Displacement Activity

I’ve always been a ridiculously big fan of the 1960s Irwin Allen TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (this will come as no surprise to those who know me). Submarines, sea monsters, aliens – what’s not to like? And for years I’ve wanted to write a kind of tribute story, without actually delving into fan fiction. 

My first attempt, “Welcome to the Hotel Marianas”, appeared in The Bitter End: Tales of Nautical Terror (Pill Hill Press, 2009), and later republished in my first collection, Give Me These Moments Back (The Alchemy Press, 2015). I say attempt, since at some point it drifted away from a VttBotS tribute into slightly more Lovecraftian territory. Still, the clues were all there: character names, sub with a glass nose. More recently I submitted another underwater tale for The Alchemy Press Book of Horrors, and again, although that was set in an underwater habitation there was nothing about it to suggest an old, cheesy TV series.

Then, while watching Blue Planet II on BBC TV recently, I was struck by the (speeded up) image of a sea cucumber stuffing its maw with prey the tentacles on the tips of its arms had snared. I had to use that in a story somehow, and within a day I knew it was going to be a Damian Paladin tale; and there was going to be a submarine in it. An experimental one: bigger and able to dive deeper than any other sub that existed in the 1930s.

A while back I was playing around with the idea of writing an adventure novel featuring a boat based on the French submarine cruiser Surcouf. It was a big old thing: armed with a twin 8 inch deck turret (the largest allowed by treaty at the time) and a variety of machine guns, along with a hanger abaft of the conning tower that housed a reconnaissance seaplane. That vessel fed into my new US Navy boat and became the blueprint for it – just a little longer, and minus the hangar (which had caused the Surcouf no end of trouble). And just for my own amusement (and because I like to have help visualising stuff) I adapted an image of the Surcouf: trimming back the hangar, altering the colour scheme, and replacing the French Naval ensign with the US flag.

As for the story, “Cradle of the Deep” – I even lifted that from a VttBotS episode – of course there’s a huge sea monster, and crew members being thrown about inside the boat.

The submarine SG-1, under the able command of Captain Bannon and Lieutenant Commander Munrow, will be back: helping Paladin in another adventure, and maybe even plotting its own future course.

Finally watched Gotham last night and it’s … okay. Little more than an average police procedural, with lots of gratuitous name-dropping (or should that be bludgeoning?).

 

That pointy-nosed fellow with the umbrella was called ‘Oswald’ enough times (and then ‘Penguin’ a couple more just in case we missed the subtleties) that even someone who didn’t have a clue about the Batman universe (and why should they even be watching in the first place?) would be feeling over-informed.

 

 

I've known Adrian Cole for ... let's say some time. In fact, he may be the first person I spoke to at FantasyCon numero uno in the dim and distant 1970s (although we had been corresponding for a while: he in his capacity as editor of the BFS magazine, Dark Horizons). The first two volumes of The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes included Nick Nightmare stories - a private eye based in a Lovecraftian New York - so when it was decided that The Alchemy Press would be publishing a collection of Nick Nightmare tales it was something of a no-brainer when I was asked if I'd like to edit said volume. I was even more delighted when it was suggested that Nick should meet up with my own investigator of the occult, Damian Paladin, in a crossover story written especially for the collection.

 

Now, I've heard all the tales of horror regarding collaboration; the cries of "Never again!" But I'm happy to say there were no tears, no clashes of ego and no fights over who got top billing. The two occult PIs might have knocked the odd spark off each other, but the writing went smoothly. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

So here it is, launching at FantasyCon in September: Nick Nightmare Investigates. A two-fisted, limited edition hardback with cover art by Bob Eggleton and interiors from another old friend, Jim Pitts.

 

Well, I'm happy...

I'm happy to announce the ToC for the forthcoming PULP HEROES 3 from The Alchemy Press. In order of author:

The anthology will be launched at this year's FantasyCon, September 5th – 7th 2014, The Royal York Hotel, York.

 

Look out for more details.

Stuart Young provided the story "Do Not Go Gently" for THE ALCHEMY PRESS BOOK OF PULP HEROES 2. Here he speaks of its inspiration, and Capt. WE Johns...

 

What was the inspiration for “Do Not Go Gently”?

 

The impending deadline. I’d been working on another project that I only managed to complete the day before the Pulp Heroes 2 deadline ended, so I’d resigned myself to not actually submitting anything. Then I woke up with the inkling of an idea in my head and only got one day to get the story written. And then I realised this was the same day the clocks went forward…

 

Do you have a particular favourite author, or authors? What is it about their work which appeals to you?

