Book Review: DOCTOR WHO – City Of Death
necrosarx	Book Reviews	Adaptation, Doctor Who, Fiction, James Goss, Science Fiction	Leave a comment
James Goss
ACE Books
The Doctor almost wished that for once he could sweep aside all the reversing the polarity of the death ray nonsense and just sit down for tea and natter over macaroons. If it wasn't for the Count being a homicidal maniac, the two of them would get on famously. What a pity.
Back between September 29th and October 20th in 1979, the BBC broadcast one of the serials that sci-fi author Douglas Adams had a hand in writing; in that Adams heavily re-wrote an unfinished script that was originally titled "A Gamble With Time". What resulted was a Doctor Who serial where the Fourth Doctor and is then-companion Romana run into an ancient alien while on holiday in Paris, an alien who inadvertently kick-started life on Earth due to an accident millions of years prior that killed off the remainder of his race, and is working to go back and prevent said accident. Also, there's an Inspector involved. British wackiness ensues.
Over time, "City Of Death", despite it being one of the more popular Doctor Who serials, was never given the Target Books novelization treatment initially. This was due mainly to Target offering the standard advance price to Adams for adapting the story, with Adams retorting, "I don't want to be embarrassing but I do have a tendency to be a best-selling author," and refusing to allow anyone else to write one.
It wasn't until after Adams' untimely death and long-time Doctor Who writer Gareth Roberts doing a bonny adaptation of Adams' "Shada" script when we finally got an official novelization of "City Of Death". Yeah, it was also supposed to be written by Roberts, but eventually the reigns were given to James Goss.
There. That takes care of the Obligatory History Portion of this review. Let's get on the novelization, shall we?
As mentioned previously, the Fourth Doctor and Romana are on holiday in 1979 Paris, France, enjoying and relaxing in an outdoor cafe', when the Doctor notices a lady scanning the security setup around the Mona Lisa with alien technology. So, along with an Inspector, they follow her back to a chateau owned by Count Scarlioni. There, they find equipment used in time experiments, along with several copies of the Mona Lisa. Romana and the Inspector continue to investigate things, while the Doctor zipps off in the TARDIS to visit Leonardo da Vinci, about the Mona Lisa copies. Romana and the Inspector are captured by Scartioni, with Romana pressed into building a working time machine by threatening to destroy all of Paris if she doesn't; meantime, in the past, the Doctor is captured by an earlier iteration of Scartioni, who then explains that he is the last of an alien race that was wiped out by their ship exploding on Primordial Earth 400 million years ago, give or take a century. This explosion had the inadvertent effect of sparking life on the planet, which also created the concept of irony. Through the eons, Scartioni had been manipulating history to where, by the time the 20th Century rolled around, the technology was such that he could feasibly begin working on a time machine to go back to the beginning and stop the ship from 'splodin', funding the entire thing with selling off the several copies of the Mona Lisa he had commissioned da Vinci to paint. Of course, this plan doesn't sit well with the Doctor, so he escapes back to 1979 Paris, which leads to a confrontation and showdown with the alien Count.
Like with the other Doctor Who serial novelizations I've read, I hadn't seen the televised show this was based on before reading City of Death. I still haven't gotten around to watching it; but based on this novelization, I probably will do so sometime shortly.
As a Doctor Who story in book form, City Of Death is written in that same kind of style that typified works by Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams…mainly Douglas Adams, probably because he wrote the script of the show itself, so it would make sense that James Goss would imitate his style. I haven't really read anything of Goss' outside of this and his other Doctor Who adaptation The Pirate Planet (also originally scripted by Adams), so I don't know if that's his natural writing style, or if he's just imitating what he would think Adams would write, had he actually did the novelization himself. I might have to rectify that.
Regardless, reading this novelization of City Of Death was a blast. I recommend picking this up and checking it out.
