Star Wars in Rolling Stone

While perusing Rolling Stone’s website (something I do frequently), I spotted a link for “Star Wars in Rolling Stone”. It’s a collection of the articles from the magazine, beginning with an interview with George Lucas from 1977. They’re presented in reverse-chronology, so I’d start with the final page (linked above) and work from there.

One article in particular jumped out for me – partly because of the title – and that was from the June 12th, 1980 issue of the magazine (pictured): “Slaves to the Empire: The 'Star Wars' Kids Talk Back”, by Timothy White. The article is about (according to the standfirst):

“Five actors caught in the paradox of ‘Star Wars’ (the highest-grossing film of all time has done nothing for their careers) talk about their trap, the making of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and why they still want to be a part of the third installment”

It’s an interesting interview, more about their opinions about the movies, working on them, and where they came from, than about being “trapped” by the films’ success. It’s filled with some great trivia for die-hard Star Wars fans. For example: Carrie Fisher is quite mischievous, and suggests that Leia should have fallen for Chewbacca; Mark Hamill considered Luke to be the “classic thankless role”, confesses that he is a “serious collector” of Star Wars memorabilia, and amusingly bemoans the fact that the Luke dolls have been marked down in price for collectors; Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) explains why the first movie was a “miasma of pain”; Harrison Ford sheepishly admits that he’s “never been much of a film fan” but felt like Empire Strikes Back was "the first time I’ve ever seen anything I’ve done that I’m happy with".

The piece also addresses Mark Hamill’s car accident, and is actually the first time I’ve read anything about it:

“Hamill's anxiety about landing choice roles was tragically accelerated when his BMW ran off the freeway in 1977. Star Wars had not yet been released, and his face was sufficiently ravaged that he wondered whether he would be able to retain any part of his angular good looks, let alone fulfill the remainder of his three-picture deal with Lucas. That mental anguish was only intensified when the film proved to be an international smash.”

Reading these articles got me to thinking: has anyone written a book about the making of the movies? Not just big, photo-stuffed Coffee Table books (although, those are really nice, too), but a campaign-biography-style volume about the making of the original movies. I’d definitely read one of those.

TV: “Downton Abbey” Season 1

Finally watched it…

Set in England in the years leading up to the First World War, Downton Abbey tells the story of a complicated community. The house has been home to the Crawley family for many generations, but it is also where their servants live, and plan, and dream, and they are as fiercely jealous of their rank as anyone. Some of them are loyal to the family and committed to Downton as a way of life, others are moving through, on the look out for betterment or love or just adventure. The difference is that they know so many of the secrets of the family, while the family know so few of theirs. But for all the passions that rage beneath the surface, this is a secure world, serene and ordered, and, at first glance, it seems it will last forever. Little do they know, family or staff, that the clouds of the conflict that will change everything are already gathering over their heads.

So, I haven’t owned a TV for many years. Instead, I’ve relied on DVDs, iTunes, and friends. Coupled with my peripatetic existence, I managed to miss Downton Abbey entirely. When I was in Los Angeles in September 2011, though, the show cleaned up at seemingly every awards show. Despite being somewhat intrigued, it took me until now to actually get around to watching it. And, I must say, I really enjoyed it. I had no idea really what to expect – I have never been particularly smitten with British period dramas (while still watching plenty), and expected More Of The Same. Instead, I got one of the best acted, best-written TV shows I’ve seen in a good long while.

I’m not really sure the series needs a full review, but I just wanted to give it a little shout-out on the blog. This is really good. And Maggie Smith really is That. Awesome throughout. So many hilarious, inappropriate lines from the grand dame of the family. All of the actors in the show were superb, from the Crawley family members on down to the new scullery maid. Even the peripheral and bit-parts are written and acted superbly.

Despite all of this, I still can’t tell quite why it’s taken the United States by storm – or, at least, as much as it has. It is very British. Which is probably why I love it, and I’m sure a fair few Americans love it for the same reason, but the universal acclaim seems unusual. If it keeps the show going, however, I am all for it. I will have to order the next two seasons, to be ready for season four…

Gore Vidal’s “Narratives of Empire” Series

Has anyone read these? The series, Narratives of Empire is also sometimes known as The Chronicles of America. I’m really interested in reading them (American history and fiction = bound to attract my attention). Most of all, I’m interested in reading WASHINGTON, D.C. (mentioned in Mark Leibovich’s This Town, which I finished last night). Here’s the synopsis:

"History is gossip," says a protagonist in Washington, D.C., "but the trick is determining which gossip is history."

