product it made no sense to pay for the privilege to not receive mail at both my home and at the post office. If you send hard copies for review I will always review them, but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry that I'd dispense them for free to others.

MY LINKS:
My Poetry Blog AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
My Published Work  AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html
My Amazon Page Amazon.com/author/AlexNess
Lovecraft Styled Horror CthulhuDarkness.Blogspot.Com
Atlantis and other Lost Worlds 
AlexNessLostWorlds.Blogspot.Com


I have an email list for my poetry blog, AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com  If you are interested please send me an email asking to join the list.  I have 3 new poems appearing daily.  When or if I have new books, the first people to know will be on the list, and I offer deals there for new products. Send an email toAlexanderness63@gmail.com to join the list.  I promise never to sell the list or share it.

All
works and art remain the property of the owners/creators and nothing more than fair use is asserted.

Thursday, October 28, 2021

FRIGHT UNSEEN


Classic-ly MONSTROUS and Mysterious

Fright Unseen Launches New Character, Celebrates Milestone Anniversaries
(CAPE CORAL, FL) Writer/director Joe Monks has been a fan of the Boris Karloff version of The Mummy ever since seeing it on late-night TV when he was 8 years old. While it’s his favorite of the Universal classics, Frankenstein isn’t far behind. With Frankenstein celebrating its 90th anniversary and The Mummy hitting 89, what better time to do some classically-inspired stories to celebrate?

“I’ve seen screenings advertised, people are having watch-parties—for black and white movies nearly a century old. What’s that tell you about not only how well done they were, but how timeless they are?” says Monks, who still believes a truly terrifying Mummy movie needs to be made to try and compete with the original.

“The look on Karloff’s face when he’s being wrapped to be buried alive, it’s still chilling. Those bandages going across his chin as he’s struggling? If that doesn’t get to you, what can I say?”

In addition to the release of MONSTROUS, Fright Unseen’s fifth release of 2021, Monks is also introducing a new, recurring character, Detective Danni Locke, who’s tasked with tracking down a vicious voodoo cult leader after a grisly Manhattan dismemberment. Locke will cross paths with other characters from Monks’ New York, as fans of his prose fiction will discover. Coming along for the ride are cover artists Rodney Fyke (Hazzum Productions’ Roadkill Rampage) handling duties for MONSTROUS, who Joe had met back in his road-warrior conventioneering days but never got to work with, and Jason Moser, who provides the cover for The Hidden.

Both titles have been pre-printed and are available through the http://www.FrightUnseen.com web site or Monks’ filmmaking home: http://www.sightunseenpictures.com

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

WEREWOOFS for Halloween


(October 28th 2021) New Paradigm Studious announced today a special Halloween treat that there is a free preview of their December 2021Werewoofs release live on bookfunnel ( https://dl.bookfunnel.com/xpftgjdp3b?fbclid=IwAR2flT6p-MhVigG0uQRvovbsr6YZLDBhrDfGRzhJJP3kPFFdI-Csq20VaQg
 
Fans can preorder the book on Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/4y3u45dt and it will be shipping this holiday season! A new take on the traditional werewolf story early reviews are good!

What others are saying about Werewoofs:
“Really clever and well-told”
-Mark Waid (Eisner and Inkpot award-winning writer for Marvel, DC, and more)

“Werewoofs is an inventive twist on the werewolf genre, offering readers moments of fast paced action, family intrigue, and a wonderful character-driven plot!
As a certified werewolf expert, I really enjoyed it!”
-Shawn Lemore (“How To Be A Werewolf”)

“Werewoofs tells the right story, at the right time, in the right way. But, don’t just listen to me as an adult. Werewoofs is a funny and exciting book that hit me in the feels at times.It’s very diverse and shows it’s ok to be LGBTQ. I like the message about friendship and doing the right thing. 10/10 must recommend”
-Karen and Liam Walsh (GeekMom)

“In conclusion, Werewoofs is a beautifully made werewolf comic with a thrilling story full of endearing characters! This comic puts a dog twist to the werewolf story which makes it unique and thus, a must read comic book for all werewolf fans to see how effective talking dogs are in making a werewolf story even more fun! A must read comic for all ages!      
-Everything Horror Podcast

About Werewoofs:
In the small Midwestern town of Howlett, navigating high school is tough enough. But when a group of friends are inexplicably turned into weredogs, adapting to their new powers proves to be even tougher. This leads to an unlikely friendship with loner Mara, a werewolf whose father has mysteriously vanished. As the high schoolers team up to solve the disappearance, friendships are tested, and secrets are revealed as the Werewoofs prove themselves in an explosive showdown against a dangerous wolfpack and their vicious alpha.

