Phursday Photos: Scottish scenes

So I spent last week in the Scottish lowlands, where I discovered the relative nature of terms such as 'wet', and 'sunny'. I also learnt that you can't play I-spy with a two year old, even an intelligent one on the verge of three. There are only so many guesses you can make when posed: 'I spy with my little eye, something geninning with... lamp-post!'

And, thanks to the marvels of digital photography, I took rather a lot of photos, only a select few of which I will bore the internet with in the near future...

Dramatic skies over Loch Ken

A full rainbow from Sweetheart Abbey

Windswept coast at Sandyhills

Dead tree near Threave Castle

Creating the perfect dystopia

By most definitions, dystopian fiction has been around about as long as science fiction; certainly there are elements of dystopia in HG Wells’ world of Morlocks and Eloi. The grandaddy of dystopia will probably always be recognised as Nineteen Eighty-Four, but several common dystopian themes – genetic engineering, indoctrination, the loss of individuality, and the World State – appeared in Brave New World some years earlier.

Dystopia come in two basic flavours: corrupted pseudo-utopia; and downright nasty-and-proud-of-it totalitarian regime. Both types, and their many variations, typically share a number of traits.

1. The police state - World State, The Party, or whatever you want to call it. A more recent alternative (Snow Crash) is to have global corporations rather than governments in control.
2. A class system gone mad. The powerful get ever more powerful and corrupt, everyone else gets an increasingly raw deal. Genetic engineering often plays some role in this.
3. Sex. Sex is either banned (Nineteen Eighty-Four) or removed from the act of procreation and encouraged as recreation from childhood (Brave New World). The theory is that strong emotional bonds distract from loyalty to the State.
4. Religion – or specifically, lack thereof, because it also diminishes loyalty to the Party.
5. Global upheaval. Somewhere in the back story of your dystopia there lurks some war, revolution or ecological or other disaster which somehow facilitated the shift in power.

The thing about dystopian fiction is that it seems increasingly close to reality. Some time in the late 20th century the western world became Orwellian enough to necessitate the word ‘Orwellian’. Big Brother – even before being hijacked by Endemol – became a universally recognised term for the ‘surveillance society’ we now live in.

A case in point: I mentioned in passing last week that I have an unstarted story idea – more of a setting I suppose – based on the idea of an election in a totalitarian state. The idea had been on my notepad for some years before events in Zimbabwe this year rendered the whole idea factual.

Well that's a few thoughts on dystopia then. Next time I'll try and wrangle with fitting Christianity into a dystopian story.

Tuesday Tunes v CSFF Blog Tour: Broken Angel

I know you've all been looking forward to this, wondering whether I'm going to go with a Top Ten Angel songs (Eurythmics are number one, There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)), or the Top Ten Broken records (Broken Wings by Mister Mister).

Well, no more bets, the results are in, and here they come... the Top Ten Dystopia-related tunes:
10. Arcadia - Election Day
The lyrics read like they were translated from the Mandarin on the cheap, so they may or may not be related to a dystopia. Election Day is, however, the title of my unstarted dystopian work in progress.
9. The Police - Every Breath You Take
These lyrics definitely aren't dystopia-related, but there is something decidedly Big Brother about The Police watching every move you make.
8. Blur - The Universal
The video riffs on A Clockwork Orange, and the song tells of satellites in every home...
7. Radiohead - Karma Police
Taken from the dystopia themed album OK Computer, this sounds like a spiritual fiction variant on the Thought Police.
6. Iron Maiden - Brave New World
Named after some book, apparently.
5. Gary Numan & Tubeway Army - Down in the Park
From the album Replicas, a sort of soundtrack to a dystopian novel Numan never wrote, this is a particularly dark little number.
4. David Bowie - 1984
Late glam-era Bowie, the album Diamond Dogs included anumber of songs from an aborted glam-rock musical adaption of 1984.
3. Nine Inch Nails - Survivalism
From yet another dystopian concept album, Year Zero.
2. Eurythmics - Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
This, however, is from the actual movie soundtrack of the 1984 movie, er, Nineteen Eighty-Four.
1. Zafer & Evans - In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)
Sixties one hit wonders tell a depressing tale of the future.

Here's the mixtape, give it a listen, and then order up Broken Angel while you're in a suitably dystopian mood.