It is a trick that Gore Vidal has mastered in his ongoing chronicle of that circus of opportunism and hypocrisy called American politics and which he plays with renewed vigour in this expose of the nation’s capital.

Young Clay Overbury, Senator Burden Day’s assistant, has both a modest background and immense ambitions. Extremely handsome, oozing charm and seemingly dedicated to the Senator’s cause, he is also duplicitous, conniving, and disloyal. But Enid Canford doesn’t think so: she marries him, so providing the Sanford newspaper dynasty with a direct line to the Senator. Her father Blaise, at first loathing his son-in-law, later learns to love him - for all the wrong reasons.

So begins this tale of lust and ambition set in the Republic’s high noon. From the late 1930s to Jo McCarthy’s reign of terror, Gore Vidal charts the seamy, sleazy side of Washington. Mixing sober history with nakedly Gothic melodrama, he provides an intoxicating cocktail of blackmail, betrayal, sexual ambivalence, lunacy and conspiracy - or, in a word, politics.

The novels are apparently all connected, but I’m not sure how essential it is to read them all, or to read them in order. The seventh book, THE GOLDEN AGE, does feature characters from WASHINGTON D.C. and HOLLYWOOD, though.

Upcoming: “The Tournament” by Matthew Reilly (Orion)

Just spotted this on Amazon UK (was trawling for interesting upcoming titles in “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” ribbons…). I’m a big fan of Matthew Reilly’s action-adventure thrillers – especially the Jack West, Jr. series (Seven Ancient Wonders, Six Sacred Stones, and Five Greatest Warriors). Reilly is firmly in the same sub-genre as James Rollins and Dan Brown (leaning more towards the former than latter). With his next novel, however, he seems to be taking a different path. The novel, The Tournament, look like a historical thriller (with a bit of playing about with real events and historical figures)…

England, 1546. A young Princess Elizabeth is surrounded by uncertainty. She is not currently in line for the throne, but remains a threat to her older sister and brother.

In the midst of this fevered atmosphere comes an unprecedented invitation from the Sultan in Constantinople. He seeks to assemble the finest chess players from the whole civilised world and pit them against each other.

Roger Ascham, Elizabeth’s teacher and mentor in the art of power and politics, is determined to keep her out of harm’s way and resolves to take Elizabeth with him when he travels to the glittering Ottoman capital for the tournament.

But once there, the two find more danger than they left behind. There’s a killer on the loose and a Catholic cardinal has already been found mutilated. Ascham is asked by the Sultan to investigate the crime. But as he and Elizabeth delve deeper, they find dark secrets, horrible crimes and unheard-of depravity. Things that mark the young princess for life and define the queen she will become.

The Tournament is published by Orion in the UK in January 2014. As someone who has long been interested in the history of Constantinople/Istanbul (not to mention lived there for a few years), I am very much looking forward to reading this. The author’s website offers a slightly more sensational synopsis, just in case you need further convincing:

The year is 1546.

Suleiman the Magnificent, the powerful and feared Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, issues an invitation to every king in Europe:

YOU ARE INVITED TO SEND YOUR FINEST PLAYER TO COMPETE IN A CHESS TOURNAMENT TO DETERMINE THE CHAMPION OF THE KNOWN WORLD.

The English delegation – led by esteemed scholar Roger Ascham – journeys to the glittering city of Constantinople. Accompanying Ascham is his pupil, Bess, who is about to bear witness to events she never thought possible.

For on the first night of the tournament, a powerful guest of the Sultan is murdered, and against the backdrop of the historic event, Ascham is tasked with finding the killer.

Barbaric deaths, unimaginable depravity and diplomatic treachery unfold before Bess’ eyes, indelibly shaping her character and determining how she will perform her future roll… as Queen Elizabeth I.

EVEN A PAWN CAN BECOME A QUEEN

I really must remember to get around to reading Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, Reilly’s previous novel. I have been very lax, recently, with my thriller reading.