Want to know more about New Paradigm Studios visit: www.newparadigmstudios.com

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

MURDERMAN KICKSTARTER

 Action packed grittiness of the 80s and 90’s returns


​Murderman The Dealer of Death Kickstarter is Live 

(Phoenix/Arizona - Oct 26, 2021) Small press Schemewolf comics and entertainment has put together their first comic Murderman: The Dealer of Death (978-0-9986249-3-8). Labeled an “extreme” graphic novel Schemewolf hopes to capture the feel of comics from the ’80s and ’90s as readers follow Murderman, the bastard son of the Grim Reaper, and a mysterious time influencing drifter in a love triangle with a clairvoyant streetwalker who battles an unknown evil. Murderman must decide who is his true enemy.  This 100-page full-color book is a mixture of horror, action, and suspense shows how timeless this era of comics truly can be. Donate to the campaign today at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/murderman/murderman-the-dealer-of-death-an-extreme-graphic-novel

Avery Xola 
Schemewolf comics and Entertainment CEO explains, “T
his mini-series was created as a love letter to the extreme and exploitive comic books of the late 80s and 90s. We originally wrote this as a screenplay so the series is chaptered by acts as a reference to its cinematic origins. Acts 1 and 2 of the book were previously released as a mini-series. This Kickstarter helps us produce Act 3 and collect all three chapters into one book.”

Based in Phoenix, Arizona, Schemewolf Comics and Entertainment aims to produce the smartest and edgiest comics while lifting others up at the same time. They offer a range of consulting services to help teach others about the process of making comics.
Want to find out more on Schemewolf Comics and Entertainment? Visit www.schemewolfcomics.com.

Sunday, October 24, 2021

Horror and the End of October


STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
By Alex Ness
Posted 10/25/2021


“Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” William Shakespeare

I have been contacted by some folks who think I focus far too much upon Horror.  They added to that an accusation of "How can someone who is Christian be a fan of Horror?". And to this let me say, the three most ardent fans of horror on my Twitter feed are Christians.  And while it could be debated, I'd argue that if depicted honestly and thoroughly, the Book of Revelations would need an R rating to depict the horrors it describes.  I am not suggesting it can't be portrayed otherwise, only that it couldn't be so powerful without the images that a direct interpretation should create.  So I'd say, Yes, a Christian or any sort of moral person can enjoy horror, but perhaps not for the reasons others enjoy the genre have for watching or reading or playing.

One point to make, before moving on, is that many people who like True Crime similarly to horror, for reasons that are polar opposite of what crime is, they seek an answer, to solve a crime, to know more about actual evil to understand it, and to fight it.  Sometimes what fascinates us isn't what we want, but what we want to fix and fight, or what we fear and want to fight.

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” G.K. Chesterton

I had an experience on Ebay that was funny, I thought, and I shared it on my facebook page.  I was going to look up Robert E. Howard's book with his works regarding Cthulhu, "Cthulhu: The Mythos and Kindred Horrors" to see how much it was going for on Ebay. As I was typing "Cthulhu Robert E." the predictive text feature offered Cthulhu and Robert E. LEE? As a child I was fascinated by Robert E. Lee and hadn't a clue who or what Cthulhu was, so this was a computer era fail that was personally funny.  I wrote on my facebook, recounting all that, and said, Is this how some of the most weird team ups in fiction happen? Cthulhu meets Robert E. Lee? I made a couple weird covers, but those didn't go over as well as the original post.

The point of my sharing is not because it was such a great chuckle, nor even that I was shocked that crappy condition copies of the Robert E. Howard book Cthulhu: The Mythos and Kindred Horrors go for 15 bucks or more, plus shipping. No, I was just thinking, how most team ups and literary meet ups suck. I don't suggest they all do, but some really do.  However, Cthulhu was made with such quality, because of the willingness of the creator of the setting and concept, H.P. Lovecraft, to allow the development of the mythos, freely, without blocking out of worries over the purity of the story. Sure, some of the stories might have sucked, or failed to advance the concept.  But, if you look harder, you can see a broad, interesting concept, that has a quality that endures. That is, Lovecraft allowed a shared universe and the result was a diverse and wonderful body of work.  It makes one wonder what would have happened if Robert E. Lee did meet Cthulhu.