Sci-fi Song of the Week

Well, really I could have picked any one of those dystopia tunes, but, well, here's one more for luck. Since we already had one Radiohead track in te Top Ten, I had to leave out 2+2=5, which again takes its title from the ultimate dystopia, 1984.

CSFF Blog Tour: Broken Angel.

This week I am literally on tour, so this post is brought to you by the wonders of modern technology all the way from last week. I could have just made my excuses and skipped this one, but the subject intrigued me. (And no, obviously that doesn't mean I've read it. Maybe if I had been paying attention earlier on I would have done though.) So I won't be able to respond to any comments (which are of course welcome) or read other posts on the tour for a week or so, but hopefully I'll catch up later.

Anyway, the subject which so intrigued me is that of a Christian dystopia, which by any reasonable definition should be an oxymoron. Publishers Weekly describes Broken Angel by Sigmund Brouwer like this:

In this addictively readable futuristic Christian dystopia, Brouwer takes readers inside a state run by literalistic, controlling fundamentalists. There, reading is a serious crime; citizens are drugged into submission; and those who break rules are either sent to slave labor factories or stoned to death. Occasionally, a few brave souls try to escape to 'Outside.'

Which, at first reading, sounds a bit Logan's Run and a bit Farenheit 451, but I guess the police state being based on a severely distorted form of fundamentalist Christianity, and suppressing the real Truth, might give it a distinct twist, especially written from a Christian viewpoint.

As it follows on from the last couple of films I reviewed here as well as fitting in with this tour, I plan to wax lyrical on the subject of dystopia later in the week. Unless I didn't get around to it last week, in which case I'll do it later. I hope you'll come back and read what I have to say about it anyway.

As I wrote this, there was no official list of participants, so once you've visited the author's site, coolreading.com, and ordered Broken Angel from amazon, why not drop by the CSFF Blog Tour page and see who else is touring this month?

Friday Review - A Scanner Darkly

Philip K Dick was a man who knew his dystopias - Blade Runner being possibly the definitive movie dystopia.

A Scanner Darkly is nothing like Blade Runner. For one thing the rotoscoped animation gives the film a uniquely twisted look, which allows for surreal moments befitting the subject matter; for another, it’s a far more personal dystopia, one where America has lost the war on drugs and the obligatory police state is dedicated to tracking down those behind Substance D. More importantly, Scanner is apparently more faithful to the novel than some film adaptations, as befits what was, a semi-autobiographical story. (I can’t comment directly on this myself, because it is an unwritten rule that I cannot watch a PKD adaptation if I’ve read the book, and vice versa.)

Although it starts out sounding like just another stoner movie - the comedic antics of three strung out housemates, one of whom is completely failing to have sex with his girlfriend – it soon develops into a serious look at the effects of addiction, notably on Bob Arctor, an undercover agent who got hooked on Substance D while trying to infitrate the supply chain, and his understandably paranoid flatmates.

Paranoia is followed by schizophrenia and ultimately extreme withdrawal - and then the plot starts getting really twisty.

This is definitely one to watch, although it’s been around a while, so if you haven’t already, you really should. Unless, that is, you really don’t like films with a smattering of sex and a lot of naughty words. And all the drugs, of course. Or if you don’t like films with humour, sadness, philosophy, great visuals, and commentary on the issues facing the world today.

Podcastle: Cup and Table

Regular readers may recall that I don’t get fantasy. Nonetheless, I do keep half an eye on the feed for Podcastle, just in case a story comes along that straddles the genre borders or otherwise grabs my attention.

Cup and Table by Tim Pratt was one such story. It caught my attention primarily for being a Holy Grail story, and turned out to be just such a genre-straddling stories – it has a dash of time travel, and with the addition of some spandex it could have been a superhero story – but at heart it’s the sort of urban fantasy that Joss Whedon made me a fan of all those years ago.

I liked the world, I liked the anti-heroes of the Table, and I think I liked what it said about God. But what sticks in my mind, apart from the ending, is the character of Carlsbad. Here is an entity made up of the collective evil of mankind. I’ve no idea how original that concept is in fantasy literature, and I don’t really care. It appeals to me. It appeals to me as an obvious parallel to so many things in the real world, like the porn industry, an entity whose existence depends on the collective lust of mankind. Same goes for drugs, weapons… ours is a world stalked by Carlsbad and many others like him. I guess that’s another idea to add to the story stew constantly bubbling away in my head…

Anyway: Cup and Table. If you’re prepared to accept that it’s a story entirely about bad guys, and has a bit of swearing in it, it’s definitely worth a listen. And, Tim, if you're reading, I could definitely stand to hear more from this world. ;)

Sci-fi Song of the Week

I will come back soon and start posting properly, but just to prove I haven't died, I've added a little song to the mixtape to celebrate the imminent release of The Clone Wars.