Book Review: FLOOR FOUR
necrosarx	Book Reviews	Fiction, Horror, Novella, Supernatural	Leave a comment
A. Lopez, Jr.
Ace Hill Ink
The old, abandoned Saint Vincnt Hospital is said to be haunted by the ghost of David Henry Coleman, the notorious serial killer known as The Mangler. Coleman died on the fourth floor after being shot by police. For the three Junior High boys, their curiosity gets the best of them as they explore the old hospital, despite "Old Man" Jake's warning. No one knew of Jake's warning. No one knew of Jake's dark connection to the killer and the hospital. And now, on the anniversary of The Mangler's death, a group of high school kids are planning a private party on the haunted fourth floor. Jake must keep everyone out and protect them from the true evil that lurks on Floor Four.
Another in my extensive list of Kindle edition horror fiction that were free, that I Immediately downloaded after receiving my first eReader, Floor Four is a brief less-than-100 page novella by author A. Lopez, Jr. Unsurprisingly, I was unfamiliar with Lopez, Jr.'s work, as this was my chance to branch out and discover new authors beyond my normal stable of go-to reads. According o his on-line bio on Goodreads, he published his first work–a collection of short stories — in 2011, and has been prolifically writing since, producing short stories, novellas and novels.His signature series is the Night Dreams line, a series of novellas in the supernatural horror vein.
Floor Four was published in 2014. It's one of those standard Abandoned Hospital Haunted By Ghost Of Serial Killer kind of stories, complete with curious kids, stupid teenagers, and the old man trying to warn them away for their own good, dagnabbit.
That synopsis up there in the italics is only the first part of the story. Had it just been that, Floor Four would have been more of a short story. After the events there, we then focus on one of the three Junior High kids who finds himself haunted by the ghost of the serial killer and his mental spiral into madness. The story does take some twists and turns in ways that weren't entirely predictable, but for the most part, there's really nothing in Floor Four that breaks any intriguing ground.
Book Review: PSYCHOSPHERE
necrosarx	Book Reviews	Brian Lumley, Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction, Trilogy	Leave a comment
Brian Lumley
Tom Doherty Associates, Inc.
A machine, Psychomech, granted Richard Garrison great and terrible mental powers–strength enough to restore his dead love and vanquish his enemies. Through Psychomech, too, Garrison learned of the Psychosphere, another plane where mental powers ruled supreme–and where Garrison was sole tenant. Now a new mind has entered the Psychosphere, a mind twisted and evil and bent on controling the Earth. Richard Garrison must discover the owner of that mind–and destroy it!
The second book in Lumley's Psychomech trilogy, continuing with the goings on with former Army Corporal turned demigod Richard Garrison, his zombie wife and the dog who loves him.
I had to pause for a few minutes to take in what I just wrote, there. Anyway, the plot of this book…
Ever since the events in Psychomech, Richard Garrison has been rendered, not really a full-on god, but at least powerful enough to give Gozer a run for his/her/it's money, with two other consciences dwelling within his…head? Is that right? Anyway, with all of this PHENOMINAL COSMIC POWER!, he spends his free time gambling and making enemies with the mob. Everyone needs a hobby, I guess. There is a problem, though–Garrison is slowly leaking the power he has, mostly due to wrecking the Psychomech pretty badly in the previous novel, and the other two consciences are coming out to play more often than not. Also, Vicki is beginning to think that she no longer loves Garrison like she thought. Oh, and there's an obese albino hermaphrodite psychic in an underground fortress attempting to take over the world in there, somewhere.
