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A clear and thorough analysis of the key features involved in the film blade runner by William. Clear analysis of the film...

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BFS JOURNAL

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BFS JOURNAL #17 EDITOR

Allen Stroud

First published in the UK in 2016 by

The British Fantasy Society www.britishfantasysociety.co.uk BFS Journal © 2017 The British Fantasy Society Cover illustration © Peter Coleborn. All contributions © their respective authors / artists The moral rights of the authors and artists have been asserted. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent, in any form of binding or cover than that it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

contents

6 EDITORIAL

Allen Stroud

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FROM THE MISTS OF TIME: BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY - THE FIRST FIFTEEN YEARS David Sutton

15 BRITAIN’S FANTASTIC #3: HEREFORD, AND THE BOX OF DELIGHTS Neil Campbell

19 THE CIVILISING POWER OF LAUGHTER: SHAKESPEARE IN A FANTASY/FACT FUSION Imola Bülgözdi

26 FILM REVIEW: FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM Matt Barber

29 ROTTERS, WALKERS, AND EIGHT-BALLS DEHUMANIZING THE “OTHER” AND HUMAN VIVISECTION Kristine Larsen

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FANTASYCON 2016 REVIEW Tej Turner

44 AN ANALYSIS OF BLADE RUNNER USING SARTREAN CONCEPTS Chung Chin-Yi

51 THE DARKENED CORNER Michael Brookes

54 RELIGION IN FANTASY: PROPAGANDA, BLASPHEMY OR NONSENSE? A. J. Dalton

66 BRISTOLCON 2016 REVIEW R. B. Watkinson

68 SHAPESHIFTING VAMPIRES Tracey Holmes

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BFS HOTSPOT - DAVEY STONE Allen Stroud

77 MIND THE GAP: THE UPWORLD & THE UNDERSIDE IN GAIMAN’S NEVERWHERE Seda Peksen

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REVIEW: HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD Karen Fishwick

89 THE FEUDALIST SOCIETY OF ANT ISLAND Steven Smith

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REVIEW: ABENDAU’S HEIR BY JO ZEBEDEE Allen Stroud

99 KNOWING THE LAND: WOMEN IN JAMES CAMERON’S SCIENCE FICTION MOVIES Natacha Guyot

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editorial W

Allen Stroud

elcome to BFS Journal 17, the fourth full non-fiction journal.

A belated Happy New Year to you all. I hope 2017 is treating you well? For me, 2016, was a difficult time. My dad, Geoffrey Stroud, finally lost his long battle with illness and passed away in October. He was eighty and had been on kidney dialysis for nearly ten years. Back when his kidney’s failed, we thought we were going to lose him, but he recovered and set himself a set of incredible goals to achieve all sorts of things, like flying in a little plane, going to Rome, and publishing a book of his short stories about a talking pig called Ozzy. My sister Rachel and I saw that as something we could help with and together we edited and published his first book. Every year thereafter we worked on a new collection, doing a short print run through Lulu.com and helping with a little launch party in my parents house. proceeds from the book, from annual walks and all sorts of things my mother makes went to support the Wessex Kidney Patients Association. There are seven collections of my Dad’s stories published, with one more posthumous book to come. Quite a legacy for a writer who didn’t start committing anything to paper until he was well over seventy years of age. If there’s a lesson to be learned from that, its one of valuing the things you achieve. Certainly, all the world changing events of 2016, the politics, the passing of so many creative people and everything else made me search for the good things in my life, focus on them and take a moment to celebrate, even if that celebration was nothing but a cup of tea and a quick smile. At the moment, 2017 promises to be better. So far around here, we’re cautiously optimistic. Karen and I are working hard on organising Fantasycon 2017 in Peterborough and starting initial talks for the next Fantasycon after that as well. I’ve also just put the finishing touches to a draft of my Ph. D, which hopefully, will be over by the time we start laying out the welcome mat for 2018. In the meantime, we have Journal 17 for you, a great collection of articles, reviews and insight into all things Fantasy. Horror and Science Fiction. There’s a few moments of nostalgia in here too, which is never a bad thing. Allen. BFS JOURNAL

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FROM THE MISTS OF TIME: THE BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY THE FIRST FIFTEEN YEARS 1. A Weird Beginning 1971 - 1974