There isn't a level on which this song fails to work for me:
Kinks fan - check
Star Wars fan - check
Weird sense of humour - check
Special affinity for Yoda - check and mate.

So if you can check two or more of the above (and let's face it, if you can't you're in the wrong place), I'm sure you'll enjoy Yoda by Weird Al Yankovic.

Incidentally, the Kinks song from which the tune is borrowed, Lola, gave me the name for my last Mini.

Podcasserole

I think I've finished tinkering with my sidebar for the moment, the latest addition being a second blog roll, one for the podcasts I regularly listen to. A podcast roll. Or a podcasserole, if you like.

There's a mix of sci-fi, writing and the Bible in there - it's like a podcasty microcosm of this blog, or at least, what I originally intended this blog to look like. Ho hum.

I recommend all of them, if you have the time. If you haven't got the time, just do Escape Pod and the DAB.

Phursday Photos: Phight the Phuture

In the spirit of X-Files mania that has gripped, er, me, here's a couple of old photos I dug up from the last time Mulder & Scully hit the big screen:

Agent Mulder believes we are not alone...

Agent Scully believes there is a rational explanation for everything.
Even a Mini in a ginger wig.

The future they are fighting is, of course, the sinister Millenium Mini...

More pictures from the Christian Mini Owners Club going a bit X-Files mad back in '98 here.

And if anyone has a Mini and fancies doing a sequel this September, well, Yoda and I will be up for it!

Tuesday Tunes: Fight the Future

It probably hasn't escaped the notice of readers that there is a new X-Files flick out this week. No, really, there is.

So I figured I would dig out the album from the last time round. Not the film score, 'The X-Files: The Album', which apparently features music inspired by the first X-Files film.

It's a mix of big names (The Cure, Foo Fighters, Noel Gallagher, Sting) and slightly more obscure artists (Soul Coughing, anyone?).

The European release opens with a variation on the X-Files main theme in the style of Tubular Bells, which actually makes more sense when you hear it, and closes with The Dust Brothers rendition, both of which I think are pretty cool in their own ways.

In between you get a selection of post-grunge rock tracks (although the Foos are in melancholy mode for Walking After You), pretty typical Bjork fare in Hunter, and the slightly more ethereal vocals of Sarah McLachlan's Black. Noel Gallagher's contribution is an (overlong) instrumental piece, so thankfully no annoying Mancunian whining. (Yes, I was definitely a Blur person.) More Than This is not The Cure at their most depressing, but it's no Friday I'm in Love.

Only a couple of the songs appear briefly in the film or over the end credits, but there's actually not much that brings the X-Files directly to mind, except possibly Filter's One, and One More Murder by Better Than Ezra. But it's a nice selection of tracks, with some great artists who lurk on the fringes of my music collection - The Cure and Foo Fighters in particular are sadly underrepresented in my CD cabinet. The only track I would skip is Sting doing Invisible Sun with Aswad. I don't need Sting in my life, I'm afraid.

Oh yes, and there's a subtle hint on the cover: 'Hear the truth revealed at 10:13' which points you to a bonus track revealing some of the mythology behind the movie.

Sci-fi Song of the Week

So, which track from the album am I going to add to the mixtape this week? Well, actually I'm not. I'm going to throw in another alternative version of the X-Files theme which I quite like, by Rugby psychadelic rockers Spiritualized. I haven't heard the Version from UNKLE yet, but currently Spiritualized is my favourite X-Files theme.

DragonTour

OK, so the CSFF Blog Tour this month rolls back to Dragon territory and the conclusion of Donita K Paul's DragonKeeper Chronicles, DragonLight.

Most of the tour blogs on the list I posted on Monday (c'mon, you can scroll that far!) have posted something by now; for a more complete list of who's done what and how, check out Becky or Nissa's handy lists.

