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[b]Spacefan wrote:[/b]
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Also, the Year 2 Omnibus adds even more to Koenig’s experiences under the influence of the lambda waves. It’s in a kind of epilogue to the Lambda Factor chapter called “Lambda Variance”, but if I say more I’ll spoil one of the most touching moments in that book for readers who haven’t yet purchased it.
[/quote]SPOILERS
Thank you very much! I added it to Year Two because I felt that when you consider the events of Survival, it is only logical that Koenig would conjure up the “ghost” of Victor Bergman, as he did with Sam and Tessa. However, Victor would not be there to haunt him, but rather to comfort him and take some of the guilt off his shoulders.
As I originally wrote it, there was very little dialogue. Koenig, exhausted after so many sleepless nights, finally gets a moment’s rest in the ruins of his old office only to wake up and see Victor seated at the conference table (in a spacesuit). He is so overcome with emotion, with grief and guilt, that all he can say is, “Victor, I…” To which the ghost of Victor simple says, gently, as if consoling a child, “I know, John. I know…”
Powys author, William Latham felt that it should be more explicit and added the lovely conversation between Koenig and Bergman. I accepted his amendments and published it as an addendum to The Lambda Factor. I felt that as Koenig had long believed he gave the order that resulted in Bergman’s death, so much so that for a long time he couldn’t even bring himself to say Victor’s name or discuss what happened, that Koenig would logically manifest Victor.
Glad you liked it!
Mateo
SPOILERS!
I definately enjoyed all of the stories in Shepherd Moon. Although I will admit that Jackie Crawford’s fate was a bit of a downer. Even though his fate was heroic, it was a bit of a
downer.Which does lead to a very interesting story about the aforementioned short story.
My wife, who is Native American, read the story and was really upset about what happened
to Jackie. Having that ‘Earth-Mother’ quality about her, her maternal instincts went into overdrive(i.e. a bit of a frenzy). Loosely translated, she loves babies(children in general).When she first saw Alpha Child, her reaction to that episode was almost the same as Sue Crawford’s, concerning what happened to Jackie. Not as hysterical, but, still coming very close.
:unsure:
Nevertheless, it was a good story. Right after I finished Shepherd Moon, my copy of Born For Adversity arrived the same day.
falling behind on my reviews relative to my reading… up now is Cargo
SPOILERS
Cargo
Pros: A well written introspective, contemplative and thoughtful tale involving the two secondary characters from Voyager’s Return during the chaotic and tumultuous final hours before Breakaway. Takes the reader into the mind of Ernst Linden as he reminisces about the past, a lost love, not the Voyager 2 incident, and adds a new perspective and depth to the scientist.
Cons: Since it is an introspective tale involving two secondary characters, all the primary characters are very much in the background. I don’t have a problem with a story focusing on secondary characters, but here it felt like the story of the characters ran out of steam before reaching the end and required some padding. The story plays around a bit with the canon of Breakaway, by having numerous casualties at Area 1, by having Koenig flying one of the Eagles of the dispersal team out at Area 2 and by having Kano at the helm of computer. The introduction of some unknown tertiary characters 20 pages in to a 30 page story about Ernst Linden and Jim Haines was a bit off-putting.
Overall: An introspective tale of a man thinking about a lost love amidst the chaos of the breakaway event, sidelined a bit by some odd additional characters and a loose interpretation of some show canon. 7/10
I’m recovering from illness so apologies for lack of feedback here recently – and that which follows is truncated because the notes I made before I went into hospital have disappeared into a black hole (never to be seen again by the looks of it) and so I’m just going to throw out a few one-line comments based on memory for now.
Anyhow, to sum up [b]Shepherd Moon[/b], I’d have to say I was extremely disappointed with it!
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Ok……I was KIDDING about being disappointed, but I bet it got you reading past the spoiler space….. 😀
I think the point about [b]SM[/b] is that anthologies like this can allow people to ‘let their hair down’ and have a bit of fun. That means that it truly IS ‘all good’ – and you can do a Year 1 story, a Year 2 story, a Year 3 story….wow, I suppose you could even do a couple of pages on Doctor Russell’s sex life (well, [u]I’d[/u] certainly like to read it, anyway…..)
The limits are few, and stories can be tackled that perhaps fall outside the established chronologies (or indeed the Powys chronology). So I trust there’ll be a second volume.
As to the stories:
[i]The Touch of Venus[/i] – a pretty kick ass opening to the book. Some people will moan that the story focusses on a couple of minor characters, but they are really just a device for exploring the ‘early’ John Koenig. My main gripe was that Koenig was made over into something of a younger version of Captain Kirk here – something I don’t think he ever really was, being primarily someone who had ended up in administration and had a huge responsibility thrust upon him due to circumstances (ie the moon blowing out of orbit). As far as I recall in the televised scripts (‘The Exiles’ for instance) I am sure Koenig tells us that it was [i]his commander[/i] that made the decision to leave Sam and Tessa et al….NOT Koenig. But like I said, it’s a small quibble and Koenig gets a pre-Breakaway ‘fleshing out’, even if it’s not quite in the direction I would have preferred.
