‘The Specialist’ Heads To TV: AR Content Options Action-Thriller Novels That Inspired Sylvester Stallone & Sharon Stone Film
#News #AlexanderRodnyansky #ARContent #JohnShirley #TheSpecialist

https://deadline.com/2025/08/ar-content-john-shirley-the-specialist-tv-series-1236499620/

What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading? + Update No. XIX

• A selection of read volumes from my shelves

What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading or planning to read this month? Here’s the December installment of this column.

Lost texts, and the act of reconstructing the fragments, fascinates. The questions pile up. Would the contents reveal a pattern in an author’s work? Intriguing personal details? A startling modus operandi? At the 11th World Science Fiction Convention (Philcon 2), Philadelphia (September 1953), Philip José Farmer gave a speech titled “SF and the Kinsey Report.” Considering Farmer’s recent publication of “The Lovers” (1952), this is not surprising. Alfred Kinsey, the famous sexologist and founder of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction on Indiana University’s campus, published his controversial Sexual Behavior in the Human Male in 1948. Sexual Behavior in the Human Female appeared in 1953. Like many of Farmer’s earliest speeches, he did not keep copies.

Deeply intrigued by what the speech might have contained, Sanstone and I (on Bluesky) managed to piece together a few general responses from fanzines and magazine con reports.

1) In the December 1953 issue of the fanzine Nite Cry, Earl Kemp wrote: “Then it came. Sex reared it’s [sic] wonderfully compatible head. SF AND THE KINSEY REPORT, a very interesting report on the works of the good Dr.’s Kinsey, Pomeroy, etc. delivered by Phillip Farmer [sic]. Very well handled tark, regardless of the absence of SF, by a very sincere individual. He was somewhat embarrassed, at the conclusion of his talk, as were most of the delegates, when some fan, after securing the floor mike, praised the speech a little too highly for comfort.”

2) In the November 1953 issue of the UK magazine Authentic Science Fiction, the editor H. J. Campbell briefly states: “among other first-rate and informative speakers was Philip Jose Farmer on ‘SF and the Kinsey Report,’ a serious and thoughtful study which was well appreciated by the audience.”

3) Robert A. Madle’s report in the March 1954 issue of Future Science Fiction wrote: “[Farmer’s] talk, ]SF and the Kinsey Report,] was quite unusual — to say the least! Farmer, in addition to indicating that he was one of Kinsey’s’ statistics, delved into a subject which isn’t the ordinary Sunday morning, pre-breakfast fare.” I’d love to know what Farmer meant by “he was one of Kinsey’s statistics.”

4) Milt Rothman’s Philcon II Reminiscence recalls: “Among scheduled talks were “The Future of Love,” by Irvin Heyne, and “SF and the Kinsey Report,” by Philip José Farmer, author of “The Lovers.” At that time heterosexuality was just coming out of the closet.” No other details are provided.

5) Dave Kyle’s article in Mimosa on Sex in Fandom describes the speech, along with many other tangents, as follows: “Maybe sf fans invented the 1960s in the 1950s. (Although I must say that, whatever the excesses, the only drug prevalent to a minor extent was alcohol.) By 1953, women were now a fixture in the sf firmament. Bea, Katherine MacLean, and the two Evelyns had a panel at Philcon II and there were talks on “The Future of Love” by Irvin Heyne and “SF and the Kinsey Report” by Philip José Farmer. Phil Farmer really broke the sex barrier in sf, and Kate MacLean was an unabashed advocate of “free love” and took explicit photos with Charlie Dye.”

If you know of more references, let me know if the comments.

And let me know what pre-1985 science fiction you’ve been reading!

The Photograph (with links to reviews and brief thoughts)

What am I writing about?

On January 1st, I posted a review of Future Power, ed. Jack Dann and Darner Dozois (1976) — it contained many of my best 20 short stories read in 2024. If you missed it, definitely check out my Best Reads of 2024 post. I also posted reviews of Philip K. Dick’s “Explorers We” (1959) and James Tiptree, Jr.’s “Painwise” (1972) recently for my series on subversive takes on “space agencies, astronauts, and the culture which produced them.”

