Rod Taylor: RIP

 

It has made the rounds that Rod Taylor has passed away at 84. The stories ran in EW and out of Australia here. And of course other numerous outlets. He starred in films like The Birds and of course the film that impacted me The Time Machine.

 

This is more about my experience with The Time Machine and Rod Taylor as the lead in that awesome film rather than Rod Taylor the actor. To eulogize the man here is to only repeat what his family and other fans have said about him and his body of work over the years. Better that I focus on how he was to me in The Time Machine.

The Time Machine was a novel by H.G Wells, published in 1895. This is now the well-known tale of human hubris, the horror of mutually assured destruction, and strong social commentary. All wrapped in an epic adventure that helped set the tone not only for the sci-fi tales that would come, but time-travel as a sub-genre all its own.

The 1960 film that stared Rod Taylor was this and more. This film also introduced me, subconsciously, to the Renaissance Man as a pulp hero. This was not the Over The Top Man of Bronze, but a thinking man’s hero all the same. A match for his adventure intellectually as well as physically.

Rod Taylor, playing H. George Wells an inventor (the novel only called the narrator The Time Traveler), invites his friends to dinner at the turn of the 20^th century and appears quite dramatically with an amazing story.

The film sees Wells witness the First and Second World Wars and then witness the destruction of his world through nuclear destruction. He is entombed for millennia, to find himself in the year 802,721, where he becomes embroiled in the gruesome relationship between the elfin, surface dwelling Eloi and the trollish subterranean Morlocks.

The movie ends with Wells in his own time with his cautionary tale, but then returning to the far future to the waiting Weena.

This was the best of all the films and adaptions of Well’s story as far as I am concerned. The time lapse filming, the sphinx, the sets and of course the glowing eyes of the Morlocks made this movie all kinds of awesome to me.

Taylor looked like an adventurer, of course he had the leading man good looks, but his physical presence spoke of his ability to handle the hardships ahead. He also carried himself with intelligence and insight. When he is among the Eloi he seeks the knowledge that was lost, he asks after books and finds them to be little more than book-shaped piles of dust. He rails against the loss of knowledge and the degeneration of the human race, himself holding intellect and science that truest, greatest pursuits of man. Yet, this hero takes to the Morlocks with thundering fists. He practically weeps at the folly of man that led to its near total destruction, in the end, he abandons man to his fate to return to the far future to help them start again.

When he departs his friend David Filby (Alan Young) sees books are gone. When Well’s house keeper asks after them, Filby replies: “Which would you take?” Of course what books would you take to restart civilization?  

The hero Rod Taylor portrayed is an icon of boyish adventure. He stands with Guy Williams’ Zorro, Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood, and James Mason’s Captain Nemo in my Saturday Matinee reality. I appreciate that late actor for creating that celluloid hero for me to emulate in my back-yard play as a boy.

Thank you, Sir.

 

 

 

Weregild: Erlik's Story Continues

Weregild is out and ready to go. This short story takes place ten years before the events of Tides of Fate. As the blurb says: Among the warriors of the North the price of leadership is paid in blood. Bonds of kinship and patronage are torn asunder in a killing haze. Young Erlik Rowenson's skein is bound in threads of iron and gold.
The son of Efelwere Ring-breaker is tested and must face a challenge of his own making to secure his place among his father's reavers. It is a clash of steel and wills among the Wolves of the North!
This tale is a prequel of sorts and a stand alone yarn. So for lovers of pulp, anything Vikings, and just good old testosterone driven fights this is for you.

Weregild-COMING SOON!!!

Over at Four Fools my next instalment of Erlik's Saga is due to come out so they posted a writing sample of what's to come!

12-3-14 Writing Warm-up

Artwork © Four Fools Press, All Rights Reserved - http://fourfoolspress.blogspot.com

Characters and Story © R. R. Hunsinger, All Rights Reserved

Brought to you by Four Fools Press: “Crazy Good Stories”

Check out this sample from our next release, another chapter in the Amazon Best-selling Erlik's Saga: Weregild, available for Pre-Order soon!

