The Critic: H. G. Wells gripes about copyright infringement in 1898 letter to editor

Here’s a serious but hilarious letter seminal science fiction author H. G. Wells wrote to the editors of The Critic, a British literary periodical, in January 1898, complaining about copyright infringement of his recently published serial, The War of the Worlds.

The Editors of The Critic:

I have received a rather startling cutting from the Boston Post through the Authors' Clipping Bureau. The cutting is dated Dec. 27, the accompanying invoice is dated Dec. 31, the Boston post-mark is Jan. 7, and it has reached me here to-day. From it I learn that my story The War of the Worlds “as applied to New England, showing how the strange voyagers from Mars visited Boston and vicinity,” is now appearing in the Post. This adaptation is a serious infringement of my copyright and has been made altogether without my participation or consent. I feel bound to protest in the most emphatic way against this manipulation of my work in order to fit it to the requirements of the local geography.

Yet it is possible that this affair is not so much downright wickedness as a terrible mistake. The story originally appeared simultaneously in the American Cosmopolitan and the British Pearson's Magazine. Mr. Dewey of the New York Journal called upon me in November last and arranged for its serial republication in the evening edition of that paper. In our agreement (of which I have his signed memorandum) it was stipulated that the publication should be with the consent of the American publishers and that no alterations in the text of the story should be made without my consent. On Dec. 26 I received a cablegram from the Boston Post making an offer for the serial reproduction of The War of the Worlds “as New York Journal.” To this I cabled “Agreed.” And now I find too late that my story has been flaunted before the cultivated public of Boston, disguised and disarrayed beyond my imagining. What has been done to it? I fail to see how a rag of conviction can remain in it after this outrage. I do not know what a remote Englishman may do in such a matter. At any rate I beg you will give me the opportunity of disavowing any share in this novel development of the local color business.

H. G. Wells
Heatherlea, Worcester Park
Surrey, England, 21 Jan. 1898

The letter was originally published in the 12 March 1898 issue of The Critic.

Dire Planet Compendium: Geltar & The Geltar Whip

Pulp science fiction author Joel Jenkins has posted the third entry in his Dire Planet Compendium: Geltar & The Geltar Whip. The compendium, illustrated by Noel Tauzon, is derived from Jenkins’ Dire Planet series, a collection of three sword & planet books inspired by Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs that chronicles swashbuckling hero Garvey Dire and his adventures on the Red Planet.

Directors of Heinlein Prize Trust have $weet gig

Last December, I posted the compensation figures for the top-paid employee at each of four national professional writer associations: SFWA, Horror Writers Association, Mystery Writers of America and Romance Writers of America. In short, I concluded that the executive director of the RWA, who earned more than $100,000 in Tax Year 2007/2008, has a lovely gig!

Well, it seems that some of the directors of the Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust, a private foundation based in Houston that rewards accomplishments in commercial space activities, also have a sweet gig. Check out these Per Week of Work (p/w/w) numbers, all based on IRS Form 990 tax forms filed by the Trust and available for public inspection thanks to GuideStar and the Foundation Center:

Calendar Year 2003
• Art Dula, paid $35,000 for 10 hours p/w/w
• Buckner Hightower, paid $35,000 for 5 hours p/w/w
• James M. Vaughn, Jr., paid $35,000 for 5 hours p/w/w

Calendar Year 2004
• Art Dula, paid $95,000 for 20 hours p/w/w
• Buckner Hightower, paid $74,500 for 5 hours p/w/w
• James M. Vaughn, Jr., paid $37,000 for 5 hours p/w/w

Calendar Year 2005
• Art Dula, paid $147,000 for 20 hours p/w/w
• Buckner Hightower, paid $64,500 for 5 hours p/w/w
• James M. Vaughn, Jr., paid $35,000 for 5 hours p/w/w

Calendar Year 2006
• Art Dula, paid $61,000 for 20 hours p/w/w
• Buckner Hightower, paid $35,000 for 5 hours p/w/w
• James M. Vaughn, Jr., paid $35,000 for 5 hours p/w/w

Calendar Year 2007
Neither GuideStar nor the Foundation Center has the paperwork for Calendar Year 2007.

Calendar Year 2008
• Art Dula, paid $35,000 for 20 hours p/w/w
• Buckner Hightower, paid $55,000 for 5 hours p/w/w
• James M. Vaughn, Jr., paid $35,000 for 5 hours p/w/w

Speaking of rewarding accomplishments in commercial space activities, the Heinlein Prize Trust recently announced that it has made "a secured investment in Sea Launch Company, a California based commercial launch services provider that has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization since mid-2009."

"The Record of Currupira," a 1954 short story by Robert Abernathy

Thanks to the folks at Project Gutenberg and ManyBooks.net, you can read or download "The Record of Currupira," a short story written by American science fiction author Robert Abernathy (1924-1990). Originally published in the January 1954 issue of Fantastic Universe magazine, the story revolves around two scientists, a linguist and an archeologist, who make a surprising discovery in relics recovered from a dead Martian civilization on the Red Planet. Here are the opening lines of "The Record of Currupira":

James Dalton strode briskly through the main exhibit room of New York's Martian Museum, hardly glancing to right or left though many displays had been added since his last visit. The rockets were coming home regularly now and their most valuable cargoes -- at least from a scientist's point of view -- were the relics of an alien civilization brought to light by the archeologists excavating the great dead cities.

One new exhibit did catch Dalton's eye. He paused to read the label with interest...

Tinkoo Valia of the blog Variety SF has a detailed summary of “The Record of Currupira” and gives the story a rating of B.

Frontera, a 1984 SF novel by Lewis Shiner. But is it cyberpunk?

Frontera (1984), a science fiction novel by Lewis Shiner.

Pictured: Paperback original (New York: Baen Books, 1984) 286 p., $2.95. Cover art by Vincent Di Fate. Here is the promotional piece from the back cover:

Kane: Unwitting human weapon in a struggle for new technology.

A lot of dreams died when NASA went belly-up. One was Frontera, the first permanent Mars settlement. Though almost a hundred colonists refused to board when the last shuttle left for Earth, they were ghosts now.