DAVID A. SUTTON

BACK IN LATE 1970 I was editing my fanzine Shadow, and in issue twelve I mentioned that the British Science Fiction Associatn was about to incorporate a ‘special interest’ section for fantasy fans. Keith Walker (an active BSFA member at the time) was its proponent. The idea never got off the ground and so Keith, along with Phil Spencer and Rosemary (Ro) Par doe, created the British Weird Fantasy Society (as it was then named) in 1971. The first BWFS publication, The Bulletin, was launched in May 1971 under Keith’s editorship. The following thirty-four issues, however, were the work of myself – a duplicated, quarto sized (8 x 10 inches), publication, of generally two to three sheets of text. During 1971, along with The Bulletin, Society members also saw the inauguration of a postal lending library (organiser Dave Riley), a Fanzine Newsletter (edited by Ro Pardoe) and the first issue of Dark Horizons (also Ro). Dark Horizons was mimeo graphed, and contained a mix of articles by BFS members, but no fiction. With a litho cover by Brian Talbot, the first issue of Dark Ho rizons appeared in 1971. Edited, as were the following three issues, by Rosemary Pardoe, the interior pages were duplicated, with a few pieces of spot artwork. Ro took on the job at short notice as the origi nal editor Phil Spencer had to bow out before he started any serious involvement in the BFS. Despite admitting to having rushed the issue into print, Rosemary did a very good job and the contents were quite diverse. Keith Walker Dark Horizons 1 (1971) 7

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From the Mists of Time #1 by David A. Sutton asked ‘What is Fantasy’, analyzing a theme that exerts the minds of genre devotes to this day. Keith preferred the term “weird fantasy” and gave his reasons that “fantasy” as a term on its own should be reserved for the likes of Tolkien and T. H. White. My own contribution to this issue was The Golden Age of the British Horror Fanzines (part 1), while A. R. Fallone wrote about Conan, Champion of Champions and the editor said, Don’t Knock Alan Garner. There was also some poetry and fanzine reviews, but the issue kicked off with Brian Mooney’s Treasure Hunting. Here Brian bemoans the state of anthologies, as the situation was leading up to the 70s, with many of the same stories appearing time and time again. He then reviews a half dozen very good anthologies and collections which he sourced from his local library and second hand bookshops. He also encountered several titles of remaindered anthologies in Woolworth’s, with some published in the USA. Not only did Brian suggest a selection of anthologies that would have made a fine start for the new reader of weird fiction, but also touched upon what many of us love to do – potter around in musty old bookshops! 1971 was also the year August Derleth died and Ramsey Campbell suggested that the BWFS should institute a memorial award to be given annually to the best literary work in the genre. An ambitious start for a society that boasted a mere thirty-four members at the end of its first year! As Ro Pardoe promised, the second issue (published in 1972) contained more reviews and the hoped for letter column appeared (with much applause for the first issue). Reviews included The Year’s Best Horror Stories 1 edited by Richard Davis, M. John Harrison’s The Pastel City and Peter Beagle’s The Last Unicorn. The lead article was Eddy C. Bertin’s piece, The “Lovecraftian” Works of Colin Wilson. Eddy decided that Wilson gave the Cthulhu mythos a real scientific and cultural background as he reviewed the author’s three Lovecraftian works, The Mind Parasites, The Return of the Lloigor and The Philosopher’s Stone. The second part of my article on British horror fanzines appeared in this issue, plus the first part of a non-fiction piece, a ghostly tale by Roberta Gray, Not Your Philosophy, Horatio! During 1972 the BWFS began to establish itself with a regular publishing schedule. The August Derleth Award was administered by Ramsey Campbell and all nominated novels were listed in the bulletin, allowing for a vote by the membership. Notice only the single novel category in those early days. The award itself, a scroll designed by Jim Cawthorn, was presented at Chessmancon, the 1972 Easter Science Fiction Convention in Chester. During that convention the first BWFS AGM was held and proved to be a lively and informal affair, due mainly to the diversity of BFS JOURNAL