Brother Sean finished binding Erlik's wound. “That was foolishness,” he hissed in Gaelic. "I've told you a hundred times that your sword has a point...use it! You let your anger get the best of you, and now you are facing him wounded. You could not withdraw when your father gave you the option?” 


“Would you?” The youth pointedly looked at the woman and her crying daughters, frightened and huddled together amid the jeering, leering men.

The priest glanced at the women, his lips drawing back into an involuntary snarl. “As a man of God, no, but you are not of the White Christ. There have been terrible, evil acts committed by your father and his men before, Erlik. Why do you act now?”


“Because this time I can act!”


“Why act at all, you stupid pup!” Efelwere cuffed his son with a gauntleted fist that rang off his iron helm. “They are spoils of a raid! Adulwulf has a claim!” The war-leader snarled into his son's face, his sun darkened fair skin was purple with rage. “Now he kills you!”


“Would you not act if it was Mother?” Erlik leapt back at his father, his own dark features black as he still raged in Gaelic. “Remember that girl you gave me two years ago after that Irish raid? I was the one who helped her escape!”


Efelwere staggered back as if physically struck by his son. Brother Sean stirred uncomfortably, and it was then that the Ring-Breaker knew. A new light dawned in his pale eyes, and he laughed, so loud and hard that the men who were gathering for the battle were startled. The assembled Northmen shifted and nervously eyed each other, wondering if their war-leader had gone mad.

“Odin's blood, boy! I knew it was a mistake to keep this godi by your side, no matter how wise a man he is! You've positively become Christian!” He laughed again, clapping Erlik on the shoulder and embracing him. “But you have your courage and your own mind, I will give you that. I shall ask Odin not to take you to his hall yet.” He looked seriously into his son's pale eyes, so much like his own. “If you live long enough, Erlik, you will have your own sagas sung. Luck in battle!” He walked away to take his place at the ring beside Ragnar who had just returned empty handed from his pursuit.

Brother Sean took his place at Efelwere’s left hand. “You could have stopped it.” The priest could feel the tension in his friend’s body as he watched the two youths preparing to battle. “I would not see my sister’s son die in some foolish feud!” the Celtic priest said in a harsh whisper that only Ragnar could over hear.

“You stop him then, priest!” the Viking snarled as he motioned to the men closing on each other. “Better you should have never made me promise to let you educate the boy when I went to claim him.”

“I had hoped to influence him before he became a reaver like you. But he was your son long before he was my student.”

Efelwere clapped his old friend lightly on the shoulder. “He was lost to you before he was ever born.”

***

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Four Fools Press is pleased to announce that our most recent offering, Tides of Fate, has already reached #7 on the Amazon Best Sellers List (Top 100 Free - http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-Historical-Thrillers/zgbs/digital-text/6361463011/ref=zg_bs_fvp_p_f_6361463011?_encoding=UTF8&tf=1) within just a few hours of its initial release! We are super excited and invite you all to share this message and be sure to head over and download a copy of this first thrilling installment of the Erlik Saga for free right now - help us to make it to #1!!!
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Congratulations to Tides of Fate's author, R. R. Hunsinger, and the entire Four Fools Team

Four Fools Press

So I have been out of blogging for a very long time. Well, I am starting to get some things rolling both personally and professionally so I wanted to come back into the realm of self-promotion. Below you will find a project that explains itself and it's one I am very excited about. So please check it out, and sign up if so inclined. And continue to check back here as I will be getting back to my Saturday Musings on all things that I love about pulp, scifi, history, and writing. And of course my favorite subject to talk about..... Me.



 

 

 

 

by R. R. Hunsinger & Brannon Hollingsworth

Jaroos glided effortlessly through the midnight waters of the deep harbor. His large dark eyes drank in the ambient light, revealing the vast array of creatures that coiled and spiraled about him. Long, needle-nosed fish darted away in schools of flashing silver, multicolored walls of waving kelp oscillated with the rhythm of the tide. The oceanid concealed himself among the massive, undulating rays that hovered like uninterested clouds above him; fooling the keener senses of predators that served as Tiberious' sentries.

