Paul Temple and Project Deep Plunge part 5

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Paul Temple and Project Deep Plunge part 4

(* © Evening News)

Comic Cuts - 4 April 2014

I had a minor celebration on Wednesday—I shouted "Woohoo!" and made myself a cup of coffee—as the Countdown to TV Action introduction roared past 25,000 words. By Thursday, that figure was up to 26,500, of which 16,000 are in the right order. I still have 10,500 words of notes to draw from, up from last week's 7,000.

This is the first week I've managed to hit my target of 1,000 words a day in some time—at a cost of not answering e-mail but in part thanks to having the contents of Bear Alley sorted for the next couple of weeks. We launched the latest Paul Temple strip on Wednesday without much fanfare, and that's a habit I've unhappily gotten into. I managed to miss a couple of other causes for celebration recently, namely the 3,000th Bear Alley blog post and the 3rd birthday of Bear Alley Books. I haven't worked out which was our 3,000th post, but it appeared some time in March, probably around the same time as BAB entered its fourth year on 21 March. Happy Birthday me!

And I've got my own birthday coming up in just over a week . . . so if you're wondering why the latest book is taking so long to write, remember: I'm nearly 52 and not as quick as I was when I was 48, coming up 49, and had this barking mad idea to write, design and publish my own books. Ah, the follies of youth. Oh, to be 49 again.

I'm still hoping that I'll have the Countdown to TV Action book out by the end of the month. To be serious for a moment, the sales figures of Bear Alley Books have been steady. Unfortunately they're steady at a level that won't sustain me for much longer. You know you're not doing so well when HM Revenue & Customs send you sympathy cards. I'm either going to have to have a radical rethink or get a job. I don't foresee an end to Bear Alley or Bear Alley Books, but it may slow things down even further. These books take time: the last three—Lion, Ranger and Boys' World—totalled 131,000 words. Most of them in the right order.

Other people write about comics, too.This week, the latest issues of Spaceship Away and Fumetto dropped through the letterbox, both very welcome in different ways. Spaceship Away has reached its 32nd issue (Spring 2014) and is now in its 11th year of publication. I've missed a few issues, so it's nice to catch up. The contents haven't changed much, with Tim Booth's Dan Dare story 'Parsecular Tales' reaching episode 13—it has been running since issue 22 in 2010—whilst resized reprints of 'Journey Into Space' have been a regular since issue 7. A long-running series of  newly coloured reprints of 'Garth', running since issue 19 (2009), came to an end only last issue, but thankfully the regular covers and other artwork from surviving Hampson studio member Don Harley continues.

This issue contains the usual mix of strips (in full colour), this issue including a reprint of an old Ron Embleton strip—I believe it's an old Bill Merrill yarn from the pages of Spaceman in its fifth or sixth appearance, although its first in colour. Articles by Jeremy Briggs (on Dan Dare's appearances in 2000AD), Andrew Darlington (on one of my favourites, Norman Light) and Anthony Jones & Claire Barnes (on the latter days of Garth) round out an excellent issue.

You can find out more about the magazine, buy back issues and subscribe to the latest issues at the Spaceship Away website.

Meanwhile, the latest issue of Fumetto has winged (wung?) its way from Italy. Issue 89 (March 2014) is 64 pages plus the usual 20 page bound-in supplement (this issue covering Coq Hardi). Now, the whole thing is in Italian, of course, and I can only understand every tenth word, although one advantage I have is that so many Italians have worked for British comics. The cover, by Ivo Milazzo, is of Ken Parker, the famous Italian western hero. There are features inside on the early work of Rinaldo D'ami, cartoons by Sergio Toppi, and an interview with Giorgio Trevisan . . . and that's just the names I recognise. There are a ton of other features and interviews. I can appreciate the illustrations and, when time allows, I'll spend a morning translating some of the text. I wish we had something along the same lines over here as there's a wealth of British comics that deserve the same treatment that Fumetto gives to Italian comics.

Random scans: only one today . . . I picked this up on Saturday. A bit of a surprise as you don't often find old SF novels in the charity shops of Colchester. So I grabbed it and two other late Dumarest titles that were with it, which I might clean up for next week. I think Arrow published 27 of the books but I think I only have 20 of them and probably I've only read the first dozen as a change of job in the early 1980s forced me to cut back on my reading and, when I had the opportunity to pick up the pace, I started reading thrillers and crime novels as well as SF, so a lot of authors fell by the wayside.

