The Pyramids Of Mars created by Richard Douglas and Geoffrey Holmes

This is a neat idea which utilizes flash technology with a story to produce an online graphical novel. Each page has a next and previous so you can work forwards (and backwards through the story. What possibly differentiates this idea from normal online graphical novels is that it’s animated, and it mixes real photography (of people mainly), digital images and sound effects.

The story itself is an interesting (if not new) idea of alien technology, alien war and a love twist. Because it’s using flash, some of the shading and rendering seems to be too smooth, whereas the real life photography is spot on.

It is split into Books which mean you can sample the chapters in bite size chunks. The cliff hangers are not too bad, and would probably make you want to read the next chapter. It’s worth a look and won’t take too long to go through all the chapters.

Information

Photography: Ian Mather
3/D Design/Rendering: Geoff Holmes
Web Master: Michael Tubbe (www.urlcanada.com)

Cast:
Annie Tyler – Shaye Irvin
Fitz – Bruce Boland
Gorman – David Johnson
Sagan – Paul Lewis
Commander Jackson – Zeke Gmaz
Delta Bravo Echo 1 – John Dahl
Delta Bravo Echo 2 – Mark Denstedt
Delta Bravo Echo 3 – Geoffrey Holmes
Smitty – Jamie Delaney
Ashley Littleton – Robyn Douglas
Ashley’s Mom – Anna Douglas

Cast:
Annie Tyler – Shaye Irvin
Fitz – Bruce Boland
Gorman – David Johnson
Sagan – Paul Lewis
Commander Jackson – Zeke Gmaz
Delta Bravo Echo 1 – John Dahl
Delta Bravo Echo 2 – Mark Denstedt
Delta Bravo Echo 3 – Geoffrey Holmes
Smitty – Jamie Delaney
Ashley Littleton – Robyn Douglas
Ashley’s Mom – Anna Douglas

Murky Depths: Issue Two / Review
“The Quarterly Anthology Of Graphically Dark Speculative Fiction”

Contents:

• The Art Of War / David Ryan
• Duchess Street / Kurt Kirchmeier / Frankie Wallington
• With A Whimper With A Bang / D.M. Moehrle / Paul O’Connell
• Super-size Security / A.R. Yngve
• The Dark Gospel, Part One, Tin-Man / Luke Cooper
• Yellow Warbler / Jason Sizemore / Michael Lomon
• Bernadette And The Sirens / Hannah Davey / Martin Deep
• The Litter / Katherine Patterson / James Fletcher
• Death And The Maiden, Part Two / Richard Calder
• Venus And The Birth Of Zephyrus / Sarah Wagner / Mark Bell
• The Last Flight / Silvanus Moxley
• SPOIL, Part One / Stan Nicholls / Edward R. Norden
• Hair Of The Dog / Edward Morris / Timothy Shepherd
• Firewallburn / Dave Ryan / Dennis Hopeless
• Phantom Payment / Willie Meikle / Ricky Martin
• Poppets / Mike Driver / Mark Bell
• Church Of Saturn / Alex Wilson

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Murky Depths: Issue Three / Review
“The Quarterly Anthology Of Graphically Dark Speculative Fiction”

Contents: Title / Author / Artist

• What’s Yours Is Mine / Pike Stephenson / Dylan Williams
• Evention / Mike Webster / Lucas Hinchley
• The Suicide Bar / Montilee Stormer /Jag Lall & Denis Pacher
• Nine-tenths Of The Law / Edward Morris / Wayne Blackhurst
• In This the Era of the Great Wilting / Jeffrey Archer-Burton / Jason Beam
• Death and the Maiden 3 / Richard Calder / Richard Calder
• Shit New World / Martin Hayes / James Cameron
• Maimed / Hazel Marcus Ong / Glen James
• SPOIL / Stan Nicholls / Johnny Lee
• The Dark Gospel 2 / Luke Cooper / Luke Cooper
• Speak Ill Of The Dead / Ian Faulkner / Mark Bell
• Zombie Diva / Glynn Barrass / Lucas Hinchley
• The Love Ship Guide to Seduction in Zero Gravity / Steve Pirie / Denis Pacher

Non Fiction:

• Sprawl and Brawl: Five Reasons Why Cyberpunk Sustains (Article) / Matt Wallace
• An Interview with Stan Nicholls

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Murky Depths: Issue One / Review
“The Quarterly Anthology Of Graphically Dark Speculative Fiction”

Contents:

• Death and the Maiden / Richard Calder
• Looking In, Looking Out / Gareth D. Jones
• Come To My Arms My Beamish Boy / Douglas Warrick
• Paston, Kentucky / Jonathan C. Gillespie
• The Other Woman / Chris Lynch
• 67442 / Paul Abbamondi
• Supply Ship / Kate Kelly
• State Your Name / Jon Courtenay Grimwood
• Empathy / Luke Cooper
• Snowblind / Marcie Lynn
• Cyberevenge Inc. / Eugie Foster
• Today Is Not / Michael Sellars
• I Bleed Light / Edward R. Norden
• The Quality of Mercy / Ron Shiflet
• Naught But Ash / Anne Stringer
• The Pattern Makers of Zanzibar / Lavie Tidhar

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Trivia for Ghost Rider Film (2007)

Jon Voight was attached to the project at one point but dropped out.

Nicolas Cage had to have his Ghost Rider tattoo covered with make-up in order to play Johnny Blaze (Ghost Rider).

A large group of on-lookers converged on a bridge in Melbourne to watch scenes being filmed in a nearby location. Over the four days of filming at this location, the crowds grew so large that traffic was often disrupted and public transport operators reported an unusual jump in passenger traffic to the area.

Some scenes were filmed near Flinders St Station, the busiest railway station in Melbourne. Parts of the station were closed for filming, as well as minor alterations to train services being made.

Nicolas Cage’s hairpiece required three hours to apply every day.

To create the Ghost Rider’s voice, sound designer Don Davis recorded all of Nicolas Cage’s lines as the Ghost Rider, and then filtered them through three different kinds of animal growls (played backwards, covering three separate frequencies) and then played them through a mechanical volumizer, before finally giving them a fiery crackle. Director Mark Steven Johnson compared it to “a deep, demonic, mechanical lion’s roar” and says that “one thing is for sure, his voice will shake the theatre!”
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