Science Fiction in Pulps, E-Zines, and E-Books

When I was young and first started reading Science Fiction, most genre fiction was published in what were known as "pulp" magazines with titles such as Amazing Stories, Thrilling Wonder, Astonishing, Fantastic, Planet, Terror Tales and Unknown to name but a small sample. They had garish brightly-colored covers, usually featuring a scantily dressed woman in some sort of peril by a Bug-Eyed-Monster or a robot with a spaceship in the background. They were printed on 8 ½ by 11 blotting paper and were about an inch thick. The interiors were filled with marvelous stories written by such legends as Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Heinlein, and Arthur C. Clarke to name but a tiny fraction of authors whose careers started with the pulps.

In addition to the stories, they contained art by Earl Bergey, Virgil Finley and Chesley Bonestell and many other great illustrators. They had fact articles and massive letter columns where the fans argued about everything faintly associated with their favorite genre. Although they paid their contributors little in the way of cash, they were a great place for a genre author or artist to get published. If they were very good and lived long enough for the paperback explosion, many graduated into the world of published books where the real money was.

But sometime in the nineteen fifties, the pulps disappeared to be replaced by paperback books and smaller slicker magazines such as Analog. But these medium were more expensive to print. As a result, their editors were less likely to take a chance on new authors. In order for a genre author to get published, he or she had to be known from the pulps or be exceptionally gifted. Hence, from the late fifties to the nineteen nineties it became more and more difficult for a new author or artist to break into the publishing world.

In the nineteen nineties, a new method of publishing came into being due to the Internet and the prevalence of computers in people's homes. It was Electronic or E publishing. As it turned out, the electronic magazines or E-Zines returned to the days of the pulps. Although they paid even less (many pay nothing) than the pulps in terms of today's dollar, a new author, if he or she was any good at all, could finally get a break and get his or her stories published.

The same holds true of the E-Book publishers. Most of print publishing is done by a few major publishers who are mostly interested in publishing books by celebrities and well-known authors. Most will not even accept a manuscript from an unknown unless it arrives through an agent. Ah, but since publishing E-books and print-on-demand is a cheaper process, budding authors have a much better chance of getting published.

Macho Women in Science Fiction

I know there are a lot of strong women in science fiction, probably more than in any other genre – and I love them. Here are some of my favorites.

My number one favorite was Riply in the Alien series. Here was a woman who had everything. She was smart, tough and courageous. In Alien, she stood up to the weak captain of the ship in attempt to prevent the man infected with the alien from boarding the ship. She was the only one aboard who realized the danger. In Aliens, we see a softer side in her relations with the little girl, Newt, who was a strong female character herself. In Alien 3, she had to face tough prison inmates as well as the alien creatures and had to sacrifice herself to prevent the horror from brought to earth. And in Alien Resurrection, she became part alien herself.

Second on my list of favorite macho women was Lara Croft in the movie version of the game, Lara Croft, Tomb Robber. Angelina Jolie was perfect for the part, smart, sexy, athletic and tough. I hope they make a third Lara Croft movie with her in the lead.

My third favorite strong woman is not from the movies but from a book. She is Kithryn from the Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. Kithryn is young student sent back to the middle ages only to find herself in the time of the Black Plague that killed a third of the population of Europe. Ill herself from a pandemic in her own time, she manages to cope as the people around her die horribly, and she is unable to return to the place she needs to go to return to her own time.

Fourth is Zoe Graystone from the SyFy canceled TV series, Caprica. In the show, she is the daughter of high-tech scientist-entrepreneur Daniel Graystone or I should say the virtual copy of the real Zoe Graystone, who is killed by a terrorist suicide bomber boy friend early in the plot. She leads a tough life inside a PC virtual world as well as the mind of a warrior robot invented by her father.

Fifth is Morgan Le Fay (AKA Morgaine) in the Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Morgaine is a priestess fighting to save her matriarchal Celtic culture in a country where patriarchal Christianity threatens to destroy the pagan way of life. Morgaine is a strong woman who has unique gifts and responsibilities at a time of enormous political and spiritual upheaval as she is called upon to defend her heritage against impossible odds.