Anyway, here's Prison of Night (Arrow, 1980) with a cover by Fred Gambino. He has a book out in a couple of month's time: Dark Shepherd: The Art of Fred Gambino, which I'm looking forward very much to. It's preceded by a book of John Harris artwork, Beyond the Horizon, and precedes Hyperluminal by Jim Burns. So that's three of my favourite cover artists . . . maybe Titan could look at Chris Moore next?

Next week: we continue the latest Paul Temple sage.

Paul Temple and Project Deep Plunge part 3

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Paul Temple and Project Deep Plunge part 2

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Paul Temple and Project Deep Plunge part 1

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Roger Zelazny cover gallery

This covers only Zelazny's early books, although he managed to cram in 16 novels (one a collaboration) and 3 short story collections in his first 11 years. For more on Zelazny and a listing of his later titles, try the Science Fiction Encyclopedia or Wikipedia.

This Immortal (New York, Ace Books, 1966)
Panther Books 0586-02531-6, 1968, 187pp.
Methuen 0413-56840-7, 1985, 177pp.
Victor Gollancz 0575-07115-X, 2000, 174pp.

The Dream Master (New York, Ace Books, 1966)
Panther Books 0586-02630-4, 1968, 156pp.
Methuen 0413-56850-4, 1985, 168pp.

Lord of Light (Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday & Co., 1967)
Panther Books, 1968
Panther Books 0586-03518-4, 1971, 251pp. Cover by Michael Johnson
Panther Books 0586-03518-4, 1973, 250pp.
Methuen 0413-58250-7, (Mar) 1986, 261pp, £2.50.
Millennium 1857-98820-5 [SF Masterworks 7], 1999, 319pp.
Gollancz 0575-07901-0, 2006, xii+303pp.
Gollancz 0575-09421-4 [SF Masterworks], 2010, ix+290pp.

Four For Tomorrow (New York, Ace Books, 1967; as A Rose For Ecclesiastes, London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1969) Collection
Panther 0586-02920-6, 1969, 189pp.

Creatures of Light and Darkness (Garden City, Doubleday & Co., 1969)
Arrow Books 0099-06750-1, 1972, 189pp.

Damnation Alley (New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1969)
Sphere, 1973. Cover by Gordon C. Davies
Sphere 0722-19424-2, 1974. Cover by Eddie Jones
Sphere 0722-19425-0, 1976, 157pp. Cover by Chris Foss
Sphere 0733-19438-2, 1979, 157pp.
---- [xth imp.] Aug 1989, 157pp, £2.99. Cover by Chris Foss
Gollancz 0575-07346-2, 2003, 157pp.

Isle of the Dead (New York, Ace Books, 1969)
Arrow Books 0099-07230-0, 1973, 192pp.
Methuen 0413-41550-3, (Aug) 1986, 192pp, £2.50.

Nine Princes in Amber (Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday & Co., 1970)
Corgi Books 0552-09554-0, 1974, 190pp. Cover by Patrick Woodroffe
Sphere 0722-19439-0, 1981, 190pp, £1.25.

Jack of Shadows (New York, Walker & Co., 1971)
Corgi 0552-09608-3, 1974, 157pp.

The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth and Other Stories (Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday & Co., 1971)
Corgi 0552-10021-8, 1975, 271pp.
Methuen 0413-40970-8, (Jan) 1987, 270pp, £2.50.

The Guns of Avalon (Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday & Co., 1972)
Corgi Books 0552-09906-6, 1975, 203pp. Cover by Patrick Woodroffe
Sphere 0722-19440-4, 1982, 203pp.

To Die in Italbar (Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday & Co., 1973)
Corgi Books 0552-10463-9, 1977, 174pp. Cover by Chris Achilleos
Methuen 0413-40980-5, (Aug) 1986, 182pp, £2.50.

Today We Choose Faces (New York, Signet Books, 1973)
Futura/Orbit 0860-07838-8, 1973, 174pp. Cover by Peter Jones

Sign of the Unicorn (Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday & Co., 1975)
Sphere 0722-19422-6, 1978, 186pp. Cover by Fox

Bridge of Ashes (New York, Signet Books, 1976)
(no UK paperback?)

Doorways in the Sand (New York, Harper & Row, 1976)
Star 39724

My Name is Legion (New York, Ballantine Books, 1976)
Sphere 0722-19421-8, 1980, 205pp.
---- [xth imp.] (Oct) 1987, 204pp, £2.75.

Deus Irae, with Philip K. Dick (Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday & Co., 1976)
Sphere 0722-12964-5, 1978, 220pp.

