Golden Sunsets - 50 Years Of Memories - Part 23 - 1989

When choosing things for the top spot in these posts, I desperately want to avoid the obvious choices (although some do creep into "honourable mentions") - plus other items are excluded because I plan longer posts on them once this is all over. In the end I went with a series of books which a lot of people will never have heard of, but which were far better than their beginnings might suggest...

1989:

The trivia:

• Scuba diver William Lamm was swimming in eight feet of water in Florida when he was accidentally sucked into the intake pipe for Hutchinson Island's nuclear power plant. Carried at speed through over 1,600 feet of pipeline, he was eventually dumped into the cooling pond surrounding the reactor. Thankfully he survived with barely a bruise.
• An amateur collector of 18th century maps bought an old tattered painting of a country scene for US$ 4.00 at a Pennsylvania bargain sale - purely because he liked the frame. When he took the frame apart, he discovered a copy of the US Declaration of Independence hidden inside. Thinking it nothing more than a curiosity, he just put it to one side until a friend convinced him to contact an expert. It turned out to be one of only 200 "John Dunlap broadsides" printed on the evening of 4th July 1776 and sold two years later for US$ 2.4 million.
• A MiG-23 pilot mistakenly ejected on take off from a Polish airfield.The aircraft continued to fly over 500 miles on autopilot only to eventually crash into a house in Belgium, sadly killing a teenager living there.

The memory:

The Cineverse Cycle by Craig Shaw Gardner

In the wake of the success of Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" novels, publishers realised that comic fantasy could be big business. The truth is that a more light-hearted take on the standard fantasy tropes had been around for a long time, but it had never captured the general public's imagination. in quite the same way until now - so suddenly there was a plethora of new authors to choose from in the UK. During regular trips to Forbidden Planet I started to pick up a number of these books - John DeChancie's "Castle Perilous" series, Simon Hawke's "The Wizard of Fourth Street", Christopher Statsheff's "Warlock" sequence (although he had actually been writing for many years beforehand).and Alan Dean Fosters "Spellsinger". In addition I continued to collect the ongoing "Xanth" adventures from Piers Anthony. I bought a *lot* of books.

Amongst the dozens of new titles on the shelves, one author particularly stood out - but what attracted me to his name was not the blurb on the back, but the cover. You see, in a canny move, the publishers decided to get Discworld artist Josh Kirby to also produce the covers for the books by American writer Craig Shaw Gardner. I guess they felt that readers who already strongly associated Kirby's instantly recognisable work with the quality of Pratchett's books, would make the same leap and feel that they were being told "this is more of the same kind of stuff". Well guess what - it worked on me!

Gardner released "A Malady of Magicks" in 1986, but I think it was some time later when it, and the other two volumes in this first trilogy ("A Multitude of Monsters" and "A Night in the Netherhells")  reached UK shores with their Kirby covers. In a nutshell, the main plot is fairly simple - Ebenezum is a possibly the greatest wizard of the age. After an altercation with a demon, causes him to be cursed to be allergic to magic,  he and his hapless apprentice Wuntvor must journey to the City of Forbidden Delights in search of a cure, all the while avoiding death, disaster and perils such as tap-dancing dragons, enchanted chickens, etc, etc. It's your typical episodic quest narrative and very reminiscent in places of "The Colour of Magic" and "The Light Fantastic" with its send-up of standard fantasy. It's light, whimsical and occasionally funny - good enough to while away the time on a train journey but certainly nothing mind-blowingly original. Nonetheless I enjoyed the books enough to pick up the sequel "Wuntvor" trilogy, which ventures into fairy tale territory as the helper becomes the hero and has to save the world with help from (amongst others) an amorous unicorn, a ferret and a cowardly sword.

I've written before how I took one of these books to a Terry signing and he wrote inside "nice cover.,...". But these Pratchett-pastiches are not the core of this particular memory. Craig Shaw Gardner's next series was far more in tune with my love for all things from the worlds of movies, pulp serials and comic books....