As for future projects, I find I’m more likely to complete them if I keep the specifics under wraps. As always, I have grand plans and limited time due to my exhausting profession.

What am I reading?

As Barry N. Malzberg recently passed away, I thought I read a few of his novels that I’ve missed. I reviewed Malzberg last in 2021. Hopefully, more novel reviewed will be posted in 2025 than previous, often sparse, novel-reading years.

I also plan on reading De Witt Douglas Kilgore’s monograph above.

A Curated List of SF Birthdays from the Last Two Weeks

January 11th: Jerome Bixby (1923-1998)

January 11th: Terry Goodkind (1948-2020). As a teenager, I was obsessed with bloated fantasy sequences (Robert Jordan, Tad Williams, Stephen Donaldson, etc.). I thought Goodkind would be the perfect addition to my addiction. I tried at least three times to tackle Wizard’s First Rule (1994), the first book in the Sword of Truth Universe, but never got more than a 100 pages in.

January 12th: Jack London (1876-1916). I must confess, I’m utterly ignorant of his SF works like The Iron Heel (1907). My father read The Call of the Wild (1903) to me as a kid.

January 13th: Jody Scott (1923-2007). I should feature her in my first three published stories by female SF authors I should know about. Her noel Passing for Human (1977) judges me from the shelf.

January 13th: Ron Goulart (1933-2022). I have not been impressed with his brand of satire. See my review of After Things Fell Apart (1970).

January 14th: Kenneth Bulmer (1921-2005).

• Frank Kelly Freas’ cover for the 1974 edition of Joseph Green’s Conscience Interplanetary (1972)

January 14th: Joseph Green (1931-). He must rank amongst the oldest SF authors still alive… I have not read any of his work.

January 15th: Robert Silverberg (1935-). An absolute favorite of mine! I’ve reviewed 46 of his short stories and twelve of his novels. I’ve also read but never reviewed A Time of Changes (1971), the stories in Capricorn Games (1976), and Tower of Glass (1970). The Man in the Maze (1969) and The Second Trip (serialized: 1971) might be his most underrated novels.

January 16th: Christine Brooke-Rose (1923-2012) is an author of experimental SF-adjacent works (and a YA SF volume or two). I acquired one of the latter Xorandor (1986), a few months ago. I’d love a copy of her early novel Out (1964)–SF Encyclopedia’s description: a SF novel “set after World War Three in a Post-Holocaust Afro-Eurasia where the colour barrier has been reversed, ostensibly for medical reasons, as only the ‘Colourless’ seem to be fatally afflicted by a form of radiation poisoning.”

January 17th: Paul O. Williams (1935-2009).

January 18th: Arno Schmidt (1914-1979). I tried to read The Egghead Republic: A Short Novel from the Horse Latitudes (1957, trans. 1979) at one point.

January 18th: Artist Eddie Jones (1935-1999). A British artist who contributed an immense number of covers for German SF presses.

January 18th: Clare Winger Harris (1891-1968). I acquired her collection (published after she had stopped writing), Away from Here and Now (1947), a while back. To the best of my knowledge it’s the first collection by a female SF author who appeared in genre magazines ever published.

January 19th: Margot Bennett (1912-1980). I finished Bennett’s The Long Way Back (1954) recently. Stay tuned for my thoughts.

January 19th: George MacBeth (1932-1992).

• Victor Kalin’s cover for the 1st edition of Theodore Sturgeon’s Venus Plus X (1960)

January 19th: Artist Victor Kalin (1919-1991).

January 20th: Author Nancy Kress (1948-). Another one of my favorites! “Talp Hunt” (1982) is a killer of a short story. I also reviewed her first three published short stories–“The Earth Dwellers” (1976), “A Delicate Shape of Kipney” (1978), and “And Whether Pigs Have Wings” (1979).

January 21st: Peter Phillips (1920-2012). I’ve promised myself I’d get to his fiction for years. I’m looking at you “Dreams Are Sacred” (1948)!

January 21st: Judith Merril (1923-1997). My most recent Merril review: Survival Ship and Other Stories (1974).