At least, that's how Kane figured it -- until the giant conglomerate Pulsystems mounted the first space flight in ten years, destination Mars. The hardware was aging, the mission high-risk and low-redundancy. But for Kane, corporate mercenary in Pulsystem's hire, there was no backing down.

And conditions at Frontera were stranger than anyone could have guessed. There was treasure on Mars, treasure that Pulsystems wanted -- and that Kane found himself programmed to bring home. Whether he willed it or no, he was a weapon… in a war he'd never joined.

According to Science Fiction in the Real World (1990), a work of literary criticism by Norman Spinrad, Frontera “rises to literary art, first because several viewpoint characters are rendered with skill and sensitivity as complex people, and second because Kane, the central combat-capable figure, is a poor bastard who’s had his head screwed with in various unpleasant ways, so that he is both hero and victim, doing his deeds of derring-do as best he can with a headful of broken glass.”

In his essay titled “Inside the Movement: Past, Present, and Future,” published in the book Fiction 2000: Cyberpunk and the Future of Narrative (1992), Shiner wrote:

Frontera dealt with technology, among other things, and that was obviously the reason I’d been labeled a cyberpunk. That, and geographical proximity to [Bruce] Sterling and my work for his radical polemizine, Cheap Truth. In my own mind, however, the hard science of Frontera was simply a belief system to be played with […]. In other words, I was already uncomfortable with where the battle lines were being drawn. […] If I have enemies, they are the writers who regurgitate the tired, empty SF clichés which they have swallowed whole: writers like Mike Resnick and Spider Robinson and David Brin. Writers who still believe in galactic empires and whose aliens behave like white male North Americans in special-effects make-up. […]

Let me emphasize here that I am no Luddite. I believe that technology must be a part of the milieu in which modern fiction is set. To ignore technology is unrealistic, at the very least; to fail to see the advantages it can offer is foolish. The question here is whether technology itself is the only fit subject matter for SF, or, even more strongly put, can a literature principally focused on technology be completely satisfying? […]

Cyberpunk has turned into something of a Frankenstein’s monster. In the last year I’ve seen the New York Times use the word as a synonym for hacker. I’ve seen lists of “core cyberpunk” writers that contain the most improbable names: Lucius Shepard, Michael Swanwick, Greg Benford, even Kim Stanley Robinson. There is the aforementioned cyberpunk issue of Keyboard magazine, featuring interviews with, well, basically a lot of guys in black leather who use synthesizers, MIDIs […] and digital sampling. There are the comics, the games, the magazine articles, the angry letters.

I don’t see myself, or my work, in any of this. I do see myself as part of a literary movement, however […]

Lewis Shiner’s novel Frontera was nominated for the Nebula Award and the Philip K. Dick Award back in the mid-1980s.

Events of Martian Rails: Lake of the Sun!

Martian Rails (2009), the crayon board game manufactured by Mayfair Games about railroading on the Red Planet in which players build tracks and haul freight, has a long list of events to which players can respond in order to generate revenue for their rail companies. For example:

Lake of the Sun! -- The Mars government is stocking the Tamoioz Reservoirs. The government will pay for the delivery of Fish to any one of the blue, triangular reservoirs. The delivery must be made to one of the three mileposts closest to a reservoir. After the delivery, the train may reverse direction.

Martian Rails is loaded with references to Martian SF!

The Biographical Dictionary of Authors Guild Insiders: Simon Marcus

Yesterday’s political rally in Searchlight, Nevada, reminded me that it is time to post another entry in The Biographical Dictionary of Authors Guild Insiders. The Authors Guild “insiders” are those senior staff members who worked in smoke-filled backrooms with the Guild's publishing allies to craft a spurious legal agreement in a brazen attempt to sell the copyrighted works of tens of thousands of non-Guild writers to Google for $125 million. Here’s the entry for Simon Marcus:

Simon Marcus, who consults with the Guild, has extensive knowledge of book databases and database technology as the chief operating officer of The Library Corporation [TLC], a library database services provider. Mr. Marcus played a particularly significant role in consulting on database security issues. [The Public Index]

Simon Marcus brings a depth of operations experience to his position at TLC, with a career based on successful project management and process improvement for prominent organizations. Mr. Marcus joined TLC in early 2007 with a working knowledge of the company, having previously served as TLC's Director of Implementation. Before returning to TLC, Mr. Marcus served as Chief Operating Officer of the Authors Guild, the oldest and largest American organization for published authors. Before joining the Guild, Mr. Marcus was Projects Manager for the New York office of AM+A, a leading Web design firm. Prior to that, he served the YMCA of Greater New York, where he combined six customer service units into one department processing over $16 million in annual revenues. Mr. Marcus's career began in MetLife's Real Estate Investments Group as a Business Process Analyst. He went on to manage resident services at MetLife's Peter Cooper Village/Stuyvesant Town, the largest real estate complex in Manhattan. Mr. Marcus holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Bard College (NY). [The Library Corporation]

Previous entries include biographical sketches of the Authors Guild’s executive director, Paul Aiken, general counsel, Jan Constantine, and director of legal services, Anita Fore.

BBC Radio 7 to re-broadcast adaptation of Stephen Baxter’s 1996 novel Voyage

BBC Radio 7’s Seventh Dimension programme will re-broadcast a stellar 1999 radio adaptation of British hard science fiction author Stephen Baxter's award-winning alternate history novel Voyage (1996), in which President John F. Kennedy survives his assassination attempt and the first manned mission to Mars blasts off in the year 1985. Adapted by Dirk Maggs and starring William Roberts and Laurel Lefkow, Voyage will be broadcast in five 30-minute segments, from Monday, March 29, through Friday, April 3, 2010, at 6:00 pm and Midnight (GMT):

• 1969-71 Decision. The first manned Mars mission awaits in this alternative history of the US space programme.

• 1972-80 Trajectories. Geologist Natalie York battles for a seat on the first manned Mars mission.

• 1980 Apollo N. The first manned mission to Mars hangs on the NERVA nuclear booster test flight.

• 1981-85 Approaches. Natalie York's hopes of a seat on the first manned Mars mission look bleak.

• 1985-86 Project Ares. The first manned Mars mission blasts off on a perilous voyage of discovery.

Presumably, the broadcast will be archived and available on-demand for a very limited time through BBC7’s Listen Again feature. In other words, plan ahead!