Sixth and Seventh were the main female characters in the TV series Lost, Kate Austin, Juliet Burke and Sun-Hwa Kwon. All three showed their self reliance in a hostile environment without loss of their femininity.

Of course, the main characters in my own novels are strong women, Morgaine the Demon Witch and Raven Lenore, Psychic Investigator.

I also enjoyed several strong female characters in Dark Shadows, the old TV paranormal soap opera.

Of course it was hard to choose. There are so many strong women in genre fiction. In my own novels, Morgaine the Demon Witch, her rival Melody Trent, and my favorite of characters I've created, Raven Lenore, Psychic Investigator.

Who are your favorites?

Armageddon

Is it just me, but doesn't it seem that horrendous disasters have been more frequent in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries? The twentieth century saw a world wide flu epidemic, two world wars, the holocaust, mad dictators who murdered millions, the invention of the atom and hydrogen bombs, the brink of a full scale nuclear war, famines in Africa, pollution, global warming and much more, not to mention natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. The first six years of the twenty-first century are not starting out much better.

Could it be that the End of Days is at hand? Prophets have been predicting it for a long time. How can we know when it near? Here is my interpretation of Christian Bible prophetic sources related to current events.

The Bible contains many prophecies about the future. The New Testament in particular talks extensively about the return of Jesus Christ to this earth. This is usually called his "second coming." The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 24, is devoted to this topic, as is much of the book of Revelation, and Thessalonians 4:16-18.

One day the disciples came to Jesus and were given a private briefing regarding the signs before his return and of the end of the age, Jesus replied: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ, ' and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Matthew 24:3-8

Did this predict the two world wars, the famines in Africa and the many disastrous earthquakes in the past hundred years?

There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.

Is this about the recent spate of hurricanes?

Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name. At that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.

I don't know about the first part, but doesn't it seem that there are a lot false prophets around. Preachers who pretend to be Christian but preach hate. Recently a famous televangelist told his listeners to pray for someone's death and later stated that a certain dictator should be assassinated. I haven't heard of any exceptions or clauses to the commandment "Thou shalt not kill."

Mark 13:14-28: But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. And let him who is on the housetop not go down, or enter in, to get anything out of his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babes in those days! But pray that it may not happen in the winter. For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of creation which God created, until now, and never shall. And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect whom He chose, He shortened the days. And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here [is] Christ; or, lo, [he is] there; believe [him] not: For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if [it were] possible, even the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather togetherhis elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

Could the references to "the stars of heaven shall fall" be a reference to the collision by a giant meteor or comet that astronomers say is inevitable. In 2004, a small near-Earth asteroid (NEA), made the closest approach to Earth ever recorded. The object, designated 2004 FH, was roughly 30 meters (100 feet) in diameter and passed just 43,000 km (26,500 miles, or about 3.4 Earth diameters) above the Earth's surface on March 18th at 5:08 PM EST. On average, objects about the size of 2004 FH pass within this distance roughly once every two years. Most of these small objects pass by undetected. This particular close approach is unusual only in the sense that scientists knew about it.

A recently rediscovered 400-meter Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) is predicted to pass near the Earth on 13 April 2029. The flyby distance is uncertain and an Earth impact cannot be ruled out. The odds of impact, presently around 1 in 300, are unusual enough to merit special monitoring by astronomers, but should not be of public concern. In all likelihood, the possibility of impact will be eliminated as astronomers track the asteroid.

If an asteroid between 30 - 400 meters actually strikes earth, how much damage would cause? It is estimated that the object that leveled forests in Tunguska, Siberia in 1908 was of this scale. Imagine if it hit a populated area.

