I don’t know if anyone out there remembers Richard Fariña, but the last couple of weeks had me thinking of his 1960s novel, “Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me.” Trouble on the server and some mishigas with files and what-not, had me wondering if I’d ever be able to post anything again. Everything is back up now and I’m feeling a lot better thank you.
There’s been a lot of back-and-forth in the ERB fan community about the promotion and reception of the Andrew Stanton “John Carter” movie. I want to put in my own two cents about it, but frankly, I’m still chewing it over. It was not the film I’d hoped for. I will be very surprised if it attains true “film classic” status. It will very likely remain one of those “cult” films that could-be-good, could-be-bad …
I think the writers could have done a much better job of interpreting the book, and to confirm my feelings I went back to re-read “A Princess of Mars” for probably the fifth or sixth time (not counting all the times I’ve looked up some detail of one kind or another in it). I looked at it with a much more mature eye this time, and although I still enjoyed it and appreciate it for its place in the canon of SF and Fantasy, I got a little better handle on the shortcomings, as well as the virtues, of Ed’s first novel. That is the key, after all. It was his FIRST novel. He was feeling his way along and spinning a tale that he thought was just as crazy, if not MORE crazy than all the other pulp tales of 1910 and 1911.
I’ve got more to say on this but for now I’m just glad that I’m back in business.