Psychospere was…interesting. It starts off as a pretty intriguing thriller, then gets weird as the story progresses. This may be due to the obese albino hermaphrodite psychic character. I just like writing all of that out. This character is about as powerful as (apologies for mixing geek references, here) Professor Xavier, if not moreso, and really has a thing for hedonistic orgies that would make Caligula blush. Like with the first book, the parts that seemed to drag more in the story were the parts where Garrison is in his head reality, dreamstate kinda place (the psychospere? it's never really explained fully what that titular thing is), dragging around the remains of the psychomech and slowly losing power. The big ending conflict was decent, and the way Garrison resets everything was interesting. Overall, I would say Psychospere, like the first entry in the trilogy, was a bit overlong but interesting enough to finish. Is that considered damning with faint praise? I could never get a grasp on that concept…
Book Review: PSYCHOMECH
necrosarx	Book Reviews	Brian Lumley, Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller	Leave a comment
The terrorist bomb blast 'introduced' two very different men: multimillionaire Thomas Schroeder and British Army Corporal Richard Garrison. The industrialist welcomed the army man to his mountain retreat, endowed him with wealth, and introduced him to the one woman he would always love. Blinded in the inferno, Garrison at first though that Schroeder's kindness sprang from gratitude and guilt. But when Schroeder revealed the unique mental abilities he and Garrison shared and his plan to cheat death, Garrison began to wonder about Schroeder's true motivations. Was he Thomas Schroeder's friend or the test subject for Schroeder's dreams of reincarnation?
So, in my on-going quest to try and read everything that Brian Lumley has written that is not in some way tied in with his Necroscope series, I began this first book in what is known as the Psychomech Trilogy. And after reading the titular first novel, my first thought after closing the book was, "There are two more of these to get through." It wasn't that it was a tedious slog to get through, it's just that Lumley does have a talent for turning what could be a 250 page story into 400+ pages. The man is big on purple prose and exposition, he is. And I typed out that last bit in a cheesy Cockney accent in my head.
Bit of a backstory here, before we proceed: I first came across the second book in this trilogy at a now-defunct small used book store over fifteen or so years ago. Since I have this kind of OCD about reading series books out of order, I decided to hold onto this one until I could find the other two. That was easier said than done, as I didn't come across those in physical mass market paperback form until I spotted them both at (say it with me) Half Price Books. Goodie for me. Only, there was already a bit of a reading que, so getting around to actually reading them took another couple of years (yeah, I may have an addiction, here). But finally, I was able to get to them, and now, if you haven't given up and moved on to something more exciting on the Internet, here is the first of the three.
Thomas Schroeder is a very rich and powerful German industrialist who is in Ireland at the beginning of the story on business with the IRA, who have kidnapped his wife. He manages to get the best of them, but then he learns of a bomb they planted in his hotel room, of which he's saved from by the brave actions of one Corporal Richard Garrison of the Royal Military Police, which results in the loss of Corporal Garrison's vision. Not to worry, as Schroeder feels rather indebted to him for saving not only his life, but also the lives of his wife and infant son, that he brings Garrison to his rather swanky digs in Germany, to try and help him see again. Of course, there's more to Shroeder's intentions than just that, and while Garrison doesn't seem to mind, it is hard to get a bead on whether things are a bit more sinister or not. It involves ESP and a bit of the old advanced horoscope drowsing made all sciency and stuff. Meanwhile, in Plot B, there's this former Nazi officer who once tried to build a machine to create supermen for Hitler during World War II. Of course, now that he's in hiding under an assumed name and life, he's once again trying to build the machine, along with a psychiatrist who's employing the Nazi as a gardener, under the guise of building a psychiatric machine to help alleviate one's fears, called the Psychomech. Mech-mech-mech. Anyway, Schroeder dies, leaving all of his wealth and land to Garrison, along with Schroeder's life long companion and bodyguard, named Willy Koenig. Not too long after that, Garrison marries a woman who just so happens to be having an affair with the psychiatrist that has built Psychomech, and after a couple of years of marriage, decides to dissolve their marriage by way of an overdose on the Psychomech itself. Only, instead of killing him, Garrison turns into a god, resurrects his long-dead-of-cancer first love, and absorbs Willy Koening into his being, along with Thomas Schroeder. The end.
