He flinched – he knew it was only illusion. It made sense to native eyes, just not to humans.
Except he could see it. The fragments crashed over him, doubling and tripling, more like a meteor shower now as they glowed and smoked from the heat of their passage. Except...
He nearly rolled back to the other side, even though he knew his attackers would still be waiting. Single-surfaced human eyes weren't meant to cope with the sights manufactured for native enjoyment.
Except when he had first come to the planet, wanting not to forget but to blend in – to learn to think like the planet's natives – he'd entered their sector on two occasions.
Before he had given up.
He'd learned to squint – he remembered it now – to block out the most intense of the illusions. To look out the corners of his eyes, never looking directly.
To see only shadows. And what lay beyond them.
Like now – three moving shapes. Native-sized shadows. A larger one also. And more just beyond them. Hovering. Circling. Waiting for him to move.
It didn't matter. FleetCen's justice could reach even here, in the native sector, if it had cause to. The natives would know that.
He got to his feet, looking at first only down to the pavement – even it shimmered and shifted beneath him – and elbowed his way slowly through the first shadows. He felt more than saw them ripple like water out of his way, then fill in behind him as he moved onward, holding his arms out in front like a swimmer, parting the darkness. The light. The bright silver.
The darkness again, this time purple and indigo. Then blue, like Angela. Blue, and shattering, like Angela's eyes, broken up into facets.
"You! Fleetie!"
He heard a voice – that of the croupier.
"I'm not with Fleet Central. You know that, damn it."
A sound. High-pitched laughter. Aztairan laughter, rocking around him, as all-encompassing as space itself.
"You! Fleetie! You hear me?" I have your friend."
This time he looked straight at where the sound came from. Saw a blinding screen of yellow. The lights of the spaceport.
He'd walked clear through the native sector – at least the curving, octopus arm of the part he had entered – and come out the other side. Here, though, the only humans he saw at first were silhouetted behind the wire barrier that marked the boundary of FleetCen's enclave.
"I have your friend, Fleetie." The croupier again.
His eyes adjusted. He saw her now. Between the croupier and two other natives, Angela stood, her eyes blindfolded, taken with them from the smoke house and dragged through the native sector behind him.
"If you've harmed her," he started to threaten.
"We haven't harmed her, Fleetie," the croupier said. "She volunteered. To make you see reason."
"I'm not a member of Fleet Central. I..."
"Yes, it's true, Michael," Angela broke in. She took off her blindfold. "The croupier told me. About your past – the things you've forgotten. The things you've wanted to have forgotten. Like Wexford's Planet..."
The memory came back then. He had been a civilian spacer, but he and his freighter had been conscripted. He'd been assigned to bomb a city, because there had been a native uprising. They'd needed a lesson.
But he had been in the city before, back when the planet had first been discovered. He'd known its beauty. He'd known that the natives of that planet were peaceful in nature. That any rebellion had been provoked.
And so he'd refused...
"You know what it's like, Michael. FleetCen, the natives here, they get along. They have a system. Except, every once in a while, something goes wrong. Like you winning, Michael, when people like you and me aren't supposed to."
They hadn't known he had been to Wexford's before and had known its people. And so, when his ship screamed out of space, and only then he had realized where the coordinates FleetCen had locked in his ship had taken him to, he'd over-ridden the ship's computer. He'd pulled the ship up and back into space, signaling FleetCen he wanted a transfer. As was his right, since they hadn't told him...
"You know what will happen," the croupier broke in, "if you refuse to surrender your winnings? Oh, no, we won't harm you. But word will get out not to have anything else to do with you either. No native will speak to you. No one will touch you. No one will let you in their establishments. Not even humans, if they want to get along, except maybe the ones in Fleet Central."
"The ones you hate, Michael..."
But he had been a member of FleetCen, at least on a temporary basis, and on active duty. And when he'd arrived at his new command, the story was out that he'd frozen in action – that his refusal had cost men's lives – and so he had been pressured, first from the service, and later, as more stories grew around him, he found himself blacklisted from civilian employment as well.
He had been accused – of what? it didn't matter any more – and he had been grounded on Aztair, his last port of call. This planet.
Begging for jobs outside FleetCen's spaceport. Gambling his money...
"You can't win, you know that. Not in the long run." The croupier again. "Tell him, Earth-female."
"He's telling the truth, Michael. It's not the money – not only the money. It's the example..."
He made up his mind then.
"Excuse me," he muttered. He shouldered past them and waved to a guard at the spaceport's perimeter. He nodded toward the gate.
"Wait!" the croupier yelled. "Look at me, Earthie. You hate your own kind – do you think they'll take you back? Give you a berth and let you back into space?"
Warren turned and faced the croupier one final time. He looked in the native's eyes.
"It's not my fellow humans I hate," he said. "It's just the system. Granted they're part of it – maybe the biggest part. And that I may be part of it too since, after all, I was part of FleetCen. But now they don't have to give me anything. I have your money to buy my passage."
