Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
[i]Forgotten Rocket[/i] has no place in a [b]Space: 1999 [/b]anthology really, IMO. It has nothing to do with the series; it’s simply a story that Rankine adapted because he was up a against a tight schedule for a new [b]1999[/b] novel.
It’s not, strictly speaking, a bad story I suppose, but [b]PoM[/b] is much better.
[b]mateo wrote:[/b]
[quote]Anticipation…[/quote]Right on, bruvva!!!!
And as luck would have it, Royal Mail has delivered [b]Phoenix of Megaron[/b] this morning. 🙂 I loved the red spine, which is a nice throwback to the original novel.
As this book (and Butterworth’s last Year 2 novel) was never published in the UK, I remember spending a lot of money engaging the services of an American book search service to get hold of the US paperbacks. That was pre-internet days really. Prior to that, I’d even written to Douglas Mason himself trying to get a copy and he wrote a lovely letter back, saying that – having had his attention drawn to it – he had been re-reading it and thought it was a good tale: [i]”…full of ancient wisdom like ‘Living is struggling; you have to learn to like it’.”
[/i]
I’ve still got the letter somewhere. Anyway, the upshot was that he only had his own file copy, which understandably he couldn’t part with.A few years ago, I participated quite heavily in the book discussion (ExE) started by Mateo on the [i]Online Alpha[/i] list (in the days when that list was very good…). As a result John Mason contacted me and offered to send me a copy of [b]Forgotten Rocket[/b], which was a sort of precursor to [b]PoM[/b] (as he says in the intro to the new edition) and which likewise I still have on my shelves.
As we were talking earlier about Tubb’s original novels, I thought I’d give them a new look. With that in mind, I started [b]Alien Seed[/b] at 10.00pm sharp last night and finished at 10.20pm dull…..barely got past the third chapter, just can’t seem to get into Tubb these days, alas.
But John Rankine….totally different. I’ll be looking forward to reading this! Thanks Mateo!
– Simon
[b]mateo wrote:[/b]
[quote]I may order a number of copies and just sell them directly via Paypal (not even using a button, just a direct sale).[/quote]Seems a lot of trouble to go to, Mateo. Surely this can’t be a big problem to fix – isn’t it worth seeing if they do? :blink:
This way of ordering seems like a backward step to me….Lulu normally do an excellent job.
Simon
[b]mateo wrote:[/b]
[quote]I just tried it again (all in IE) and again it worked fine. I didn’t clear the cache or cookies or anything else.[/quote]Well again, purely in the spirit of experimentation, I [i]still[/i] haven’t been able to get it to work in Firefox or IE, no matter what method I tried.
Lulu need to sort out the problem of books not being visible when you do searches for them too.
All this web-trickery is tiring stuff. I’m retiring to bed to recuperate 😀
– Simon
Yep – definitely a cookie problem I think.
Went back and tried the Buy Now button for [b]PoM[/b] one more time and it took me to…..[b]Android Planet[/b] (the page I’d just been looking at….!)
Meh.
Nothing worked for me – not that it matters currently, as I’m waiting for my copy direct from Mateo. (Still hasn’t arrived….)
I do tend to agree it’s some kind of cookie problem, although I’ve never had a problem with Lulu before.
As a test, when I click on the Lulu ‘Buy Now’ button for [b]Android Planet[/b], I get taken directly to that book. Yet if I use the [i]search[/i] facility, the only Space: 1999 book I get is [b]Born for Adversity[/b] and something called [b]Spaced Out[/b] by Prentis Hancock, which is – allegedly – the foreword he wrote for [b]The Forsaken[/b]! Eh?! What’s that all about?!
– Simon
Nope, doesn’t work for me on either Internet Explorer or Firefox, Bill.
Using the search facility on Lulu for the book doesn’t produce any results either, so I’d have thought [i]that[/i] meant that the book just isn’t there?
– Simon
Thanks Mateo 🙂
I shall have to re-read Tubb’s AS and RP novels. I really never liked them that much, but it has been [i]many[/i] years since I read them and it’s always possible my views might have changed.
I quite like EARTHFALL too, although I don’t believe it’s the ‘finest Space:1999 novel’ (as it was once called elsewhere). I always have difficulty reading more than the first half of it for some reason, and again I wasn’t wild about the characterisations….
Simon
The [i]only[/i] point I was making was that Tubb’s two original novels – apart from EARTHFALL – (if they are ever republished by Powys) should only be altered if Tubb had given his permission (at the very least) and preferably if he had involvement in so doing. Likewise the teleplays that Tubb novelised. If Tubb had no problem with that, then great.