Guest Post: “The Shy Hero” by Steve Tem

I read my first critical work on short stories back in high school, around 1965 or ’66. It was The Lonely Voice by Frank O’Connor. To say it had a profound influence on me is an understatement. Starting with a discussion of Gogol’s “The Overcoat,” the story of a friendless nonentity, an absurd take on a little man, O’Connor develops his theory concerning the difference between short stories and novels. According to O’Connor, one of the key aspects of the novel form is that there is always a character the reader can identify with, and a context that includes the concept of a normal society. Short stories, on the other hand, involve characters who are outcasts, members of submerged populations, characters who readers cannot identify with.

Even that early in my thinking about writing I thought the idea had its limitations, but it still fascinated me, and I thought there were some strong hints in O’Connor’s theory that might help me understand the relative levels and kinds of reader participation that differentiated the novel experience from the short story experience. I eventually wrote my own horrific nod to “The Overcoat” — it appeared in my first collection, City Fishing.

Upcoming: “Art of Hunting” by Alan Campbell (Tor)

The first novel in Alan Campbell’s Gravedigger Chronicles, Sea of Ghosts, is one of my favourite novels from 2011. After reading that, though, I haven’t heard much at all from Mr. Campbell. The author, who also wrote the Deepgate Codex trilogy – Scar Night, Iron Angel and God of Clocks – is an fabulously talented fellow, in my opinion, and I’ve been desperately keeping my eyes open for information about his next novel. (Interestingly, or perhaps weirdly, I was reading his blog before I ever started this one. His and Joe Abercrombie’s… Anyway.)

Thanks to a work-requirement to read Locus magazine, I spotted a mention that Alan Campbell’s Art of Hunting is on its way, and it is the sequel to Sea of Ghosts! This has made me ridiculously happy (and impatient). Here’s the synopsis…

The Haurstaf have been decimated. The Unmer have seized the palace at Awl. Ianthe’s father carries her to safety. But she is not interested in a life of treasure hunting with him. She returns to the palace, hoping to find the Unmer prince with whom she shared some of her darkest moments.

Prince Paulus Marquetta discovers a friend and ally in Ianthe, albeit a dangerous one. She has the power to destroy his mind with a single thought, and yet she herself remains at risk from his own innate sorcerous abilities. The handsome young prince could murder her with a simple touch.

Briana Marks, meanwhile, has escaped with her life. Fearful of Marquetta’s rule, she travels to the Dragon Isles to seek out the exiled Unmer lord, Argusto Conquillas and beg him to help her assassinate Ianthe. When Granger learns of this plot to kill his daughter, he must use every scrap of his resourcefulness and cunning to protect her.

Maskelyne returns to Scythe Island to study the crystal he plucked from the wreckage of the Unmer chariot. The artifact leads him to discover exactly why the Drowned continue to deposit thousands upon thousands of keys on the beach beneath his fortress. The Unmer, in their quest to unlock the secrets of the universe, forged a monster. Now Maskelyne knows where this thing is imprisoned...

Art of Hunting is due out in November 2013, published by Tor in the UK.

Interview with JAMES TREADWELL

James Treadwell is the author of Advent and Anarchy, two novels that seem to have taken the UK (and perhaps the US?) by storm. In advance of my belated reading of the novels, Hodder were kind enough to hook me up with an interview with James. Read on!

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is James Treadwell?

I think he’s that tall confused-looking bloke in the back row, the one who needs a haircut. He also appears to have bad shoes.

Anarchy, the sequel to Advent, was recently published by Hodder. How would you introduce the series and novel to a potential reader?

I’m very bad at these “elevator pitches” ... I suppose one way I might do it is by asking someone if they’ve ever wondered what it would be like – what it would really, really be like – if something impossible happened to them.

But if I was trying to give a more general thumbnail description of the books, I’d probably say that they’re about the return of magic to the world. To our world, that is, the real world we live in; the one in which we all know there isn’t actually any magic.

What inspired you to write the novels? And where do you draw your inspiration from in general?

Advent is based on something that’s been in my thoughts for years and years, long before I ever thought there’d be a time when I could try making a book out of it. As far as I can remember it started with an image of a boy walking alone in a wood and meeting something inexplicable on the way. Why that particular image felt like it had a story in it I don’t know, but apparently it did.

