Jazzy D's Soul Notes

Richard Matheson "I Am Legend" (Gollancz)







Robert Neville lives alone and in desperation in a world that is nothing like our own. Some unknown phenomena have turned the majority of the human population into vampires. And Neville alone seems to be immune to the plague. Night after night he stays indoors hearing them growl and shout for him to come out. Madness and paranoia grow with time making the last human on Earth question his reasons for staying alive and wallowing in despair.


I am Legend offers a new and refreshing perspective on vampires. Being sci-fi first and classical fantasy second, it gives a very different account of how the vampire came to be while managing to award to its undead characters all the normal vampiric characteristics. In this book, there are crosses, fear of sunlight, blood to drink, and even immortality. But its explanations will be original and interesting.

Also, there is the psychological side of the book to consider. I am Legend is about a man, the last normal man in the world. It is fascinating to see just how the character develops in such conditions.

And it's exactly the character development that earns this book 4 stars instead of 5. While Neville's reactions are 'good and proper, it seems like the author got tired of writing him after 70 pages. So the end is a bit rushed... and I mean it not only in the literal sense but also because I think the character's 'end' doesn't fit such a protagonist. It's probably one of the few flaws of this book.

That said, I would recommend this book to each and every fan of sci-fi and/or the supernatural.

Alfred Bester "The Stars My Destination" (Gateway SF Masterworks)







I liked this book, although I recommend it only cautiously. "The Star My Destination" was written by Hugo winner Alfred Bester in the mid-1950s, but manages to maintain relevancy today. As Neil Gaiman said in the foreword, many sci-fi novels are out-of-date within a few years, but this one manages to be relevant today and will for many years.

The story of Gully Foyle starts with him marooned in space, and quickly leaps to the center of the action. Gravelly, violent, and raw, the plot is in your face and wastes no time with the excess story or meandering character development. Bester tells you exactly what Gully is, and Gully is as predictable as intended. The rest of the characters tend to be paper-thin, but the point of the story is the story, not the characters.

As violent as the story is, however, there is a point to Bester's prescient story, and it makes the story worth the reading, even as bleak as the future in his world is. Gully, the desperate, violent, and vengeful everyman, discovers and uncovers a simple truth, a truth of power, of corruption, and the danger of unparalleled weapons in the hands of the few, rather than of the many. With the rise of nuclear weapons in the 1950s, it is not unbelievable that it was written in the same era as "The Lord of the Rings," also a story that has been noted for its analogical relationship to nuclear weapons. Bester and Tolkien were writing in their time, but the lessons may be as relevant today as it was then.

Joe Haldeman "The Forever War" (Gollancz)




"This was not just a separation. Even if the war was over and we left for Earth only a few minutes apart, in different ships, the geometry of the collapsar jump would pile up years between us. When the second one arrived on Earth, his partner would probably be a half-century older; more probably dead."

Deservedly acknowledged as a classic, this tells the story of a physicist drafted into the military when humanity's first contact with aliens turns violent. Haldeman, a veteran himself, is able to make the training regime and the military culture eminently believable.


"The Forever War" essentially is nothing more than a part-time biography of a soldier living through a war. What makes it special is that said war isn't your typical planetary conflict, but rather fought in the vast expanse of space. Even though faster than light flight was discovered, most of the travel still has to be done at relativistic velocities, thus ensuring that the soldiers on the first campaign returned a generation after they had launched to fight, after only one subjective engagement.

What is perhaps surprising is how little actual fighting there is in the book. (The protagonist even misses out on one of the few battles that do occur, getting shot down before reaching the battlefield and waking up in hospital.) This book isn't about the war, it's about what happens to the people in it.

The most significant effect is from time dilation. Travelling huge distances at relativistic speeds, the soldiers keep returning to Earth way out of their time. We see some fascinating snapshots of how society might evolve, and then watch our heroes try to come to terms with the changes.

The lead characters struggle to hold on to each other, their senses of self, and their connections to the rest of humanity. It's a striking premise, excellently executed.

A solid piece of speculative hard science fiction.

Had a nice cup of breakfast tea this morning and then listened to Radio 4 about the core of the Earth, the core of the universe and the core of stellar formation which was fascinating.

After lunch i had some Xmas pudding whilst cousin was around his girlfriend's place and her kids having their Xmas dinner. I was listening to some jazz of course, and nursing this cold with a hot toddy, that is a whisky based one. Then later on, cheese and biscuits with some Taylor's port.

Last night i watched the Doctor Who Xmas special which i thought was quite entertaining and then a few couple of episodes from Agents of SHIELD second season, which i have seen before, and completely finished watching the fifth season of True Blood.

Today i might just watch some episodes of Charmed or complete that seventh season of Buffy again. For now i will do some reading.

Meanwhile i have been watching these two links to Shannen Doherty's FB page and her family dinging - with a few quick scenes of the beauty that is formerly known as Prue halliwell.


https://www.facebook.com/341362821729/videos/10153769529701730/

https://www.facebook.com/341362821729/videos/10153769523661730/

Books i am currently reading with some close to being finished are -

Rhonda Wilcox - Why Buffy Matters
ed. by Julian Baggini - What More Philosophers Think
Mark Rowlands - The Philosopher At The End Of The Universe
Herbert Marcuse - One Dimensional Man

Reading these in rotation of course.

From You Tube part one of the Hitch Hikers Guide from the classic BBC TV series - Enjoy!

A bit of nostalgia from my childhood now , and with talking to malinaldarose here is a clip from the seventies childrens sci-fi programme.





Been listening to this excellent reissue from Trunk Records as well. Note that Delia Derbyshire (of BBC Radiophonic Workshop fame)  had a hand in this too.

My Roger Zelazny book arrived in the post this morning. It is a compendium of short stories including "The Last Defender Of Camelot" ,and is thus the title of the book. It was a brand new paperback which I found for a penny on Amazon plus normal postage.

His science fiction verges on the fantastical and has fantasy elements. Last year i read his "Lord Of Light" in my Fifty Book Challenge.

I walked into Sittingbourne today as it was a mild and relatively sunny morning, and .currently I am at the Office.

Last night I watched the DVD of "I Robot" , and again in a philosophical way, it throws up the nature of existence and intelligence. The idea of the ghost in the machine is floated and that artificial intelligence could dream and have emotions. It was the great writer Isaac Asimov who proposed the three laws of robotics.

In a nutshell it states that -

1/  A robot may not injure a human bing or ,through inaction,allow a human being to com to harm
2/  A robot must obey the orders given by a human being, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law
3// A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Seecond Law.

It has been a long time since i read Asimov's "I Robot".

Great science fiction but also thought provoking.