Billed as the first volume in the Cineverse Cycle", "Slaves of the Volcano God" concerns public relations worker Roger, an average guy who discovers that his girlfriend Delores is actually from the Cineverse, where each world is based on a B-movie genre. Roger can travel between worlds using his trust Captain Crusader Decoder Ring (found inside a cereal packet). The key to the Cineverse is that "Movie Magic" always applies - so in the Wild West, cowboys never run out of ammo, if you enter the "Musical Comedies" you may never escape as everyone bursts into song at inopportune moments, and good guys always win (except in 1970s gritty dramas). On his quest to rescue Delores from the villainous Doctor Dread, Roger also has to figures out what caused "The Change" (the reason why movies are just not as good as they used to be) and exactly who or what is the Plotmaster... The story continues in "Bride of the Slime Monster" and concludes in "Revenge of the Fluffy Bunnies".

I think what appealed to me most about the Cineverse is that it's obvious that Gardner has a deep abiding love for the B-movie genre and it's conventions. His story is peppered with allusions to classics of the past and each of his worlds has been designed to operate within its own rule-sets and contain appropriate challenges. Along with this there is a feel of those black and white Republic serials with their weekly cliffhangers, dastardly villains and bizarre science. My own childhood was one of growing up with a film-loving family and weekends and school holidays filled with the likes of "Flash Gordon", "King of the Rocketmen", "Them!", "Godzilla" or "It Came From Beneath The Sea", The more you know about the movies, the more you will enjoy these books. It's a far more original work that the humorous fantasies of Ebenezum and Wuntvor - satirical rather than trying to be "funny" and all the better for it. It also helps that there is a rollicking good plot inside the pages.

Long out of print, the "Cineverse Cycle" is a lost pearl amongst a sea of parodies and Pratchett copycats. Not every book has to be epic or life changing or worthy of the Man Booker prize. Sometimes you just need a series that is damn good fun.

Honourable mentions:

• Batman - He could never better the late great Adam West, but Michael Keaton made a pretty good Dark Knight and an even better Bruce Wayne. The costume is excellent, the Batmobile looks suitably cool and Gotham feels like somewhere that the bizarre rogues gallery could come from (even if it does look like a movie set a little too much at times). Keaton certainly shut down the haters who lambasted his casting when his name was first attached. I'm not so enamoured with Jack Nicholson's Joker. Yes the Clown Prince of Crime is meant to be over the top, but Nicholson went too far in the wrong direction for my personal tastes - but I guess superhero movies were a big gamble back then and they needed a "name" actor to anchor things for cinema goers. Despite this, I still loved the film when it first came out and even though I wasn't the greatest Prince fan, bought both soundtrack albums. The less said about Vicki Vale the better though...

• Truckers by Terry Prachett - So after I headlined one of his 'imitators', here comes PTerry himself with the first in the "Nome / Bromeliad" trilogy. It was the first non-Discworld book of his that I read, and I instantly became enamoured with the tiny characters and their journey to find where they came from and how to get back there - especially this first novels central concept of an entire tribe of Nomes living under the floorboards of a department store. "Truckers" showed the world that Pratchett was capable of more than just tales of witches and wizards and luggage with legs and the trilogy as a whole is as good as any of the best Discworld stories. Animation experts Cosgrove Hall of "Danger Mouse " fame did an excellent stop-motion adaptation in 1992.

• Doom Patrol - I can't really be called a Grant Morrison fan. Much of the time (especially in recent years) he feels like a bargain basement Alan Moore tribute act, revelling in trying to be clever for clevers sake, but occasionally he does have real flashes of originality and brilliance. His reinvention of this 1960s DC super-team of freaks and rejects with artist Richard Case is one such occurrence. I was fascinated by the bizarre storylines and creations he came up with, such as the Brotherhood of Dada, the Scissormen and Danny The Street. It's all so absurd and abstract and a little bit pretentious that you can't help being swept away by the insanity.

• London Boys - The Twelve Commandments of Dance - It's cheesy Europop synth dance music and to be honest it's pretty awful. Why is it even on the list then? Well apart from the fact that the songs were never off the radio in the summer of 1989, it's here because it was an album I bought and tried to like to impress a girl I was genuinely infatuated with. Listening now instantly transports me back to a time and place when I was young, naive and a little bit too keen. No wonder the lady in question tolerated my friendship and nothing further...