January 21st: Gina Berriault (1926-1999). Author of one intriguing SF novel of fallout shelters and paranoia–The Descent (1960).

January 21st: Charles Eric Maine (1921-1981).

January 22nd: Robert E. Howard (1906-1936).

January 22nd: Katherine MacLean (1925-2019). As mentioned above, her Nebula-nominated novel Missing Missing Man (1975) is one of the great unknown SF noels.

• Ray Feibush’s cover for the 1974 UK edition of George Zebrowski’s The Omega Point (1972)

January 22nd: Artist Ray Feibush (1948-1998).

January 23rd: Helen M. Urban (1915-2003). Another author I should feature in my series on the first three published short stories by female authors I want to learn more about.

January 23rd: Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1923-1996). A favorite of mine! If you’re new to his non-A Canticle for Leibowitz stories, check out “Death of a Spaceman” (variant title: “Memento Homo”) (1954).

January 23rd: Artists Tim Hildebrandt (1939-2006) and Greg Hildebrandt (1939-2024).

January 24th: C. L. Moore (1911-1987). I recently enjoyed her collection of co-written stories (with her husband Henry Kuttner) Clash by Night and Other Stories (1980).

January 24th: Gary K. Wolf (1941-). Killerbowl (1979) is almost a 70s SF classic.

January 24th: David Gerrold (1944-). I thoroughly enjoyed Moonstar Odyssey (1977).

• Douglas Chaffee’s cover art detail for the October 1968 issue of Galaxy Magazine

January 24th: Artist Douglas Chaffee (1936-2011).

January 24th: René Barjavel (1911-1985).

January 25th: Pauline Ashwell (1926-2015). Best known for her early short story Hugo-nominated “Unwillingly to School” (1958). I’ve reviewed Nebula-nominated “The Wings of a Bat” (1966).

For book reviews consult the INDEX

For cover art posts consult the INDEX

For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX

#1950s #1960s #1970s #39 #bookReview #bookReviews #books #fiction #JamesWhite #JohnShirley #KatherineMacLean #paperbacks #PhilipJoséFarmer #philipKDick #RobertSilverberg #RogerZelazny #sciFi #scienceFiction

Maybe it is time to reread The Eclipse Trilogy 😢

#EclipseTrilogy #SciFi #NotSoScifyAnymore #JohnShirley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_Trilogy

HALLOWEEN IS COMING AGAIN... ON JANUARY 13th!!!

https://www.lethepressbooks.com/store/p692/Cryptopolis_%26_Other_Stories.html

#Horror #DarkFantasy #Halloween #Bizarro #NewWeird #LethePress #ShortStories #Stories #Poe #EdgarAllanPoe #RobertAntonWilson #Borges #Lovecraft #Kafka #ClarkAshtonSmith #JohnShirley #NickMamatas #punkhouse

Vor­satz: in kür­ze­ren Abstän­den dar­über schrei­ben, was ich an SF & Fan­ta­sy gele­sen und ange­schaut habe. Mal sehen, wie lan­ge das klappt. Im Juni waren das jeden­falls zwei Fil­me, ein biss­chen Seri­en und weni­ge Bücher. 

Die Black-Pan­ther-Fort­set­zung Wakan­da Fore­ver war nicht ganz so über­zeu­gend wie Black Pan­ther selbst, der Plot wirk­te ein wenig wirr und man­che Ent­schei­dung (war­um jetzt ein über­mäch­ti­ges Was­ser­volk als Haupt­geg­ner?) konn­te ich nicht so rich­tig nach­voll­zie­hen. Trotz­dem anseh­bar und unterhaltsam.