 

For this particular story I went back to one of my childhood favourites, WE Johns, who created the aviator and adventurer, Biggles. When I originally created the character of John Blake about ten years ago for a one-off appearance I hadn’t actually read a lot of pulp so I just mixed a Biggles-style character into a John Carter of Mars type setting. The idea was to compare the reaction of an English gentleman with those of a Southern gentleman. For example, Blake, instead of taking the sight of a scantily clad alien princess in his stride, got all embarrassed and offered her his coat. Consequently the story ended up being something of a light hearted romp, which was quite fitting as some of the WW1 set Biggles stories have a comedic vein, with the pilots playing pranks on each other between the deadly dogfights. They read a little like PG Wodehouse taking a crack at adventure fiction – JEEVES AND THE ROYAL FLYING CORPS.

 

For “Do Not Go Gently” I decided to examine the grimmer side of the WW1 Biggles stories. The ones where Biggles would snap and engage in vengeance fuelled vendettas, where he couldn’t remember exactly when he fought the last six men he killed because the constant strain had distorted his sense of time, and where he ended the war as a bag of nerves with a drinking problem.

 

My protagonist Blake was also a WW1 veteran and adventurer so he would have seen more than his fair share of death. I thought it would be interesting to explore his reaction to all the carnage he had witnessed and dig into the darker side of his character that was only hinted at in his previous outing.

 

Outside writing, what else occupies your time (assuming you have any free time left)?

 

I fill out promotional questionnaires for publishers.

 

Is there any particular style of music – or musicians – which appeals to you?

 

I tend to like popular yet slightly offbeat stuff like Talking Heads, the Beastie Boys, Elvis Costello, Dr John and Nina Simone. Then I use those bands as a way of easing into listening to the less commercial stuff that formed the roots of their music – afrobeat, funk, jazz, Americana, blues, R&B, gospel and show tunes. Similarly, Johnny Cash, the O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? soundtrack and Aly Bain from THE TRANSATLANTIC SESSIONS have given me a starting point for listening to country, country rock, Celtic, folk and bluegrass. And I’m also trying to expand my knowledge of classical music; right now I’m at still that stage where everything I know about it comes from pop culture. You know, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is from Die Hard, Grieg’s Piano Concerto is from that Morecambe and Wise sketch…

 

What are you currently working on?

 

I’m finishing up editing DEMONS AND DEVILRY, an anthology of black magic stories for Hersham Horror featuring tales by Peter Mark May, John Llewellyn Probert, Thana Nivea, David Williamson and yours truly. It’s my first foray into editing so hopefully I haven’t screwed it up too badly.

 

I’m also working on a collection of novellas, tackling a cross-section of different horror sub-genres – a haunted house story, weird fiction, cosmic horror, etc. If all goes to plan it’ll be out next year.

 

And I’m working on a bunch of pieces for SPARKING NEURONES, the column I write for Matt Cardin at http://www.teemingbrain.com/ where I discuss films, books, comics, television and other matters of vital importance.

Andrew wrote the stirring sword and sorcery tale, "Ula and the Black Book of Leng" for THE ALCHEMY PRESS BOOK OF PULP HEROES 2. Here he generously answers questions on it and other topics.

Would you like to briefly introduce yourself: what inspired your writing and when you began, and – if possible – of all of your published work could you tell me which your favourites are (and why)?

 

I’m a 47 year-old Brit who has been living in Sweden for the past 23 years. I’ve drawn, painted and written in one form or another since I was a kid, but have only tried to get my writing into print the past few years. I tend to see each tale as a highly distinct outing into a very specific alternative world. They are generally quite different and that makes them hard to compare.

 

Do you have a favourite genre, or sub-genre? What exactly is it that attracts you?

 

I suppose fantasy has always been my favourite genre with sci-fi as a close second. Different things have attracted me to them over the years. As a youth there was the possibility of escape from banality into fantastical worlds of limitless adventure. There was also the feeling of being able to overcome all odds and the sense of wonder and scale that great science fiction can bestow. I think that I’ve increasingly come to value fantastic settings because of their potential for demonstrating complex ideas.

 

Some say Pulp is a genre, others a style; which side do you come down on?

 

I don’t really come down on either side. To me “Pulp” is a concept that is still developing and whose meaning is therefore refreshingly elastic. The term has certainly grown beyond its original reference to the low quality paper used in cheap short story collections of the 1930s. If Pulp is a genre it includes many sub-genres: detective, western, sword and sorcery, sci-fi and horror. But Pulp tales of all denominations tend to be colourful, fast-paced, laconic and full of action and so there is clearly a classic pulp style too.

 

What was the inspiration for “Ula and the Black Book of Leng”?

 

In my youth I was great fan of Robert E Howard and particularly of his Conan stories. In this story I wanted to pull together references to the pulp works I grew up with, and also to other influences that have been important to me, but which might at first seem at odds.