• Metropolis :The Musical - With, let's be fair, only a couple of really good tunes, this stage version of the Fritz Lang classic needed something else to make it stand out. Thankfully it had the UK debut of future star Judy Kuhn as Maria / Futura and the deep voice and magnetic presence of the one and only Brian Blessed - and actor Jonathan Adams in a great supporting role. In addition there was the huge metallic moving set with it's rising platforms and cradles coming from the ceiling. That, plus my love for the original film was enough to get me to the theatre three times in quick succession. Which was just as well as "Metropolis" only lasted 214 performances before being consigned to a footnote in musical history. "The machines are beautiful..."

• Beautiful Stories For Ugly Children - The first series from DC's alternative imprint Piranha Press was not really a comic book at all, more a series of text stories with accompanying illustrations. But what stories they were. Forget the brightly coloured pantheon of superheroes, this was a monochromatic world of unsettling, twisted and creepy fables with titles such as "A Cotton Candy Autopsy", "Die Ranbow Die" and The Santas of Demotion Street" . Written by Dave Loupre and drawn by Dan Sweetman,whose scratchy yet beautiful penmanship offered a distorted view of the world, these tales were full of dark humour, unsympathetic characters and unhappy endings. It was thirty issues of brilliance. 

• Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure - The best film ever about time travel in a phone box (well at least until a proper "Doctor Who" movies gets made). Every viewing (and there have been many) is a wonderful joyous experience. It's damn near perfect and incredibly the sequel is even better. What else can I say except...

Golden Sunsets - 50 Years Of Memories - Part 17 - 1983

Something more unusual this time round, as a single album track mixing progressive electronica with a world famous poem is my pick of the year....

1983:

The trivia:

• Commercial peat-cutters were working in the Lindow Moss bog in Cheshire, England when they discovered a partial skull fragment with remnants of hair, soft tissue, brain matter and an eye attached.When the police launched a murder investigation, one man came forward. Long suspected of the death of his wife in 1960, Peter Reyn-Bardt thought it was her body that had been found, so confessed to the crime. When later carbon-dating testing revealed that it was actually from a body over a thousand years old, he tried to revoke his confession, but ultimately was still convicted and imprisoned.
• Musician Frank Zappa came up with a business plan for the storage and distribution of music via file-sharing, decades before the likes's of iTunes and Spotify became a reality.
• Sixty volumes of journals supposedly written by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler were purchased by Germany's "Stern" magazine for a huge sum, plus the rights were sold to many other publications including the UK's then prestigious "Sunday Times". After a large publicity campaign, the paper published the first extracts, only for them to immediately be confirmed as utter fakes.

The memory:

Rick Wakeman - Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

Occasionally you just hear a piece of music and something just "clicks" in your brain. After just one listen, that song or instrumental gets stuck there. It's more than an "earworm" - immediately it's lodged deep and you know that you will never ever forget it. Such was the case with the final track on Rick Wakeman's 1983 album "Cost of Living".

Wakeman had been a mainstay of legendary progressive rock band "Yes" during the 1970s and is still widely recognised as one of the best keyboard players in the world. He had branched out into his own highly successful solo projects as well, including a number of concept albums - the most well known being "Journey to the Centre of the Earth", which featured his trademark synth wizardry together with a full orchestra, choir and voiced narration. This style of combing modern electronic keyboards with the spoken word continued throughout his career, but to my mind it's never more perfectly encapsulated than when Wakeman decided to record his version of the poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Thomas Gray.

Published in 1751, the poem is a meditation on mortality, death and remembrance, evoking the spirit of the countryside as the narrator finds comfort in thinking about the lives of the locals buried in the village churchyard. It's considered one of the greatest English poems of the period because of simultaneously being accessible and memorable and yet open to different interpretations. It's also incredibly alliterative and lyrical. No wonder Wakeman chose it.

To be honest I'd never heard of it back in 1983, despite studying poetry at school (blame the Comprehensive system. I do) - so my exposure to this wonderful work and it's musical accompaniment was purely because by chance I happened to be sat watching television one Saturday evening with my parents. Genial Irish broadcaster and TV icon Terry Wogan was hosting his very popular chat show and after Tezza finished gently grilling his latest guest he turned to the camera and announced that it was time for some music. "Here's Rick Wakeman and Robert Powell". My ears immediately pricked up - not because of the bearded maestro's name, but because of his fellow performer...