The Hand of Oberon (Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday & Co., 1976)
Sphere 0722-19419-6, 1979, 181pp.

Comic Cuts - 28 March 2014

The introduction for the Countdown to TV Action book sailed past 20,000 words earlier in the week and I still have some way to go. The first 13,000 words are even in the right order! The rest are made up of large chunks of notes and some finished sections that still need to be linked together . . . and you'll be pleased to hear that there is some element of "counting down" within the introduction. Or you may not even care.

Next week I'm hoping that I can even start thinking about the layout of the pages and putting together a cover. Does anyone know of any surviving pages from Countdown or TV Action in the hands of fans?

Random scans . . . I fancied a break last night, so I've cleaned up a few more covers from gangster yarns published back in the early 1950s. Griff and Ben Sarto have been almost regulars here over the past month, since I put up two articles on Kindle (you can find them at the Bear Alley Books page). From the top we have Bullets for Snoopers by Griff (Modern Fiction, 1953) with a cover by Len Potts, Chicago Dames by Ben Sarto (Modern Fiction, 1946) with a cover by H. W. Perl, One False Move by Ricky Drayton (Milestone Publications, 1954) with a cover by Len Gard, and Handle With Care by Hans Lugar (Scion, 1952) with a cover by ... well, I don't know, but I like it!

5

Coming Soon: a new Paul Temple adventure. If I have time over the weekend I'll get to work on the scans. I might not be able to start it running from Monday, but I'll do my best.

Commando issues 4691-4694

Commando issues on Sale 27th March 2014

Commando No 4691 – The Fighting Sappers

Young recruits Harry Blake and Charlie Yates had signed up for the infantry but ended up being sent to a tunnelling unit on the Western Front, part of a team of Royal Engineers — or “Sappers” as they were more commonly known.
   Although the Sappers usually laboured beneath the trenches, rather than in them — their work was every bit as dangerous. And soon the pals realised that the fighting underground could be every bit as fierce as that on the surface...

Story: Ferg Handley
Art: Vila
Cover: Janek Matysiak

Commando No 4692 – The Executioners

It was known to British and Germans alike in that bullet-raked valley as “The Villa In No-Man’s-Land” — a bleak, deserted house commanding vital sections of each front line. But this was no ordinary house…
   Nazi officers who took possession of it were found stiff and dead at their dinner-table. British patrols who moved up to investigate were never seen again. There were rumours of mysterious sounds heard underground, of secret passages and tunnels, of invisible voices and footsteps.
   Then Sergeant Gunson and three Commandos were detailed to investigate — and execute — whoever or whatever was haunting the “Villa In No-Man’s-Land”.

Introduction
Chaco’s cover and the title tell you the whole story, don’t they? A Commando squad on an assassination mission ready to strike…except that this Powell story has an unexpected surprise which takes the whole plot in a different direction. It does something that is difficult to pull off in a Commando story; it has all its action compressed into a short time frame and takes place in a very small area. That could easily be a recipe for a long series of repetitive pictures but, thanks to the skill of the author and artist Bielsa, it’s not.
  Go on, read it and see if you agree.

Calum Laird, Commando Editor

Story: Powell
Art: Bielsa
Cover: Chaco
Originally Commando No 118 (May 1964), re-issued as No 647 (May 1972)

Commando No 4693 – Hi-Jacked!

By 1945, Sergeant Joe Kellis and his Sherman tank crew knew that the end of the war in Europe was in sight. They were hoping that it might end quietly for them.
   Then their tank was hijacked by a couple of Italian deserters and they found themselves mixed up in a dangerous scheme involving stolen gold that could see them on the run from both sides.
   A quiet end to the War…? Not a chance!

Story: Ferg Handley
Art: Morahin
Cover: Janek Matysiak

Commando 4694 – Sabotage Mission

The raiders’ objective was vital. If they reached and destroyed their target, it would be a bitter blow to the enemy. But the greatest danger the forward recce party faced came from within their own ranks…the result of an old grudge which could only mean BIG trouble.

Introduction
What’s in a name? Or rather, a title?
   Here, author Peter McKenzie’s working title was “A Question Of Trust”. Personally, I think that’s a great title  —  one which neatly sums up the underlying theme of this tough action-packed tale.
   However, as good as it is, that title doesn’t quite match up with artist Jeff Bevan’s inventive, offbeat cover. The more robust, straight-forward “Sabotage Mission” fits the bill perfectly. Where possible we would always try to use a writer’s original title but the Commando editorial team from 1989 made the right decision in changing it. 