Upcoming: ARMADA by Ernest Cline (Crown)

Anyone who’s been following Civilian Reader for a while, should have spotted my glowing, gushing review of Ernest Cline’s debut novel, Ready Player One. Ever since I read that novel (devoured, it really), I have been on the look-out for information on his next fiction project. The other week, I stumbled across the information for Armada over on excellent The Book Smugglers website. So I’m going to shamelessly pinch the info from them, and share it here. Here’s the synopsis…

Lightman is daydreaming through another dull math class when the high-tech dropship lands in his school’s courtyard-and when the men in the dark suits and sunglasses leap out of the ship and start calling his name, he’s sure he’s still dreaming.

But the dream is all too real; the people of Earth need him. As Zack soon discovers, the videogame he’s been playing obsessively for years isn’t just a game; it’s part of a massive, top-secret government training program, designed to teach gamers the skills they’ll need to defend Earth from a possible alien invasion. And now…that invasion is coming.

As he and his companions prepare to enter their ships and do battle, Zack learns that the father he thought was dead is actually a key player in this secret war. And together with his father, he’ll uncover the truth about the alien threat, race to prevent a genocide, and discover a mysterious third player in the interplanetary chess game he’s been thrown into.

Armada is due to be published by Crown Publishing in the US (July 2014) – no news yet on the UK or other international publishers. Be sure to follow Cline on Twitter, too, for more up-to-the-minute news. I was also able to find the following image on Forces of Geek, which was categorised as “Poster”, but it was cool enough that I thought I’d share it here as well…

Upcoming: “The Cormorant” by Chuck Wendig (Angry Robot)

This is the third book in Chuck Wendig’s critically-acclaimed Urban Fantasy series. One I have yet to read… (Oh, how many series are there now for which I can say that?) I’ve enjoyed some of Wendig’s vampire fiction for Abaddon Books, so I have no idea why I haven’t read this series, yet… I shall have to get that fixed A.S.A.P. Anyway, I spotted the cover for this novel over on Angry Robot’s website, and had to share it. Once again, the piece has been done by the ever-excellent Joey Hi-Fi, and it’s superb. Here’s the synopsis:

Miriam is on the road again, having transitioned from “thief” to “killer”.

Hired by a wealthy businessman, she heads down to Florida to practice the one thing she’s good at, but in her vision she sees him die by another’s hand and on the wall written in blood is a message just for Miriam.

She’s expected…

File Under: Urban Fantasy [ Plying Her Trade | Inevitable | Touch of Death | No More! ]

The Cormorant is due to be published in at the end of December 2013 (eBook and in US), and the beginning of January (UK).

Guest Review: “Promethean Sun” by Nick Kyme (Black Library)

Reviewed by Abhinav

The Horus Heresy series has proven to be rather spectacular, right from the very beginning with Dan Abnett’s game-changing opener, Horus Rising. As an exploration of the entire origin-mythos that defines the Warhammer 40,000 setting, the series has done well in exposing how this galactic civil war happened, and how all the players reacted to it, each in their own way. Being a multi-author series (projected to go on to roughly 50 full novels and anthologies, plus additional novellas, short stories and audio dramas), the quality hasn’t been entirely consistent, and there have been some let-downs, or books that don’t seem to fit into an ongoing arc.

Two years ago, Black Library changed the game once more, by offering direct exclusive limited-edition novellas set as interstitials within the larger narrative at work. Being limited to a select few thousand copies, these hardback stories with extra content (such as special faux-skin and illustrations) gave way to a lot of controversy with regards to pricing for the series. This was compounded last year by the publisher’s inexplicable decision to change formats mid-series and offer books in hardback and hardback-sized trade paperbacks before the regular and familiar mass market copies were made available.

As such, novellas like Promethean Sun and Brotherhood of the Storm among others have had to field quite a bit of negative criticism completely unrelated to the actual fictional content within. And that’s what I wanted to focus on in this review. Promethean Sun was re-released a few weeks ago as a non-limited hardback with an accompanying eBook, which is what I got. The two-year wait in between definitely didn’t hurt my enthusiasm.

So, on to the review itself. Here’s the synopsis…

As the Great Crusade sweeps across the galaxy, the forces of the Imperium encounter a world held in thrall by the alien eldar. While the Iron Hands of Ferrus Manus and Mortarion’s Death Guard battle against the hated xenos, it is the Salamanders who brave the deepest and most deadly jungles, encountering monstrous reptilian beasts and foul witchery along the way. Ultimately, it falls to their primarch Vulkan himself to thwart the sinister designs of the eldar, if the Legions are to liberate this world and bring illumination to its inhabitants.