Monthly Archives: May 2010
Backmatter Part 15: Operation Mandeville
High Concept: Band of Brothers meets Godzilla , with more H-bombs. Lots more H-bombs Genre: Picaresque wainscoting atompunk sci-fi Overview: There’s a reason that the Yalta conference was codenamed “Argonaut.” The Big Three, and a few key players, knew that … Continue reading
Backmatter Part 14: L’Abisso
High Concept: Prospero’s Books meets 28 Days Later Genre: High, Dark, Lurid Renaissance-tinged post-apocalyptic fantasy Overview: Before the end of the world, the island of Finzione was a forgotten ducal holding slowly sinking into a weed-choked swamp, home to a … Continue reading
Backmatter Part 13: Slow Boat to Fast City
High Concept: James Ellroy’s The Martian Chronicles Genre: Hard-bop Raygun Gothic sci-fi Overview: The Space Wars began on May 9, 1945, when the Red Army stormed the walls of Berlin and saw Nazi space arks streaming through the sky from … Continue reading
Backmatter Part 12: The Goon Squad
High Concept: “The Shadow over Mulholland,” or “The Dunwich Horror” meets L.A. Confidential Genre: Pulp Mythos Wainscoting Noir Overview: “I saw more than my share of weird in Italy, during the war. Sicilian strega keeping the Blackshirts at bay with … Continue reading
Backmatter Part 11: All The Young Dudes
“Know that the faerie rades began again in 1969. Know that the Grey Neighbors came calling from field and hedge, from shadow and sinkhole, from frost and flame, from Canaveral and Altamont and Woodstock and Spahn Farm to bring slaves, … Continue reading
Backmatter Part 11: Welcome to the Occupation
When Papa Sinister marked my face, he said he was binding me to the Zobop. When he flayed the flesh off of my fingertips, he said he was marking me as a bone-pointer, as a killer of men. When the … Continue reading
Backmatter Part 10: The Never-Never Covenant
High Concept: “Chronicles of Narnia” meets “New Mutants” if Aslan and the White Queen’s roles were reversed Genre: Kid-lit fantasy/horror Overview: You used to dream about drowning, about ropy tentacles drawing you into black water over and over. Nothing helped… … Continue reading
Backmatter Part 9: Ad Astra
High Concept: “The Right Stuff” meets “Master and Commander” Genre: Scientific Romance meets modern conspiracy Overview: “NASA always knew. “It stands to reason, really. Ever since Jefferson, NASA (then known as the National Astro-Nautical Survey Administration) had secretly collected the … Continue reading
Backmatter Part 8: Helter Skelter
High Concept: “Hair” meets “Red Dawn” Genre: Telepunk: Cyberpunk meets 1970s grindhouse Overview: Everyone assumed that the Prophet was a kook, one of the fleeting nightmares of the Summer of Love. He was in jail, the Family was scattered and … Continue reading
Backmatter Part 7: East of Uruk
Saqi, give that wine which silences me, And robes me in nothingness. Saqi, give that wine which drowns my self-esteem and carries me beyond all thought of right and wrong. Saqi, give that wine, that I might lose the ego, … Continue reading