Sehr begeis­tert hat mich die Comic-Ver­fil­mung Nimo­na von ND Ste­ven­son, die – nach­dem Dis­ney+ das Stu­dio auf­ge­kauft und die Pro­duk­ti­on ein­ge­stellt hat­te, jetzt bei Net­flix zu sehen ist. Der gra­fi­sche Stil ist span­nend, es geht um Rit­ter in einem futu­ris­ti­schen König­reich, die die­ses gegen Mons­ter ver­tei­di­gen. Bei der Ver­ei­di­gung des neus­ten Rit­ter­jahr­gangs geschieht eine Kata­stro­phe, die nicht nur die Lie­bes­ge­schich­te zwi­schen Bal­lis­ter Boldhe­art – dem ers­ten Rit­ter aus der Arbei­ter­schicht – und Ambro­si­us Gol­den­loin jäh unter­bricht, son­dern Boldhe­art auch in die Rol­le des Schur­ken drängt. Nimo­na will sein Side­kick wer­den. Ist sie – als Gestaltwandler*in – das Mons­ter, dass das König­reich zum Unter­gang brin­gen wird?

Kurz bevor die Serie abge­setzt wur­de, habe ich mir dann mal noch Star Trek: Pro­di­gy ange­schaut – tief­grün­di­ger und näher an Star Trek dran, als die Auf­ma­chung mit bun­ter Ani­ma­ti­on etc. ver­mu­ten lässt. Soll­te sie irgend­wo mal wie­der auf­tau­chen, lohnt es sich, sie anzuschauen.

Und auch die ers­ten drei Fol­gen der zwei­ten Ses­si­on von Star Trek: Stran­ge New Worlds haben viel Poten­zi­al. Das Zurück zur epi­so­dischen Erzähl­wei­se – anders als bei Picard oder Dis­co­very – tut der Serie gut, und auch wenn die übli­chen Star-Trek-Tro­pes, etwa die Zeit­rei­se in eine par­al­le­le Zeit­li­nie oder das Gerichts­ver­fah­ren mit „rich­ti­gem“ Ende nach phi­lo­so­phi­schen Plä­doy­er, breit aus­ge­rollt wer­den, ist das kein blo­ßer Fan­ser­vice, son­dern funk­tio­niert. Etwas irri­tie­rend: Unter­ton aller drei Fol­gen ist ein Rüt­teln an der Star-Trek-Grund­über­zeu­gung, das gen­tech­ni­sche Ver­än­de­run­gen an Men­schen ein Kapi­tal­ver­bre­chen sind und mit den „euge­ni­schen Krie­gen“ gro­ßes Leid gebracht haben.

Dann zu den Büchern. Ein „rich­ti­ger“ Roman war dabei, näm­lich Sub­Or­bi­tal 7 (2023) von John Shir­ley. Der inzwi­schen 70-jäh­ri­ge Shir­ley war einer der Cyber­punk-Autoren der spä­ten 1980er, ins­be­son­de­re sei­ne Eclip­se / A Song Cal­led Youth-Tri­lo­gie und City Come a‑Walkin‘ dürf­ten eini­gen bekannt sein. Dass er außer die­sen eine gan­ze Rei­he wei­te­rer Roma­ne und Dreh­bü­cher geschrie­ben hat, war mir nicht bekannt. Vor der Erwar­tungs­hal­tung „Cyber­punk“ ent­täuscht Sub­Or­bi­tal 7 – das ist eher Mili­ta­ry SF (wobei A Song Cal­led Youth bei genau­er Hin­sicht gar kei­nen ganz unähn­li­chen Blick auf die Welt wirft), und noch dazu aus recht männ­li­cher Per­spek­ti­ve. Inhalt­lich geht es in einer nahen Zukunft um die Auf­rüs­tung des Welt­raums mit Orbi­tal­sta­tio­nen und Waf­fen, um den Kon­flikt Ame­ri­ka – Russ­land und in bei­den Fäl­len um Aus­ein­an­der­set­zun­gen inner­halb des jewei­li­gen Staats­ap­pa­rats und um Spio­na­ge, ein biss­chen James Bond, ein biss­chen Thril­ler. Vor dem Hin­ter­grund der aktu­el­len Ereig­nis­se in Russ­land (ich las den Roman, als die Wag­ner-Trup­pen Rich­tung Mos­kau fuh­ren) hat der Roman noch­mal sei­nen ganz eige­nen Gruselfaktor.