“Martian Avenger,” a 1939 short story written by John Russell Fearn

Thanks to Doc Mars of the amazing French website Mars & la Science Fiction, you can download and read British science fiction author John Russell Fearn’s short story “Martian Avenger” (pdf) as it was originally written under the pseudonym Polton Cross and published in the April 1939 issue of Amazing Stories magazine. Here are the opening lines:

       “MR. HALWORTHY is in the laboratory, Miss Crawford. Working late, I guess.”

Vera Crawford nodded her thanks as the old Institute janitor resumed his mop and pail. She strode on purposefully down the white enameled corridor, finally flung open the green door at the far end.

"Who the hell's opened that door?" demanded Halworthy's irate voice. "I don't want any cold air in here, and-- Why hello, Vera!"...

Love the beautiful interior artwork by Julian Krupa. Thanks, Doc Mars!

Artist Frank Frazetta: “My son is an alien”

Well, it’s official. Frank Frazetta Jr., the troubled son of beloved legendary fantasy artist Frank Frazetta Sr., is looney tunes. In a lengthy and much-needed interview with the Pocono Record of Pennsylvania that clarifies various rumors surrounding the well-being of the 82-year-old artist and the nasty family feud over his work and legacy that has pitted three of his children against the fourth, Frank Frazetta Sr. said, in part, "My son [Frank Jr.] is an alien. There's no telling what he'll do. He's been like that for, I don't know, how many years.”

A podcast of Colin P. Davies’ 2009 novelette “The Certainty Principle”

In celebration of its 200th episode, science fiction podcast website Beam Me Up aired a reading of “The Certainty Principle” (mp3, 54 min.), a recent novelette written by British SF author Colin P. Davies. Published in the February 2009 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine, "The Certainty Principle" revolves around a space naval officer named John Hale, who checks into the Red Planet Low-Gravity Retreat on Earth after being dishonorably discharged because of a fatal incident on Mars. A tale about the political and cultural tension between mother-born humans and vat-born beings, there’s plenty of action, a bit of romance, and even a sleek maroon Porsche!

Colin P. Davies is the author of two other stories about Mars: “A Touch of Earth” (1995) and “The Girl with the Four-Dimensional Head” (2004), both of which were published in his collection Tall Tales on the Iron Horse (2008).

Before a man wrote A Princess of Mars (1912), a woman wrote A King of Mars (1908)

A few years before well-known pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote his famous novel A Princess of Mars (1912), a virtually unknown American woman named Avis Hekking penned a long-forgotten novel entitled A King of Mars (London: John Long, 1908). I’ve never read Hekking’s novel, in which "a small metal globe is sent to earth with a description of the advanced civilization on Mars," and I can’t even find an image of the cover (bound in red cloth stamped in gold on front cover and spine), but I did discover an enlightening review that was published in The Academy, Vol. 74 (1908), a British literary publication:

It is unfortunate that Miss Hekking should begin her novel with a preface and a prologue. Both are unnecessary, for they only emphasise the laboured artificiality of the story that follows. Not that she writes badly, but the authoress has not convinced us that Mars was the natural sphere for the activities of her characters. Beylo, Amklu, Zarma, and Anayra might have lived in London or Ruritania, to judge by their language, which at times suggests Wardour Street and at others an eighteenth-century drawing-room. Anayra, the villain of the piece, succeeds so easily that the reader is amazed, and from being an unpopular prince he becomes King of Mars by means of an academic rebellion in which no blood is shed. Beylo, who is the mouthpiece of the story, is the slave of Zarma, with whom she is, of course, in love, and in his service she risks her life as often as it is necessary to keep the story going. Airships are inevitable in a story of this kind, for it is the accepted axiom that the unearthly spheres learn of earthly inventions and improve upon them.

The people of Mars, according to Avis Hekking, know a great deal of this earth, and there are many references to our planet in the novel. These airships, we are given to understand, render battles unnecessary, even when the mysterious ammunition "the White Fire" is discarded because of its ferocious thoroughness. Thus everybody is conspiring against someone else, because everybody is too humane to employ the obvious method for the destruction of the enemy. In this odd atmosphere is the scene of A King of Mars laid, and even the multiplicity of familiar adventures does not excite the reader. In an imaginative story all the imagination should not be on the part of the reader. He rightly demands a certain amount of plausibility from the novelist, and the writer of A King of Mars does not provide it. Her style is better than her powers of invention.

For some biographical bits about Avis Hekking, check out this research conducted by freelance British author and editor Steve Holland of the blog Bear Alley.

"The Mole Rats of Mars," a new medical SF short story by Alex Hernandez

Alex Hernandez, a writer who has given up trying to publish (“I’m neither persistent nor talented enough”) but showcases weird short stories on his blog Ibis Ink, recently posted a new medical science fiction story entitled “The Mole Rats of Mars” (2010). I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but here are the opening lines:

       DR. ESTER ROJAS gracefully hurried through the bustling cobblestone streets of uptown New Colorado, which sat within the bowl of a Martian crater. The scent of pine and the whistle and trill of sparrows flavored the light artificial breeze. The uptown area looked like a small, idyllic lakeside town with quaint flat-roofed, red brick buildings that seemed transported from America’s past. Even the Xan Headquarters were carefully designed to resemble a majestic old City Hall...

Hernandez would appreciate any comments or feedback.

Utopia: 12 German Mars covers from the 1950s

I have compiled a gallery on Flickr of twelve Martian SF&F covers, all from the 1950s and in German. Most of the works were originally written in English by authors that you will recognize. In the Deserts of Mars (1957), by Alf Tjörnsen, is my favorite cover.

Metallica guitarist a player in legendary artist Frank Frazetta’s family feud?

Heavy metal music website The Metal Den has a bizarre story about Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett’s alleged involvement in the nasty family feud over the work and legacy of legendary fantasy artist Frank Frazetta. Apparently, the story is derived from a new European fan website called The Ghost of Ellie, which is named for the artist's late wife and alleges that “crimes have been committed against Frank Frazetta Sr. and Frank Jr. and his immediate family.” I’m willing to believe the speculation that Hammett is the private collector who paid $1 million for Frazetta’s “Conan the Conqueror” painting in 2009, but some of the story sounds like it may have been composed in a sanitarium.