My recommended stops are Jason Joyner, who discusses the appropriateness (or otherwise) of dragons in Christian literature; Steve Rice, who starts with a humourous review and then goes off debating the appropriateness (or otherwise) of telepathy in Christian literature (that's a subject I may revisit, unfortunately I haven't had time to chip in on the debate yet); and Snuffles the Dragon, just to get the Dragon's eye view of things.

And when you're finished there, the author also has a blog, if you haven't read enough blogs about dragons.

Tuesday Tunes v CSFF Blog Tour: DragonLight

Her it is then, the moment Donita K Paul has spent the last two years waiting for: The Top Ten Dragon songs, as voted for by an expert panel of mythical creatures. You might like to play some or all of these tracks while enjoying her latest novel, DragonLight.

10. Red Dragon - Compliments on Your Kiss

Horrible nasty reggae pop cheese.

9. T. Rex - Theme for a Dragon

Because we haven't had any T.Rex on Tuesday Tunes since the last Top Ten.

8. Toto - St George and the Dragon

Double-whammy time: this one's from the LP Hydra, which was of course a dragonesque creature of Greek legend.

7. Vangelis - The Dragon

This weeks electronic selection comes from that bloke who did the BladeRunner score.
6. Sugarcubes - Dragon
A mythical track which may or may not exist on some versions of their album Life's Too Good.
5. Queen - Dragon Attack
Apparently created during a drunken jam session. Had to put up with a cover on the mixtape, sorry.
4. Soup Dragons - Whole Wide World
The only indie rock band named after a character from The Clangers, which was of course a favourite show of The Master.
3. The Prodigy - Firestarter
Well they do. And that crazy dancing in the video was scary like a dragon.
2. Fountains of Wayne - Red Dragon Tattoo
What can I say? These guys keep making cool music with spec-fic relevant titles.
1. Tori Amos - Puff (The Magic Dragon)
Treading the thin line between sublime and ridiculous...

Not all of the tracks are available online, but here are those that are, in handy mixtape form:

CSFF Blog Tour: DragonLight

Apparently, Donita K Paul's DragonKnight was the first book to feature on this tour, two of your Earth years ago.

Staggeringly, Tour guru Becky Miller insists that this humble blog is one of five current Tour stops to feature way back then. Crikey.

Even more staggeringly, I reckon I've only dropped two or three tours in the intervening time, despite having no idea what was going on most of the time. A fact which is evidenced by my overview of DragonKnight, which sort of set the tone for all subsequent Tour posts...

But this isn't about me. It's not really about the CSFF Blog Tour. It's not even about retro computing. It is, in fact, about Donita K Paul, and the exciting climax to the DragonKeeper Chronicles, DragonLight (which is not a slimmed down, low-spec 8-bit computer, which is a shame, because I could probably write something relevant if that were the case).

Never mind though, it's Tuesday tomorrow... ;)

Also tapping away on their rubber keys* this week:
Brandon Barr Justin Boyer Jackie Castle Valerie Comer Karri Compton CSFF Blog Tour Gene Curtis Stacey Dale D. G. D. Davidson Jeff Draper April Erwin Karina Fabian Beth Goddard Mark Goodyear Andrea Graham Todd Michael Greene Katie Hart Christopher Hopper Joleen Howell Jason Joyner Carol Keen Magma Terri Main Magma Margaret Shannon McNear Melissa Meeks Rebecca LuElla Miller John W. Otte Deena Peterson Steve Rice Cheryl Russel Ashley Rutherford Chawna Schroeder James Somers Robert Treskillard Speculative Faith Laura Williams

*another waaay off target retro computing reference.

Have you seen the saucers?

It's not just me that's gone UFO mad lately. The Ministry of Defence recently released a bunch of files on UFO sightings in the 70s and 80s, and this news was followed by various TV shows about flying saucers and UFOs, and, apparently, British UFO sightings reached bizarre levels.

None more bizarre than this one, I suspect.

Of course, it could all be a really elaborate marketing ploy.

All of which serves little purpose other than to introduce the latest Sci-fi Song of the Week, a slab of early-70s psychadelic rock by Jefferson Airplane. Check it out on the mixtape.

Abducted by ramblers

So I spotted this post the other day, which sort of follows my own insane ramblings about UFOs, so I thought, why not revisit the idea of life on other worlds.

I don't expect the 'established' church has an official view on extra-terrestrial life, although I can well imagine the lengthy and controversial debates over whether Venusians should be allowed to become priests...

