Many years ago, I was one of the relatively few whose personal computer was not an IBM-clone or an Apple, nor even an Amiga, but an Atari ST; a lot of people don't even realize that Atari did indeed build full-fledged computers in those days, and quite good ones. Of course, being a splinter market, they did not always get all the software one might want. But they did have, for a short time, the company called FTL Games, and that meant two milestone games: Dungeon Master, one of the first 3-D dungeon-crawl games (and precursor of other [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: The Lord of the Rings and J.R.R. Tolkien
April 11, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne, In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. There may be no other modern work which has so completely defined and then overshadowed a genre as The Lord of the Rings. Written by John Ronald [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
February 19, 2014 By Leave a Comment
"It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment." My last post reminded me that I hadn't yet posted anything about the original -- an oversight that I now rectify! Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a man of wide experience and education – a doctor who served on both a Greenland whaler and a steamship on a voyage to western Africa, a scientist with a keen sense of justice, a man fascinated with the unknown and unknowable. Though he had many notable achievements in his [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: The Incompleat Enchanter
September 25, 2013 By 3 Comments
Fletcher Pratt and L.Sprague deCamp were well-known authors of science fiction and fantasy in the Golden Age. Separately they both produced well-respected works for many years. But together they created something truly amazing: the world of the Mathematics of Magic, featuring Harold Shea and Reed Chalmers – two masters of mathematical logic who theorize that mathematics and logic and perception dominate reality, and thus if one can encode the logic of a particular world into one's calculations, one could in theory travel to the [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: Lord of the Flies
September 6, 2013 By 19 Comments
For those who know me, this entry's title may come as a shock. "Ryk, you hated Lord of the Flies! How can you list it as an influence?" Well, sometimes things that really suck can influence you, too. For those (fortunately) unfamiliar with Lord of the Flies, it is something of a deconstruction of the "shipwrecked people" subgenre of stories (codified by Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson, and The Mysterious Island) and often said to be specifically a response to The Coral Island. In it, a number of British [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: Eric Frank Russell
September 2, 2013 By 3 Comments
There may be no other author who I can sincerely say has had a direct influence on me as a writer through as few works as Eric Frank Russell. While I have since read quite a few of his works – the Jay Score stories, "MacHinery", "Now Inhale", and others – his actual influence on me comes from two short stories: "Legwork" and "Hobbyist". "Hobbyist" is the story of Steve Anders, an exploration pilot whose ship encounters a spatial disturbance of immense power, throwing him so far from home that by the time he finds a [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: Yoroiden Samurai Troopers
May 24, 2013 By 1 Comment
The anime Saint Seiya, which I discussed some time back here, gave rise to an entire subgenre which I call "God-Warriors" – young people chosen by something on deific level to battle god-level threats, generally in a "Five-Team" configuration. This of course owed a great deal to the "sentai" shows of the same era, but Saint Seiya codified it for its generation and a number of other shows quickly followed – some following its lead, and others trying to take off from it and go in another direction; its influence can be seen in [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: The Stars My Destination
March 15, 2013 By 5 Comments
Gully Foyle is my name And Terra is my nation Deep space is my dwelling place And Death's my destination Alfred Bester produced many excellent short stories in his career, but he is best known for two novels; one is The Demolished Man, a tale of police procedure and investigation in a world of telepaths. The other is The Stars My Destination, AKA Tiger! Tiger! in some places. The Stars My Destination is often called The Count of Monte-Cristo… IN SPAAACE!, and certainly it was inspired by that [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: Doctor Who
March 11, 2013 By 10 Comments
I cross the void beyond the mind The empty space that circles time; I see where others stumble blind To seek a truth they'll never find. Eternal wisdom is my guide; I am – The Doctor. --Jon Pertwee, 3rd Doctor The longest running and one of the most influential science-fiction television shows ever created, Doctor Who is a titan amidst pygmies, larger than life in every direction and three times as confusing. Beginning in the early 1960s as a children's adventure show, it quickly drew a much more diverse and [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: Ayn Rand and _Atlas Shrugged_
February 15, 2013 By 3 Comments
"I swear – by my life and my love of it – that I shall never live my life for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live his life for mine." Undoubtedly one of the most controversial, hated, and loved figures of the 20th century, Ayn Rand dedicated her work to promotion of individual rights and rationality over group rights and emotion. The particular way in which she approached this conflict was, itself, a deeply personal and emotional one: her family had suffered considerably during the conversion of [ Continue reading... ]
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