 

Howard made Conan his noble barbarian and gave him imaginary prehistoric Celtic origins. Ula is a name that can be found in a number of different cultural contexts, but I selected it because of its Gaelic meaning: Sea Jewel. She comes from the far north but plies the seas; a noble barbarian and, I like to think, every bit as hot-blooded, daring and courageous as her literary predecessors.

 

In the course of the story there are also, I think, echoes of my love of Ursula Le Guinn’s EARTHSEA books and of Coleridge’s ANCIENT MARINER.

 

Some of my favourite Howard stories contained Lovecraftian elements and of course those who know Lovecraft will already have encountered Leng in various settings. But THE BLACK BOOK OF LENG YEN, to use the black book’s full title, is also the name of a real book of apocalyptic Buddhist writings referenced in the SECRET OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER - THE LENG YEN CHING.

 

Do you have a particular favourite author, or authors? What is it about their work which appeals to you?

 

I’m an eclectic reader and would find it hard to pick out a specific favourite author. With regard to fantasy and SF I’ve already mentioned Howard and Le Guinn, but have also very much enjoyed Iain Banks (with and without the “M”), David Gemmell, Robert Holdstock, Peter F Hamilton and many of the classic SF and fantasy authors: Alan Garner, CS Lewis, Tolkien, Moorcock, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jack Vance and Gene Wolfe… 

 

Outside writing, what else occupies your time (assuming you have any free time left)?

 

I have a family which keeps me busy and in my spare time I like hiking in the forests and mountains. As for my day-job, I run a training company in Stockholm that provides Business Communication and English services.

 

Is there any particular style of music – or musicians – which appeals to you?

 

An eclectic listener too, I like all kinds of music: symphonic and early music, ambient electronic music, rock music and even dance music (particularly when jogging, cycling or working out).

 

What are you currently working on?

 

I am currently writing a fantasy novel called RUTHGHER’S CONCEIT set in the same world as Ula’s adventures.

Robert contributed the alien police-procedural story "The Law of Mars" to THE ALCHEMY PRESS BOOK OF PULP HEROES 2.

Writer, editor and poet Ian Hunter answers questions on his influences, his musical tastes, and the genesis of the character The Wraith who appears in “The Monster of Gorgon” in The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes 2.

 

Would you like to briefly introduce yourself: what inspired your writing and when you began, and – if possible – of all of your published work could you tell me which your favourites are (and why)?

 

I suppose I began writing because of a variety of reasons – being an only child, having an over-active imagination, growing up in the 1960s and being exposed to all of Gerry Anderson’s “Supermarionation” antics, and Doctor Who, of course, and American comics, lots of American comics. I probably started writing seriously in my twenties, and my favourites of my own work are my children’s novels – The Dark Knight’s Blade (written because of my love of the film A Chinese Ghost Story), then Lipstick Lass (written because my children were into Captain Underpants and The Powerpuff Girls at the time) and The Magic Mousehole (because it’s just barking), although I do like it when a story gets long-listed for an award, or it actually wins an award or a prize, or gets an honourable mention in a year’s best, or someone who really knows me and my writing says that’s the best thing you’ve ever written, which has happened a couple of times.

 

 

Do you have a favourite genre, or sub-genre? What exactly is it that attracts you?

 

I review for Interzone and Concatenation so I get sent science fiction, fantasy and horror novels to review, and sometimes you gets “genre-ed out” and it’s good to read something different. I grew up reading Enid Blyton – the Famous Five and the Secret Seven books - then Alfred Hitchcock and the 3 Investigators books, then moved on to Tarzan and James Bond, before finding Michael Moorcock and James Herbert. Stephen King was a huge influence on my reading because of his book Danse Macabre as I tried to read all of the books he highlighted as being important to the genre by the likes Bradbury, Straub, etc; and because I was a huge King fan I bought Kirby McCauley’s Dark Forces which included “The Mist”, which was a real eye-opener as that was the first time I had encountered Ramsay Campbell, and Dennis Etchison and Charlie Grant, and Manly Wade Wellman and Lisa Tuttle and Joyce Carol Oates, and many others. Personally, I think it would have been a tragedy if I had never read that anthology and been exposed to all those writers.

 

 

Some say Pulp is a genre, others a style; which side do you come down on?

 

I’ll sit on the fence and say both. I think it was an important genre in the past and embraced many sub-genres, and the first Pulp Heroes anthology and probably this second one will show how wide the pulp genre is, from laconic, hard-bitten private eyes to shadowy vigilantes to off-world and weird-world adventures. I do think it is a style as well – the dialogue, the descriptions, the action, but also the weird array of characters and locations play their part. Maybe Jonathan Green’s Ulysses Quicksilver series continues the pulp tradition and Guy Adams' recent The Good, the Bad and the Dammed does the same – maybe, or maybe I’m doing them both a disservice but I think as a reader if you pick up these titles you are in for a rollicking good time.

