Alan Moore's Future Shocks

[Montynero]

Moore ruminates on the nature of his 'inspiration' for the first Abelard Snazz (an R.A. Lafferty story he had completely forgotten) in the rambling interview that is George Khoury's Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore (2003). I find it a bit unconvincing, but only because he mentions the creative process behind several other 'inspired' Future Shocks in the same section but fails to make any similar 'confession'. He does however say surprisingly nice things about the value of the Future Shock process in learning his craft, and of course about Alan Grant.

Any idea which Lafferty story it was?

That Khoury book was very interesting. Thanks.

Monty

[JOE SOAP]

Moore ruminates on the nature of his 'inspiration' for the first Abelard Snazz (an R.A. Lafferty story he had completely forgotten)

Any idea which Lafferty story it was?

The Return of the Two-Storey Brain features Snazz cheating at gambling with the use of a time-machine that rewinds time only to end up losing all his winnings by making bets with the casino doorman - who cheats by coin flipping and using an Acme Probability Scrambler that ensures the coin always falls heads-up.

The R.A. Lafferty novel Space Chantey features a similar time-bending gambling incident involving the lead character and a toilet attendant - but no probability scrambler.

[Montynero]

Cheers, Joe.

Started reading through the Shocks now: very amusing. It's striking how well the very short  'throwaway' ones work. Unless the joke's not funny. I'll post up my thoughts soonish.

Found this on comics beat, getting into the science fiction writers Moore likes. I'm guessing he'll have read most of this stuff by the time he started submitting to 2000ad.

"Alan Moore: Well, NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR the year was the year that, with the commencement of WATCHMEN, I was entering into my own totalitarian nightmare that would, of course, end with my head in a cage with a starving rat, or some other appropriate metaphor for the movie and the prequels. NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR the book was thus a much cheerier proposition, and I've been a huge admirer of it since I first read it as a fifteen or sixteen year-old. For a while I thought that [George] Orwell's suggestion that we would be brutalised into submission, the stick, seemed less likely than [Aldous] Huxley's proposal, in BRAVE NEW WORLD, that we would be led willingly into slavery by the carrot of drugs and games and entertainments. Of course, since the May [2015] elections I've realised that there's no reason why an administration shouldn't use both at once by beating us to death with a gigantic carrot, which probably has all nails sticking out of it and everything. So, George, Aldous, there's no need to squabble: you're both right. No, it was a wonderful book, and it proved very useful in filling in some interesting post-WWII parallel world history in THE BLACK DOSSIER. We were even able to explore Orwell's implication – Airstrip One is clearly dominated by America and has the dollar as a currency, but is just as clearly a communist state – that the USA itself, after the war, has become a communist country. Jess Nevins dug up some Soviet S.F. with a wistful, utopian story in which a communist with the endearing name of Mike Thingmaker becomes America's President, which we able to reference in LEAGUE 1969 by way of a mash-up with Robert Thom's WILD IN THE STREETS.

As for your question about my favourite S.F. novel, I think I've said elsewhere that I have real difficulties in thinking about things in terms of favourites, and that any book upon which I did confer that status would have probably been deposed by five minutes more thought. What would probably be more useful – if I may presume – is to give a list of various books that I really like, and to do my best to only name books or authors that were neglected the last time I compiled such a list, which was a couple of weeks ago.

In September 2015, in an online Goodreads interview, Moore was asked 'What is your favorite science-fiction novel of all-time?' He answered:

'Muller-Focker EffectI don't tend to think in terms of favourites, as that would make my otherwise enjoyable tastes in relaxation into something of a competition. A (very) brief and changeable list of recommendations, in no particular order, would be Mike Moorcock's Cornelius quartet, Walter Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz, John Sladek's The Müller-Fokker Effect, Brian Aldiss' Hothouse (one of the first science fiction novels I ever read), [Alfred] Bester's The Stars My Destination, Mike Harrison's The Machine in Shaft Ten, [JG] Ballard's The Unlimited Dream Company, Phillip Bedford Robinson's Masque of a Savage Mandarin, Samuel Delany's Dhalgren, [Harlan] Ellison's short stories, Judith Merrill's anthologies, [Thomas M] Disch's Camp Concentration, [Norman] Spinrad's Iron Dream, anything by Steve Aylett, and so on, potentially, forever.'

