Continue reading here:
Interview with George Romero by Jason V Brock in Nameless #2+
Continue reading here:
Interview with George Romero by Jason V Brock in Nameless #2+
Nolan on
Bradbury
William
F. Nolan; edited by S.T. Joshi
Hippocampus
Press, 2013
Nolan
on Bradbury
is a fascinating exploration into two stellar figures in speculative fiction,
their relationship over sixty years, and the intellectual cross-fertilization
that can occur when such minds meet and share.
More than a personal account and less
than an academic study (in all of the right ways), the book allows readers a kind
of continuous insight into a friendship and a working exchange. Following
introductory materials by Jason V. Brock, S. T. Joshi, and Ray Bradbury himself
(writing about Nolan), the book opens onto a series of chronologically arranged
articles and essays—including introductions and afterwords to a number of books—in
which Nolan speaks about Bradbury, beginning with their first encounters and
Nolan’s responses to them (1952) and concluding with Nolan’s “My Personal
Evaluation of Ray’s Finest Stories” (2013). Joshi comments in his introduction
that there is a certain level of necessary redundancy in the accounts, and he
is correct; key episodes in their friendship recur frequently, often using the
same sentences and vocabulary. But that is as it should be. The repetitions
remind readers that they are following a six-decade long series of conclusions
on Nolan’s part; the details of Bradbury’s career and influence may—and must—shift
as the essays progress, but at core, the essence of Bradbury remains the same.
Each repetition is placed into a different context and thereby gains depth and
resonance, linking the disparate essays into a unified whole.
The second major section, “Stories,”
presents Nolan’s fictions that he defines as either about Bradbury or
influenced by Bradbury’s style and approach. They range from serious stories,
such as “And Miles to Go Before I Sleep” and “To Serve the Ship,” to
exquisitely modulated parodies and satires, such as the perfectly titled “The
Dandelion Chronicles”—a loving tribute to Bradbury that encompasses most of his
recurring themes as well as his signature style. Each is distinctly Nolan; none could have been written without his
having first met Ray Bradbury.
“Tributes to Ray Bradbury” and “Afterword:
The Return of Ray B.” round off the volume by giving space to Nolan, Brock,
John C. Tibbetts, Joshi, and Greg Bear to speak personally and, as it were,
conclusively about Bradbury and his influence. Each offers more insight into a
complex, multi-faceted, tremendously influential genius. Each is much
appreciated.
The final part is a short but useful
bibliography of major works, collections, stories, and other writings by both
Nolan and Bradbury. It is an appropriate capstone to this involving study of
writing, writers, friends, and friendships.
Jason
V. Brock. “Milton’s Children.” Bad Moon Books, 2012.
I
don’t know whether Jason Brock wears a hat or not. But if he does, he must have
been kept busy tipping it while writing his singularly effective novella,
“Milton’s Children.”
The
story begins, perhaps a bit oddly, with a question: “Why are you a vegetarian,
Carter?” This relatively non-horrific question introduces both a primary
character, Adam Carter (the name is highly suggestive, given the novella’s
title and the headnote from John Milton’s Paradise
Lost), and a key issue…although for several pages the ensuing dialogue
between Carter and his equally suggestively named antagonist, Chris Faust (c.f. Christopher Marlowe, Dr. Faustus, another Renaissance
disquisition on pride, sin, forgiveness, and hell) seems more a one-sided rant
than the introduction to a short story.
The
two characters cover a number of issues, although Faust is more often than not limited
to a few words or sputtered phrases while Carter is given full play for his
arguments, which include the possibility of animal communication before
broadening to incorporate pollution, global warming, overuse of antibiotics and
chemicals, and a range of additional appalling side-effects of human arrogance.
Finally, Carter asks his own question, “I mean, where does ‘evil’ begin to
enter into the picture, Faust?”
After
a brief hiatus for some necessary backstory, the tale reaches a transition
point and moderates into what is essentially a finely crafted throwback to the
Golden Age of Creature Features. One of the crew has discovered a mysterious, unknown
island, revealed only when global warming causes the Antarctic floes to recede.
Perhaps never trodden on by humans, the island offers a temptation none can
resist. They must explore it.
The first
impression the landing crew receives is of an Antarctic Garden of Eden…but as
with all great Creature Features, first impressions prove woefully,
disastrously, horrifically and bloodily wrong.
And thus
the deaths begin.