However, as respected a Christian scholar as Charles Haddon Spurgeon at least appeared to accept the possibility, and the Vatican's Chief Astronomer Father Gabriel Funes said recently:

...there could be other beings, also intelligent, created by God. This does
not contrast with our faith because we cannot put limits on the creative freedom
of God. To say it with Saint Francis, if we consider earthly creatures as
“brother” and “sister,” why cannot we also speak of an “extraterrestrial
brother?”

On the other hand, when you have a director of SETI quoted (in Wired) as saying that ET is inconsistent with the existence of God, well, I wonder exactly where she's coming from. Presumably (and I apologise if she reads this and I've done her a total disservice!) a scientific worldview which holds that religion is bunkum and any alien life form we encounter will tell us how they out-evolved religious beliefs eons ago.

Personally I would approach first contact fully aware of the very real possibility of meeting the Martian Richard Dawkins.

Some would say that, given the huge number of variables which have to be just right in order for any life, never mind intelligent life, to exist, life on other planets is extremely unlikely. I wonder what the odds are of those variables falling into place just once in an infinite universe?

And besides, creative sci-fi writers have come up with intelligent races from all kinds of wierd and inhospitable worlds, so surely God just needs to settle down with some good sf, knock up a plastecine impression of the wierdest alien, and hey presto, we've got life on other planets.

Friday Review: The Personifid Project by R E Bartlett

As the sometime author of mediocre novels myself, I take little pleasure in making negative comments on a book. (Except if it’s so bad that it deserves everything coming, of course, but I don’t think I’ve even started anything that bad for a while.)

I am going to do so now, however, if for no other reason than to try and avoid similar mistakes myself.

So, on with the review. The Personifid Project takes place at some unspecified future time when the Pacific has started to dry up and the planet’s human population is joined by various robot and android companions. The Project concerns the transference of human souls into artificial bodies, thus prolonging life indefinitely. Which sounds like an interesting enough premise, and a plot dealing with the potential use and abuse of this technology could certainly provide plenty of food for thought, although I’m not sure soul transference really fits in the sci-fi setting.

More of an issue to me, however, was the logical inconsistency of a world where the existence of the human soul has been scientifically proven, yet religion has become redundant to the point that Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and indeed any one of the three, have been re-named ‘the Tri-une Soul’. I think there was one passing use of the word ‘Christian’ to assure the reader that our heroes aren’t members of some wacky cult, but really, it all seems very unlikely to say the least.

OK, let’s accept that it’s science-fantasy and suspend our disbelief accordingly. Now what? Well, I’m afraid I still have one more gripe: info-dumping. Now I’m prepared to accept a degree of this, because we’ve been transported to a distant future world and things are going to need a little explanation. Just where that explanation was used got a bit confused though: our heroine, Aphra Vessey, explains the the imprint system (which I had worked out, and got the 'Mark of the Beast' reference) like someone in a cheesy radio ad, but the we were left to figure out for ourselves what the luminire does. Having finished the book, I think it is what any self-respecting author of Trek fan-fic would refer to as a transporter, or a near approximation thereof.

And why, for no apparent reason, did Lev suddenly decide to read the testimony she prepared for her baptism? And to her husband, as it obviously hadn't come up any earlier in their marriage? Surely people don’t really talk like that, even in weird far-future religious cults?

OK, gripes over, I will have to admit that the author must have got something right, because, despite all the flaws, I kept reading. I actually wanted to know what happened next. On the level of a pacy action adventure story, it works. On the whole, the future was well imagined. And on top of that, Aphra's gradual acceptance of the Tri-une Cult was believable, and there were plenty of interesting ideas brought up by the story's basic premise.

Phursday Photos: little things

Earlier this week I took the opportunity to wander around our local country park, just a chance to chill out, and hopefully get some inspiration from being out in the wilds. I'm not sure I got what I was looking for straight away, but here's what I did get:

A stroll through a meadow

Some wild flowers

A little rain

and a dragonfly sitting still for just long enough... >

Tuesday Tunes: Mixwit

You may have gathered from my occasional Top Tens that I was, in my yoof, a fan of the mix tape. So it is with yooflike excitement that I present the 21st Century equivalent, courtesy of mixwit...

