March’s Critical Mass featured Kate Treloar talking about The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson’s 2020 novel; I thought I’d better read it for the discussion.
I spent a week reading the novel, savouring the delight. As Bill McKibben, head of 350.org, noted1, “it’s not a utopia, it’s anti-dystopian, realist to its core.” He compares the book to Bellamy’s Looking Backward 2000-1887.… Read the rest
Yay! The new issue of Wild Goose is out! As some of you might have guessed from this image, the main article is Paul Downton’s slide presentation of a recent visit to Barcelona.
Australian architect, writer, artist and urban evolutionary, Paul has been called a ‘father of the ecocity movement’ and sees ecocities as an evolutionary adventure. His best known built project is Christie Walk, in Adelaide (where Roman lives in a straw-bale house).… Read the rest
Tony Cliff is a decades long veteran of the Canadian animation industry, and three times nominee for an Eisner award. The first of his Delilah Dirk novels, Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant, is a mad adventure story set in Istanbul, 1807.… Read the rest
As a long-time fan of Green Lantern — I loved the old Hal Jordan stories — I could hardly resist a new Green Lantern series, particularly when it’s written by a brilliant writer!
Sojourner “Jo” Mullein is a rookie Green Lantern who’s been sent to a far corner of the galaxy, far removed from other Green Lanterns, to solve a murder.… Read the rest
You might expect a series called Total Control would be about politics. The original working title for the series was Black B*tch
Deborah Mailman plays an indigenous woman in outback Queensland who is coopted by a conservative government headed by PM Rachel Anderson (played by Rachel Griffiths).… Read the rest
I was a big fan of the original Watchmen comic series, which dealt with Thatcher and Nuclear War, and enjoyed the movie which focussed on Reagan and genetech. How, I wondered, would it fare as a TV series?
This HBO TV series is surprising, in that it has a strong focus on race relations in the US — remember that the original was british oriented — and appears to follow on from the original Watchmen story, some decades later.… Read the rest
One of the delights in recent TV watching is the new HBO/BBC production of His Dark Materials, based on the wonderful trilogy from Philip Pullman.
Unlike the 2007 film of The Golden Compass, the TV series doesn’t sanitise the evil of the Magisterium, a religious organisation which rules Lyra’s world. The film suggested that the evil was a military fascism with religious overtones, rather than being a key characteristic of strict authoritarian religions.… Read the rest
Adelaide’s been invaded by strange critters called “Leafies”, as detailed by Roman
We hear about Ecocide as a crime against peace from Polly Higgins.
Ian Borchardt gives us the info on Jane Austen, Private Eye.
Marc Ortlieb introduces us to Lewis Carrol’s Phantasmagoria.
Adam reveals his shameful obsession, and also talks about building robots.
We have a look at some recent novellae, and Tony Thomas treats us to
The Denier’s Nightmare
Don’t miss out!
We’re just putting the finishing touches on the new issue, so there’s still time to comment on issue 4
(http://wild-goose.net/issue/issue4/), the Gibbons on the Ramparts issue.
If you enjoyed Ladies in Black, you might want to catch Top End Wedding — a lovely, unpredictable rom-com with spectacular scenery and delightful characters.
Adam talked about the AI problem (and I note Murderbot #2 took out the Hugo for novella), I reminisced about visiting St Petersburg, and Christine Pyman shared her opinion of the new Dr Who.… Read the rest
There was an interesting discussion between Jonathan Strahan and Gary Wolfe a while back on the Coode Street Podcast about the attractions of the novella form: long enough to allow some interesting world-building and development, but not as major a commitment as a novel. With Tor (in particular) publishing a number of novellas, there’s a market for the stories. Unsurprisingly, authors have risen to the challenge.… Read the rest
Tony Thomas sends us his thoughts on some articles in recent issues of Wild Goose
Red Sparrow reviewed by Roman: I read the novel about the same time as you and had similar reactions.
Although considerably bloodier than novels by Stella Rimington (former head of MI5), you’ve got to believe the spycraft in both her books and Red Sparrow because they’re written by people who supposedly have lived these lives.… Read the rest
A French group, Le Phun, created a hundred of these sculptures for WOMADelaide.
… Read the rest“The innovative theatre company from Toulouse combines the reality of the everyday with the creative world of the imagination. Their beguiling, ephemeral Leafies (Les Pheuillus) – plant sculptures born from autumn leaves, in human form – will appear and migrate to unexpected places in Botanic Park during the festival, as a reflection on the poetic aspects of nature.”
Polly Higgins was a Scottish barrister, who left her career as a corporate lawyer to focus on environmental advocacy, and unsuccessfully lobbied the United Nations Law Commission to recognise ecocide as an international crime.
Ecocide had been proposed as one of the international crimes against peace in 1996, but failed to be included in the final Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Higgins started to campaign for its inclusion around 2009, when the Rome statue was being reviewed.… Read the rest
In part two of my 2014 interview with Polly Higgins, we start by talking bout why ecocide should be a criminal, rather than civil matter.… Read the rest
A lovely cover snap by Adam of a stream in Delft, taken during his European visit.
This issue, we discuss ecocide, building and designing robots, an invasion and climate politics.
Marc Ortlieb looks at Lewis Carrol’s Phantasmagoria, Tony Thomas provides a poetic glimpse at our future, and Ian Borchardt looks at Jane Austin, Private Eye. We’ve also returned the comment forms to make it easier for you to respond.… Read the rest
Adam: It has been a busy time since the last issue. Probably the highlight for me was a lightning trip to Europe. For various reasons I’ve been working on a long-running research project to develop a system that we hope will encourage the reuse of building components. Currently the construction industry is one of, if not the biggest producer of waste materials in Australia, so any means to reduce that waste is a worthwhile step.… Read the rest
This is the story of a young Alfred Pennyworth (the future butler to Thomas Wayne), set in the 1950s in an alternative Britain. He was a soldier in the war, and starts a security service after the war. Produced by the makers of Gotham, Alfred reminds us of a young Michael Caine playing Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File — not just the accent, but the working class background and gruff attitude.