In
addition to those already mentioned, Brock incorporates layer upon layer of
allusion to strengthen his modest tale. Several are referred to by name: Jonathan
Swift and A Modest Proposal; Mary Shelley
and Frankenstein (with its insistence
on Paradise Lost as a proof text for
the creature’s moral inquiries); H.P. Lovecraft and At the Mountains of Madness; Skull Island and the various film
versions of King Kong. Others seem
more incidental, although still powerful: E.R. Burroughs’ Pellucidar series
(one of Brock’s characters is Darrell Mahar). The captain of the rescue ship in
the final chapters is Commander Merritt (c.f. A. Merritt?) and the Communications
Officer is surnamed ‘Adams,’ underscoring at least two major themes in “Milton’s
Children.”
(And
one intriguing echo—which I can’t lay this on Brock, of course, since I don’t
know what films he has watched—by the end of his story there are a number of key
resemblances in “Milton’s Children” to one of my favorite ’50s pieces, Roger
Corman’s The Attack of the Crab Monsters.)
Tying
all of these disparate threads together is the introductory note, Satan’s
speech as he surveys the newly created Earth (Paradise Lost, Book IX, ll. 135-139) and brags of the destruction
is he about to wreak on it and on unsuspecting humanity. Although it is clear from
the poem as a whole that Satan is here being self-delusive and that the Father
has in fact planned all that occurs, his words remain powerful. Like others
alluded to in “Milton’s Children”—Milton’s Adam, Marlowe’s Faust, Frankenstein,
Lovecraft’s multifold meddlers in Cosmic affairs, generations of fictional explorers invading unknown
landscapes where they have no right to be—Satan is about to assert dominion over
that which is not his…and pay the ultimate consequences.
In
total, “Milton’s Children” is fascinating. It blends elements that seem on the
surface antithetical. It encourages reminiscence even as it suggests
far-reaching, futuristic possibilities. It combines an elegant command of
language with a relatively fundamental but thoroughly enjoyable plot. It
incorporates clichéd characters and situations in ways that bring them new
life. It manages to tip its hat to perhaps a score of equally intriguing sources while maintaining its own integrity as a narrative. And all within the confines of fewer than seventy pages.
Recommended.
Dead Reckonings No. 14, edited by June M. Pulliam and Tony Fonseca, Hippocampus Press, 2014. Info: hippocampuspress.com.
“A Review of Horror Literature.”
Wagner and Vincent on Simmons – Hank Wagner and Bev Vincent (Dan Simmons, The Abominable)
Ramsey Campbell, Probably: The Grin Beneath the Flesh
From Horror to Homage – Richard Bleiler (J. E. Mooney and Bill Fawcett, eds., Shadows of the New Sun: Stories in Honor of Gene Wolfe; Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., ed. The Grimscribe’s Puppets)
Joel Lane: In Memoriam – Robert Butterfield
Other Realities—Alternate Readings: Two Views on Jason V Brock (Jason V Brock, Simulacrum and Other Possible Realities)
Outlier – Jonathan Johnson
Brock as Intriguing New Voice – Darrell Schweitzer
Malignant Mothers – Richard Bleiler (John Boyne, This House Is Haunted, Sophie Hannah, The Orphan Choir)
What Happens After – Sarah Simms (Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds., After: Nineteen Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia)
571 Forrester Lane Eats Babies – Matthew McEver (Sonja Condit, Starter House)
Triskaidekaphilia – Jonathan Johnson (Jonathan Thomas, Thirteen Conjurations)
Submitted: My Stamp of Approval – Tony Fonseca (Reba Wissner, A Dimension of Sound: The Music of The Twilight Zone)
Religious Fanaticism Run Amok – Antoinette Winstead (L. Andrew Cooper, Burning the Middle Ground)
Fifty Years of Ramsey Campbell – S. T. Joshi (Ramsey Campbell, Holes for Faces; The Kind Folk; and The Last Revelation of Gla’aki)
Two Veteran Storytellers Demonstrate How It Is Done – Robert Butterfield (Darrell Schweitzer, The Emperor of the Ancient Word; Tony Richards, The Universal and Other Terrors)
Zombie Scholarship Earns Respect – June Pulliam (Jennifer Rutherford, Zombies; Aalya Ahmad and Sean Moreland, eds. Fear and Learning: Essays on the Pedagogy of Horror)
Sequel Deserves to be a Forgotten Chapter – Braden Dauzat (James Wan, dir. Insidious: Chapter 2)
Haunted from Within and Without – Richard Bleiler (Ellen Datlow, ed. Hauntings)
A Darker Piece of Darkness – John Edgar Browning (Ellen Datlow, ed. The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 5 and Blood and Other Cravings; Laird Barron, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All and Other Stories)
The Lovecraftian Magickal Mystery Tour – Leigh Blackmore (Peter Levenda, The Dark Lord: H. P. Lovecraft, Kenneth Grant and the Typhonian Tradition in Magic)
A Smorgasbord of Weird – S. T. Joshi (Lois H. Gresh, ed. Dark Fusions: Where Monsters Lurk!)