The [b]Year Two Omnibus[/b] was a massive improvement over the original adaptations and crucially involved Butterworth himself. John Mason is likewise involved in the new Rankine editions. If an author is dead and was never consulted, then that’s different.
We can’t know (unless Mateo asked Tubb) whether he’d want ALIEN SEED and ROGUE PLANET altered in any way. (And in my view altering those particular books wouldn’t make them any better novels anyway, but that’s just my point of view….). Mateo should know that I am completely behind what is being done with these books BUT there has been a lot of slippage in the publishing schedule and I don’t think messing with EC Tubb’s original stories should be a very high priority what with everything else on the schedule already.
By the way, I also remember Rankine making passing reference to a ‘passover’ meal but I assumed this to be one of his weird and wonderful phrases, rather than a literal one. I’ve never been sold on the idea of Koenig being Jewish I have to say…!
– Simon
[b]Steve F wrote:[/b]
[quote]As for further novels, don’t forget Prodigal Moon, Odysseus Wept and The Final Revolution. And then there’s the Year 1 Omnibus as well as the possibility of Powys releasing new, revised Powysverse versions of E C Tubb’s Alien Seed and Rogue Planet.
You’re so right though. Lots to look forward to! :cheer:[/quote]
Have Powys actually suggested they might tackle Powysverse versions of [i]Alien Seed[/i] and [i]Rogue Planet[/i] then?
Personally I think they should be left well alone. EC Tubb wrote them as his own original novels, and as he now dead they should remain as they are. Had he been still alive and willing to work with Powys, then that would be a different matter of course.
By all means Powys might consider straight reprints of the originals (which, I might add, have never been my favourite 1999 novels – Tubb’s characterisations often seemed a bit off to me….but that’s how he probably meant it!). But otherwise they should be left alone to stand or fall on their own original merits. This is what Fanderson did with [i]Earthfall.[/i] They re-printed the book in a superior quality version to the old Futura/Orbit paperback, and just corrected the spelling errors, etc – in my opinion, exactly the right decision.
With the ‘John Rankine’ books, there is a different situation because John Mason is involved. I [b]love[/b] the old Rankine novels, and I loved the new version of [i]Android Planet[/i]. I’m sure I will also love [i]PoM[/i].
I’m also actually wondering these days how much should be changed in the [i]Year One Omnibus[/i], when it eventually gets published. Brian Ball is still around so could have some say. Douglas Mason (John Rankine) is too, although John Mason would be the voice of authenticity in any changes that would be made to the script adaptations. Who would speak for EC Tubb though?
Michael Butterworth was [u]involved[/u] in the [i]Year Two Omnibus[/i], and thus the rather scrappy nature of the originals (due to the tearing hurry with which they were written) was tidied up with the approval of the author.
Again, it’s only my personal opinion but Powys has quite enough on their plate without revising Tubb’s [u]original[/u] works.
– Simon
Eh……well, I don’t know why people have had problems. My order is probably the one ‘from the UK’ that Mateo mentioned. I used the appropriate Paypal button and got taken straight to the correct page. All done in about half a minute. That was at around 11:45am UK time today.
I use Firefox, just as a matter of interest.
Look forward to a new book popping through the door in a week or two. You can never have too much ‘John Rankine’…..
😀
– Simon
Hello Matthew.
I don’t pop up here often (I’m just a reader and fan, not a member of Powys), but I just thought I would quickly chime in and say what a real charmer you are in the three posts I’ve read. Really.
I’ve no idea if you’ve been on this board before under another name or are totally new, but you may or may not know that Powys Media isn’t a full-time publishing outfit. Things get fitted in as and when. It may not be ideal, but there you go.
Bearing in mind no one else – apart from maybe Fanderson with their two [b]Space: 1999[/b] novels – is doing or has done [b]1999[/b] or [b]Prisoner[/b] fiction, I don’t see that you’ve much option but to be patient. It’s not like anyone else currently is chomping at the bit to take up the publishing rights, eh?
Incidentally, I’m pleased to say that I myself [u]do[/u] in fact have a copy of [b]Miss Freedom[/b]. Sorry about that.
Simon.
[b]mateo wrote:[/b]
[quote]Simon, you’ll do the interview next week, beam it to us here at Powys City, but for some reason, it will arrive before Christmas. It’s just a simple case of not remembering what you haven’t done yet but will do after saying you don’t remembering doing it. Y’know. :blink:[/quote]I do indeed 😉
Those neutrino transmissions sure do have a lot to answer for……. :ohmy:
– Simon