“Freeing Spirit,” a new Doctor Who-inspired short story by Stuart Atkinson

British amateur astronomer and writer Stuart Atkinson just posted a new science fiction short story titled “Freeing Spirit” (2010) on his literary blog, Barsoom Tales. Inspired by the television series Doctor Who, the tale revolves around the rescue of Spirit, NASA's trapped rover, from the sands of Mars. Here are the opening lines:

“Hold tight, this might be a bit, um, bumpy...” Rose heard the Doctor shout over the groaning roar of the TARDIS’ engines. She knew that if he was worried enough about the landing to warn her, it was going to be hard. Nodding her understanding she clutched at the control desk, grabbing it so hard her knuckles turned white...

Stuart Atkinson also maintains a personal webpage, where you’ll find links to his astro-poetry, as well as the science blog Cumbrian Sky, which focuses on the night sky and space exploration.

Original contract between ERB and his publisher for first edition of The Chessmen of Mars (1922)

Barry R. Levin, a rare and collectible book dealer in Santa Monica, California, who specializes in science fiction and fantasy literature, has an intriguing listing on AbeBooks: The original two-page contract between pulp author Edgar Rice Burroughs and his publisher, A. C. McClurg & Co. of Chicago, for the publication of the first edition of The Chessmen of Mars (1922). The contract, signed by ERB, is dated September 6, 1922. Price: $6,500.

“Earth Sees Mars,” a 1935 novelette written by Eugene George Key

About eighteen months ago, I came across several references to Mars Mountain (1935), an obscure collection of three science fiction/fantasy novelettes written by an American fellow named Eugene George Key. I quickly learned that this book, published by Fantasy Publications of Everett, Pennsylvania, is important because it is considered “the first science fiction specialty press book” and “the first small press science fiction hardcover.” Nevertheless, it took me more than a year to find summaries of the three novelettes. Here is how an Australian reader described one of them, “Earth Sees Mars,” in 2007:

“Earth Sees Mars” is the longest story in the book. It tells of Professor Williams, who builds a spaceship that travels on light waves, and travels to Mars accompanied by two of his students, Larry and Benny. They land beside a tower from which steps a man dressed like Julius Caesar. He is Marlin Blon, the chief scientist of Mars, while the tower houses the planet’s only scientific laboratory. While he’s telling the travelers about life on Mars, his grandson enters. His face “did slant back on each side from the center, such as does the blade of an axe,” and his nose is slit, “giving the impression of being two noses, side by side on his face, with one nostril in each nose... attached in much the same manner as a pair of Siamese twins,” yet he is “not unpleasant to the Earthly eye.”

A beam of light appears in the sky that makes the Professor’s spaceship disappear, then the tower starts to vanish, too. The Earthmen and Martians escape to an underground chamber. Marlin’s granddaughter Malwa arrives. She too is attractive “in spite of the slightly double nose.” The Earthmen learn that the ray was fired by the Helgae, the only tribe on Mars still at war with the others. Larry and Benny decide to break into their tower and steal the plans for their weapon. A pitched battle ensues, with lots of flesh-burning liquid hosed about and even a swordfight. All ends happily, and Larry tells Malwa he intends to take her to earth and marry her, to which she exclaims, “Isn’t life wonderful!”

Pictured: Cover of Mars Mountain.

Author Solutions executives trying to re-write personal horror stories into fairy tales

In a recent conversation about why just being good at your job is not enough, Keith Ogorek, senior vice president of marketing for the high-profile, Indianapolis-based, self-publishing firm Author Solutions Inc. (ASI), told CNN that more people are using self-publishing as a way of promoting their personal brand. Ironic, considering that two top executives at Author Solutions, president and chief executive officer Kevin Weiss and chief financial officer Kevin Gregory, are trying to re-write their own personal horror stories into fairy tales. You see, both Weiss and Gregory were accused of financial fraud in earlier chapters of their respective careers. To make a long story short:

• Kevin M. Weiss was fired as president of famed antivirus software maker McAfee in October 2006 in a scandal over accounting discrepancies in stock options grants. Weiss was exonerated of any wrongdoing and named as CEO of Author Solutions in December 2007.

• Kevin G. Gregory stepped down as chief financial officer of well-known information solutions company ProQuest in November 2005, shortly before a class-action lawsuit accused him and several other top executives of improperly editing the company's financial books. The lawsuit was settled and Gregory was named CFO of Author Solutions in October 2008.

Presumably, the personal stories that Weiss and Gregory are trying to re-write have similar plots: Grow Author Solutions. Avoid financial horrors. Accumulate fairy-tale wealth. Good luck, guys!

Breaking bad: Interview with John Carter of Mars actor Bryan Cranston

The entertainment website Collider.com has a recent interview with actor Bryan Cranston, who plays the role of a U.S. Civil War Union colonel in the upcoming, long-awaited Disney/Pixar film John Carter of Mars (2012), starring actor Taylor Kitsch as John Carter, actress Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris, actor Willem Dafoe as Tars Tarkas, and actor Daryl Sabara as a young Edgar Rice Burroughs. Here is a relevant excerpt from the interview:

Question: Can you talk about who you play in the film and are you excited to be in this huge movie?

Bryan Cranston: Very excited. I liked the script first and foremost. That’s why I went in to meet with Andrew. And then his infectious enthusiasm for the movie and for characters and it just... I caught his bug. And I said, yes, so I’ll be a part of it. I’ll do whatever you want me to do. And so I play, during the Civil War America time... this story takes place part-time Civil War America and Mars, which has no time. So my character is a Northern Colonel who is dogging John Carter to be a part of the government. We need his help. He’s an excellent tracker and marksman and that sort of thing. And in the Arizona Territories, the Apaches are running wild, so I need his help and he won’t do it. He doesn’t want to have anything to do with anything. His family was obliterated during the War. It was horrible and he wants to be a part of no man’s government. So I keep after him and keep after him and track him down and have a conversation with him and have to use some physical force on him and he keeps breaking out and I keep tracking him down. And finally we end up in a cave and in this cave are some magical things that happen. And that transports him and it’s really quite fascinating and I look forward to it.

Apparently, the music for the film will be scored by Oscar Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino.