I will be rearranging things to accomodate this on the sidebar soon, and adding the sci-fi song of the week to it wherever possible. Speaking of which:

Sci-fi Song of the Week

Well, given the recent news that lost scenes from the 1927 film Metropolis were found in Argentina last week, a bit of Kraftwerk seems in order. It should be the first track on the mixtape...

Doctor Who: The Donna Noble Years

Readers with photographic memories will recall that I was always, shall we say, dubious about Catherine Tate returning to the TARDIS. At season's end though, I can pretty safely say that it wasn't her fault this year's Doctor Who wasn't as good as some.

So here's a quick recap of the year (may contain spoilers for those in other time zones):

Slimming pills that turn your beer belly into some kind of alien Furby. That's just silly.
Aliens were responsible for 'volcano day' in Pompeii. That's very Doctor Who.
SatNav is evil - not that we needed the Doctor to tell us that.

Best episodes of the season: probably Donna's first alien planet, the Ood-Sphere, where she discovers some pretty unpleasant things about the human race; and Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, by lead writer in waiting Steven Moffat.

And the finale? Well, Doctor-light episode Turn left serves as a sort of prelude to what is to come (and in itself is also a high point of the series), with the Doctor's former companions, Torchwood and UNIT together struggling to save the world without the Doctor's intervention.

Rose (presumably) manages to sprinkle the 'Bad Wolf' message all over alien Chinatown to warn the Doctor, and then he joins Torchwood and UNIT to save the world. The big cross-over with Torchwood and Sarah Jane makes the whole thing a bit crowded, and most of them don't do very much, but this is Donna's destiny. Rose Tyler striding between dimensions with a big gun like soem kind of inter-galactic Billie the Vampire Slayer was always going to be a welcome return, although Mickey and Jackie didn't do a lot other than follow her onto the set. Actually, K-9 would have been a more useful ally, I suspect, but even he had his bit part.

There's a few nods back to 'classic' Who, another blatant Hitch-hiker's moment (replacing aquatic mammals with honey-producing insects doesn't stop it being plagiarism!), and, of course, those supposedly extinct Daleks.

Sure, some of it was silly, but this is Doctor Who - it's entertainment, not hard sf. If you look past the end of term party RTD was obviously throwing for himself, dodge the obvious plot-holes, and just settle down to enjoy the ride, well, what's not to enjoy?

I could draw out plenty of spiritual lessons from it all, but it's entertainment, not Sunday School. Having said that, destiny, or God's plan, or whatever else you want to call it, is something I'm a great believer in. And that, for me, was the Big Theme of the finale, from Donna's alternate history through Dalek Caan's prophecies to the Doctor returning to his usual status as 'lonely god'.

Finale aside, not the best DW season, but still way ahead of anything else on telly. And, as it turned out, I was pretty sorry to see Donna go - not least because of the way she had to go. She deserved better.

Superhero pastors

Just stopping by with a quick semi-relevant link:

The superhero guide to famous pastors, courtesy of Stuff Christians Like. I think that may be a thing American Christians like more than us Brits, but superheroes have kind of become part of this blogs remit (albeit a little part).

Sci-fi Song of the Week

There are any number of ways I could have gone here to follow the UFO theme from the previous post. I suspect we'll get around to most of them in time, but really, UFO mythology has to start at Roswell...

The Tunguska Event at 100

It is 100 years since the Tunguska event, when a meteor/black hole/badly piloted spaceship crashed into Siberia, and exactly what happened remains a mystery.

Which is convenient for science fiction, because you can plausibly have a micro black hole floating around under the Earth's core, or the Death Ray experiments of a mad scientist. (Steampunk meets World War 1 on the Eastern Front, anybody?)

Most popularly, of course, Tunguska has become an integral part of UFO mythology, including being involved in the 'black oil' arc in the The X Files.

I have no idea where this is leading in terms of Christian sf, except that I kind of like the idea that when Lucifer fell from heaven, he landed in early 20th Century Siberia. (If I'd been a little more on the ball I would have actually written that story already, but I've been excercising my gift for procrastination instead.)

The whole UFO thing, though, has facinated me since I was a yoof, so I may explore that a bit. Or I may just sit and watch some X-Files. Yes, I think that's more likely.

Friday Review - British Summertime by Paul Cornell

I loved this book. I think we should get that out of the way so you don't have to sit through loads of tedious review in order to get to the point.