[i]Fallen Star[/i] – my initial reaction to seeing so many authors for one story was ‘uh-oh!’. But actually, it works rather well as a particularly emotive piece. I think Steve Roby picked out some grammatical problems (changes of tense etc) but I have to say that in general I didn’t notice them and the story certainly wasn’t spoiled. It’s a shame how Jackie ends up, and sometimes I do have reservations how Powys writers have a fondness for killing off some of the more peripheral characters – but then I think of how many Fred Freiberger exised…and somehow Powys’ doesn’t seem [i]so[/i] bad…. 🙂
[i]Cargo[/i] – Not much to say here. I didn’t really like it, and wasn’t really sure what – if anything – it was trying to say. Did Mr Ball have trouble coming up with a suitable story? I didn’t find the attempts to put some meat on the Ernst Linden/Queller character all that successful to be honest, and I didn’t really ‘see’ the character as he was played by Jeremy Kemp. Ah well. You can’t win ’em all.
[i]Futility[/i] – JKM shows he has a good grasp of the characters once again, and I loved the ‘We’re all dying in here’ teaser (imagine that as a hook for an actual episode….). Overall I thought it was an excellent story, although one short sentence on page 117 did rile me: the one which said that Jesse Franklin had to [i]ring up[/i] Main Mission to order a new Commlock…. (ring up?? RING up??? Does Alpha have a telephone exchange then?!)
[i]Dead End[/i] – Tubb was never one of my favourite 1999 novelists. because I don’t think he ever really captured the characters properly, while the rest he pretty much ignored completely. Perhaps his short stories are better because – unlike his epic EARTHFALL – they don’t oustay their welcome. Anyway, I quite liked this. Tubb’s unique writing style, so familiar from his other novelisations, was immediately apparent. I always found his portrayal of the main staff rather stiff and nothing changes here. The test of Koenig’s logical thinking seemed a bit ‘Mr Spock’/’Star Trekian’ to me (although I only have a passing familiarity with any of the ST series), but – not a bad story all the same. I’m not really sure that Tubb has an awful lot to say and nothing new to reveal about the characters – much like Brian Ball’s story I suppose.
[i]Remembering Julia[/i] – another character based story, and an exploration of how fragile mental states can be in an environment like Alpha – or if you like, how grief for a loved one can drive someone completely over the edge. In this story, we see the effects on Julia Vale (the author’s invention) and on Helena Russell as she is forced to delve into her past with her hsuband Lee. I liked the continuity aspects very much, and I especially liked the overall intention of the author. I suppose other than episodes like [i]Seance Spectre[/i], examination of the mental state of people imprisoned on a wandering asteroid wasn’t dwelt on that much in the televised episodes….
[i]Mission Critical[/i] – Fred Freiberger may well have been proud of Michael Faries! A brief and humourous diversion. If you never liked Tony Verdeschi and his beer, this story won’t make you like them any more, but this story may at the least raise a style. The mock-serious style at the start – where I really wondered what sort of action/tension story was coming – gives way to a light-hearted sketch.
[i]The Astelian Gift[/i] – All I can say is, a perfect representation of Maya and her childlike innocence before she joined the Alphans (what happened to this in [i]Born for Adversity[/i]? Oh well, that’s for another day…). Alien visitors to Psychon that – within the confines of a short story – are sympathetic and well drawn. Mentor and Maya are so well characterised that I could practically hear Catherine Schell and Brian Blessed leaping off the page. The shocking end of the story ([i]we[/i] know what’s happened to the alien visitors) contrasted with Maya’s childlike trust in her father and her complete ignorance of what has really happened to her new friends (the ‘gift’ turning out to be somewhat of an ironic term…) made this a truly fantastic story. I hope Emma gets to write a full length story because of the face of this, she’d do a great job.
[i]Spider’s Web[/i] – I can see we’re going to have to pay attention in Mr Latham’s forthcoming book! The ‘return’ of a much loved character and – I thought – quite a visceral situation that he is faced with. A fairly cinematic opening and something of a cliffhanger finish. I’ll say no more other than….I can’t wait for OMEGA.
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There you go. Apologies – it probably took more space than I intended, and yet is vastly cut down from my original jottings. Yes, I did note the odd typo in the book (and indeed in this posting), but nothing very jarring. Elsewhere, I think Ultra has commented on the science not being particularly well conceived, and I suppose there was the odd occasion where the science was awkwardly expressed, but – you know what? – it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of this book one iota. I read Space:1999 for the characters and the philosophies and the situations more than the science. We’re all different eh?!