As mentioned previously, Lumley does do a lot of exposition, quite a bit of dialog in his stories. Fortunately, he's good at it, otherwise this would have been a slog to get through. Instead, Psychomech was decent, engaging with some slow parts, yes, but overall really creating a good sci-fi yarn that wasn't really what I was expecting. I didn't go into excessive detail with the story recap, as there is a lot of scenes involving a subconscious dream state that, while I understand it's there to establish what the Psychomech machine is all about, was probably the least favorite parts of the book for me. And the ending is one of those abrupt kinds that made me go, "Well, that happened" when it got to the last page.
The Psychomech trilogy is probably Lumley's more obscure series of novels, and judging by this first book, I can see why. Worth a look-see.
Book Review: 3001 The Final Odyssey
necrosarx	Book Reviews	Arthur C. Clarke, Fiction, Science Fiction, Space Odyssey	Leave a comment
Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is the best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants can achieve that goal will be the greatest challenge of the future. Indeed, it may well decide whether we have any future.
One thousand years after the Jupiter mission to explore the mysterious Monolith had been destroyed, after Dave Bowman was transformed into the Star Child, Frank Poole drifted in space, frozen and forgotten, leaving the supercomputer HAL inoperable. But now Poole has returned to life, awakening in a world far different from the one he left behind–and just as the Monolith may be stirring once again . . .
Here it is, the final book in the so-called Space Odyssey Series of books. I remember wandering into a Walden Books that was inside one of the malls in Omaha (this was back before Barnes & Noble forced the smaller book stores in the area to cease when it opened up nearby) and running into the display of this new publication, thinking, "huh…he wrote another one?" Followed immediately with, "wait, Clarke is still alive? Good for him." And then wandering off to see if there was anything good in the Faith and Christianity section. This was the later part of the 1990s, you see. This was before I rekindled my love of horror and sci fi literature.
Regardless, 3001 The Final Odyssey was, if you recall from the previous reviews I've posted, included along with all of the other titles in the Space Odyssey series when I got them all in one shot from Half Price Books. Not a bad deal, considering the original cover prices for books that are, for the most part, less than three hundred pages in length, and contain a considerable amount of rehash from the other books. Anyway, on to the story plot…
After a bit covering the entities that created the Monoliths that started all this wackiness, the body of one Frank Poole–the ill-fated member of the original expedition to the Saturn Jupiter Monolith all the way back in 2001–is found frozen and meandering about in zero gravity around the Kuiper belt by a space tug in the year 3001. After being revived (because this is THE FUTURE! and all that), he is taken back to Earth, where he begins learning about the wondrous…wonders of THE FUTURE! he suddenly finds himself in. Also, he becomes something of a curiosity for the citizenry, and especially for the person assigned to be his guide through all that. I can imagine how amusing the whole "Back in my day…" spiel would be at this point. Meanwhile, it seems that the Jovian Monolith has received some orders from the Big Giant Monolith several light years away, essentially saying that humans had a good run, and to wipe 'em out. So the Monolith starts multiplying again to block out the sun; fortunately, the Bowman/HAL hybrid thingie that calls itself Halman now, has infected the Monolith with a virus that disintegrates them. Humanity saved, and future looks pretty bright. The end…for good now.
So, here we are, finally. The final book of the four in the Space Odyssey series, and…really, the majority of the time it's a futuristic fish-out-of-water kind of book, with a revived Frank Poole suddenly finding himself the Philip J. Fry in this Futurama situation. Like his other books, Clarke seems to have more fun with the technical wonders of speculative future tech, with the actual plot being kind of a secondary thing. It was the way of the old school Science Fiction writers, keep in mind. I do have to admit, though, with the revelation of the Monoliths being constructs that were more or less breaking down a bit, and taking them out with a virus from within kind of takes the awe and mystery out of the sails, but really. By now there should be some kind of explanation for those things. I did like the history of the alien beings that started the whole thing. Gives a bit of overall scope of how long this has been going on.
