Meg 267 : Storm Warning

[Trout]

I got Anno Dracula in my local library a few years ago, and liked it a lot.

Seek it out.

- Trout

[Buttonman]

Your Stephen Hawking analogy is totally bogus.

Heinous answer Dude!

Quantum physics is a theoretical science and therefore could be termed 'science-fiction' and merit a place in a magazine where 'being clever' is a definite requirement ahead of accessabilty and entertainment value.

The high numbered Amazon sales ranks were included to give weight to my contention that the works cited were obscure and indeed, as I now understand it, out of print.

To close I never suggested Ed's work was "gibberish" I merely said the constant references to stuff I hadn't read detracted from my enjoyment of the article.

[Jim_Campbell]

"similar tricks to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"

Surely we can track the first seeds of Moore's thoughts on LoEG to the introduction to the first collection of his Swamp Thing work, circa Nineteen Eighty *coughcoughcough* where, trying to explain the incongruous presence of the JLA and Etrigan the Demon in these stories, he very specifically cites the equivalent example of [1] "Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes teaming up to track down Dr Frankenstein, who has kidnapped the protagonists of Little Women" ... IIRC, he actually says something like "the absurdities and charms of such an idea should be immediately obvious"

The very moment I learned of LoEG, I remembered these words.

Cheers

Jim

[1] This Swamp Thing collection is in a box - quotation is from memory and therefore inevitably inaccurate!

[Hoagy]

The fewer but longer stories made the Meg more absorbing. I didn't miss the small press but do miss the Dreddfiles.

Dredd lets the beast free with his retaliatory shot!

He's the guy who's let a load of grief loose on Mega City!

I am a bit worried about WiiERD, Anderson PsI by Boo Cook and Grant.

I do hope long convoluted landscapes of strips to enjoy stay in the Meg. (Is it too early in the year to ask if it's nearing a settled edit?)

Aimee Nixon's debut would benefit, Like Tempest enjoys both playful extended fight scenes balanced with additional story following the characters within the action. I like a good action story.


Bobs great though, it really is the high-flying-scifi-journey beyond the edges of star systems, told from a very pedestrian angle. Brilliantly funny and not a little tearfully reminiscent of an era where people went on classy, space-cruiser liners for some purpose or other.

Armitage is a riddle, slowly unraveling. The artworks not detracting its its either the writer or the artist who is giving it all a newspaper strip feel to it or a combination of the two. Again the lengh format is generous to me and story.

Because of this largeness of graphic novella, my feature reading is suffering due to the AMOUNT of fantastic art and story!

Kinda skim reading the lan Grant stuff for the first time today, hitting a few bold refs that stand out.

Al Ewing; I began the other day, the real meat is in what is happening with and about Tempest.I liked these bits. Again, I've just read 'em. I'm associated with his work  but not so I feel I accomplished a gratitude for his earlier stuff.
El Sombra is still something I'd like to read. It looks greatly unique a piece o' fiction as anything out there.

There's a nice Wizard of Oz reference in the FILuMs section. A nice balance of review and pictures, for my untrained eyes.

Not sure whether Fugitive Features is a sub-title with SPECIAL being a Tag title or what, but I am frothing at the prospect of July thank-you very much, you bastards.

[MatthewBadham]

If I could write as well as Ed B then I would be a very happy man.

Excellent article (in my opinion at least).

[I, Cosh]

I'm not keen on LOEG and I don't read the articles in the Meg, so I'll never know what the fuss is about.

[Byron Virgo]

"Surely we can track the first seeds of Moore's thoughts on LoEG to the introduction to the first collection of his Swamp Thing work"

That quote from the initial Swamp Thing collection (published in 1987):

'For those more familiar with conventional literature, try to imagine Dr. Frankenstein kidnapping one of the protagonists of Little Women for his medical experiments, only to find himself subject to the scrutiny of a team-up between Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot'

However, Philip José Farmer's Tarzan Alive does pre-date that by about 15 years, and Moore himself cited it as the principle inspiration (and it was also an obvious influence on Warren Ellis' Planetary and his notion of 'Century Babies'). The book's actually available to buy at the moment, though the sequel, Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, is out of print. Kim Newman also admitted Farmer's influence on Anno Dracula, which shares the same setting and many of the same characters as the first volume of LoEG, but was published about seven years earlier. Anno Dracula and its follow-up, The Bloody Red Baron, are both currently out of print due to rangling over the reprint rights between publishers apparently, but the third book, Dracula Cha Cha Cha (published as Judgement of Tears in the US) is still generally available, and a final volume titled Johnny Alucard has been written and will be published eventually.

In terms of sales, I think the Amazon figures may be slightly misleading (though actually not too bad for books more than a decade old, given Private Eye's list of worst selling titles), since they were both somewhat 'sleeper' sellers at the time of publication, particularly Anno Dracula. Possibly might be worth checking out Nielsen Book Data for a more comprehensive view.

"I was wondering, Ed, if I detected the hand of an editor at work who has never come across either of the phrases 'dramatis personae' or 'central conceit', or if I've just got the wrong end of the stick?"

I'd need to go back and check the original document (in bed with the lurgie at the moment, so I can't be arsed!), but I'm sure that all mistakes are my own - for one thing, Bertie Wooster is supposed to be an MP, not a bleedin' vicar...

[Byron Virgo]

Oh, and you should definitely pick up El Sombra, Krom - very good, and reads like a mash-up of Zorro and The Count of Monte Cristo/The Stars My Destination, but with more Nazis.

[Hoagy]

Thanks, for that heads up, Ed.

Is it available through order at the WH Smiths?

There's a nice little book shop at the end of the street who do some really special fantasy and sci-fi  . Are Abaddon on any orders lists?


{MUTTER}Ruined January, February, March, April, May and June for me....{MUTTER}

[House of Usher]

"Ruined January, February, March, April, May and June for me..."

Sorry, what did now?

[Hoagy]

Not sure whether Fugitive Features is a sub-title with SPECIAL being a Tag title or what, but I am frothing at the prospect of July thank-you very much, you bastards.

The Dark Knight, dear Knight.

[Jim_Campbell]

"That quote from the initial Swamp Thing collection (published in 1987): "

Heh ... that wasn't a bad stab on my part, considering how dismal my memory is.

Cheers

Jim

[Byron Virgo]

"Are Abaddon on any orders lists?"

If it has an ISBN (and it does), you should be able to order it from any bookseller:

Ye olde 10 digit IBSN: 1-905437-34-X
Swanky new 13 digit ISBN: 978-1-905437-34-4

[Rio De Fideldo]

More info relating to Philip Jose Farmer. Interestingly my wife was born in Wold Newton but has yet to team up with any fictional characters. We now live a couple of miles from the village of Wold Newton but no meterites landed in Langtoft. Boo!

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wold_Newton_family" target="_blank">The Wold Newton Family

[Byron Virgo]

It's easy enough to *claim* that you and your wife live near Wold Newton and yet somehow miraculously *aren't* a team of freakyishly nefarious supervillains - I think the members of this board deserve to see a picture of you by the meteorite monument *not* being in any way 'super' in order to prove it!http://fernlea.tripod.com/inscription1.jpg">