Category: FICTION

Review of George Lucas’ Red Tails

What a wasted opportunity for George Lucas. Here we have the story of the first black (is that the correct term now?) fighter pilots in WWII and their struggle to be allowed to fight for their country, up against entrenched and endemic Racism. Not only did they succeed, but they won a combined award for their outstanding bravery and performance. Their job was to protect American Bombers raiding Germay, and they were the only Squadron who managed to lose not one single Bomber during their missions. So you have: politics, heroism, great action, technology in abundance, lots of potential personal stories and history all in one story. You also have the guy who made Star Wars at the helm. It should have been great; it was barely better than pap.

In fact I resigned myself to watching it purely for how bad it was – before the title credits. It opens with a really dire CGI bit of action with American P-40 Kittyhawks(?) fighting Me109s. The German pilots are portayed as ice-cold manifestations of the devil who speak like Cybermen. Somebody has been reading too many Eagle comics. The stereotypes were just way too much to take. The dialogue was pretty bad too. Continue reading “Review of George Lucas’ Red Tails” →

Self-imposed deadline approaches

I am hoping to publish Ordo Lupus II: The Devil’s Own Dice in August. The cover design is under way and the result will be much simpler and cleaner than the last one. I have completed the final edit and I am pretty pleased with it. I did a double take when I realised it’s only got seven chapters! The book is the shortest I have written for a long time – perhaps ever, but it’s all there. I think it works. On a different note, I have joined a forum for the Stirling Aircraft Society. I will give then a slight boost by posting a link below. The other reason is to remind me where it is! For some reason, (dunno if it’s anything to do with the new sharing function whereby when you are logged in you get links relevant to your previous, and your mates, searches) some days there is a bunch of links there to it when I type ‘Short Stirling Recovery’ and then the next day there are none! I can search for hours and not find it. Very frustrating. I must be better organised. Also, where on earth is this trend leading. Will I end up being broke when I am retired but owning a rusty bit of Short Stirling fuselage? Stirling Aircraft Society.

Sci-fi Author Ray Bradbury has Died. R.I.P.

Much loved Sci-fi author Ray Bradbury has died – probably best known for Farenheit 451.

From Wikipedia:

Bradbury is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). Other notable works include the coming of agenovel Dandelion Wine (1957), the dark fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. Bradbury also wrote poetry which has been published in several collections, such as They Have Not Seen the Stars (2001).