Overall, 3001: The Final Odyssey was a decent cap of a decent science fiction series. Sure, the book raises more questions than it answers, but I was rather satisfied with how things ended. As to the questions this leaves…well, I'm going to just have to speculate and use my imagination for those. Sadly, Clarke died eleven years after this book was published. But, if you get the chance, check out the entire Space Odyssey series, maybe not like I did, but it's worth checking out.
Book Review: 2061 Odyssey Three
Only Time is universal; Night and Day are merely quaint local customs found on those planets that tidal forces have not yet robbed of their rotation.
Arthur C. Clarke, creator of one of the world's best-loved science fiction tales, revisits the most famous future ever imagined in this NEW YORK TIMES bestseller, as two expeditions into space become inextricably tangled. Heywood Floyd, survivor of two previous encounters with the mysterious monoliths, must again confront Dave Bowman, HAL, and an alien race that has decided that Mankind is to play a part in the evolution of the galaxy whether it wishes to or not.
It's fascinating how generally recent the later books in the whole Space Odyssey series were produced. Usually, when I think of Arthur C. Clarke, I think of classic sci-fi produced in the 1950s and 60s, along with the other masters of the genre at the time. But, the fact is he kept busy throughout his life, with this third entry in the Space Odyssey series being published in 1987, back when I was in Middle School. As a matter of fact, I was gifted a mass paperback copy of 2061: Odyssey Three in 1988, and I recall reading the first few pages, getting bored, and moving on to something a bit more my speed at the time. As a matter of fact, I remember eventually donating it to my high school library without even continuing reading it. I just wasn't much into science fiction at the time.
It wasn't until much later, when I bought all four of the books from Half Price Books, that I began reading them all back-to-back. Eh, better than waiting ten or so years for a sequel for catch-up. You can finish one, and start on the next one while it's still fresh in your plump, succulent brain.
Anyway, the story of 2061: Odyssey Three is set fifty-one years after the events of Odyssey Two, as well as sixty years after the events in the original book. Since then, Jupiter has become a mini-sun that was named Lucifer (because of course), and the moons have been transformed because of this. Specifically, Io has become a violently volcanic lump of magma, while Europa is an ocean world shrouded by clouds, and Ganymede is a temperate world that humans are beginning to colonize. Commercial travel in space between planets is now a thing, and a period of relative peace has been in place on Earth, with bits of civil unrest in South Africa. So, hooray for peace, I guess. Anyway, Dr. Heywood Floyd from the previous novels is now a permanent resident of a space hospital due to an accident that makes regular Earth-bound gravity rather bad for him, and has lived to be a bit over 100 years of age. He's chosen to be one of the few to be part of a landing party on Halley's Comet, which is making its way back 'round to our solar system again. Meanwhile, Dr. Floyd's grandson is piloting a ship that's going to do a fly-by of Europa (despite the constant alien warning of not doing so…kind of the intergalactic version of Keep Off The Grass), but then the ship is hijacked by a stewardess, forcing it to crash land into Europa's ocean, stranding the surviving crew. So, now the ship that's sight-seeing on Halley's Comet is going in to rescue them; while they're doing that, a few crew members on Europa decide to do a bit of sight-seeing for themselves, and come across not only a giant diamond mountain, but also another monolith lying on its side…and also the curious indigenous life forms of the planet that have evolved rather quickly since Jupiter became a mini-sun. The ship Dr. Floyd is on finally shows up and rescues them, while the giant diamond mountain sinks into the depths of Europa forever, and everyone lives happily ever after. Oh, and Dr. Heywood Floyd's consciousness was duplicated by the monolith and lives inside it along with the consciousness of both Dr. Bowman and HAL from the other books, only with the real Dr. Floyd unaware of this. Then we get a glimpse of the year 3001. The end.