Commodities of Martian Rails: Eco-Biotiques

Martian Rails (2009), the crayon board game manufactured by Mayfair Games about railroading on the Red Planet in which players build tracks and haul freight, has a long list of cool commodities that players can transport to generate revenue for their rail companies. For example:

Eco-Biotiques -- Bioengineered plants utilized to terraform and change the ecology of Mars. Technicians began with modified algae and lichen. As the atmosphere thickened, they progressed to flowering plants. The earliest and henceforth heartiest flora, came from isolated settlements deep in the Mariner Valley.

Martian Rails is loaded with references to Martian SF!

1953 reprint of Ray Bradbury’s classic short story "The Million Year Picnic"

Thanks to the folks at the Internet Archive, you can read or download "The Million Year Picnic,” a classic 1946 short story written by Ray Bradbury that was reprinted in the Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 1953 issue of Tops in Science Fiction magazine. Set on the Red Planet, the plot revolves around the Thomas family from Earth, who plan to take a boat ride down the silky canals past the dead Martian cities for a day of fine food and fishing. Here are the opening lines:

SOMEHOW the idea was brought up by Mom that perhaps the whole family would enjoy a fishing trip. But they weren't Mom's words; Timothy knew that. They were Dad's words, and Mom used them for him, somehow.

Dad shuffled his feet in a clutter of Martian pebbles, and agreed. So immediately there was a tumult and a shouting, and quick as jets the camp was tucked into capsules and containers, Mom slipped into traveling jumpers and blouse, Dad stuffed his pipe full with trembling hands, his eyes on the Martian sky, and the three boys piled yelling into the motorboat, none of them really keeping an eye on Mom and Dad, except Timothy...

Note that the 1953 reprint includes a beautiful, full-page piece of artwork, pictured above! Does anyone know the artist?

[via Tinkoo Valia of Variety SF]

Higher e-book prices mean readers will pay for Random House CEO’s new $3 million McMansion

While members of the working class are struggling to provide their families with quality, affordable reading material, at least two individuals will not have to worry about the prospect of higher e-book prices: Random House CEO Markus Dohle and his wife Karin. According to online sources, the German couple bought a 6,000-square-foot, six-bedroom, seven-bathroom McMansion at 20 Wayside Lane in Scarsdale, Westchester County, New York, for $3.1 million on January 20, 2010. The property taxes: more than $11,000.

Haffner Press to reprint more Mars stories by Leigh Brackett

Wonderful news! Later this year, Haffner Press of Royal Oak, Michigan, will publish a new collection of old science fiction and fantasy stories by the undisputed Queen of Space Opera, Leigh Brackett (1915-1978). Titled Shannach – The Last: Farewell to Mars, the collection will reprint sixteen Brackett stories from classic pulp magazines such as Planet Stories, Startling Stories, and Thrilling Wonder Stories, including several tales set on Mars:

• The Last Days of Shandakor (Startling Stories, April 1952)

• Mars Minus Bisha (Planet Stories, January 1954)

• The Road to Sinharat (Amazing Stories, May 1963)

• Purple Priestess of the Mad Moon (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1964)

The collection will also include vintage illustrations by artists Ed Emshwiller and Frank Kelly Freas from the original pulp magazines.

Shannach – The Last: Farewell to Mars will be the third collection published by Haffner Press that reprints some of Leigh Brackett’s classic tales of Martian SF&F. The earlier volumes are Martian Quest: The Early Brackett (2002) and Lorelei of the Red Mist: Planetary Romances (2008).

Pre-order Shannach – The Last: Farewell to Mars now!

[via Ian Randal Strock of SFScope]

Red Planet Noir, the new retro Sci-Fi detective novel by D.B. Grady, released for Kindle

Freelance writer and novelist D.B. Grady recently announced that his new debut novel Red Planet Noir (Brown Street Press, 2009) has been released for the Kindle e-book reader, which means the book can also be read on desktops, iPhones and Blackberrys! A hard-boiled detective tale written in the pulp tradition of the 1930s, Red Planet Noir is “a Raymond Chandler mystery in a Robert Heinlein world.” You can read Chapter 1 (pdf) for free.

Grady, who calls the Kindle “easily the best investment you will ever make,” is in the third week of his Red Planet Noir Blog Tour. Rumor has it Grady will be a guest blogger here, at Marooned, later in the month!

Martian Natural Spring Water

Perfected by millions of years of galactic evolution and untouched by human civilization, this brand of natural water originates from the pristine southern polar cap on the Red Planet. The water is sourced from a subterranean spring underneath the Brackett Glacier, where it is naturally filtered through a 12,000-foot-deep crevice of Aresian ice. Harvested and transported with the latest environmental technologies, Martian Natural Spring Water is the most salubrious liquid available on Earth.

"City of the Dead," a 1950 novelette written by G. M. Martin

Thanks to the folks at the Internet Archive, you can read or download "City of the Dead,” a novelette written by G. M. Martin that was originally published in the Vol. 24, No. 1, January 1950 issue of Amazing Stories magazine. Set on the Red Planet, the plot revolves around a renegade scientist who leads a small expedition to a lost Martian city, where the inhabitants of an advanced civilization are said to be frozen in time for perhaps ten centuries. Here are the opening lines:

Paper of Research Prepared by
Professor John Granger
Weston Scientific Foundation
New York, N. Y.
August 11, 2024

Having recently returned from that barren section of Mars, called the Plain of Parna, I wish to report that the City of Launn actually exists. Scientists of this foundation have long believed that at one time the Plain of Parna, now desolate wasteland was inhabitated and irrigated to produce vast riches to support a city far ahead, in every cultural sense, of any earth settlement...

Interesting story. I love the premise and was captivated by about the first third of the novelette. The lack of descriptive prose and some ridiculous dialog really undermines the strength of the storyline. And, if you can believe this, one of the adult male characters is named “PeeWee.” A great DIY opportunity for a 21st-century writer who believes in plagiarism authenticity!