 

 

What was the inspiration for “The Monster of Gorgon”?

 

I’ve been writing a novel about the Wraith and the East Nuked of Fife and the Thrownaway for a while now, which chronicles Darroch’s transformation into the Wraith and culminates with his awful revenge on the townspeople, and it really is awful, but I’ve been working on a series of spin-off stories because there are other stories – who is behind Darroch’s transformation, the dreadful Dr. Carstairs, what happened to Emma, and tales of the steam rigs and adventures in other parts of The Nuked and beyond, so there will probably be more stand-along stories to come.

 

 

Do you have a particular favourite author, or authors? What is it about their work which appeals to you?

 

My two favourite writers are Joyce Carol Oates, and William Kotzwinkle. Kotzwinkle is perhaps better known (if he is known at all) for writing novel adaptations of films like E.T. and Superman 3, but he has written some of the funniest books I’ve ever read, like The Midnight Examiner or The Bear Went Over the Mountain, or really different works like The Fan Man, Doctor Rat, and even Fata Morgana which reads almost like a detective novel, with a wonderful twist at the end. He also writes the Walter, the Farting Dog series, but, sadly, doesn’t write enough these days. Oates on the other hand is a literary chameleon and incredibly prolific. I’ve been lucky to hear her talk and read at the Edinburgh Book Festival a couple of times. She can write anything, and does, and many of her novels are a reaction to events and circumstances in America, although she has won a couple of Stokers for her short story collections and her magnificent horror novel Zombie (which isn’t about your traditional flesh-eating zombies at all). I thought Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad was a brilliant read a couple of years ago, because of what she was doing to the narrative, and combining what might be a whole series of short stories into a circular novel (rather like the circularity of Ian McEwan’s Amsterdam and Alice Hoffman’s (one of my other favourite writers) The Ice Queen), and recently Zadie Smith was doing some interesting things with the form of the novel in  NW – the way she handled dialogue tags, a chapter as a concrete poem, using lists. I like it when people try the unconventional.

 

 

Outside writing, what else occupies your time (assuming you have any free time left)?

 

I used to be more sporty – tennis, golf, badminton, squash, but as I’ve got older those have fallen away slightly, so I suppose its the usual stuff, like walking the dog, and photography (and taking too many pictures while walking the dog). I edit a little magazine called Unspoken Water so I’m always looking for unusual, spooky-ish places that would make a good cover picture and fortunately where I live there are lots of out of the way family graveyards and abandoned buildings. Other things would include going to concerts and movies, and collecting boxed sets of DVDs and not watching most of them.

 

 

Is there any particular style of music – or musicians – which appeals to you?

 

I like anything – really. Every year I go Download, the big heavy metal festival at Castle Donnington and when it is raining hard and it’s a mud bath I wonder what I am doing there and vow “never again”, but still come back the next year for more. I do like folk, and Americana, and the like. In Glasgow at the start of the year there is the big “Celtic Connections” festival which is a must, but my major music love is jazz, and it’s all Phil Collins’ fault. When I was younger I was into bands like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, and the “proggers” – Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, and Collins also played drums in a “jazz-rock” fusion band called Brand X, then at an influential age I heard him hosting a Radio 1 star special and practically all the stuff he played – Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, Weather Report, Pat Matheny, King Crimson – I went out and bought. But he also played some of the major jazz drummers like Billy Cobham and Tony Williams (the greatest jazz drummer ever, I think, who played drums for Miles when he was a teenager) and I was hooked. I really am a frustrated jazz drummer and I think if you were into bands which had great musicians, especially the “proggers”, for me, the logical thing, was to move into jazz where the musicianship is also great, but a bit looser. I’ve gone to jazz festivals all around the world, and would see people like Miles Davis two days in a row; I even went to see Miles twice in one day in London. It’s the only type of music where I sit or stand with a silly grin on my face, because I’m enjoying myself so much.

 

 

What are you currently working on?

 

Too much, probably. Lots of short stories, some concerning a vampire character of mine called Roam Belanger, and other stand alone stories. I’m very guilty of chasing markets, but it does mean that you get some stories finished. Recently, I’ve been on holiday and writing poems. I wish I could write more but they come in fits and starts. I’ve also been writing various children’s novel and adult novels concerning houses with secrets and teenagers in a post apocalyptic world and others based on Scottish folklore and legends like Tam Lin and Tam o’Shanter.