WHEN I ENJOY HORROR AND WHEN I DO NOT ENJOY HORROR

I find that what I like is either Kaiju (and have spoken often here about them), Giant monsters and all adversaries, the settings and events associated, and the Universal monsters template, of Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolf Man and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. So I probably don't "enjoy" horror.  I enjoy the stories of monsters. What many people associate with horror, the vulgar, the violent, the graphic and the bloody are events and traits of creative books, movies, comics and games, I find rather boring or uninteresting. Someone who knows me well has pointed out that as a historian I am aware of the darkest moments of human existence as well as the progress, so horror doesn't offer to me what it offers to others.

I should mention, that I've watched many dozens if not hundreds of videos of surgical procedures, they fascinate me, and the bleed and damaged flesh do not strike fear or horror in me.  Perhaps I am alone or have few friends similar to me in that fashion. There are people who love roller coasters, I do not. There are people who love haunted houses, I do not.  I am not a fan of jump scares. I'm not a fan of the grotesque, unless it is the point being made, and only rarely the perverse. The amount of blood shown or the greater the violence graphically depicted do not move me. Movies like the Evil Dead, comic books like Evil Ernie, and a variety of works that focus upon abuse of the flesh rather than creating intellectual fear bore me, perhaps even offend me.


And lastly I do love Alien, Predator and similar sort of films, but I get told, even often, that they don't qualify as horror, and are instead SciFi.  So take that as you will.  However, I would say, they don't actually scare me, while maybe they are dark, but... oh, I see it now, that is why they are is SciFi and not horror.  Gotcha.

THE HORROR THAT HAS SCARED ME

Shoah was heartbreaking, but real, as such it was horrifying due to the truth and reality of it. Movies and documentaries about the Holocaust and similar themes of Genocide ought scare you. Some are immune, but not me, especially as a historian. Night of the Living Dead scares the crap out of me.  For reasons that are spoilers, you will understand why both work as such, but I'd rather not explain it. The movie Duel was so grueling and relentless it might have felt like roller coaster, but it was so perfectly done, I never felt that it relied upon a camera angle or action that surprises to create the horror going forward. 

As an example, I was alone, for the first time overnight with my parents off to a wedding and overnight stay a 3 hour trip in the distance. I could stay up as late as the television would provide horror movies.  I was 12 years old.  The relatively cheap movie Frankenstein meets the Space Monster was on television, and some certain scenes, however cheesy, freaked me out.  It isn't a great film, but it worked in ways, and perhaps because I was alone, aware of the dangers of the world outside of my home, I remembered it throughout my life, and actually, I still remember it rather distinctly.


About Getting Reviews from Me

First off, I can be found on FacebookTwitter or through email at Alexanderness63@gmail.com. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street address. I no longer have a post box, although I regret that.  It was a crushing defeat to no longer have a p.o. box, when I came to realize I was getting so little product it made no sense to pay for the privilege to not receive mail at both my home and at the post office. If you send hard copies for review I will always review them, but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry that I'd dispense them for free to others.

MY LINKS:
My Poetry Blog AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
My Published Work  AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html
My Amazon Page Amazon.com/author/AlexNess
Lovecraft Styled Horror CthulhuDarkness.Blogspot.Com
Atlantis and other Lost Worlds 
AlexNessLostWorlds.Blogspot.Com

“I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.”  H.P. Lovecraft

Sunday, October 17, 2021

Appreciations, Farewells, Fools, Time Travel & the Abyss

THANKS & other stuff
By Alex Ness
October 18, 2021
(All images are copyright their respective owners & are
used only in fair use. Click to enlarge.)


Interview week was again a great deal of fun, and was a wonderful time of robust learning for me, and I hope for others. I'm grateful for the time each of the interview subjects gave, as well as the answers shared with me. Everyone who seeks to be creative, or is interested in how artists create gains from reading how others think, and create benefits from reading the words about the process. Everyone involved in creative arts knows that learning to improve and learning how to make your work better doesn't happen in a vacuum. And I'd like to say, I know time isn't free, and no one has more hours in the day just because they want more, as such, I am grateful that the people took the time and effort to respond.