Portrait of the Mythos-Maker as a Young Man – Tony Fonseca (S. T. Joshi, The Assaults of Chaos: A Novel about H. P. Lovecraft)
Second Time’s the Charm – Leigh Blackmore (H. P. Lovecraft, The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works)
Covens, Witchcraft, and Murder, Oh My! – Antoinette Winstead (Debbie Viguie, The Thirteenth Sacrifice: A Witch Hunt Novel)
Zombies Are People Too – June Pulliam (Jonny Campbell, dir., In the Flesh)
The Weird Scholar – S. T. Joshi
Notes on Contributors
8:00 am |
Febbraio 15 2014
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William F. Nolan is perhaps best known for coauthoring the novel Logan’s Run with George Clayton Johnson, and has written hundreds of pieces, from poetry to nonfiction to prose. He also had a long career in the movie industry, and co-wrote the screenplay for the 1976 horror film Burnt Offerings which starred Karen Black and Bette Davis. Nolan has also been a prolific editor of collections (by others), and anthologies, frequently with Jason V. Brock. He has received the Living Legend in Dark Fantasy award by the International Horror Guild in 2002. In 2010, he received the Lifetime Achievement Stoker award from the Horror Writers Association (HWA).
Jason V Brock is an American author, artist, editor and director. He is the CEO and co-founder (with his wife, Sunni) of JaSunni Productions, LLC, whose documentary films include the controversial Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of Twilight Zone’s Magic Man, andThe AckerMonster Chronicles. His novella, Milton’s Children, was published by Bad Moon Books in early 2013. He has partnered with William F. Nolan as co-editor on several anthologies. They most recently worked together on Tales from William F. Nolan’s Dark Universe comic book adaptation of Nolan short stories. (Available from Bluewater Productions).
DARK UNIVERSE is meant to showcase graphic adaptations of stories contained within the DARK UNIVERSE omnibus, a collection of short works by author Nolan. Plans are to adapt these stories into six individual issues and then later collect them all in a trade paperback or hardcover edition. (Note: A review of the first three issues was featured on this site in February 2013. An updated review will appear on this site shortly. )
Further insights regarding the production of Tales from William F. Nolan’s Dark Universe were obtained during a recent conversation with the authors:
Why adapt Dark Universe for comics? Why not an audio presentation, such as a CD? Or a movie or TV series? Even a stage play?
Jason V Brock: It’s a natural, really. I mean, Bill’s (Nolan) stories are visual and have a lot of visceral impact, so when we put the original deal together with Bluewater for Logan’s Run: Last Day and the subsequent Logan comics, we asked for a mini-series of the horror titles. Plus, once they come out as comics, then the plan is to collect them together in a graphic novel format with an introduction from the two of us. Should be quite a package—
William F. Nolan: Exactly. Darren (Darren G. Davis, publisher) at Bluewater was working on a Vincent Price series at one time as well, so it was a logical extension of that idea. I’ve always liked adaptations of my work into comics, which has happened on other occasions, so when we got this going, I asked to adapt half, and wanted Jason to adapt the rest. We did six stories apiece, so twelve total. They turned out well, I think…
Strangely enough, I did have an audio version of several of my stories done by an outfit in San Francisco. We recorded them with sound effects, actors, and full introductions read by me. It never materialized, unfortunately.
Brock: Yes, it’s too bad. I was with you during the recording of the intros. They were to be streaming on the web, then CDs later.
Nolan: Right. An anthology movie would never work, for the same reason an anthology TV show wouldn’t – no one seems interested in that format these days. Now a stage play is an interesting idea. I wrote one about Dashiell Hammett called Dash that’s been performed a few times.
Whose idea was it to do a comic book version of select stories?
Nolan: Mine, as I recall.
Brock: That’s correct.
How hard is it to adapt? Are certain stories selected because of ease of adaptation? Or, other criteria? Are there some stories that you would like to adapt to comics that aren’t possible because of content or difficulty to translate to a visual medium?