[via Tinkoo Valia of Variety SF]

The Biographical Dictionary of Authors Guild Insiders: Anita Fore

Considering the lack of transparency and accountability down in the U.S. House of Representatives, now is an opportune time to post another entry in The Biographical Dictionary of Authors Guild Insiders. The Authors Guild “insiders” are those senior staff members who worked in smoke-filled backrooms with the Guild's publishing allies to craft a spurious legal agreement in a brazen attempt to sell the copyrighted works of tens of thousands of non-Guild writers to Google for $125 million. Here’s the entry for Anita Fore:

Director of Legal Services Anita Fore, a 1996 graduate of the Duke University School of Law, who has reviewed hundreds of book contracts and advised members on countless business, book contract issues, book, and on-line publishing contracts and copyright matters since joining the Guild's staff in 2000, contributed her extensive knowledge of book contracts, copyright and electronic rights issues during our negotiations.

Previous entries include biographical sketches of the Guild’s executive director, Paul Aiken, and general counsel, Jan Constantine.

Note: Information taken directly from legal documents posted in The Public Index, a website devoted to the proposed Google Book Settlement (GBS). A federal judge is scheduled to approve or disapprove the proposed revised settlement (GBS 2.0) in the near future.

Family feud over artist Frank Frazetta's work and legacy leads to lawsuit

Courthouse News Service reports that the bizarre family feud over the artwork and legacy of legendary fantasy/science fiction artist Frank Frazetta has resulted in a lawsuit, pitting the family against Frazetta’s troubled son, Alfonso "Frank Jr." Frazetta. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania on March 10, 2010, is titled Frazetta Properties LLC v. Frank Frazetta Jr.

War of the Worlds mock documentary predicted to strike in October 2010

SpaceDaily.com reports that a new live-action faux documentary film based on H.G. Wells' seminal 1898 science fiction novel, The War of the Worlds, is in post production and is scheduled to be released on DVD in October 2010. Titled War of the Worlds: The True Story, the film is a Pendragon Pictures production directed by Timothy Hines and stars 82-year-old stage and television actor Floyd Reichman as an aging journalist. Here’s the premise:

In 1965 a film crew captured the memories of the last living survivor of the war between Earth and Mars that took place at the turn of the 20th Century. The footage was discovered in a basement vault of a condemned house in 2006. Also found in the vault was previously unknown footage of the actual Martian invaders and their war machines. This is the motion picture presentation of that eyewitness account.

It’s worth noting that Hines and Pendragon Pictures made a previous movie version of War of the Worlds in 2005. It sold 650,000 copies on DVD and grossed $7 million dollars, but Hines confesses that it was deeply-flawed and he looks forward to the remake.

Meanwhile, check out War of the Worlds Invasion, a comprehensive website maintained by John Gosling, a British writer and author of Waging The War of the Worlds: A History of the 1938 Radio Broadcast and Resulting Panic, Including the Original Script (McFarland, 2009).

10 amazing Mars pulp covers

I’ve compiled a gallery on Flickr of ten Mars science fiction & fantasy pulp magazine covers, all from Amazing Stories, ranging from the late 1920s to the mid-1960s. Check it out and please let me know which cover you like best!

The Road to Mars, a 1999 novel by Eric Idle

The Road to Mars: A Post-Modem Novel (1999), a science fiction comedy by Eric Idle

Pictured: Hardcover (New York: Pantheon Books, 1999) 309 p., $24.00. Here is the promotional piece from the inside flap of the dust jacket:

What makes humans bark? Is the funny bone funny? What is the algebra of comedy? Did the sitcom originate with the ape?

Carlton is an android (a 4.5 Bowie Artificial Intelligence Robot) who works for Alex and Lewis, two comedians from the twenty-second century who travel the outer vaudeville circuit of the solar system known ironically as the Road to Mars. His problem is that although as a computer he cannot understand irony, he is attempting to write a thesis about comedy, its place in evolution, and whether it can ever be cured. And he is also studying the comedians of the late twentieth century (including obscure and esoteric comedy acts such as Monty Python's Flying Circus) in his search for the comedy gene.

In the meantime, while auditioning for a gig on the Princess Di (a solar cruise ship), his two employers inadvertently offend the fabulous diva Brenda Woolley and become involved in a terrorist plot against Mars, the home of Showbiz.

Can Carlton prevent Alex and Lewis from losing their gigs, help them overcome the love thing, and finally understand the meaning of comedy in the universe? Will a robot ever really be able to do stand-up? As Einstein might have said, nothing in the universe can travel faster than the speed of laughter.

The Road to Mars was named one of the best books of 1999 by the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle published a positive review. Lisa DuMond of SF Site also praised the novel in her 1999 review, but one reader over at The Complete Review was less impressed.

According to The Greedy Bastard Diary: A Comic Tour of America (2005), a nonfiction book written by Idle:

We first tried adapting an old screenplay of mine called The Road to Mars. This was a bit of nonsense about the future of show business known for a while nauseatingly enough as Outta Space! (Ouch.) It was about a couple of comedians on the road in space but the best moments featured a chorus of quite possibly gay Welsh robots singing to a diva they adored:

Do we love Irena Kent?
Yes we do. Yes we do.
Is he down from heaven sent?
Yes she be. You can bet your sweet arse she be.

It’s still the first gay white Negro spiritual. Nobody bought it.

Considering that author Eric Idle was one of the six original members of Monty Python's Flying Circus and that Garry Shandling, Robin Williams and Steve Martin endorsed The Road to Mars, perhaps it is no surprise that some consider the novel a real laugher. Read an excerpt and decide for yourself!

Clip from 1918 Danish silent film Himmelskibet

Here’s a short but fascinating clip from Himmelskibet (1918), a famous Danish silent science fiction/fantasy film in which an astronomer named Professor Planetaros travels to Mars, where he finds a race of mystic vegetarians, enlists the services of the daughter of the local High Priest, converts to pacifism, and returns to Earth to spread a message of peace, love and harmony. Apparently, the film is a commentary on the horrors of World War I.



Adapted by filmmaker Ole Olsen from a work written by Sophus Michaëlis, the film was restored by the Danish Film Institute and re-released on DVD in 2006.

Actor Peter Graves dies at age 83, appeared in 1952 film Red Planet Mars

The New York Times reports that well-known film and television actor Peter Graves died earlier today, March 14, 2010, at his home in Los Angeles. Perhaps best known for his role in the late 1960s-early 1970s television series Mission: Impossible, Graves also played the character of Chris Cronyn in the Cold War anti-Communist science fiction film Red Planet Mars (1952).