THE COMPLETE LINK & THANKS LIST:

Chris Staros

Alan Dean Foster

Richard LeDue
Joe Monks
Anna Mocikat
Dave Wheeler
Bob Giadrosich
Josh Howard
Jeff Crandall


FAREWELL NORM, SCREW YOU DAVE, WHAT THE F JON, & CB That was stupid

I was a fan of and appreciated the style of Norm Macdonald.  I don't know that he was moral, but he was human, so he had flaws like we all do. I liked his rogue personae, his humor's presentation, and in ways my humor seems to some people who've noticed to be similar but from this point in time, I don't know that his humor influenced my own, or that old white guys after a while end up thinking or saying things in a certain fashion. It is true his humor is a far greater one than I have.  I get that.  And, I do know people who despised his humor, others who thought he was funny but likely a prick.  And I haven't any idea the reality. But now, he has died and I'll miss his humor.

Dave Chapelle is a comedian I haven't liked, nor shared the outlook of. In his latest Netflix comedy event, he shits upon people who are Transgender. Now, I do understand that he isn't a transgender person, and that he doesn't think they are "normal".  I'd suggest that normal isn't always a good thing, and being different isn't always or even usually a good thing.  He benefits from a society that is diverse, open to change, and in America in particular where he undoubtedly makes most of his money, we have rights, that are given by birth, to all who exist. I don't usually dismiss someone's work as ignorant, and in this case, I think he works for other people, but not me. I definitely wonder, while he has a right to express an opinion, why should he be allowed to attack any group of people. To make the point somewhat more open to hate, I wonder why if he considers certain speech to be racist, that he is allowed to use a similar kind of speech for a different group than the one he identifies with.  That could be a male heterosexual, or black, or human comedian. Why is he doing what he doesn't like being done when it is done to himi?

Jon Gruden resigned from the Las Vegas and Formerly Oakland Raiders.  Over the last four years you could see him begin to change the organization and perhaps turn it into a winner. But the NFL released emails from him, written prior to his joining the Raiders.  He used racist, homophobic and misogynistic phrases and commentary, and shared images that were not taken with consent of those depicted. In the present era I think there is room for vulgar speech in private, I am not saying it is right, only that, the limits of who might be harmed are far smaller than when in public. In the present I've certainly changed my personal behavior to make certain I don't offend where I am not intending offense, but in my public commentary and public speech I refuse to be so foolish as this. I realize, in fact I guarantee that I might be an idiot, I might be unpopular, foolish or silly, but it is unbelievable to me when people who lead others are so self absorbed as to not realize what they are doing. A simple slip of the tongue might be foul, but it might not necessarily reveal the human heart saying it. But taking pen to paper and write or say this, or worse, using a permanent form of information thing like print or recorded video? Only a fool would do such things.

Marvel Comics Editor in Chief and occasional writer C.B. Cebulski has recently been roasted on the internet, and perhaps in person, for having written under a false name, Akira Yoshida, and having made comments that he was Japanese and was a member of Japanese culture. There is something called Yellowface, where a white actor takes a role that is Asian in ethnicity. There is also something called a pen name or ghost writing. I've little to say about this situation since I am not as familiar as I try to usually be. I think it is one thing to use a pen name and create a false name and background to make it sound more authentic. I've been told he used the idea that he was Asian to gain advantage, to seem an expert, to be someone the white guy behind the name was not. I think that is rather inappropriate. I don't suggest pen names are wrong, and ghost writing is a means of an author helping someone tell their story, even if the person whose real name is used is not themselves a great or even good writer.

TIME AND THOSE WHO TRAVEL THROUGH IT

“Nothing could go wrong because nothing had...I meant "nothing would." No - Then I quit trying to phrase it, realizing that if time travel ever became widespread, English grammar was going to have to add a whole new set of tenses to describe reflexive situations - conjugations that would make the French literary tenses and the Latin historical tenses look simple.” Robert A. Heinlein


Someone recently told me that I live in the 1980s regarding my taste and ideas. I am not debating that, whether or not I agree. I do, however, find it interesting how people see others as being a product of their era. Perhaps, every different era of life might come with weaknesses and advantages, as well as a distinctly different outlook than the current time.  I saw this over and over growing up.  I was a child in the 1960s and spent the 70s in teen and preteen times. I'm aware that the 60s seemed to many to be an era of burning down the previous cultural truisms.  Whether it came from the civil rights movement, the failure in Vietnam, or the generation coming into its own presence, being a generation that was born from parents who'd seen World War Two happen, there is considerable debate over why such cultural changes happened.