I'd been a fan of Powell's ever since the landmark TV series "Jesus of Nazareth" back in 1977 where he played the title role with a startling quiet intensity. I then enjoyed his performances in "The Four Feathers" and most importantly in the starring role as Richard Hannay in the 1978 remake of the classic John Buchan adventure "The Thirty-Nine Steps" - a film I have seen many, many times. I loved Powell's distinctive voice, so here was a chance to see him perform something "live".

As Powell began speaking with the first stanza of the poem, Wakeman's music also softly followed:

"The curfew tolls the knell of parting day
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lee
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way
And leaves the world to darkness and to me"

Just from those four lines I felt there was already a visual sense of twilight falling and the field workers returning home after a long days toil. As the performance continued I was mesmerised - transported to another time and place and totally absorbed in the combination of words and music. But don't take my word for it - listen for yourself:

By the way - the shaky camera footage taken by YouTuber 'Markus Emsermann' is of the churchyard in the village of Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire where Thomas Gray is meant to have composed his famous poem.

Sure the 80s synth twiddling is a bit overblown at times and perhaps verges on drowning out the words in a couple of places - but you can't deny the power of the verse and the stirring emotions the melding of two different arts invokes. It's a brilliant piece and each performer enhances the other. It took me quite a few years to track down a copy of the album (it's one of Wakeman's least popular solo releases), but since then it's safe to say that I've listened to "Elegy" a hundred times or more and it never dulls.

Both Wakeman and Powell went on to further successes in their respective careers, and actually came together again in 1987 for the double album  "The Gospels". I accept that the keyboard wizard's particular brand of music is not to everyone's taste and that some may find his messing with a classic piece of poetry tantamount to sacrilege. That's fine - each to their own. But although I have heard other versions of Gray's most famous work, both with and without music, this is the one I keep coming back to, and I don't think it will ever lose its influence over me.

Honourable mentions:

• American Flagg! - Often regarded as writer / artist Howard Chaykin's most important and famous work, this was one of the first titles from new independent publisher "First Comics". When  the US government relocates to Mars after a series of worldwide crises, the United States is left at the mercy of mega-corporation "The Plex". Enter former TV star Reuben Flagg, who is drafted into the Chicago branch of the Plexus Rangers militia. Discovering a web of political corruption, subliminal TV messages and plans to sterlise the population, Flagg embarks on a crusade to clean things up aided by a cast of untrustworthy characters and his best friend Raul, a talking orange tabby cat.

• For it's first twelve issues at least, this was my absolute favourite title, way above anything else. The combination of incredible Duotone textured art, adult themes (including my first experience of sex shown in a comic), science fictional setting - and loads of political satire meant that it was unlike anything I had ever read before. After Chaykin dropped off art duties it was never quite the same, but it's rightly hailed as a highpoint of 80s comics and I own multiple versions in various formats

• Howard Jones - I've previously mentioned that I'd begun to be interested in synthesiser based artists such as "Yazoo", but around this time I got my own keyboard. The was mainly prompted by the appearance of Howard Zones and his particular brand of upbeat electronic pop with the debut of the aptly titled "New Song" in September 1983 followed by the album "Human's Lib". Songs such as "Pearl in the Shell", "What Is Love" and especially the slow ballad "Hide and Seek" were a constant feature of my musical life. I followed Howard's career and bought all the 12" singles and subsequent LPs for the next five years or so. Many are still sitting in a box somewhere and the covers bring back lots of happy memories. The keyboard playing never came to anything though.

• Philip Marlowe, Private Eye - There have been countless version of Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled detective and this TV series from the, then fledging, HBO is not the most famous, but I'd argue that it's up there as one of the absolute best. I came to the show free from any preconceptions as I'd never read the stories or seen any of the film versions - I was just intrigued by the 1930s setting (I guess this was feeding from my growing interest in 'pulp' fiction). Powers Boothe perfectly portrays the moral, laid back sleuth who only uses violence when he absolutely has to. The pace is slow and thoughtful and although it was shown quite late at night, it became appointment viewing for me. The lack of a recent, good quality home media box set is frankly criminal. 