"Where? To Old Earth? Back to Wexford's Planet?" The croupier waved its pincers in his face. "You don't understand yet, do you, Earthie? No matter where you go, it's the same system."
Warren shrugged. He looked at Angela, motioning toward the spaceport entrance.
She shook her head slowly. "You still can't win, Michael. People like you and me – all of our lives it's a kind of game. It's rigged against us."
He shrugged again, then turned back to the spaceport. Yes, the system was rigged, he thought, as he strode through the gate alone, not looking back. Except for one thing.
He touched the bulge in his jumper pocket – the croupier's credits.
He had just won at the game once already.
About the Author
James Dorr's new book, DARKER LOVES: TALES OF MYSTERY AND REGRET, is due out from Dark Regions Press (www.darkregions.com) as a companion to his current collection, STRANGE MISTRESSES: TALES OF WONDER AND ROMANCE (Dark Regions, 2001), while other work has appeared in such venues as ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE, NEW MYSTERY, ABORIGINAL, FANTASTIC, FUTURE ORBITS, SHADOWS OF SATURN, GOTHIC.NET, CHI-ZINE, MARSDUST, LENOX AVENUE, DARK WISDOM, ENIGMATIC TALES (UK), FAERIES (France), and numerous anthologies. Dorr is an active member of SFWA and HWA, an Anthony (mystery) and Darrell (fiction set in the US Mid-South) finalist, a Pushcart Prize nominee, keeper of a gray and black cat named Wednesday (after Wednesday Addams of THE ADDAMS FAMILY and whose favorite toy is a plastic fake spider), and has had work listed in THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR eleven of the past fifteen years.
Review
Captain America Omnibus reviewed by James Bacon
Issues: Captain America 1-25, Winter Soldier, Winter Kills and Capt America 65th anniversary special.
Writer: Ed Brubaker Artists including Steve Epting and Mike Perkins.
744pp Hb Marvel Comics Sep 2007
RRP £49.99 Amazon UK £34.99
Captain America is an iconic comic character. Like it or not, the character has always been steeped in politic
s, making his first appearance just over a year before Pearl Harbour. Hitler was the bad guy, the Red Skull was the ultimate villain, and Captain America was the defender of all things American and proper.
There have been no shortage of reincarnations of the character, and the story of Captain America’s origin has been rewritten and manipulated to suit the times. Some versions are brilliant; other versions are just so disappointingly derisive that one tries to forget they existed.
Captain America has insidiously permeated culture. For instance, there has been a superb American-style burger restaurant in Dublin called Captain America’s since 1971. They claim they brought the burger to Dublin, which they may or may not have done, but I remember frequently choosing to eat there. The place had huge murals of Captain America: the artwork was put to good use in a modern commercial setting.
Ed Brubaker took on this character with all its history, and in this work has produced what I consider to be the perfect adventure, history lesson and characterisation of Captain America. With the fresh start, there were huge expectations from the very first issue. Even so, no one could have imagined he would have done such justice to the character.
Brubaker uses each issue to develop the character of the hero as Captain America reacts to the ongoing action-packed story. At the same time, he builds in a considerable amount of history through stylistic flashbacks. This does not detract from the story, but allows the creation of a nice level of depth that previously has eluded the title.
Brubaker essentially creates a new character; while referring to other versions of Captain America, he includes the most important and interesting aspects and melds them into this wonderful version of the character.
While all this is going on, we watch a number of villainous nemeses come out of the woodwork to take on Captain America, such Dr Faustus, Sin and HYDRA in strange chemical costumes and all coupled with the subsequent Civil War which sees some interesting revelations about Captain America's mindset and his understanding of right and wrong.
There is a decent level of intrigue and complexity, including Captain America's own love interest and the feelings he has for another person close to him, that one expects from a comic aimed at a mature audience.
The Red Skull is at the centre of the action, but reflecting current real-world politics, we also have a Russian oil mogul, who happens to be in the military, playing an integral part in the complex political machinations.
The artwork is completed by a selection of draughtsmen, but Steve Epting and Mike Perkins are the key players and they are consummate professional artists who pay attention to detail. They know when to use older styles during moments of reflection, be it a simpler cartoon style or grittier black-and-white, as if you are viewing the action through a movie reel. All the artists involved do well, though, and the artwork complements this excellent story. Some of the final pages and comic covers are just wonderful.
This is a complete story; one feels that the whole tale has been well crafted from the outset with all permutations and strands ready to be drawn together as it comes to the climax.
This graphic novel contains the first twenty-five Captain America comics and two specials, a sixty-fifth anniversary special, and Winter Soldier Winter Kills. There is a selection of goodies at the back: the script pages for the final issue 25 with a commentary, layouts in pencils, rough covers , a number of pieces, looking at the character and what Brubaker brought to the table in a very insightful interview and a look at the media reaction to the man who brought a comic story to a definite end.