Beneath him, he could spy his destination, squatting like a cancerous lump of twisted coral, with radiating arms like a grasping kraken. Twinkling stars of light, powered by mighty wytchweave added a cold, otherworldly glow to the contorted structure. With an effortless pull of his spread web-fingered palms, contracting his forearm fins, and powerful kicks of his webbed feet, Jaroos catapulted to the silt sea floor. There, the oceanid darted amid coral outcroppings and kelp spires, tightly hugging the ocean bottom as he stealthily approached the entrance to Tiberious' lair.

The thief had paid well in salvaged shipwreck trinkets and hard-earned coin for the tools and dweomered items necessary to pull off his most daring, and hopefully most profitable heists: to rob the home of the once noble and powerful Tiberious. The rumor-mongers both in Rome and Ostia said Tiberious, driven mad in his quest for power, had been ostracized across the Empire after his excommunication by Pope Paul IV for his heretical dabblings and writings. Now, the madman sought isolation beneath the waves of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

***

If you like what you just read, then you need to sign-up to the Four FOols Mailing List now! That's the only way you'll get exclusive access of this action-packed, 12-Part Story set in the brand new Historical Fantasy world of Medium Aevum, created by authors R. R. Hunsinger and Brannon Hollingsworth. You'll get to read this 100% complete and ready-for-publication novella before anyone else on the planet, not to mention all of the other awesome benefits from the Four FOols Mailing List!

This 100% free, exclusive, and exciting story begins next week and the only way you can get it is in the Four FOols mailing. Also, this is just the beginning of the awesome world of Medium Aevum, and you can say you were here when it started. Sign up today!

 

 

Medium Aevum

The Middle Age, the age between ages, a breathless pause, the anticipation of the next. Such is the age of Man in Anno Domini 1551. The age of exploration dawning, the age Da Vinci’s machines taking wing. Gunpowder supplanting armor. The age where the fate of the Wytchborn shall be decided.

The Fairy, the creatures of myth, the Wytchborn, the Giants in the Earth--all have lived side by side with Man throughout the ages. Sometimes allies, sometimes foes; always treated with an uneasy trust. Urals, the great trolls and giants of myth and the ethereal Seriphim, claiming to the first of God’s servants walk Paris’ streets. Mercurial elves in their varying splendor; the tall, deadly Northern Alfheim, to the small dark svarts that flit bole to bole deep in the forests of Saxony, and the wizardly wise Fey of Albion. All of these--and far more besides--walk among men, not legends, nor tales about the fire, but feared all the more for their presence.

In this world of the Inquisition of  Princes, the intrigues of the Medici’s, and the strength of Spain’s empire; magic and dawning mechanical might, alter the history of a once known age. Plagues have twice decimated Mankind in living memory, destroying whole villages, emptying cities, and wasting the country side. The Wytchborn, the creatures, the monsters, all went on unaffected. Men found a scourge to blame for these plagues, pointing to the things that should not be among as the cause. Others found hope and guidance from the eldars. The Fey, once allies to Arthur, succored those native to the Isles, earning peace and acceptance. In the German Principalities they found fire and hot iron to be their portion.

Within these folios is the history of what could have been and for those within that history, what shall be. Turn the page to adventure and wonder; hate and heroism; exploration and isolationism. Enter a world where the whispered word is more destructive than a cannon blast; where magic and fey-touched allies may turn the balance.

Terra Nova: A Great Show No One is Watching

Terra Nova, a new show on Fox from Steven Spielberg and Brannon Braga that launched this season, starring Jason O’Mara (Jim Shannon) and Stephen Lang (Commander Nathaniel Taylor). The blurb from the Fox website dedicated to the show is as follows:


TERRA NOVA follows an ordinary family on an incredible journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as a small part of a daring experiment to save the human race. In the year 2149, the world is dying. The planet is overdeveloped and overcrowded, with the majority of plant and animal life extinct. The future of mankind is in jeopardy, and its only hope for survival is in the distant past.
When scientists unexpectedly discovered a fracture in time that made it possible to construct a portal into primeval history, the bold notion was born to resettle humanity in the past – a second chance to rebuild civilization and get it right this time.