Paul Cornell, for those that don't know, has written several Doctor Who novels, one of which he adapted into the Human Nature/Family of Blood two parter in series 3. British Summertime is not a Doctor Who story - although, arguably it could have been, with it's young Earthbound heroine (with an uncanny sense of chipshopness) swept off her feet by the slightly eccentric Wing Commander Leyton and embroiled in an insanely complicated, entertaining and ultimately very satisfying time travel adventure. With a disembodied head called Jocelyn. And there is so much more to love in the densely-packed plot.

Leyton, to be fair, is more Dan Dare than Doctor Who, and that just tops off a story that's as quintessentially English as the word 'quintessential'. And he comes from the future, but the future of a different Earth, one where Sodom and Gomorrah got let off the hook and the Revelation was never Revealed. Oh yes, there is a wierd religious sub-plot, which could be seen as blasphemous or overtly Christian, depending, I suspect, on the reader's own viewpoint. The stuff with Judas Iscariot was a bit wierd, and to a degree superfluous, but it was just a minor diversion on a cracking ride.

Anyway: Dan Dare, Doctor Who, time travel, an alternate idealised Christian Earth, angels, pop stars, chipshopness, disembodied heads, interstellar war, and some icky bits with a hand drill. Something for everyone (at least, everyone likely to be reading this blog).

Go read it! (Loving that US cover by the way - very Eagle!)

CSFF Blog Tour vs Tuesday Tunes

In case you didn't get it from yesterday's post, this month's CSFF Blog Tour is focusing on Vanished, a Christian Chiller by Kathryn Mackel. It's about the adventures of a community which disappears under an impenetrable mist. And so, Tuesday Tunes brings you the top ten songs on the theme of disappearing-under-an-impenetrable-mist.

10. The Cure: Lost
It is possible that smiling Bob and the boys are an acquired taste, so you'll either like this or think it's wierd unlistenable nonsense. Ho hum.
9. Marc Bolan & T. Rex: Misty Mist
Because we haven't had any T.Rex on Tuesday Tunes for a while.
8. Lou Reed: Vanishing Act
From his 2003 solo album based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe.
7. Everything But The Girl: Missing
The song that made EBTG a big dance act.
6. Manic Street Preachers: Everything Must Go
You see what I've done there?
5. Apollo 440: Vanishing Point
Because every top ten needs at least 7 1/2 minutes of quality electronica.
4. Jars of Clay: Disappear
And, wherever possible, a Christian rock moment.
3. Brian Eno: Events in Dense Fog
The father of ambient music doing what he does best.
2. Primal Scream: Vanishing Dub
From Echo Dek, the experimental remix of Vanishing Point, named after the 1971 road movie.
1. U2: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Is this really 21 years old now?

Sci-fi Song of the Week

Sticking with the 'lost' theme, check out Lost in Space by Fountains of Wayne.

CSFF Blog Tour, May - sorry, June - 2008

Before we get into the blog tour thing, I should apologise for my recent absence.

I don’t wish to make any far-fetched excuses, but it turns out that my next-door neighbour was experimenting in the transperambulation of pseudo-cosmic antimatter, when he somehow cut the entire estate loose from the rest of reality. For a long time we thought the mist was keeping the rescue services out, but once the mist cleared, we found ourselves surrounded by a majestic wilderness, both primitive and primal, battling for survival against enemies we’d always known and forces we never imagined. And all without a reliable wi-fi connection.

Actually, now I come to relate the story, it sounds like it would make a great novel. One of my WIPs was starting to look like a Christian Lost, maybe I could use it there. Trouble is, me being so good at procrastinating and so poor at actually writing things, somebody’s probably already gone and done it...

Ask these people, they’ll know:

Brandon Barr Justin Boyer Jackie Castle CSFF Blog Tour Gene Curtis D. G. D. Davidson Jeff Draper April Erwin Karina Fabian Beth Goddard Andrea Graham Todd Michael Greene Katie Hart Christopher Hopper Joleen Howell Jason Joyner Carol Keen Mike Lynch Terri Main Margaret Shannon McNear Melissa Meeks Rebecca LuElla Miller John W. Otte Deena Peterson Rachelle Steve Rice Ashley Rutherford Mirtika or Mir's Here Chawna Schroeder Stuart Stockton Steve Trower Speculative Faith Linda Wichman Laura Williams Timothy Wise

Tuesday Tunes in the Live Lounge

Anyone with a passing interest in the current music scene needs - I mean medically needs - a copy of Radio 1's Live Lounge - Volume 2. I actually think Volume 1 is better, but this way the review is slightly less out of date...