Macmillan CEO John Sargent answers reader’s questions about agency model and e-book pricing

Over at the official Macmillan Speaks corporate blog, CEO John Sargent answers reader’s questions about the agency model of publishing and e-book pricing. Considering that he seldom wears a necktie and is known to choose McDonald's for agent lunches, Sargent should move his lavish office from the historic Flatiron Building in New York City to more modest quarters in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in an effort to cut the publishing behemoth's overhead expenses.

Cities of Martian Rails: Bitter Waters

Martian Rails (2009), the crayon board game manufactured by Mayfair Games about railroading on the Red Planet in which players build tracks and haul freight, has a long list of interesting cities that players can capitalize on to generate revenue for their rail companies. For example:

Bitter Waters -- A medium sized desert town in the northeast section.

Martian Rails is loaded with references to Martian SF!

Graphic adaptation of Clark Ashton Smith’s 1932 weird tale “The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis”

The Eldritch Dark, a website designed “to facilitate both scholars and fans in their appreciation and study of Clark Ashton Smith and his works,” has an awesome ten-page graphic adaptation of “The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis,” Smith’s classic archaeological science fiction/horror short story set on Mars that was first published in the May 1932 issue of Weird Tales magazine. The adaptation, written and illustrated by Richard Corben, was originally published in DenSaga #2, Fantagor Press (1992).

Pictured: Artwork by Richard Corben.

First on Mars, a 1957 novel by Rex Gordon

First on Mars (1957), a science fiction novel by Rex Gordon (pseudonym of Stanley Bennett Hough).

Originally published as No Man Friday in 1956 in the United Kingdom.

Pictured: Paperback (New York: Ace Books, 1957), #D-233, 192 p., 35¢. Here's the promotional piece from the back cover:

One man alone on an alien world. He crash-landed on Mars fifteen years ahead of any other Earth expedition. He was without communications, without supplies, and with nothing but the wreck of an experimental rocket for resources. What is more it was the planet Mars as astronomers know it really to be -- not just a fictional fantasy background for glamorous adventure. It was barren, cold, more grimly inhospitable than the top of Mount Everest. And if it had inhabitants, they were conspicuous by their absence. The story of how one determined man set out to survive on a world whose very air he couldn't safely breathe is an astounding science-fiction saga of the most grippingly realistic type... a novel to be remembered.

While the book’s cover trumpets Gordon Holder, the main character, as “The Robinson Crusoe of The Red Planet,” the copyright page contains the following verse:

Poor old Robinson Crusoe,
How ever could they do so?
They made him a coat
From an old nanny goat,
Poor old Robinson Crusoe.

This verse is a variation of Poor Old Robinson Crusoe, the Mother Goose nursery rhyme based upon Daniel Defoe’s famous British novel, Robinson Crusoe (1719).

Interestingly, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, a Paramount Pictures film. was released in 1964. Shot in California’s Death Valley, the film was based upon both Defoe’s classic novel and Gordon’s science fiction book. It starred, among others, Adam West, of Bruce Wayne fame.

Literary challenge: Find Simon & Schuster CEO’s pay package in stack of SEC filings!

Here’s a fun literary challenge for readers who are interested in learning more about the overhead costs of the large publishing houses down in New York City: Find Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy’s compensation package in a stack of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings! Simon & Schuster is a division of the CBS empire, so start with the conglomerate's 365-page 2009 Annual Report (pdf). Then, work your way through the other SEC filings in the stack. Be careful! Don’t get side-tracked by the numerous references to best-selling author Glenn Beck or lost in the 290,000 square feet of office space S&S leases in Midtown at 1230 Avenue of the Americas. Best of success!

Dire Planet Compendium: A Skelk in the Cake

Pulp science fiction author Joel Jenkins has posted the second entry in his Dire Planet Compendium: A Skelk in the Cake. The compendium, illustrated by Noel Tauzon, is derived from Jenkins’ Dire Planet series, a collection of three sword & planet books inspired by Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs that chronicles swashbuckling hero Garvey Dire and his adventures on the Red Planet.

Subterranean Press to reprint Larry Niven’s award-winning 1974 short story “The Hole Man”

Subterranean Press announced that it will reprint “The Hole Man” (1974), a Hugo Award-winning short story written by science fiction author Larry Niven, and 26 other stories in The Best of Larry Niven, a new collection being crafted by Australian editor Jonathan Strahan that is scheduled to be released in late 2010. A hard-science read set on Mars, Niven considers “The Hole Man” a “straightforward crime story rendered distinctive only by an unusual murder weapon.” According to his website, Niven wrote the story after he and fellow SF author Jerry Pournelle interviewed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking about the latter's research on black holes.

Marvel Comics: The origin of Dejah Thoris

The blog Diversions of the Groovy Kind has beautiful and readable jpegs of “The Story of Dejah Thoris,” Issue #11 (April 1978) in Marvel Comics’ John Carter Warlord of Mars adaptation of the classic Barsoom novels written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Penned by scribe Marv Wolfman with exquisite artwork by Dave Cockrum and Rudy Nebres, Ol' Groove feels #11 is the high-water mark for the entire 28-issue comic series. I can’t speak to that, but check out the details of this cover art!

"Nine Shadows at Doomsday," 1958 short story by S. M. Tenneshaw

Thanks to the folks at the Internet Archive, you can read or download "Nine Shadows at Doomsday," a short story written by S. H. Tenneshaw (pseudonym of John W. Jakes). Originally published in the Vol. 5, No. 6, November 1958 issue of Space Travel magazine, the plot revolves around a space outlaw and two academics from the Alphanus Historical Foundation who undertake a secret expedition to Thor Peak on the distant and forbidden planet of Mars to find out what eradicated life in the desolate Sol system three thousand years before. Here are the opening lines:

          HIS name was Mark Chan. He was a tall rough-jawed vaguely almond-eyed man, a thief and a hunted criminal. Son of an Anglo-Polynesian mother and an Alphan father, born in the inhospitable half-world between two recognized stratas of society, he had drifted into crime and become so expert that half the law forces in the Alphan system did not believe he existed and the other half drove itself frantic trying to locate him so that he could be sentenced to social reconditioning. His last job had been a big one, and the legal heat had grown intense. That was the only reason he'd tackled this offer...