Abge­se­hen davon habe ich im Juni Ursu­la K. LeGu­ins Essay-Samm­lung Words Are My Mat­ter: Wri­tings on Life and Books (2016) gele­sen – zur Hälf­te sind das Buch­re­zen­sio­nen von ihr, eini­ge haben mich auch noch­mal auf ande­re Wer­ke auf­merk­sam gemacht, zur ande­ren Hälf­te essay­is­ti­sche Tex­te, die sich mit Lite­ra­tur und Schrei­ben, um die Aus­ein­an­der­set­zung zwi­schen SF als „Gen­re“ und „rich­ti­ger Lite­ra­tur“ und um einen femi­nis­ti­schen Blick auf den Betrieb richten. 

The Best of Greg Egan (2021) trägt die­sen Namen völ­lig zu recht. Das ist eine dicke Samm­lung sei­ner Kurz­ge­schich­ten und Novel­len; eini­ge davon bil­den über meh­re­re Geschich­ten hin­weg einen Hand­lungs­bo­gen. Und fast jede die­ser Geschich­ten setzt sich mit tie­fen Fra­gen aus­ein­an­der – also (durch­aus span­nen­de und span­nend geschrie­be­ne) SF als Medi­um des Nach­den­kens dar­über, was die Fol­gen davon sein könn­ten, wenn Bewusst­seins­frag­men­te dazu genutzt wer­den, KIs zu trai­nie­ren, die in Spie­le­wel­ten NPC dar­stel­len sol­len. Was pas­siert, wenn Ein­grif­fe in das Gehirn unse­re Wahr­neh­mung ver­än­dern. Wie Reli­gio­nen ent­ste­hen. Etc. Sehr emp­feh­lens­wert und ein guter Ein­stieg in Egans Werk.

Eine zwei­te dicke Kurz­ge­schich­ten­samm­lung, die ich im Juni gele­sen habe, trägt den Titel Life bey­ond us (2023) – eine vom Euro­pean Astro­bio­lo­gy Insti­tu­te her­aus­ge­ge­be­ne Antho­lo­gie. Die­ses Insti­tut war mir bis­her kein Begriff, es scheint eine der Platt­for­men der Euro­pean Sci­ence Foun­da­ti­on (ESF) in Stras­bourg zu sein, das ist ein Dach­ver­band von Wis­sen­schafts­or­ga­ni­sa­tio­nen wie Helm­holtz-Gesell­schaft und Max-Planck-Gesell­schaft. Life bey­ond us jeden­falls ent­hält zahl­rei­che Kurz­ge­schich­ten, teil­wei­se von bekann­ten Autor*innen wie Mal­ka Older oder Gre­go­ry Ben­ford, teil­wei­se von mir bis­her unbe­kann­ten Verfasser*innen, wohl zum Teil direkt aus der wis­sen­schaft­li­chen Com­mu­ni­ty. Gemein­sa­mes The­ma sind Kon­tak­te mit außer­ir­di­schen Lebens­for­men und die Fra­ge, was eigent­lich Leben ist, und wie wir Leben fin­den kön­nen, das ganz anders als unse­res ist. Eine Beson­der­heit an die­sem Band – der ja schließ­lich auch wis­sen­schaft­li­ches „out­re­ach“ dar­stellt – ist, dass jede Geschich­te mit einem Kom­men­tar aus der Wis­sen­schaft ver­se­hen ist, samt Fuß­no­ten und Quel­len. Die­se Tex­te gehen teil­wei­se direkt auf die Geschich­ten ein, teil­wei­se sind es eher all­ge­mei­ne Erläu­te­run­gen zum Stand des Wis­sens, wie Leben ent­steht, wie Exo­pla­ne­ten ent­deckt wer­den usw. Die Mischung aus Kurz­ge­schich­ten und Wis­sen­schafts­jour­na­lis­mus fand ich anre­gend und lehr­reich – jeden­falls mal was anderes.

#black-panther #european-astrobiology-institute #fantasy #greg-egan #john-shirley #life-beyond-us #nd-stevenson #nimona #science-fiction #star-trek #ursula-k-leguin #wakanda-forever

https://blog.till-westermayer.de/index.php/2023/07/03/lesetagebuch-science-fiction-und-fantasy-juni-2023/