There are two reasons for listening to this CD - and the Live Lounge on Jo Whiley's show - the live versions of tracks you know: check the awesome acoustic version of Times Like These by Foo Fighters; The View's Same Jeans; and Snow Patrol's Run; and the cover versions.

The choices are often unusual, but always worth listening to. On the CD you get:

The Enemy do Madonna's Hung Up - wierd!
Keane doing Dirrtylicious - wierder!
30 Seconds to Mars doing Kanye West' Stronger - bizarrely, it works!
Corrine Bailey Rae does Sexyback - mellow!
Maximo Park do The Proclaimers - awesome!
Natasha Bedingfield does Snow Patrol - ooooh

Most of the current crop of indie rockers are in there, but the mix of artists is pretty eclectic: from the mellow songwriter types like Damien Rice and James Morrison, to the (very different) hip-hop stylings of Dizzee Rascal and The Streets, and the all out rock fabulousness of Foo Fighters and Gossip.

So in short, if you like music of any sort at all, buy this CD. Oh, and listen to Jo Whiley too. ;)

Sci-fi Song of the Week

Well, there aren't any on those CDs, and since I have no idea where the blog's going next, I can't offer a topical one, so...

The Ballad of Tom Jones it is then.

CSFF Blog Tour: The Begotten

Happy St George's Day!

I've been busy lately. (What do you mean you couldn't tell?)

Unfortunately, not entirely busy working on Project Seven, although the timeline has now fallen into place which opens a few more definite options for the setting and 'action' portion of the story.
But the combination of St George's Day and a passing blog tour seemed like a good reason to drag this little web page out of retirement.

So, on our tour this week, it's The Begotten by Lisa T Bergren, which appears to be a 'religious thriller', but, unlike The Da Da De Da Da Code, is part historical fiction too, being set in 1339.

Where that fits on the CSFF blog tour may not be apparent from that, but throw in the lost letters of St Paul, which contain prohecies of the Gifted - people with spiritual gifts on steroids - and you get the link.

Yes, this is part historical fiction, part religious thriller, part alternate history, and part medieval superhero story. All things to all people, you might say.

One thing strikes me as odd here, particularly about the Christian publishing universe. In a Christian novel, it seems, you're not allowed to swear, but rewriting the Bible as we know it is OK. The CBA must be a very odd place. I'd quite like to visit someday, but I don't think I could live there.

Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Jackie Castle
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Michael Greene
Michael Heald
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Terri Main
Margaret
Melissa Meeks
Pamela Morrisson
John W. Otte
Rachelle
Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachelle Sperling
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Robert Treskillard
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

Goodbye Captain Jack, hello Doctor Who

First there was the Torchwood finale. I realise this may put me in a minority, but I have to say I've quite enjoyed season 2. There were even episodes I would probably watch again. Sadly the finale wasn't one of them; crammed full of excitement it may have been, but the actual story was pretty forgettable and I'm left with a vague sense that if I watch it again too soon I'll just notice a lot of plotholes.

So having killed Owen off half way throught the series (albeit he didn't stop moving) they should co-opt that nice Doctor Jones on a more permanent basis and try again. Oh, and would somebody please neuter Captain Jack before season three?

Putting all of that in the shade, however, is the return of Doctor Who. I may have been a bit sceptical about Donna Noble to start with, but she seemed less annoying than when she first met the Doctor, and after the rampant hormones of Torchwood it will probably make a nice change for there to be absolutely no romantic tension in Doctor Who. At least, not until Rose, Martha and Sarah Jane turn up.

I've been watching The Bionic Woman lately too, and it occurred to me last night: that Michelle Ryan does the unconvincing-Hollywood-British-accent, um, quite convincingly.

Phursday Photos: The RAF turns 90

The Royal Air Force turned 90 this week, so to celebrate that fact here's a few favourite photos of their hardware. It doesn't cover the whole 90 years. I'm holding some back for the centenary post...

Armstrong Whitworth Meteor

Gloster Javelin

Couldn't not have a Vulcan, could we?

I once had a Lightning hung from my ceiling too...

Achtung! Spitfire!

Achtung! Er, the other one...

No action shots of these guys to hand. Sorry.