This third trip into the world that started with 2001 is…interesting. I mean, so far, with most of the rest of the series, this isn't exactly the kind of science fiction that would make for edge-of-the-seat action; but, that was to be expected. There isn't so much "conflict" as there are periods of inconveniences to the characters that give them time to further the hard science-y parts of the novel. Reading 2061 was a lot like watching a Discovery Channel space documentary program that happened to have characters and a subplot story, set in the near-ish future. With very vague alien implications. Overall, this third oddyssey poked my imagination a bit, but didn't blow my mind as much as the first book did.
Book Review: The HARLAN ELLISON COLLECTION: I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
necrosarx	Book Reviews	Anthology, Fantasy, Fiction, Harlan Ellison, Horror, Science Fiction	Leave a comment
Harlan Ellison
Slowly but surely I am assimilating eBooks into my reading habit. Not that I'm fully converted to the digital style of reading a book; I'm still very much old-school when it comes to that, I can assure you. But, even I have to admit that there are some advantages to reading something electronically. Like when you're on a rather long download at work, and can access the ebook account there for some quality reading time while you're waiting for that dial-up download to go through. Seriously, in this day and age, why do are there still dialups going on?
Anyway, one of the ebooks I purchased was this nifty thing featuring seven short stories by science fiction icon Harlan Ellison. Mostly because for years I've been hearing about how the title story was one of the more haunting and scary pieces of science fiction horror written. But, also as kind of a taster for the author himself, as I wasn't really all that familiar with Ellison, beyond his reputation of not being able to play well with others. Also, he wrote a classic episode of Star Trek TOS. Here are the stories and my thoughts on 'em:
"I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream"
…the classic story of a sentient computer that came self-aware during World War III and killed off all of humanity, save for five, which it (he?) keeps alive for the simple reason to torture them throughout the centuries. I have to admit, this is a very haunting and nihilistic post apocalyptic tale, very effective. Just the way I like it. I can see why this is loved in the Science Fiction community.
"Big Sam Was My Friend"
…a sad tale of an intergalactic circus performer that was put to death due to his interruption of a virgin sacrifice. Also, he can teleport. Also, his circus chums let it happen due to business. It's quite bittersweet, really.
"Eyes Of Dust"
…on a planet of perfect beauty, the "ugly" couple have a kid equally as ugly, and it doesn't sit well with the Normals. This one is rather brief, and I get the feeling that there could have been more explored within the context of the story, but it just kind of escalates quickly and then ends.
"World of the Myth"
…three space-faring explorers crash-land on a planet, and while waiting for their rescue ship to arrive, have a run-in with an indigenous species of insects. And yes, wackiness ensues. This one kind of reminded me of a variation of the Outer Limits episode "The Sandkings", with the insects that are more than what we would perceive them as. Or, more to the point, as they would perceive us as.
"Lonelyache"
…a divorced man slowly goes insane. It doesn't end well, as you may have deduced by now. Very bleak, very melancholy. Also, it makes me question my desire to not remain single for the entirety of my life.
"Delusion for a Dragon Slayer"
…an average man living a mundane existence happens to be a mere few minutes late on his usual routine and is crushed by a wrecking ball…and that's when the adventure begins. This was more a straight fantasy, like one of the Dreamland tales of H. P. Lovecraft, with a rather melancholy ending. Not too bad, this.
"Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes"
…a down-on-his-luck guy uses his last literal dollar on a slot machine in Vegas, and begins to win big; the reason of which involves the ghost of a lady that died playing that very slot six months prior.
I have to admit, I had no idea of what to expect when first taking in the stories. It turns out that Ellison's style is really more of a blend of science fiction, some fantasy and horror, with everything marinated heavily in dark existential nihilism. It's kind of like Philip K. Dick without the mental illness, and just jaded and grumpy. Which is what I dig. Also, his introductions are insightful, yes, but also a riot.
As a first timer checking out his work, I found this collection to be more than beneficial. I was rather sad that it ended so soon, really. Highly recommended to check out.