This is a Christmas present. It's not cheap, but is fantastic value as it is finely packaged and presents the life and untimely death of one of the greatest icons of American comics in one hardbound book.
Spaniels Everywhere!
The Production Diaries of The Brightonomicon Audio Series
By Neil Gardner
They told me I was crazy... They said it couldn’t be done... They warned me that I would go insane... They may have been right! It is now November and there is just over a month to go until I have to deliver the final masters of all 13 episodes to the big cheeses at BBC Audiobooks. That’s 6.5 hours of full-cast, full-on comedy drama.... Aaaaarrrrghhh! Now, radio and audio are fairly solitary media to work in; unlike TV and film, much of what is produced is made by one or two people. However, a series such as The Brightonomicon would normally have more than one person doing everything. But then again, this is something special. This is, as the head of Radio 4 would put it, a ‘passion piece’ for me. I have spent over 12 years trying to bring Robert Rankin’s unique universe off the page and into other media. I’m not going to let go of the reins now! So call me Mr Producer, Mr Editor, Mr Publicist, Mr Web Designer, Mr Director - but actually, damn it all, just bring me another pint of Large and lemme get back to work!
So here’s something of an update on the series in production so far:
The cast is now complete, and what a cast! David Warner as Hugo Rune, Rupert Degas as Rizla, Andy Serkis as Count Otto Black, Mark Wing-Davey as Fangio, Jason Isaacs as Tobes de Valois, Martin Jarvis as Colonel Mortimer, Rich Fulcher as Chief Whitehawk, Kevin Eldon as Norris Styver, Katherine Parkinson as Kelly Anne-Sirjan... and... well, go check out the website for the full, incredible list. I think it is safe to say we have a cast that rivals any Hollywood movie, big-time TV series and even some major conventions! Working with these guys has been a dream. For me, one of the highlights was the afternoon spent with Mark Wing-Davey, Mr Zaphod Beeblebrox himself. Mark has been one of my top 5 radio inspirations all my life, so to work with him was a bit of a fanboy dream come true (and yes, I did get him to sign my H2G2 box set!).
I’ve been slowly-but-surely building up the episodes, so that right now, all 13 are roughly edited together. All are far too long, but hey, that leaves room for a director’s cut version one day! I still have a few voices left to record, so as November moves on, I’ll drop those recordings into the edits and start tightening things up. It is very strange to almost have the series done after so many years of hard work!
The publicity machine grinds on, with a lot of press attention falling on us in recent weeks. We have been helped by a lot of people across the SF universe - especially Hub - and word is spreading bit by bit, and people are beginning to realise that something big is on its way (it might be a giant spaniel...but you’ll have to wait and see!). I have been having a great time talking with you all via the facebook group (www.facebook.com – hokus bloke or The Brightonomicon Audio Series). And our podcasts have proven to be extremely popular, and there are more still to come, oh yes. We have set up a YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/brightonomicon) where we have a series of fun short films starring Robert. And there is a fantastic 8 minute promo film all about us showing over at the Sci Fi Channel website: thanks to them for the support!
One of the real pleasures of the past few weeks was running a competition for one lucky blighter to win a small speaking part in the series. After weeks of promotion, and hundreds of entries, the winner was chosen by Robert at random, that winner being James Francis. You’ll be able to hear James in episode 12, just as Rune and Rizla enter the heavy metal nightclub in Hove.
Very excitingly, we have just received the designs for the CD box-set - and the design gurus at the BBC have done something wonderful. It really will stand out on a shelf and be something well worth owning. At the same time, we are now partnered with The Stroke Association, using the release of the series as a way to build awareness of how strokes affect people under 40, and hopefully to raise a little money for them too - very worthwhile I think you will agree.
Keep an eye and an ear out in January for a heap load of publicity, including something exclusive and fantastic for Hub Magazine. We’ll be plastering the airwaves with promotional blurb and there will even be a celeb-tastic launch event to which we hope you will all come. I for one will be looking forward to a few weeks where I don’t spend 15 hours a day in front of a computer screen editing a
udio and searching for bizarre sound effects... But then again... Elliott and I have already begun writing the sequel... And then there’s TV, film options... But that would be ruining all the fun of the future if I told you everything now, eh?
So get ready for Hugo Rune, Count Otto, Rizla and Fangio... Prepare for Spaniel Involvement, naked rock stars, Atlantis, cloned cabbies and the possible end of the world as we know it. The Brightonomicon is coming...14th February 2008!
www.brightonomicon.com
Neil Gardner, London, 9th Nov 2007
Next week:
· An interview with one of the stars of TV smash hit, Heroes
· More reviews (including our pick of the best of the current crop of small press anthologies)
· Alan Moore – A Profile
· Another superb piece of short fiction.
If you have enjoyed this week’s issue, please consider making a small donation at www.hub-mag.co.uk. We pay our writers, and your support is appreciated.
Hub - Issue 33 Page 2