What sealed my perception that each generation is thought of as being very different from one another, with specific outlooks and traits, came when I recently wrote a review of a book regarding the JFK Assassination, and a person replied, well yeah but your generation sees conspiracies in everything.  Now, that I will debate. I think that the time between the start of the Cold War to the end of the Cold War can be shown that conspiracies happened, in government, in cultural events, in murders, and peace movements. Not all conspiracies or secret actions were evil, mind you, but security issues, secrecy and desire to create a change leads directly to events and had to involve conspiracy.

“She climbs up thread and down; she braids and unbraids history's hair.” Amal El-Mohtar

However much we might wish it to be, time isn't a concept that is flexible, soft or without form or function or even portable. Time itself, apart from any cultural purpose or fictional views, doesn't exist.  It is a mental concept/construct is used to order events and give a perspective to evolution and progress of a society or tribe or kin group or individual. As such, it becomes used in mental views or fiction, often, as a force in and of itself, but that doesn't really work. I've thought about life recently and how things have taken over the awareness and attention of people in modern society. We seem shocked that Global Warming has happened, (or not shocked at all), or seem to be amazed and horrified how Covid has seemed to be or has been so bad, when we are modern global society that seems much brighter and able than people of the past and therefore should know better.  The perception of progress of human culture and time is surely a double edged sword.  The reason for this is that we see ourselves as so much brighter and how we've achieved so much, but we also are often unaware of the accomplishments of the past human societies. We've also absolutely been in worse situations from natural disasters, including meteor and comet strikes to wars to plagues and disease, and due to those things the human past is a place we are well relieved to no longer be.

We've become a society that has a perception based around the importance of the current moment over that of historical knowledge or a lack of esteem or belief in the achievement of generations prior to our own. While human progress has continued to move forward, the truth is, we have levels of grade school and levels of teaching and difficulty of subjects because we build from childhood to adulthood in the knowledge we acquire, how we learn to use that and retain what we've learned. If it constantly feels like we've elevated our own perceptions of worth, by doing so we ignore the progress of the past.

Modern perceptions of worth are not a problem, because the truth is we know more, and are advanced in our collective knowledge.  But belief in the present era's superiority is a problem. This is due to a perception of the inevitability of progress leading to hubris, and the inevitability of the human culture to thrive is false because if there were a disaster, we could lose it all. We've arrived where we have from forces of both progress and regress.  We've advanced medicine, but had do so due to terrible disease, plagues and more. If a virus mutates as much as we learn, we might lose it all. Our life expectancy has risen to such a place that modern people assume it the normal of the human species, but less than 200 years ago average humans rarely lived to 70 years of age, let alone being the common life expectancy.  So, for me, as a historian and poet, both occupations requiring observation of the past and present as a whole, I understand the fascination with time travel.

One aspect of time travel that is well used involves how one sees the human future.  Rarely are there visions of utopias, but I think the worst dystopias that are shown are also mostly unlikely. However one thinks and feels, about the present will leave an impact upon one's visions of the future.  And beyond the present, what happens might be a result of the creative talent's intellectual outlook, fears, or hopes and not something based upon the present events.

Time travel is a concept and idea that occurs in television, comics, movies, novels, and games.  But it varies in how well it works, and how it works. First, not every creative talent considers time to be a natural, permanent feature of human minds.  Some view time as an artificial construct.  As such, time could be paused for a people or place, due to isolation or event. Travel can happen with a machine or long sleep.  Time is a subject for exploration, or instead, it is damaged and someone must fix it.


Television's Dr. Who is loved by many.  Each doctor is a time lord, from a dimension different than earth.  I loved Patrick Troughton's Dr, the rest I liked enough, and the stories were almost always best with Cybermen, Daleks, and great alternate history concepts.  The Time Tunnel, from the 1960s was pretty much just ok but not from bad scripts or ideas.  It had a good concept, but the result was never anywhere as good due to limits of the era.  That's ok, but it is one of the series I wouldn't watch again.  There are a number of fun shows that aren't necessarily good. Quantum Leap was a successful show that many viewers loved, and it uses time travel, but I really did not enjoy it.  TimeCop had potential, and was worth the attempt, but it didn't last long enough to fully develop.

