Future Revisitations

@futurerevisited

Revisiting a love of classic SF enjoyed many decades ago - and so now in the process of discovering scores of superb works (long and short) for the very first time. 232/500.

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Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· 20d

Celebrating the legacy of renowned illustrator Virgil Finlay, born OTD 1914. Here’s a beautifully evocative piece (which I hadn’t come across before) representing J. G. Ballard‘s ‘The Crystal World‘, as advertised in a 1966 edition of ‘Things to Come’, the bulletin of the Science Fiction Book Club.

Illustration by Virgil Finlay inspired by J. G. Ballard’s 1966 novel ‘The Crystal World’ - with a crystalline figure of a man in reaching out in the foreground, with a larger representation of a women’s face (eyes closed) in the background.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· 21d

On to one of Aldiss’s ‘Acid Head War‘ stories. I still harbour a nostalgic fondness for the tales born of encountering them in my late teens - they were quite unlike anything I’d read before. The hallucinatory perplexity of 60s Philip K. Dick braided with Aldiss’s playful use of language. Wonderful.

Image of author Brian Aldiss from the 1960s, overlayed with the title of his 1967 short story ‘The Serpent of Kundalini’.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· 22d

A recent and very welcome acquisition. After reading ‘Inverted World, ‘A Dream of Wessex’, and several fine stories to date in his collection ‘Episodes’, I felt compelled to discover more…. Christopher Priest has fast become one of a handful of authors who has ignited the ‘completist gene’ in me. 🙂

Copy of the SF Masterworks edition of the Christopher Priest novel ‘The Prestige’.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· 23d

I know it’s been commented on several times, but on reading Brian Aldiss’s fine introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of War of the Worlds, I’m struck again by the clever way in which Wells foreshadows the Martian’s demise by our own earthly ‘transient creatures’ in the very first sentence…

Section of the opening paragraph of H.G.Well’s novel ‘The War of the Worlds’:
“No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and
multiply in a drop of water.”

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· 27d

Remembering Robert Sheckley, born OTD 1928. For years I only knew of his work through reading his early novel ‘Immortality Inc.’ (and very good it was too), but picking up the likes of these books has really highlighted the vast & varied extent of his wit & consummate story telling. Superb writer.

Copies of three Robert Sheckley books - ‘The Status Civilisation’, ‘Dimension of Miracles’ and the collection ‘Untouched by Human Hands’

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· 28d

Noting that William F. Nolan was born OTD 1928, I was reminded that recently I finally caught up with Logan’s Run, the 1976 movie based on his best known novel. An enjoyable slice of 70s cinema, although I confess that the eerie ‘Carousel’ sequence that I saw as a youngster still gives me shivers… 🙂

Film poster for the 1976 movie ‘Logan’s Run’, foregrounding actors Michael York and Jenny Agutter.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· 29d

Remembering Christopher Priest, born OTD 1943. Of the novels & stories I’ve read to date, each has left the kind of impact that entails they’ll be re-read with equal pleasure in later years. Oh, and I still feel that this sublime cover, like the novel it illustrates, is a thing of absolute beauty.

Copy of the Pan edition of the Christopher Priest novel ‘A Dream of Wessex’, depicting a male and female against a rural English landscape, albeit their faces have been replaced by oval ‘window’ type spaces through which a similar landscape is represented.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jul 12

Now revisiting The Book of the New Sun and embarking on ‘The Claw of the Conciliator’, which should keep me happily engaged for the next week or two. And perhaps true to form, the second volume begins in a way that for me was completely unexpected - but that’s half the fun of reading this series….

First volume of Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun series - a combined volume (from the Gollancz SF Madterworks series) containing the first 3 books: Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Conciliator.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jul 11

This was exceptional. Unequivocally horrific though & a story that’s (as they say) not for the squeamish. Christopher Priest‘s early Grand Guignol masterpiece. In counterpoint, his afterword includes an anecdote about discussing a film version with Amicus, which ends up being absolutely hilarious!

Copy of the collection ‘Episodes’ by Christopher Priest, which contains the 1972 short story ‘The Head and the Hand’.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jul 10

I can well imagine that, in years to come, many of these would still sit very comfortably in my Top 10 most beloved books… Remembering John Wyndham, born OTD 1903.