Brock: Adapting stories is harder in some ways, and, like film or TV adaptations, sometimes one has to alter the original story to achieve what the visual medium of comics requires—
Nolan: That’s right. People never understand that about movies or television. Sometimes you have to rewrite or rework things, combine elements, drop things, and so on. Doing a straight “literal” adaptation almost never works. The only exception I can think of is The Maltese Falcon. It was a near verbatim copy of the book, but that’s another story…
We each chose the stories we wanted to do; I adapted the stories of mine that I felt had the best characters (‘The Halloween Man’, ‘Major Prevue Here Tonite’, ‘Heart’s Blood’, ‘Ceremony’, ‘Starblood’, and ‘The Partnership’). They are some of my favorites in the collection (Nolan’s Stealth Press horror omnibus Dark Universe). Jason really did a great job, though! The stories he picked were very hard to adapt, I think. I know I couldn’t have done them! And he pulled it off beautifully, I might add.
Brock: Much appreciated. It was fun. As you say, I had to change a few things to make them work, but they came together well… My main criteria were I wanted to do something memorable, something that doesn’t normally get adapted. Plus, we wanted to avoid things that others had adapted previously, too.
(Brock adapted the following stories: ‘The Pool’, ‘Vympyre’, ‘Him, Her, Them’, ‘The Giant Man’, ‘Boyfren’, and ‘A Real Nice Guy’.)
Is there a new revised print edition of Dark Universe the anthology coming to market?
Brock: Actually, yes, that’s in the works. I am the editor on Bill’s upcoming new collection, which was originally to be published by Arkham House, but which fell through with their apparent dissolution. Too bad, as it would have been an interesting fit for them, and is pretty much completed. I was able to garner interest for it from the fantastic Centipede Press, however, and I believe it should be out in time for the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, England later this year, which we will all be attending. It’s called Like a Dead Man Walking and Other Shadow Tales, and will feature about 90% new, unpublished material, with a few classic reprints to round it out. Later, Jerad (the publisher) is planning on a huge, current Best Of William F. Nolan that I convinced him was a good follow-up to this, and that will be, I believe, a part of his Masters of the Weird Tale series. It will have science fiction and horror, as well as some literary works and poetry.
How are the artists selected for the stories?
Brock: Darren G. Davis (the president of Bluewater) handles all of that—
Nolan: We do get some say over the type of art, but he does the artist selection, as Jason pointed out. I love the art in the Tales from William F. Nolan’s Dark Universe series, and really liked the art in most of the Logan series, especially the first four issues.
How much of the comic layout and panel art is determined before assigning to the artist?
Nolan: Well I write the scripts for the comics as a sort of screenplay format, with basic scene setting, character description and so on, but I use all the dialogue from the stories, and the plots. Jason works a little differently, I know…
Brock: True—I prefer to write very detailed scripts, and break down each scene into panels with a lot of specifics for the artist. I had to do that, as a few of the ones I adapted were quite short, and these had to carry over half of a twenty-two page comic. Of course, I use the setting, plot, and dialogue (mostly) from the stories…
How much does the artist contribute?
Brock: For me, not a tremendous amount in terms of characterization and paneling; in terms of artwork and the “look,” a great deal…
How easy or hard is it to translate these stories to an illustrated medium?
Nolan: I grew up on comics, and I used to write comics with my departed pal Charles Beaumont (The Twilight Zone), but they weren’t horror titles. I like adapting works into other mediums, so it’s fairly simple for me—
Brock: Well, it depends a great deal on the tale that you’re adapting, I think. Some are easy and others are more difficult.
Are there any benefits to a comics version of these stories? More impact? Able to tell a story in less pages because of the visual/text capabilities?
Brock: I think it’s a great way to introduce younger readers to new stories. The challenge was to expand rather than condense, as Bill has a spare writing style, so I really had to wring more from the story without resorting to a padded feel.
Nolan: I agree with Jason. Young people love the visual impact, so it gets them to read more, and if they like these, then maybe they’ll check out the books we do.
Compare this work to your work on the Logan’s Run comic. Was it easier or more difficult to adapt, Dark Universe or Logan’s Run?
Nolan: We didn’t actually adapt any of the Logan series—
Brock: That’s true, though I have done a one-shot based in that world called Logan’s Run: Solo. It’s an original piece, however, and not an adaptation. The story is about a very far-future Logan and what happens to him as an aged Runner. On Logan’s Run: Last Day we were consultants, and did the costume designs and plotting of the story over the first six issue arc, then Paul J. Salamoff wrote it.
