It’s A Shame That Sometimes You Can’t Do What You Wish To

When I finished Olaf Stapledon’s The Star Maker (without noticing how long ago it was written) I thought, wow, I’d really like to speak to this guy, delve into his mind and interview him on what made him write such an immense, deep, wide vision of a novel.

Oh. But then I found out he’d actually died in 1950 (I sometimes skip reading the summary of a novel until I’ve finished) and this book was recommended to me by a friend.

The point of the above is that over a period of a few years, there have been novels I’ve read which really make me want to speak with the author, only to find that they have since died. In an interview I did with Christopher Priest, he mentioned how a lot of the authors in a (probably) never to be published anthology were already dead as it was conceived many years ago. This jogged my memory so I thought I’d make a list of authors I would have liked to have met and/or interviewed.

So in no particular order, here they are, with the novel/story which made me want to meet them personally ask them questions (and get my collection of their stories autographed, with a photo as they’re doing it):

Philip K. Dick (Probably The Electric Ant)
Olaf Stapledon (Starmaker)
H.G. Wells (The Time Machine and The Invisible Man)
Jules Verne (All of his writings)

There’s a load more, but I don’t have them to hand. I’d need to run my eyes over my library shelves.

I also think it’s neat that authors are accessible through the Internet. Some, I know, don’t have a web presence, either intentionally, because they aren’t aware of it (?), or in the case of a select few, they are in hiding, but.. the one’s who take time to reply to cold emails are the one’s which should be nodded to.

And I guess there is always the Oui-Ja board in extreme cases…

But actually, no, there’s the living ones.

Free SF Public Domain Books Available.

Philipp Lenssen has put together various novels which date back to a pre publication date of 1923, or where the author has been dead for greater than 70 years. They are in xhtml format and available at authorama.com.

The most noteable novel is that of HG Wells’ War Of The Worlds. It makes it worthwhile visiting just for this single novel. This book from 1898 pictures Earth invasions by Martians, launching a whole new sub-genre of alien sci-fi.

Incidentally, on Halloween 1938, Orson Welles and the Mercury Teater scared thousands of radio listeners with their presentation of the story a series of fake “live” news bulletins — people believed America was under attack by aliens and panicked. (Although, even on the internet, there is a sad lacking of hard proof or statements on this - nice imagery though).

Also, Frankenstein by Mary Shelly is there too. A classic (and yes, I’d call it SF) book.

The presentation has been stripped to it’s minimum, using white background, minimum graphics and a readable font. This is great as to not detract from the reading experience. I know that some people just don’t like reading from the screen, but this goes a long way to alleviate certain display issues. I even tested out printing for the people who like to read from paper, and it looks just fine.

I’m still trying to get my head around the fact that certain publishers are publishing War Of The Worlds? Is it economically viable because of the story being in the public domain due to copyright laws? Interesting.

“An Everyday Town Once Had A Mysterious Visitor.”

No one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth century, that human affairs were being scrutinized, written down, rearranged and composed into a short but powerful novel. A man busied himself, merging intelligences greater than Man’s and yet as mortal as his own.

A leafy suburban town became the focus of his writings, the first strike point of an invasion from outerspace. From Mars. One world crept silently towards another. Thus was born, War Of The Worlds.

Herbert George Wells.

Some Shots Of The Wonderful H.G. Wells’ Martian Sculpture/Rendition To Be Seen In Woking

A Long Shot Which Shows The Height Of This Impressive Work Of Art

An Almost Vertical Shot Of The Daunting Martian Sculpture

A Close Up Showing The Detail Of The Martian’s Body

Another Close Up Shot. Notice The Detail, Especially The Tenticles

The Inscription Which Can Be Found Near The Martian

The Crashed Pod In Which The Martians Landed Is Located A Distance From The Martian Itself

As well as the Martian, a Crashed Pod and Bacteria Trail were built. The surrounding area was changed too to compliment the structure.

The Woking War Of The Worlds Martian Sculpture was conceived, designed and built by Michael Condron, Sculptor in 1998 and still looks as cool as it did then.

It is a shame that Woking didn’t utilise and build upon, even work with Universal Studios to promote the town centre and surrounding countryside (Horsell Common inparticular).

Q) When the lightning strikes all electronic equipment is rendered useless, as seen with the cars, mobiles and Tom Cruise’s watch. How then a few minutes later, with the cars still not functioning, did a guy manage to film the scenes with a hand held digital camera?

A) Thanks for your question. I really don’t know, all I can guess is that it was a continuity mishap. Even if it was the electric mains which were blown out, it would still mean watches, camera and cars would work. So all I can conclude is that it was a scripting error.