Thursday, January 29, 2009

Cyrano de Bergerac: a quick study


Since my English teacher introduced me to this wonderful play, Ive done some farther reading on it. and Ive decided to share it with you.
first the play it self: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext98/cdben10h.htm
although we used a slightly different translation, this is similar enough that i won't feel guilty for recommending it heartily.
(Wold Newton Alert: in the first act D'Artagnan, hero of the three musketeers, appears. in the fourth act the plot of The Three Musketeers is referenced.)
The 1950 movie: http://www.archive.org/details/Cyrano_DeBergerac
excellent! I can't believe how much fun this movie is. as a plus the ending is a bit more noble for Cyrano. The actors did a great job with this, all of them were clearly having a great time in production. Also Jose Ferrar is now who I think of when I think of Cyrano.
The 1650 novel by...Cyrano Himself!?!?: http://www.bewilderingstories.com/special/tow.html
this one is just weird, I don't really know what to do with it. In it Cyrano travels to the moon and finds people from the Bible and some other stuff the makes even less sense.
I'm only halfway through and had to give it a rest because of how weird it was.
So that's that, I ran through most of the Cyrano stuff i know of, avoiding the Shadowmen story because i have not yet read it, so i hope you enjoy it!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Books I'm reading, and a somewhat odd bonus.

for some reason my friend thinks its a good idea to post what books I'm reading at the moment. so to appease him I'm doing it.
Books Recently Read:
The Shadow: Serpents of Shiva by Walter Gibson
The New Destroyer Choke Hold by Warren Murphy
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
Secret Files of the Diogenes Club by Kim Newman
Wolverine: Election Day by Peter David...or Wolverine Vs Obama, no really, I'm not kidding.
At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft
The Avenger Chronicles by Various
Doc Savage: The Fortress of Solitude by Lester Dent
Tintin in America by Herge

Books I'm Reading Now:
Gun Work by David J Schow
The Daughter of Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Alex Rider: Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz...or Alex Rider vs. Fu Manchu
Tales of the Shadowmen Vol 4 by Various...Favorite Stories so far "the atomos affair" The agents of UNCLE verses a Japanese madwoman &"the evil against which we strive" a young unnamed Nick Fury meets The Shadow and a french pulp guy. Fun All Around!
Surprised by Joy by C. S. Lewis

That was more fun than I thought it was going to be...huh.

And that bonus I was talking about.
What if I told you the the spy group U.N.C.L.E. existed in 1937. You would laugh. Until I showed you this nifty (yeah, i used nifty in a sentence, you got a problem?) little tale from the G-Men August 1937 issue.
the story in called Enemies of UNCLE. but why should i go on when you can read it at: http://pulpgen.com/pulp/downloads/getpdf.php?id=381
Have Fun and Think About it!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

James Bond vs. Cthulhu



Did anyone notice the Cthulhu crossover in the second Young James Bond novel?


In the novel Blood Fever by Charlie Higson Bond is battling a cult that is attempting to raise the Roman Empire. but interestingly this groups deities are never named. At one point in the Novel Bond visits his uncle in Italy. The uncle is a collector of modern art and has a slightly crazy artist named Poliponi who lives with him and creates art. on page 95 of the hardcover Bond is first introduced to this artists "art":


"If the room was unusual, what was in it was extraordinary. It was filled with paintings and statues and odd, incongruous objects. The paintings were unsettling and nightmarish. One gigantic canvas took up almost all of one wall -- it showed an octopus floating in the air, crushing various objects in its tentacles: naked women, an animal that looked like a hairless cow, and a car that looked somehow fleshy and alive."


then later on page 235 Bond sees another of the paintings: "


"...the unfinished painting of a boy standing on a desolate beach . he looked half reptilian with webbed feet and goggle eyes. he was holding the number seven in one hand and a sea urchin in the other. there was something dreamlike and disturbing about the picture, as if the boy were dead, a ghost." this description is surprisingly close to the creatures from "Shadows over Immouths"


Although the dialog suggests that this is a drawing of Bond i really don't buy that.


my reconstruction of events suggests that Poliponi (whose name is suspiciously close to Polyp) was one of the many Contacted by Cthulhu in 1928.[1] but that he was one of the few who did not recover entirely, and with his secret knowledge he began to make (and become one of the founders of) modern art.


and the roman cult in desperation at the rise of fascism turns to Cthulhu to bring the Roman Empire from the depths. This Plot is of course stopped by James Bond.

what do you think of my conclusions?






[1] In the classic short story "The Call of Cthulhu"

The First Post


The Purpose of this blog is to examine old adventure novels, post fiction links, and have Fun doing it. and who knows maybe along the way Ill throw in some political ramblings.

so buckle up, put your seat in it upright position, and settle in, 'cause its gonna be a bumpy ride.