[End of the foregoing]

So, in no particular order, how about IN WATERMELON SUGAR by Richard Brautigan with its writing like pieces of coloured glass; absolutely any book at all by the marvellous and ingenious Barrington Bailey, but especially his short stories and a special recommendation for 'Sporting with the Chid' as a striking introduction to his wildly various world; similarly, anything by the [GK] Chesterton-influenced R.A. Lafferty... THE REEFS OF SPACE, NINE HUNDRED GRANDMOTHERS, FOURTH MANSIONS ...for a near-psychedelic tour through a very odd and inventive mind; the work of former OSS operative Paul S. Linebarger under the name Cordwainer Smith for its odd poetry and the suspicion that often his stories were created around their captivating titles like 'Drunkboat' or 'The Dead Lady of Clown Town;' a special mention for Linebarger's fellow sometime-spook on this side of the Atlantic, Eric MindswapFrank Russell, whose WASP was one of the first SF books I ever read, and which remains a fascinating anarchist's primer and an interesting source of insurrectionary tradecraft; Robert Sheckley, whether for collections like THE PEOPLE TRAP or novels like MINDSWAP, just because when it comes to the area of humour in science fiction (amongst his many other stylistic accomplishments) Sheckley is seriously owed; Phillip José Farmer for short stories like the groundbreaking 'Strange Relations' and 'New Riders of the Purple Wage,' and novels like the brilliant TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO (which sadly tended to lose some of their novelty and energy when they were extended into trilogies), along with brilliant oddities like A FEAST UNKNOWN, BLOWN, TARZAN ALIVE and the strange pseudonymous publication of imaginary books from other authors, like VENUS ON THE HALF SHELL by [Kurt] Vonnegut's Kilgore Trout or SHE'S THE QUEEN OF DARKNESS, BUDDY, which is one of the splendidly-titled imaginary books from the reverse-library described in Richard Brautigan's THE ABORTION: A HISTORICAL ROMANCE 1966; Kurt Vonnegut, obviously; Steve Aylett's SLAUGHTERMATIC, just because it was the first book of Steve's that I ever picked up, and because it has the funniest and most inventive guns; B. Catling's astonishing and game-changing THE VORRH, if that isn't veering into the separate domain of fantasy; and lastly (just because it's getting late here and I'm selfishly putting my indolence before your enthusiasm), even though I've already elsewhere recommended everything of his from BEHOLD THE MAN through the Pyat and Cornelius quartets to MOTHER LONDON, can I just urge everyone to read THE WHISPERING SWARM, which easily merits the five stars it received in FORTEAN TIMES, and which is not only one of the most sublime things that [Michael] Moorcock has ever done, but which is also the truest and most poignant meditation upon the life of an energetic pulp fantasy writer that I've ever read. And his beard may be better than mine, as well."

[Montynero]

Thanks a lot. Were they specifically presented as Future Shocks i.e. with the FS header?

I figure the simplest thing is to just go with what 2000ad itself deems a Future Shock.

A Holiday in Hell is (it's even got Tharg in it), Southern Comfort isn't.  I get the impression it had been hanging around in a drawer for quite a while before it saw print, too.

'A Holiday in Hell' was also Alan Moore's first every printed 2000ad story, 1st June 1980 , just beating the Ro Jaws Robo-tale 'Killer in the Cab' which came out in prog 170, 26th July 1980.

Moore mentioned that changes were still being made to his scripts when writing Skizz in 1983, and it's tough to say with certainty which lines or even plot elements in his Shocks came from editors and not him. Though we can often make an educated guess, when it's not been explicitly stated.