Scott Montgomery, Deputy Editor

Story: Peter Mckenzie
Art: Ibanez
Cover: Jeff Bevan
Originally Commando No 2321 (October 1989)

Trailer Park: The Graphic Novel Man and Hercules

Trailer for the upcoming DVD about Bryan Talbot. The Graphic Novel Man will be available from Digital Story Engine from 12 May 2014 and should be available to pre-order – from here – shortly.

First trailer for the upcoming movie based on Steve Moore's Hercules: The Thracian Wars, directed by Brett Ratner and starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.

Fountains of Paradise at the Ends of the Earth

One of our readers, Jake Gilmore, dropped me a line yesterday to say that he recognised one of the covers from my Lucius Shepard gallery as the same Chris Moore cover on a classic Arthur C. Clarke novel. Well, it was news to me, but I've managed to dig out a scan of said cover that I did when I was putting together the Nebula Award Winners cover galleries and the Hugo Award Winners galleries. My thanks to Jake and his amazing memory. Now, what was I doing again?

The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke. Pan 0330-25984-9, 1980, 234pp, £1.25.
The Ends of the Earth by Lucius Shepard. Millennium 1857-98125-1, 1994, 484pp, £8.99.
The Ends of the Earth by Lucius Shepard. Millennium 1857-98169-3, 1994, 484pp.

Lucius Shepard (1943-2014)

Lucius Shepard has an odd connection with British story papers as he was a youthful contributor to Collins' For Boys and Girls, later renamed Collins Young Elizabethan. Shepard's story 'Pasture for a Horse' was the winner of the Overseas Prize for the paper's short story contest in 1953. By the time the story appeared the following year, Shepard had already been a growing star in the paper for around 14 months.

His final tally was four short stories and four non-fiction pieces: "We Meet a Native" (June 1952), "Camp Greenville" (January 1953), "Fidgets" (September 1953), "Florida Island" (October 1953), "A Journey to Cuba" (May 1954), "Pasture for a Horse" (August 1954), "Losing and Finding Fidgets" (September 1954) and "The House in the Woods" (January 1955).

Shepard later claimed that he was born in 1947, and that these youthful contributions were actually the work of his father. However official US records – and his appearance in a 1945 Florida census! – make it clear that Lucius Taylor Shepard was born in 1943. The son of William and Lucia Shepard, he was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, but raised in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he attended Seabreeze High School, Daytona Beach.

When compiling the listing below, I was surprised to discover that Shepard was one of a number of leading SF authors (John Varley being another) whose work dries up as far as British publishers are concerned. The last of his collections to appear was in 1997 and the last three books listed – against my usual policy of only showing paperback covers – were from specialist publisher PS Publishing. Perhaps his preference for short stories works up to novella length worked against him in a publishing climate that favours novels over shorter works.

Green Eyes
Chatto & Windus 0701-13055-5, 275pp, £3.95. Cover by Donald Macpherson
Grafton/Panther 0586-07104-0, 1987, 332pp, £3.50. Cover by Gino D'Achille
Orion 0752-81613-6, 1998, 275pp, £5.99.

The Jaguar Hunter
Paladin 0576-08719-2, 1988, 429pp, £5.95. Cover by Liz Wright

Life During Wartime
Paladin 0586-08797-4, 1989, 384pp.
Orion 0752-81614-4, 1998, 448pp.
Gollancz 0575-07734-4 [SF Masterworks 66], 2006, 418pp, £6.99. Cover by Dominic Harman

Kilimantan 
Legend 0712-62169-5, 1990, 160pp.

The Golden
Millennium 1857-98110-3, 1993, 216pp.

The Ends of the Earth
Millennium 1857-98125-1, 1994, 484pp, £8.99. Cover by Chris Moore *
Millennium 1857-98169-3, 1994, 484pp, £5.99. Cover by Chris Moore *
    * Same cover earlier used on Arthur C. Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise (Pan, 1980)

Barnacle Bill the Spacer and Other Stories
Orion 1857-98500-1, 1997, 292pp, £9.99.
Millennium 0752-81609-8, 1998, 304pp.

Floater
PS Publishing, 2003. h/c. Cover by Edward Miller

Dagger Key and Other Stories
PS Publishing 978-1904-61973-4, 2007. h/c. Cover by J. K. Potter

Viator Plus
PS Publishing 978-1848-63035-2, 2009. h/c. Cover by Jim Burns