Okay: what follows is a great adventure and suspense story, with family values. Yeah: family values and dinosaurs. This is not Land of the Lost nor Swiss Family Robinson, but a whole new creature.

When I watched the first episode I was actually turned off to the show. The set up and writing were trite and fell back on expected tropes. Examples within the pilot you have the angry eldest son who is so much like his father that he tries to go opposite of the man. The brainy and awkward middle child (daughter) and then the cute and oh so adorable youngest. Then there is the heavy handed social issues rammed down the throats of viewers on the environment and, oddly enough, population control. The hook is set immediately with a splinter group called Sixers (they came on the 6th pilgrimage) trying to usurp Terra Nova and Commander Taylor’s son is involved. Taylor himself seems to know what is going on but keeps it close to the vest.

Fortunately I kept watching. Despite Brannon Braga (The guy who I hold responsible for watering down Star Trek to a thin gruel) being involved, and the family oriented view point this show is good! (Not that there is anything wrong with a family oriented story, I just like my pulp a little harder than that.)

After the shaky start, the writing and plots have improved exponentially. The dinosaur effects and the fact there are dinos actually falls to the background, because the story and the characters do pull you in. The setting is the back drop to the larger drama. The scaly predators enhance what is all ready there.

The real star of the show to me is Stephen Lang, despite the films Avatar and Conan the Barbarian, this guy is awesome! This actor has some serious chops, and is not given enough credit for the solid, and believable performances he is capable of. Not only that, he is THE Bad Ass of Terra Nova. The man will go toe to toe with a T-Rex with a pocket knife! He will also do anything to insure the survival of Terra Nova and the people under his protection. (Totally unrelated note: This guy would have my vote to be Travis Morgan, The Warlord, in DC comics hollow world setting Skartaris.)

The interaction with the family unit at times strains the sweetness factor and too often hit’s the awwww factor. But that is my personal issue with it. The meaty exchanges are between Jim Shannon and Commander Taylor. As the only cop in Terra Nova Shannon has become Taylor’s head of security, and quasi-right hand. Their relationship is true bromance stuff. Shannon is willing to back Taylor’s plays, trusting the man to do the right thing. As an example in a recent episode Taylor tells Shannon: “You are the only one I trust 100% right now.” I hope to see even stronger exchanges between them, those things that strain friendships and build the strength of their trust further.

No one in this show just phones in a performance. The interactions, motivations, and dialogue are top notch. From Dr. Elizabeth Shannon’s ( Jim’s wife) relationship with an old college boyfriend to the villains and spies that all have strong personal motivations.

The show is not doing as well as it should in the ratings and I fear it will not see a second season. The budget was astronomical in the production and that is seen in the thirty-five minutes of run time vs. twenty-five in advertising. The value is apparent on the screen: the sets, the creatures, the tech, all are top notch. I think it is the lack of dinos in ever episode that seems to be a detractor for folks, but it falls to the background for me, because the story has evolved to something that good!

So check it out on Hulu, or other media, give it three episodes or even less. If you like Jurassic tension with a side of home town goodness thrown in, and a dash of pulp bad-assery this show has what you need.

Conan the Box Office Bomb

There were other words I could have used to start this blog, but none of them are family friendly. To say the least, I did not like, nor enjoy Conan the Barbarian. I am a fan of Robert E. Howard, I have devoured the Conan stories over and over. Conan the Barbarian ‘82 with Arnold Schwarzenegger was about as close to the original Howard stories as Mamoa’s Conan, but I loved that movie for its own sake. That film as well as the horrible pastiches by de Camp and Jordan made me seek out the original in turn allowed me to discover the rest of the great writer’s work.

I went into the film late and this blog is too late for many who have all ready spent their money, and the gods forbid on the 3D version. But it was so bad, weighs so much on my pulp lovin’ mind, that I have to get something out there to warn others.

First, I went into the movie with the idea that, like ‘82, this would not be Conan as Howard had seen him, but like ‘82 I would get a fun fantasy sword and sorcery movie. I didn’t get it. As a matter of fact when the credits started rolling all I could think was: ’Thank the Gods that train wreck is over’. When I come out of a movie emotionally exhausted I want it to be because it was that damn good!