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From the Mists of Time #1 by David A. Sutton active fans then around, and that it was held in the cramped confines of a hotel bedroom! Dropping the “Weird”, the Society was renamed, and it was agreed that the President’s post should become an honorary one. Thus Ken Bulmer became our first President. (Subsequently Ramsey Campbell was elected to that office). There were twelve issues of the bulletin during 1972 which, though not visually stimulating, nevertheless maintained its role of disseminating news of books and magazines, informing the members what the Society was doing and the services that were on offer. Ro Pardoe delivered issues 3 and 4 of Dark Horizons in duplicated quarto format (on coloured paper) containing articles and reviews. Very much a fanzine, with limited visual flair, but for a society in its infancy it did demonstrate it was here to stay. Early on Dark Horizons had a letters column, and it is interesting to read here the first glimmers of a problem that was to dog the society for years to come. Complaints were aired that Dark Horizons contained either too much fantasy or too much about horror. The first such letter appeared in Dark Horizons 3 (1972), Dave Weldrake complaining that the magazine had too much horror material and not enough fantasy. Achieving this allimportant balance is a virtual impossibility of course, but no one seemed to care about the difficulties, and the innuendoes began... Was the society biased? If nothing else, at least for the moment, the letters column provided a stimulus for members and the committee. Issue 3 continued with Roberta Gray’s true horror tale and there were reviews of Phantastes and Lilith by George MacDonald and Katherine Kurtz’s Deryni Rising. The lead article was Kenneth Grant: A New Viewpoint of HPL by Brian Mooney. After reviewing the piece Brian was inspired and penned an amusing story (and criticism of Grant), For Whom the Ghouls Troll (with apologies to Ernest Hemingway). Not only the first short story in Dark Horizons, but also a Cthulhu mythos yarn! In this issue we also saw Allan Parkes writing On C. S. Lewis and John Godrich’s Wanderings in the Weird, inspired by Brian Mooney’s earlier article, this offers more good advice for the genre book collector. Ro Pardoe announced that she was retiring from the editorship of Dark Horizons in issue four’s editorial (1972). Continuing his Wanderings in the Weird, John Godrich offers more advice for the would-be collector of macabre fiction. There’s a Checklist of “Monk” Lewis from the editor and Something in Wood by Brian Mooney, in which he makes amusing suggestions for an eldritch mantle-shelf ornament based on the one in August Derleth’s story. There are reviews in the issue, of David Lindsay’s A Voyage to Arcturus and Double Phoenix by R. L. Green. A sniping letter column 9

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From the Mists of Time #1 by David A. Sutton rounded off the issue, which led with Adrian Cole’s Fantasy and A Place for Contemporary Music in which he explored the associations in “underground” music with the genre. By 1973 the BFS was still relying on the annual science fiction conventions to provide a forum for the announcement of its annual awards, and as a venue for the annual general meeting. The expansion of the awards categories and the outward signs of the BFS becoming more conventionorientated may have masked the fact that internal trouble was brewing. For a start, I began to receive and publish letters of comment in the bulletin about the lack of sufficient news and reviews. But it was Steve Jones who tipped any complacency into a tub of turmoil with his fiery comment on the society’s general apathy. This sparked much needed debate, and a new flurry of further noises side-stage in the fantasy/horror “balance” debate. There is little doubt that Steve’s letter had shaken up the whole attitude of members and committee alike. The new editor of Dark Horizons (number 5, his only issue), published in 1973, was Trevor L. Hughes. Now the magazine was foolscap in size (8 x 13 inches), but still duplicated. The issue was very smudgily printed. There was more poetry than in previous issues, with verse by Eddy Bertin, David Riley and a parody, The Crime of the Ancient Mariner by A. Parkes. Book reviews included Antony Boucher’s The Complete Werewolf and Other Days Other Eyes by Bob Shaw, plus a couple of film reviews; and of course a few letters. Not an auspicious change of editor, but things were about to change dramatically. Dark Horizons 6 was edited by Adrian Cole. This was a more even issue, if slightly crazed, full of artwork, fiction, poetry, reviews, plus a “pull out” section send-up of Weird Tales. Some members may still possess the issue with bright magenta covers, or perhaps the black ink version? The issue continued with the foolscap format, but the contents were a variety pack. Adrian addresses his readers “Dear Droogs” and after two pages of requests for material, we are let loose with three pieces of fiction, by John Hurley, A. Parkes and Gordon Larkin, four pieces of verse and several reviews, Is Gor Becoming a Bore? by the editor, The Day After Judgment, James Blish’s novel The cover of Dark Horizons 6 looked at by A. Parkes, The Bloodthirsty BFS JOURNAL