If an asteroid of size 200 meters hit the ocean (which covers 70% of the Earth), the tsunami would inflict catastrophic destruction of coastal cities and substantial worldwide human casualties along coastlines. An asteroid of one kilometer size striking the Earth would cause a dust cloud which would block out sunlight for at least a year and lead to a deep worldwide winter, exhausting food supplies. The latter is what caused the dinosaur extinction, as well as other major extinctions in geologic time scales. Two hundred meter asteroid hits, far more common than the one kilometer or more strikes, do not show up much in geologic histories since over time their craters are obliterated by erosion.

On March 23, 1989, an asteroid with a kinetic energy of over 1000 one-megaton hydrogen bombs (i.e., about 50,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima) was passed very close to Earth. It was discovered by equipment that uses new technology. Named 1989FC, this asteroid was detected after its point of closest approach. Astronomers discovered it had passed as close as it did only after they calculated its orbital path backwards in time. This event brought near Earth asteroids into the political arena.

Luke 21:20-24: But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is at hand. Then let those in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are in the midst of the city depart, and let not those who are in the country enter the city; because these are the days of vengeance, in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled. Woe to those who nurse babes in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land, and wrath to this people, and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

Just think about what is happening in the Mideast these days, and the prophesy seems to refer to current and possible future events in that region. Also note the following prophesy:

Ezekiel 38: 5-7: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: [and] many people with thee. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.

Ezekiel 39: 1-6: Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I [am] against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that [is] with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and [to] the beasts of the field to be devoured. Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken [it], saith the Lord God. And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I [am] the Lord.

Although there is some disagreement among scholars exactly which modern nations this refers to, all the nations in the area where these ancient nations existed in Ezekial's time have mostly Muslim populations today, the extremists of which hate Israel and wish it destroyed.

Joel 3:14-15: The sun and the moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness

Matthew 24:29 The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky

Mark 13:24 But in those days, after that tribulation, The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven

These verses seem to refer to nuclear winter, a condition caused by great clouds of dust to form that block out the sun for years, which in turn would cause plant life to fail. This condition could come about from either a full-scale nuclear war or a collision by a large asteroid.

Despite all of the above, the prophesies may not be referring to our modern era at all or may be referring to some future period. After all, Jesus told his disciples, "The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of."

The sixth, seventh and eighth E-books in my Morgaine series are about a fictional Armageddon. They are Morgaine and Armageddon, Morgaine and Moonwood and Morgaine and Nicholas.

My Love of Fantasy and Science Fiction

I loved these genres since I was very young. My parents were great readers and so I became one too. I loved to go to the local library and browse through all the wonderful books. I liked books about pirates and the usual fairy tales. When I was seven, something wonderful happened to me. It was the movie "The Wizard of Oz." Back then, it was shown in theaters. On the big screen, it was wonder of wonders. After that I began to buy Oz books, of which there were many, not only by Frank L. Baum, the creator of Oz, but by his successors, Ruth Plumly Thompson and John R. Neil (who by the way was the illustrator for all three authors).

The next good thing happened when I was in the third grade. I came across a book about an imaginary trip to the moon and the planets. That hooked me on science fiction. I read everything I could find about space travel, time travel and so forth, mainly the comic books, Superman, Captain Marvel, Planet Comics and so forth. When I was twelve, I discovered the pulps, eight and half by eleven magazines with garish covers and printed on thick cheap paper. These contained stories by such greats as Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Robert Silverberg and so many more.

About that time I also saw the movie "House of Frankenstein" with such a great cast, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., John Carridine and Glen Strange. It's still one of my favorite movies. Although billed as a horror flick, it's really science fantasy. Speaking of movies, a few years later my favorite movie of all time came out, "2001, A Space Odyssey," which I saw on the wide screen. Believe me, it is stunning in the theater. Since then, there has been "Alien" and its sequels, all the Star Wars movies, Star Trek and its spin-offs, Jurassic Park and its sequels, etc., etc. We're living in my idea of paradise as far as movies go.

And then there are the books. I have so many favorite fantasy and SF authors that I could fill this page with their names.

From a love of these genres I decided to try my hand. The results you can buy at Renaissance Page Turner Editions, Fictionwise.com, Amazon and other online book sellers.