Nolan: I have to say that I’ve read Logan’s Run: Solo and thought it was just fantastic. Ingenious what Jason did with the character and the scenario. It’s going to be an aspect of the upcoming book we’re planning to co-write in the Logan universe called Logan Falls, which will turn the franchise upside down—
Brock: Well, I hope it does… It will also incorporate, like Logan’s Run: Solo, the pieces from the Bluewater Logan’s Run: Last Day series called ‘Future History’, which I created but was not credited with. I’m reclaiming all of that back-story, as it was mine anyway, and both of us felt was one of the more interesting aspects of the series. It was a way of modernizing the older elements of the Logan saga; I want to deconstruct the “Logan mythos” and do more with the characters.
Would you like to work in comics again? On what sort of project? Do you have any plans to do so?
Nolan: Of course. I love comics!
Brock: Yes. I enjoy the medium a lot. We are doing a couple of things currently, but can’t discuss them yet.
What else are you presently working on?
Nolan: I’m always working on about eight or ten books at any one time… Jason mentioned a few of them. Hippocampus Press is doing a collection of my writings about Ray Bradbury which is due out very soon called Nolan on Bradbury; it’s edited by S. T. Joshi, and has pieces from Ray, Jason, S. T., and Greg Bear as well… And of course waiting on the Logan’s Run re-make!
Brock: Well, we just dropped our documentary on Forrest J Ackerman (The AckerMonster Chronicles!) to rave reviews, so Sunni (my wife and film editor) and I are promoting that. As I said, Bill, Sunni, and I will be at several cons throughout 2013, from World Fantasy to World Horror, to Norwescon, and OryCon… Then I just had my standalone novella, Milton’s Children, come out from Bad Moon Books. Hippocampus Press is also releasing my first short story collection, Simulacrum and Other Possible Realities soon, and I’m still working on NAMELESS which is a biannual digest… You can grab that in PDF and print format. The work doesn’t end!
NEXT: A REVIEW OF ALL ISSUES PUBLISHED TO DATE OF WILLIAM F. NOLAN’S TALES FROM THE DARK UNIVERSE.
Paul Davids, the director of the documentary The Sci-Fi Boys spurred this exploration of the afterlife after an odd encounter in a hotel room. While staying at a hote he printed a piece of paper, he then left the room for a few moments and when he returned he found what he believes was proof that his friend, the departed Forrest J Ackerman of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, had reached out him from beyond the grave. Actually, what he found was an unexplained ink smudge on a piece of paper, but this documentary would have you believe it’s proof of the existence of the conscious mind from beyond.
Personally I do believe in something in the hereafter. What exactly that is I won’t speculate on but I do hope there’s something beyond what we know, I wanna believe there’s more than just rotting in the dirt. When my younger tragically brother passed on at a young age I found myself speaking to him while I was alone in the dark, I was full of regret and mourning his death, there were so many things I wished I’d said, and I would find myself speaking these things to him as if he were there. Do I think he was present at the time, was his spirit with me, does anyone really know?
Paul Davids and a small group of true believers, scientists and friends of the departed Forrest J Ackerman would have you believe yes, there’s something out there. we have entries from respected science fiction authors Richard Matheson, Whitley Strieber, Dannion Brinkley and Michael Shermer, whom all chime in. There are also testimonies and research from scientist including Gary Schwartz, the Director of the Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health, here in Tucson, AZ at The University of Arizona, where I work. Schwartz in his lab attempts to communicate with the deceased through a series of yes/no questions and awaits a metered response, which proves absolutely nothing in my opinion. Seriously, until I see an apparition myself it’s gonna be difficult for me to believe, not that I do not want to, I just need a little proof.
Some of these testimonies are compelling stories, witnesses recount weird happenings that they assign to the afterlife, but c’mon now, papers falling off a chair… one time! If it weren’t for the trappings of Forry Ackerman here I don’t think I would have even given this documentary a shot, I hate shows like Ghost Hunters. I do appreciate the fond remembrances of the the world’s ultimate science-fiction nerd but as a science-based exploration of life after death the film is utterly lacking, simply stating that science cannot rule out communication from the afterlife does not prove squat.
There are 40 minutes of bonus features including audio excerpts from a 2009 tribute to Ackerman with touching tributes from Rick Baker and Ray Bradbury. There’s also a second disc featuring The Life After Death Project 2 – Personal Encounters (101 Mins) with further testimony about personal accounts of supposed life after death. I would much rather watch a documentary about Forrest J. Ackerman’s life and what he meant to legions of fans, what happened after his death is of far less interest. 2 Outta 5