Copies of the recent Penguin editions of John Wyndham’s ‘Chocky’, The Midwich Cuckoos’, The Chrysalids’, ‘The Day of the Triffids’ and ‘The Kraken Wakes’

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jul 9

A real pleasure to rediscover Ballard’s ‘The Reptile Enclosure’ after an interval of several decades. A tale which takes a fairly prosaic setting - a crowd sunbathing on a beach - but quickly turns the familiar inside out. And the intervening years has not blunted the impact of that final scene…

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jul 8

Finished Algis Budry’s 1960 novel ‘Rogue Moon’ today. Unremittingly bleak perhaps, but written with an urgency that engaged me right up to the harsh but poignant final chapter. I can appreciate it divides opinions, but this reader was very pleased to have undertaken this particular moon shot…

Copy of the Gollancz SF Masterworks edition of Algis Budry’s novel ‘Rogue Moon’. Cover depicts an image of the full moon overlayed with a mesh-like pattern, which glints as if made of metal.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jul 8

The one that always stuck with me….

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jul 7

Today’s welcome arrival - Gene Wolfe’s ‘The Fifth Head of Cerberus’. The title alone has had me intrigued me for years 🙂 Unlikely to get to this anytime soon though, I’ve still a further three Book of the New Sun titles on the TBR list to savour first… Happy Days.

Copy of the Tor hardback edition of Gene Wolfe’s ‘The Fifth Head of Cerberus’, a collection of three linked novellas.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jul 6

I‘ve yet to catch up with Jack Finney’s 1955 novel (reissued as a SF Masterwork some years ago I see), but I caught the 1978 adaptation the other night & thought it was tremendous. Donald Sutherland in suitably perplexed ‘Don’t Look Now’ mode too. And that film poster is a sublime piece in itself.

Film poster of the 1978 adaptation of Jack Finery’s The Body Snatchers. Silhouettes of human figures in the distance, mirrored by another silhouetted row in the foreground, interlinked by root-like growths across the intervening ground.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jul 4

Back to Gibson’s ‘Burning Chrome’ collection today (a ‘gift that keeps on giving’ as they say, as the stories are uniformly excellent). This time it was the 1985 novelette ‘A Winter Market’, a sombre albeit beautifully crafted tale. And the use of Philip K. Dick’s term ‘Kipple’ raised a smile too 🙂

Photo of author William Gibson (circa 1985).

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jul 3

Dipped into this Masterworks edition today, starting with ‘Shambleau‘, a wonderful reimagining of the Medusa myth. And I can easily see why Northwest Smith is frequently pitched as the ‘Hans Solo’ of the Pulp Era. Colourful & highly evocative prose - will revisiting more (no pun intended 🙂) soon…

Illustration from the November 1933 issue of Weird Tales, depicting the two main characters from C.L. Moore’s short story ‘Shambleau’ - a man named Northwest Smith attempting to flee from a creature called the Shambleau, whose hair is composed of elongated worms which are reaching out towards him.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jul 2

Celebrating Cyril M. Kornbluth, born OTD 1923. His Hall of Fame tale ‘The Little Black Bag’, in which a future medical kit inadvertently falls into the wrong hands, is one of the finest of its type - smartly written, darkly satirical, & escalating abruptly to a truly tragic & horrifying ending.

Copy of the first volume of The Science Fiction Hall of Fame anthology (edited by Robert SIlverberg), which includes C.M. Kornbluth's story ‘The Little Black Bag’ as one of the celebrated entries.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jul 1

Today’s selection from Aldiss’s ‘Complete Stories’ tome was this exceptional mood piece from 1966, later utilised as the opening chapter of his novel ‘Barefoot in the Head’. It’s a far cry from the unconventional nature of the later chapters though! Illustration here by the fabulous Keith Roberts 👍

Line drawing Illustration by Keith Roberts of a Cathedral facade, which acccompanied Brian Aldiss’s story ‘Just Passing Through’ in a 1966 issue of the British magazine ‘SF Impulse’.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jun 30

Just read the award-winning ‘The Girl Who Was Plugged In’ from this brilliant collection of stories by the acclaimed James Tiptree Jnr (Alice Sheldon). A truly astonishing story - as grim and disturbingly prescient as the Cyberpunk tales it neatly predates by well over a decade. Recommended.