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From the Mists of Time #1 by David A. Sutton Fairy, an erotic film reviewed by Eddy Bertin and my own review of From An Ultimate Dim Thule on the work of artist Sidney Sime. Editor Adrian’s novel innovation was a “free pull-out” section, Wired Tales, described as an “extremely rare magazine for the hardened collector, complete with an original story by H. P. Hovercraft, specially edited for the BFS by Martin Ricketts’. Advertised in this special Wired Tales are the 1,000th Jules de Grinding story and Out of the Neons by Hazel Heel. The spoof contents list is particularly amusing, with cover design by Virgil Finally illustrating Rhodes by Blackberry Quinn. Among the rest of the line-up are, The Thing Outside by H. P. Hovercraft, The Opener of the Weigh by Robert Botch (“a nameless robot-monster spoke your weight on the station platform…”), and Imprisoned with the Faroos by Harry Houdunit. Letters of comment included missives from J. Burning Shea, E. Halftheprice and Forest J. Hackaman. The real letters column in the issue included me complaining about the amateurish presentation in the previous issue. Good work, if somewhat frivolous, but Adrian was intent on his professional writing career and another stop-gap editor was found for the next issue – me! (with Adrian Cole as assistant) Dark Horizons 7 (December 1973) was the first fully litho printed edition, and I think pretty reasonable, but with three editors in as many issues, the BFS members had maybe not been well served overall. Issue 7 was folded foolscap, making for a neat sort of digest size magazine. The striking cover artwork, Ghoul was by Jim Pitts and Stephen Jones provided the back cover. The issue was a varied one, with Ramsey Campbell providing part one of Derleth As I Knew Him and also a comics column, Layouts. In the Derleth feature, Ramsey provides a fascinating snapshot with selections from Derleth’s letters to him in the period before he became a writer for Arkham House, and The cover of Dark Horizons 7 Ramsey’s asides and comments on Derleth’s thoughts. We had two pieces of fiction, including Do Not Disturb by David Lloyd. And we had reviews of films, books and music, notably Theatre of Blood, Master of Middle Earth (Paul Kocher), and Strange Ecstasies edited by Michel Parry. Adrian Cole conducted the Retrospectators letter column, with many lively comments on his previous issue of the magazine. 11

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From the Mists of Time #1 by David A. Sutton Issue 8 of Dark Horizons (1974) was edited by Darroll Pardoe, which was a good effort, but yet again was a stop gap measure until a more permanent editor could be hired. This A5 sized issue kicked off with part two of Derleth As I Knew Him by Ramsey Campbell, who also contributed the Layouts comics column. There was a short story, Belendon’s Chair by Gordon Larkin, while I contemplated genre boundaries in The Cosmic in Fiction. Reviews included musings on The Year’s Best Horror Stories Volume 3 by Richard Davis, Conan the Warrior by Robert E. Howard and the film The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. In the Summer of 1974, Dave Riley and Jim Pitts produced the first litho-printed issue of The BFS Bulletin. Folded foolscap in format, its twelve pages were packed with news and reviews and several pieces of uncredited spot artwork, but the distinctive work of Jim Pitts, Dave Fletcher and David Lloyd are included. The results of the BFS’ August Derleth Fantasy Award were announced, having been presented at the Easter SF convention, Tynecon earlier that year. There was book news from me, David Fletcher and Donald Wandrei. There were reviews of books, films and music. Ramsey Campbell’s column Layouts was had now moved to the bulletin, plus there was a short letter column. There was also mention of the society’s intention to produce a more permanent award of a statuette instead of the scroll that had been previously given to The August Derleth Fantasy Award recipients. In the editorial for Dark Horizons 9 (Summer 1974), the new editor Steve Jones said “DH9 reflects my ideas of what a fantasy fanzine should be”. It was an auspicious new beginning for the society magazine. A striking Jim Pitts cover adorned the A5 size, litho printed magazine. The issue contained fiction and poetry by John Martin, Gordon Larkin and others. Ramsey Campbell talked about Bergman and the Horror Film: Some Observations, in which the author discusses the changes in the horror film from the 1960s and his view that Bergman’s films come closer the horror genre without actually being horror films. I continued my cosmic series with The Cosmic in Music. And there was The Artist in Fandom: Jim Pitts, interviewed by David Riley and Nick Caffrey. The piece was accompanied with a selection of Jim’s artwork. The issue also had artwork by the editor, Dave Fletcher and Stephen Skwarek. A letter column rounded off the issue. The following issue (1974) confirmed Steve Jones’ intention of producing a very good magazine, to a standard format. Hence the Old English typeface for the magazine’s title continued with issue 10. Again a mix of fiction, poetry and articles, with Mike Chinn, Gordon Larkin and Peter Wilcockson among the fictional contributors. The third in my trilogy, The Cosmic in Films appeared, plus Eddy Bertin contributed The Writer in BFS JOURNAL

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From the Mists of Time #1 by David A. Sutton

BFS Bulletin Issue from 1974. Fandom wherein Eddy talks about the collecting of rejection slips among other things. And Mike Ashley contributes a piece on Fantasy Fiction, (one of the fiction pulps in the digest boom of the 50s) with a checklist of the magazine, in The Unsuccessful Successor. The issue was decorated with several pieces of excellent artwork, from the cover by David Lloyd, to interior work by Jim Pitts and Alan Hunter. The BFS had dev...