The opening credits pissed me off! The opening voice over started with the famous Howard lines….. Know O Prince that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis gleaming cities and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas…… then they are corrupted to introduce not Conan but the friggin’ McGuffin for the plot! Once again, a movie maker decided that we need to waste twenty minutes of film with an origin back story to set the rest of the story. Though I love Ron Perlman and thought as origin stories for Conan go, the sequence wasn’t bad until the village was raised. Just because the whole “it takes destroying his village to make a hero” thing has been done to death!

Conan himself was okay. I get hung up on character features if they are strongly presented in the original prose. Conan’s blue eyes were made much of by Howard. They are usually a feature very prominent in action fiction because of the emotion description they can convey. Through out the film, I kept thinking that though piercing, seething, and volcanic could be used to describe Mamoa’s glare, his eyes were not the startling blue I should expect. Mamoa, a guy I like as an actor, was a good pick, physically and through his presence. He just had nothing to work with. Also, the lack of armor where appropriate bothered me. I understand that Conan is perceived as the bare chested barbarian and Mamoa spent the majority of the film that way. But Howard’s hero wore armor of various types when appropriate, there were a few scenes where a shirt of mail might have been wise.

The dialogue lacked any spark like Howard’s prose. Now I was not expecting or wanting Shakespeare, but a little more than the grunts and snarls that our protagonist issued, reinforcing the dull barbarian stereotype that Arnold had been saddled with. As with most films the villain had the best lines, but even these were so trite to the genre that they left me flat.

The costuming was not too bad. I could see the interpretation of Howard’s Hyborian races as it was presented, especially the Bossonian archers, though I was expecting long bows, not recurve designs. The make up on the other hand was ridiculous. The characters looked more like something out of Fall Out or Mad Max. I’m still puzzling over how Pictish warriors (loosly based on Native American tropes) sound like Tuskan Raiders. Now Howard had characters with some extreme features like the filed teeth of The Man Eaters of Zamboula. Often times this was a cultural thing like ritual scarring. Some of the level bosses (because that is what these guys were, but more on that to follow) looked like radiation mutants.

Certain features were well done, Messantia and the Cimmerian village both had the look of living, breathing communities, much like what was seen in the HBO series Rome and others that have learned what a good set can do for a story. The regions that were explored as ruins had the feel of being there for ages, or in the case of abandoned outpost, age and neglect. Then you have a massive mobile fortress on the backs of elephants! ARRRRGH!

The fortress (not the mobile command center) of the villain Kylar Zym, looked like a twisted nightmare vision of something Sauron would call home. Yeah, I know a twisted nightmare vision for Sauron, yes that is how over the top it was. Then the infiltration of the fortress, and the level bosses. Yes, I saw the potential for the first person Conan video game. Zym was surrounded by several level bosses, and in order to be ready to face Zym Conan had to defeat each one. It got stupid ridiculous when one of them was in the bowels of the fortress seemingly just waiting for Conan to come up so he could defeat said boss and move on to the next level.

The final fight between Conan and Zym was lack luster, no epic clash. Of course the fortress had to spontaneously exploded and tumble after Zym was defeated juuuuuuuust after the hero escapes. Now this is a pulp staple, but I was left wondering how and why when it was done.

The female lead was there to scream a lot and to give Conan someone to share his feelings with. Actually adding only as much to the story as the McGuffin, the Mask of Acheron.

This was such a lost opportunity for those with the Conan property. There was a chance to create a sweeping epic adventure that would have been part-pulp part high adventure. Stories that would have made great films still languish for adaptation. Howard has yet to be discovered by this generation of movie goers, I was fortunate enough to seek out Howard after seeing Arnold as the iconic barbarian. Others, considering the box office returns and stock pile of bad reviews will not be as fortunate.

As a post-script I would actually recommend the novel adaptation by Michael A. Stackpole. The story has elements that Howard himself could have written and makes the craptacular story of the movie work, while weaving it into the greater Conan cannon.