Penguin Classics paperback edition of the collection ‘Warm Worlds and Otherwise’ by James Tiptree Jnr (Alice Sheldon). Abstract cover image credited to Tom Etherington).

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jun 28

Just finished John Wyndham’s 1968 novel ‘Chocky’, a slim work much lighter in tone than the apocalyptic tales that made his name in the 50s. Here the alien ‘infiltration’ is generally a more benign affair, but with a healthy side-swipe at the potential for human greed & self-interest along the way.

Copy of the Penguin Modern Classics edition of the John Wyndham novel ‘Chocky’, the cover depicting a sketchy image of a boy scratched in chalk outlines on a blackboard.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jun 26

I have fond recollections of reading this when it was serialised in Galaxy (yes, I’m feeling very aged at the moment :)). I think I was drawn to this having recently picked up a copy of the panther edition of ‘The Gold at the Starbow’s End’ - a great collection of stories 👍

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jun 25

Still one of the best and most effective opening lines of any novel… Celebrating the enduring legacy of George Orwell (pen name of Eric Arthur Blair) who was born on this day in 1903.

Accompanying a portrait photograph of the author, the opening line of George Orwell’s 1949 novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’:
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking
thirteen."

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jun 25

Had an excellent month - short stories included William Gibson’s ‘Hinterland’, Sheckley’s ‘Cost of Living’ and Bradbury’s ‘The Pkayground’ (a strong closing tale to ‘The Illustrated Man’). Also finally embarked on the first volume of Wolfe’s ‘Book of the New Sun’ - I’m accordingly hooked 🙂

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jun 24

Remembering UK Astronomer & author Fred Hoyle, born OTD 1915. An extensive body of work spanning several decades, including the brilliant Andromeda novels co-authored with John Elliot. Here’s two Corgi reissues which I’ve held on to over the years (as you can see, they’ve seen a bit of action… 🙂)

Corgi paperback editions (from the mid-70s) of two books written by Fred Hoyle & John Elliot - ‘A For Andromeda’ and its sequel ‘The Andromeda Breakthrough’.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jun 23

Just on the way out of the local bookshop & spotted this collection in the ‘bargain’ section. Having heard so many good things about Moore’s evocative writing style (and particularly the opening story ‘Shambleau’), I couldn’t help but pick this up. And at $2 it seemed a no-brainer anyway… 😀

Copy of the ‘Golden Age Masterworks’ edition of the C.L. Moore collection ‘Northwest of Earth’ (image depicts a figure in a cape on a curving shoreline with towering structures dominating the skyline).

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jun 21

Just read another stunning tale from this Robert Sheckley collection. ’Cost of Living‘ neatly explores the psychological implications of a future consumerist society, in which having access to everything ultimately equates to the feeling of having nothing. Brilliant ‘light & shade’ storytelling.

Copy of the Robert Sheckley collection ‘Untouched by Human Hands’. Cover art is a reproduction of ‘Untitled’ (1965-67) by Saul Steinberg (a drawing in dark ink, showing a series of representations of human figures and abstract shapes on the stepped walls of a curved archway).

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jun 20

Finally caught up today with the last story from Ray Bradbury’s ‘The Illustrated Man’. Some absolute gems in this collection. ‘The Veldt’ certainly lived up to its reputation, but it was also great to discover the likes of ‘Zero Hour’ & ‘The Last Night of the World’, my own personal favourite.

Copy of Ray Bradbury’s story collection ‘The Illustrated Man’ - cover depicts a stylised ‘tattoo’ type illustration of a dragon, with its body etched in equally stylised flames.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jun 19

Remembering artist Bryan Kneale, born OTD 1930. An astonishingly successful career as an award-winning painter & sculptor, whose varied output also extended to these striking Penguin book covers for his brother Nigel Kneale. Some things are truly timeless.

Penguin book editions of the Nigel Kneale Quatermass serials ‘Quatermass II’ and ‘Quatermass and the Pit’, with covers adorned by the artwork of his brother Bryan Kneale.

Future Revisitations@futurerevisited· Jun 18

Back to the Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick, a collection that continues to stand for this reader as the gift that gives on giving. Today’s selection is the classic 1956 novelette ‘The Minority Report’ - a tale of mutant precognition set against a quasi-dystopian backdrop. Classic PKD territory.