I’m now reading [b]BFA[/b] at a fairly slow pace (recuperating from illness) and am really enjoying the book. Will no doubt eventually put some of my thoughts down……
– Simon
Ok…you’ve got us all feeling a little bit guilty now…we’re all sort of squirming around and feeling really uncomfortable – well I know I am 🙁
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By the way Simon…’way to go’…you got me !! Thought you must have still been delirious and running a fever from your illness when you said you were extremely disappointed with Shepherd Moon. [/i]I think I’ve already said that I loved the collection of stories but I must confess – I didn’t go into a huge amount of detail…quite new… to this sort of thing and didn’t know if you would be interested in my opinion…anyway…
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Firstly I just can’t waste words complaining about typo or grammatical errors. To me reading is a pleasure not a test and I guess my brain makes allowances for small misdemeanours! If there were any…they certainly didn’t mar my enjoyment of the book!
My absolute favourite story from the book was [b]Futility[/b]. To me it was everything a Space 1999 story should be. It was definitely an episode I would give anything to watch…( do you think the people behind of Avatar would consider working their magic on Space 1999 ?? ) I loved this story. It captured the characters so well. The strength versus vulnerability of Helena was very well written. John and Helena’s relationship was there, Victor was there…it was perfection as far as I’m concerned.
I really enjoyed [b]The Touch of Venus[/b]. The insight in to John Koenig’s early years was interesting and I enjoyed other characters were brought in as a way of linking us back to Alpha. Also there was the first mention of Koenig’s famous ‘pacing’ – that made me smile like someone making a connection with an old friend.
[b]Fallen Star [/b]has had quite a bit of debate. I enjoyed it. As a Helena fan I was pleased to have some contact with my favourite character. We saw Alan develop a deep bond with Jackie in Alpha Child and it was good to see that carried into this story and developed. I could actually visualise them playing together in the corridors of Alpha. A bit ironic though that in order for Alpha to survive their one and only child and thus their hope for the future had to be sacrificed!
Although not a huge fan of Tony and his beer – [b]Mission Critical [/b]was fun…I quite enjoyed this light hearted tale. If it makes me smile it’s done it’ job as far as I’m concerned! And I was smiling by the time I’d finished it.
[b]Spiders Web [/b]was excellent. To get to spend a little more time with Victor was a real privilege. The book brought out his complete devotion to Yendys. To be with the one you love is to choose true happiness and that was Victors destiny in [i]Survival[/i]. In Spiders Web his actions are then mirrored by Yendys who gives her life to allow Bergman to live.
[i]‘It is no sacrifice’ she said, resting her head on the deck. ‘It’s why we’re alive.’ [/i]
What else is there to say?
Where this story is going I can’t even begin to imagine and to me that’s the wonder of reading. You are taken places that you wouldn’t normally dream of going. And the journey is amazing.
Omega is on its way and I can’t wait 🙂
No need to feel guilty. It is, however, a joy to hear everyone’s thoughts. In my phone conversation with William Latham, I told him I thought people might feel self-conscious about posting their thoughts on forums where the people who wrote and published the books were present. I said I thought people might not think their opinions mattered.
Let me just say that everyone’s opinions matter. If you have a comment you’d like to make, post it! We want to hear what you think!
And if you spot a typo, email me. With Lulu, we can correct those mistakes in future printings.
Mateo
[b]mrsalancarter wrote:[/b]
[quote]I loved this anthology and I hope that there are more to come!!!![/quote]As with the [b]BFA[/b] thread, I hope though that you’ll expand on your comments, as remarks like the above, though I’m sure are very welcome, don’t tell either the authors or Powys Media very much in themselves.
Go on – I already have posted my [b]SM[/b] comments. So don’t be shy. And that goes for other people out there. Be expansive. Mateo [i]loves[/i] it 😀
– Simon
I’ve nearly finished reading [b]”Shepherd Moon”[/b]. “Remembering Julia” is the absolute stand out piece for me. Marvellous prose and absolutely gripping. From the very first scene, with the wreck of Eagle 31, I was totally drawn in to it. A tremendous piece. Moving and revealling. Superb! Get that man to write a full length [b]SPACE: 1999 [/b]novel!
Thanks for your kind words and support…
As for writing a full length Space 1999 novel, I’d love to. You’d need to ask Mateo.
Best wishes
Stephen Jansen B)I know I’m a little late to the party, here. (I didn’t know the new books were available until a few weeks ago.) That said, I just finished Shepherd Moon and really enjoyed it. Being a writer myself, I’ve been very impressed with the quality of the Space 1999 novels, and this one was no exception. Kudos to everyone involved.
I especially appreciated the last story, as that tentacled door monster is one of my lasting memories of the show from when I was a kid. (Along with the Balor episode.) The door monster needed another episode!
Nuff said,
KerryI too thoroughly enjoyed this series of short stories. One thing I would have liked would be a short foreword setting each story in it’s context on the overall timeline rather than having to pick up clues as I read. Some of the stories were easy to place but others took some time. A one line entry sayin this story takes place before series one or between episodes… would have made me very happy. But aside from that, well done and keep them coming.
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