• Fraggle Rock - Fun, silly and full of memorable songs this was one of those shows that my whole family sat down to watch. It's my second favourite Henson series after "The Storyteller" and for me at the time combined the best bits from "Sesame Street" (the relatable characters and giant creatures) with those from "The Muppet Show" (the songs and humour). However it did confuse the hell out of me when I saw an American version years later. Where was the Lighthouse Captain? Who was this guy called Doc? I figured it out eventually, but I still prefer the Fulton Mackay version.

• Was (Not Was) - Born To Laugh At Tornadoes - Although I didn't discover the Was brothers and their various collaborators until the release of "Walk The Dinosaur" in 1987, this second album has ended up being my favourite. Whether it's the pop of "Betrayal", the funk of "Professor Night" or the sheer bizarre jazz sound of veteran Mel Tormé crooning when "Zaz Turned Blue", the whole album is a delight. My friend Neil became obsessed with collecting every version of  "Out Come The Freaks" (of which there are a *lot*).

• White Gold Wielder - by Stephen Donaldson - Not the first book in a fantasy series, but the last, and one of the most anticipated - at least by this reader. It's the finale of the "Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" - the exceptional story of the bitter, cynical leper who is transported to the fantasy setting of "The Land" and finds himself cast into the unwanted role of a major combatant in the ongoing battle against "Lord Foul the Despiser" through the use of the wild magic of his white gold wedding ring. Although it has some conceptual similarities to Tolkien's masterwork, Donaldson's character is far more of an anti-hero, often committing terrible acts as he rails against what he believes to be nothing more than a lucid dream. Over the course of the two trilogies Covenant experiences catastrophic, life changing events and battles with internal and external struggles. Ultimately he is redeemed and wins an unexpected victory, but the sacrifices both personally and to those he has come to care for are earth shattering.

• Donaldson's love of language and esoteric description sometime's mean his prose verges on the purple - and his protagonists are often unlikeable. However the power of the story, the imagination on show and the deep themes being explored win through, and the final novel is a wonderful drawing together of the various threads and a fitting conclusion to this most unusual of heroes. I read and re-read all the books many times and ultimately it influenced me enough that when the time came, I got my own white gold wedding ring. Donaldson penned a four volume "Last Chronicles" between 2004 and 2013, but although I was initially excited (so much so that I went and met the author and got the first book signed), I found that as time went on the series turned out to be a journey too far, contained the worst excesses of his authorial "tics" and sadly was very disappointing and delivered a conclusion that I was far from happy with. I prefer to think that the series ended properly with "White Gold Wielder".

• Blackadder -  Rowan Atkinson's best character (even if Mr. Bean has been more successful worldwide). In defiance of popular opinion, I consider "Blackadder II" to be the greatest and the funniest - after all, how can you go wrong with a woman in disguise called "Bob", Rik Mayall as Lord Flashheart (Woof!) and the incomparable Tom Baker as Captain Redbeard Rum ("You have a woman's legs, my lord! I'll wager that those are legs that have never been...",etc, etc")

• Jon Sable, Freelance - Another First Comics title (I bought everything they published at one point). This time it's the ripped-from-the-headlines adventures of a bounty hunter and mercenary for hire, who makes money on the side as a children's author. Creator Mike Grell was familiar to me from a few issues of "Warlord" and "Legion of Superheroes" that I caught glimpses of, but here his work reached a new level of sophistication, mixing realistic characters with engaging action - split between the streets of New York and the plains of Africa. I adored his artwork and writing equally. Nowadays he's probably more famous for his lengthy run on "Green Arrow", but it was here that his gritty style developed. The individual issues, the IDW trades and the two excellent follow up mini-series deserve to be in everyone's collection.

The Colour of Magic - What superlatives can I write about the genius of Sir Terence of Pratchett that haven't been said before? (beyond the brief post here that I wrote when he died in 2015) The Discworld begins here, and although it's by no means his best book (being more of a parody of SF and fantasy tropes), the building blocks of the publishing phenomenon to come are all here. I clearly remember picking up this book from my local WH Smith and marvelling at the cover by the great Josh Kirby, who became synonymous with comic fantasy novels for many years. Sam Vimes is my favourite Discworld lead (harking back to Philip Marlowe perhaps?) but I have always had a soft spot for Rincewind. Without him we would not have had the Luggage, or the Librarian or a host of other memorable characters. My shelves are full of Terry's books and they have brought me over thirty years of pleasure. I wish he was still here able to share his outlook on life with the world.