[hippynumber1]

Thought this might be of interest to you Monty; it was originally published in 'The House of Secrets' #86 June/July 1970 issue. Apologies for the really crappy photo.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

the work of former OSS operative Paul S. Linebarger under the name Cordwainer Smith for its odd poetry and the suspicion that often his stories were created around their captivating titles like 'Drunkboat' or 'The Dead Lady of Clown Town;'

As an aside, full marks to the Bearded One for big upping the sublime Cordwainer "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from poetry" Smith. He may find Frederik Pohl's reminiscences of purchasing the stories for Galaxy magazine of interest.

I had become editor of Galaxy when Horace Gold's health made it impossible for him to go on with the job, and I was looking for strong new writers. Paul was just what the doctor ordered. Not only was he a welcome new voice in that every-issue cantata I tried to conduct, he had one trait I appreciated in particular. He liked to write. He did it in volume. And the stories were all good. Some I liked better than others, but I don't think I ever turned down a single word he wrote. . . .

Well, except for titles. When Paul was on target, his titles were unlike anyone else's, and better, but sometimes the muse seemed to have deserted him. I changed fairly many — not by any means a majority, but a significant fraction.

[Montynero]

Thought this might be of interest to you Monty; it was originally published in 'The House of Secrets' #86 June/July 1970 issue. Apologies for the really crappy photo.

That's extremely interesting, thanks so much for uploading. Did you take the photo yourself?

I was just writing about this very issue. I've found a few patterns and themes that people might find surprising.

Should have something posted at the end of this week.

[hippynumber1]

I did; I could dig it out and get a better pic, if you like? I was in a bit of a hurry...

[Montynero]

As you like, sir.   I'm all for photos of comics not being print quality, but it would cool to see what some of that dialogue on the first page says.

[sheridan]

As you like, sir.   I'm all for photos of comics not being print quality, but it would cool to see what some of that dialogue on the first page says.

It's all readable - though I've just finished lunch and have to get back to work, so can't transcribe it right now :-(

[Montynero]

As you like, sir.   I'm all for photos of comics not being print quality, but it would cool to see what some of that dialogue on the first page says.

It's all readable - though I've just finished lunch and have to get back to work, so can't transcribe it right now :-(

Clearly, I need new glasses

[Montynero]

Something that's come up - The first 2000ad story to have Tharg break the fourth wall. Anyone know?

I'm having enormous fun writing this analysis. It's doing what I hoped, which is shining a new light on Moore and revealing all kinds of issues and themes I hadn't thought about in this context before like retro-futurism, meta-fiction and the surprisingly profound influence of British sketch comedy TV. And of course these stories are one long homage to the history of science fiction itself, which is a wonderful world to revel in. You can see the echoes of his 'underground' cartoons and his later masterworks throughout many of the Shocks.

Finding the time is the thing, but I did another 1000 words yesterday so I'm on the final straight now

Needless to say, everyone that's helped here gets a credit (by their forum name unless you want to message me your real name.)

[glassstanley]

By breaking the fourth wall, do you mean to introduce a story? The very first time he spoke directly to the readers was in the 4 page preview of Prog 1 that was published in a number of IPC comics the week before publication. But I don't think that's what you mean...

[Dandontdare]

Little Tharg-heads used to pop up in stories such as very early MACH 1 saying things like "John  Probe has hyperpower - only a grexnix would copy him", but I've no idea when he first introduced a future shock directly

[Montynero]

Cool! Did he do that in prog 1 then?

I can see that Barney says Tharg's first appearance in 2000ad, i.e. in a story not the intro and letters pages, is prog 24. (Tharg and the Intruder 1 episode (Prog 24) 3 pages Script: Kevin O'Neill, Artist: Kevin O'Neill, Letters: Peter Knight) But knowing Tharg as I do, I suspected he might have popped up in something else and started talking to readers or characters in a meta-fictional kinda way. MAch 1 could be the first time, eh.

Cheers

Monty