[via Tinkoo Valia of Variety SF]

What $2.5 million lawsuit? Artist Frank Frazetta inks deal with Vanguard Productions

According to a press release issued earlier in the week, legendary fantasy artist Frank Frazetta and acclaimed publisher Vanguard Productions have forged a new publishing relationship.

Frank Frazetta said, “We’ve known Vanguard publisher J. David Spurlock for many years. Vanguard publishes the very best! [...] It’s a natural that we should work together. I’m looking forward to seeing the quality job they do on the new Frazetta books”

Vanguard Productions founder J. David Spurlock said, “We are very excited about launching a line of Frazetta books under the new Vanguard Frazetta Classics brand. The line will include a series of volumes collecting Frazetta’s comics work in top quality book format. Other Vanguard Frazetta Classics will include a new edition of the 1998 hit, Frazetta: The Definitive Reference, a richly illustrated index of every Frazetta work ever published; a Frank Frazetta Sketchbook; and more -- all in library-quality collections fully authorized by Frank Frazetta.”

Presumably, the two men have resolved the $2.5 million lawsuit Frazetta filed against Vanguard Productions in June 2008 for unauthorized use of his name and signature.

Pictured: Frazetta artwork depicting John Carter of Mars and Martian princess Dejah Thoris.

Contents & cover art for forthcoming premiere issue of The Martian Wave print zine

Speculative fiction author Lawrence Dagstine reports that the contents and cover art for the forthcoming premiere issue of The Martian Wave have been released. Formerly a quarterly webzine of “interplanetary stories, space opera, astronaut tales, and fiction about intergalactic exploration,” The Martian Wave has been revamped as a semi-annual print magazine published by Sam’s Dot Publishing. The first issue, scheduled to be released this summer, will include a short story by Dagstine titled “The Great Martian Depression.”

Pictured: Cover for the first issue of The Martian Wave, by artist Laura Givens.

The Magician of Mars, a 1941 novel written by Edmond Hamilton

The Magician of Mars (1941), a science fiction novel by Edmond Hamilton.

Pictured: Paperback (New York: Popular Books, 1968) #60-2450, 128 p., 60¢, Cover art by Herbert J. Bruck. Here is the promotional piece from the back cover:

His real name is Ul Quorn, but he is known throughout the Solar System as the Magician of Mars. With sheer scientific mastery and cunning he once terrorized the entire population of all nine planets -- until Captain Future put an end to his evil deeds. Now Ul Quorn has broken loose from the escape-proof Interplanetary Prison -- a feat that was believed impossible. His plan to obtain wealth and power is more ingenious than ever before and more deadly to the System. Soon he will be master of the Universe. But first he must settle a score with Captain Future...

The Magician of Mars was originally published as a complete novel in the Summer 1941 issue of Captain Future.

After muting talking e-reader, Authors Guild now supports equal reading rights for disabled

Last February, the Authors Guild muted the revolutionary text-to-speech feature in Amazon’s Kindle 2 e-reader, signaling that the high-brow New York literary society was more concerned with protecting streams of royalty revenue for its wealthiest members than supporting equal reading rights for the disabled. When the Reading Rights Coalition, a nonprofit organization that represents millions of disabled Americans who cannot read print, held a protest for equal reading rights outside the Guild’s headquarters in New York City last April, the Guild issued an insensitive press release calling the protest “unfortunate and unnecessary.”

Now, about a year later and with the proposed revised Google Book Settlement (GBS 2.0) on the brink of being rejected by a federal judge, the Authors Guild and its publishing industry allies have issued a joint statement with the Reading Rights Coalition, pledging to “work together and through the communities they represent to ensure that when the marketplace offers alternative formats to print books, such as audio and electronic books, print-disabled consumers can access the contents of these alternative formats to the same extent as all other consumers.”

Not surprisingly, the statement neglects to mention that the Authors Guild already obstructed Amazon's attempt to offer "alternative formats to print books" for "print-disabled consumers."

Roger Zelazny to be inducted into Science Fiction Hall of Fame

Locus Online reports that Hugo and Nebula Award-winning science fiction and fantasy writer Roger Zelazny (1937–1995) will be inducted into the Science Fiction Museum's Hall of Fame in Seattle in June 2010. Zelazny’s classic short story “A Rose for Ecclesiastes,” set on the Red Planet and first published in the November 1963 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, is one of my favorite pieces of Martian SF&F!

Pictured: Wrap-around magazine cover art depicting a scene from “A Rose for Ecclesiastes,” by Hannes Bok.

Sales consultants file lawsuit against Author Solutions Inc. over compensation

According to documents filed earlier this month in United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana, three inside sales consultants have filed a lawsuit against Author Solutions Inc., one of the country's largest self-publishing book operations, and its subsidiaries, AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, Trafford Publishing, and Wordclay, alleging that the defendants refused to pay them overtime compensation. The plaintiffs' complaint was filed on March 4, 2010, and the case is entitled Slavik, et al. v. Author Solutions, Inc., et al.

Celebrate “Read an E-Book Week” with Red/shift, a new novelette by Geoffrey Thorne

“Read an E-Book Week,” which runs from March 7 to March 13, 2010, is an event that encourages readers to enjoy literature without the pulp. To help stimulate interest in the event, some e-book stores are offering free or deeply discounted e-books. One such store is Smashwords, which is offering the new novelette Red/shift (2009), a science fiction-fantasy-action-thriller set on a colonized Mars by American novelist and screenwriter Geoffrey Thorne, for only 99 cents! If you’re not familiar with Red/shift, here’s the promotional piece:

A dashing killer trying to outrun his past... A world-weary cop determined to close her most baffling case... A dying heiress desperate to find a cure for her disease... When these stories collide on the same Martian night the results are not only explosive but deadly.

Geoffrey Thorne is the author of Star Trek: Titan: Sword of Damocles (2007). He maintains the blog Pocket Full of Mumbles and resides in Los Angeles. Thorne's favorite authors include Octavia Butler, Alexandre Dumas, Clive Barker, Stephen King, Roger Zelazny, Ursula K. LeGuin, Greg Bear and John Steinbeck.