"So much universe, and so little time". RIP Terry Pratchett

“AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER”

“Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night.”

“The End”.

 

With those final words Sir Terence David John Pratchett, OBE left  us with the same style and dignity that he had always shown throughout his too short life on this mortal coil.

 

It's fitting I guess that thousands of lines of text will now be written about a man whose career and huge body of work showed the enormous power of the written word - and how it can inspire, enlighten, educate and entertain millions across the world.

 

Far better people than I will be able to explain the huge impact Terry had on the literary world and the fantasy genre. Others will speak eloquently about his tireless campaigns for better understanding and support for sufferers of early onset Alzheimer's and for the right to die at a time and place of one's own choosing.

All I can do is offer my own personal memories.

 

I was lucky enough to meet the man himself several times at events and books signings. He was always kind, friendly and pleased to see you, with a boundless enthusiasm for his work and his fans.

Two moments stand out in my mind from the very early days, before he became mega famous.

 

The first time, my friend Neill and I were standing in line to get our books signed (I think Mort had just come out in paperback). This was the time when Josh Kirby was painting all the UK Discworld book covers. Other publishers were leaping on the "comic fantasy" bandwagon and in an attempt get some of the Pratchett readership had also commissioned Kirby to do the covers for the books by American author Craig Shaw Gardner.    

Gardner's books were fantasy parodies similar to the first couple of Discworld novels (personally I think his "Cineverse Cycle" is much more original). Anyway as a bit of a joke, we took one of the Gardner books along to the signing. Terry took it from Neill and turned it over in his hands. "Hmmmm..." he rumbled, then looked up at us with a big grin  - and wrote something in the book and signed it with his usual flourish (he had more time and less signatures to do in those days). After a brief exchange of how much we liked his books and what was he working on next, we moved along and let others have their turn. Curious as to what Terry had written, we waited til we were outside and opened the book. "Nice cover...." it said. *** The second time the actual meeting was much briefer (although Terry did remember us as the ones who had made him sign someone else's book). However what stood out was the talk Terry gave before the signing. He did the usual stuff talking about the latest release and what was coming up (including a reading from the unpublished "Wyrd Sisters" I seem to recall). But then he started to talk about "Mapworld". Now my memory is a little hazy so I can't recall all the details, but consider that this was before Nomes, Jonny Maxwell, Tiffany Aching and The Long Earth - even before most of the Discworld novels were published. This was going to be Terry's new series. "Mapworld" was going to be a kind-of-standard fantasy domain, much like the early Discworld. The difference was that it really *was* a map. The lands huge mountains and valleys were caused by the creases in the pages of The Map. The far north was dominated by The Compass and in the middle of the countryside there were two gigantic steel structures from the dawn of time known as The Staples... Terry enthused about this idea for several minutes. He had obviously put a lot of thought into it and a book or something must be coming soon we thought -  otherwise why would he share it with us all there? But as the months and years passed, "Mapworld" never materialised and I have not been able to find any reference to it on the 'Net. I guess Discworld became so popular that maybe Terry felt he could write the kinds of stories he wanted to tell just within that world. There was no need for another one. Still I always wonder if the remains of the idea are sitting unnoticed in an obscure folder of Terry's computer or in a forgotten folder on a dusty shelf. I guess now we may never know... *** Terry Pratchett's was one of the most popular British authors of all time and his novels and his effect on people's lives will endure. Like the Discworld he created, he transcended his humble beginnings and become so important to so many. I will always remember him for being just a thoroughly nice bloke. To end with, a quote from "Small Gods" seems very apt:

  

"Mountains rise and fall, and under them the Turtle swims onward. Men live and die, and the Turtle Moves. Empires grow and crumble, and the Turtle Moves. Gods come and go, and still the Turtle Moves."

 

Rest in peace Terry - and thank you.

Oh and the Alzheimer's Research UK website is here. Go and donate in Terry's memory.