The best comic for time travel is easily Pax Romana.  I think the reason for the higher quality of it comes directly from the fact that time is an active and lush component of the story, it introduces concepts of modernity on a level playing field with the past. The comic Aztec Ace was fun, but not truly serious. While I thought it had far more potential than result, I did buy it and liked it a great deal. I think that X-Men Days of the Future Past is fine, it uses time as a concept and played out well by the creatives. It has limits for some people, as it lingers on the edge of serious but utilizes a concept that some disbelieve in.  The concepts of racism and genocide within concept of superheroes does work, but it requires more suspension of belief than a story told straightforward without costumes and heroes and villains. If one likes superheroes to begin with the allegory works well, as the verisimilitude is well created.

Any discussion of the novels about time travel has to begin with and include HG Wells and his book The Time Machine. While limited by the known world of the era it was written, it opened the door to every other work, I think. Poul Anderson's High Crusade is the best written and most fun novel involving time travel. A medieval era kingdom experiences an alien visitation, and then humans do what we are good at, and the visitors learn how dangerous even medieval humans can be.  Anderson wrote often about time travel, and he was a great author. Edgar Rice Burroughs told tales that don't involve travel by mechanical means to the past, but discovery of lost lands that have never evolved or changed due to progress and science.  They are fun but far less effective than Poul Anderson's works.

The various time travel RPGs shown are offered without my having played most of them. Timeship was half baked and tried to cover so much ground it didn't cover what it could have at all well. Time Travel Gurps was good, but less good than many of the other settings/themes as other Gurps books. The rest shown have been reviewed well, but I can't say, I didn't play them. However, I must say, I don't really find myself moved by most game systems, so for me the setting or theme needs to be much better than the system used, because if I am going to learn a new system, I need to like what the game is about.  Gurps is a great game system.

Time After Time involves HG Wells trying to solve the mystery of the Jack the Ripper killings, and I think while I didn't love it, I liked it. I do like the movie The Terminator, and time is bruised by the many intrusions from the future in the series.  Predestination sounds like a religious movie, but it is not.  It has a few major plot twists that should not be revealed, so I'll just say it is based upon a Robert A. Heinlein short story titled All You Zombies, and it is freaking amazing in print, and the movie does a great job with it.

“I grieved to think how brief the dream of the human intellect had been. It had committed suicide. It had set itself steadfastly towards comfort and ease, a balanced society with security and permanency as its watchword, it had attained its hopes—to come to this at last. Once, life and property must have reached almost absolute safety. The rich had been assured of his wealth and comfort, the toiler assured of his life and work. No doubt in that perfect world there had been no unemployed problem, no social question left unsolved. And a great quiet had followed.” H.G. Wells

AS I GAZE INTO THE ABYSS

I was asked by an emailer why I cover so many works that seem to be different than my own personal interests or beliefs, such as might be found in my degrees in history and political science. They then asked why do I seem to like all of them? First off, I don't know that anything I have discussed here fell out of reach of anything I've experienced. I try to use my experience and knowledge to help the reader understand why I think what I do. I'm uncertain the specific items they are looking at.  I do know that they think I am an intellectual, but I am not.  I try to think on everything but intellectual suggests having an outlook that implies high brow, or elitist ideals. That isn't me.

As I developed my academic mind during grad school I learned that I couldn't teach well enough to change the world, and that I rightly perceived that academia would be unlikely to accept someone like me, someone who tried to teach through stories and rapport versus hard facts and politically proper political views. But I also realized, the world is enormous, and most of it moves me, and has value.  One way to grow intellectually is to understand others who you do not know enough about, or know anything but stereotypes about.  So, I tried reading books, translated, from various people, and that helped me grow, and I ate food from those places, and I developed an appreciation for them, despite being alien to them. I did this as often as I could, but at some point I realized, there is a destination that can be too far to travel, whether through literature, popular culture or food. 

Sometimes the unknown is a dark abyss.  Into that abyss I stare, gaze, and attempt to know the world around me but it is enormous. Sometimes I learn and experience that world. Other times I fail to digest all I consume or find, or I get overwhelmed by the entirety of it all. I want to taste every single culture and ideal but it might be true, that I don't have the wisdom and intellect to do so. I have to distinguish between knowledge of, versus knowledge.  One might know of a concept, but that isn't the same and knowing it.  The abyss is occasionally impenetrable.
So the enclosed quote from Nietzsche I think is appropriate as an answer to the person writing the email.



ABOUT GETTING REVIEWS FROM ME

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