BLACK STAR RISING BY FREDERIK POHL

Copyright 1985.

It is 100 years after a nuclear war destroyed the United States and the Soviet Union. This left the populous nations of China and India in charge. They divided the world up. Castor is a 22-year-old worker at the Heavenly Rice Collective Farm in Biloxi Mississippi. He dreams of going into space but that is highly unlikely for an American in a country reduced to a Chinese colony. One day he finds a head of a murdered Han Chinese while working the rice field. This starts a series of events that introduce him to Manyface. A high party Chinese cadre that has implanted parts of the brains of eleven people. One of these is the mother of his divorced wife. She gets Manyface to take Castor as a houseboy and eventually he gets admitted to the university.

Then a spaceship comes with an ultimatum. They demand to speak to the President of the United States. They destroy all life on a Pacific Island to show they are serious. The problem is there hasn’t been a President or United States for over a century. Castor gets elected to the job and embarks on a journey to the alien’s home world. He finds that the Erks have joined forces with descendants of American astronauts to free America. Only problem is the Erks have a tendency to destroy all life on the worlds that they help. Now with his companions he has to prevent the Erks from helping the planet Earth out of existence.

My first Pohl book and I found it an interesting read. A very strange book. The alien Erks are actually pets from a more advanced species that genetically engineered them. So, some are smart, and others are dumb. This race which they refer to as the Living Gods destroyed themselves in a biological war. Now the Erks are obsessed with helping to liberate the oppressed of the galaxy. They treat war as a game and always get out of hand and destroy the entire planet. The astronauts’ decedents have a society they formed by harvesting all the eggs and artificially bringing them to term. They currently have a population of 8,500 with 8,450 being women.

I liked this book. It starts out a more traditional one in the first half. Then with the alien’s society it gets really weird. It has some funny moments. Like the Chinese have a remake the movie High Noon. In it the high party cadre comes to a village and confronts the anti-party elements. He forces them to self-criticize themselves before getting them sent off to a reeducation camp. An interesting book that had a unique premise. Worth your time if you want something different to read.

WHEN THE TRIPODS CAME BY JOHN CHRISTOPHER

Copyright 1988.

Lawrence Cordray is a fourteen year old who is one of the first to see the Tripods. While camping out in Dartmoor he and his friend witness one of the invading alien machines. It destroys a farmhouse and scoops up the farmer for dissection. The army destroys it along with the other two that landed in Montana and Kazakhstan. Mankinds first encounter seems to end on a very anti-climactic event. Only later a new TV show called the Tripods becomes popular around the world. It has a hypnotic effect on many people. Called Trippies they run away and form their own groups. When the Tripods land their are millions of Trippie followers that manufacture caps that enslave even more people. Laurie and his family are forced to flee England after that country falls for Switzerland. There they find shelter with his Swiss stepmother in a country free of the Tripods. It doesn’t last as the capped armies of France and Germany invade. Switzerland falls and the people forced to wear caps. Laurie and his family flee to the mountains to start a resistance to fight the alien invaders.

Twenty years after his Tripod Trilogy Christopher decided to release a prequel. A story that shows how the Tripods managed to take over the Earth. Now like any prequel you know the ending. Just like Anakin becomes Vader. Still you read a prequel to see how something started. This prequel does a very good job of showing how the Tripods first came to Earth and took over. How the resistance in the White Mountains came about. A good supplement to the original trilogy and very enjoyable.

THE POOL OF FIRE BY JOHN CHRISTOPHER

Copyright 1968.

Will Parker has found out the plans of the Tripods. Now the resistance has to stop them from terraforming the Earth in four years. So they step up their drive to recruit the young uncapped. Will and Fritz, who managed to also escape the Tripod city, are assigned to travel through Europe and the Middle East. They eventually get involved with capturing a Tripod alive. Through an accident with the food they discover that the Tripods are vulnerable to alcohol. So three groups are formed to infiltrate the three Tripod cities. There they smuggle in a still and the ingredients to ferment large quantities of alcohol to put in the water. Will is part of the group in the German city. They succeed and turn off the mind control signal freeing the humans in that part of the world. The Chinese group also succeeds but the city in Panama is a failure. Airplanes the resistance has are knocked out by EMP. So an attack by balloons is mounted. Will’s friend Henry sacrifices his life to destroy the third city. So with the Earth free there is great promise for the future. Will it be a united front or one marred by division.

The third book in the trilogy is probably the weakest. It seems to read like more of a narration of the events then giving you a feel of actually being there. The first part sort of drags. Also the whole part of them sneaking into the cities and getting the Tripods drunk is a bit goofy. Still it gives us a satisfying conclusion to the story. The Tripods are destroyed and the Earth is free. It also had a realistic ending with the various nations of man going their own way. The end has our three main protagonists pledging to work to unite the planet. Christopher I hear is known for some pessimistic ending but I thought this one had an optimistic one. Leaves the reader wondering if humanity will get it’s act together.

Christopher would twenty years later revisit this world with a prequel. Which I will do next week. So see you than.

THE CITY OF GOLD AND LEAD BY JOHN CHRISTOPHER

Copyright 1967.

Will Parker and his friends have made it to the White Mountains and the resistance group that lives there. In this future Earth where the Tripods now dominate. Will with two others are chosen to compete in the annual games in Germany. Three winners are taken into the Tripod city. Will with his friend Beanpole and Fritz travel to compete. Will and Fritz are two of the winners and are taken into the city. There they are assigned as personal slaves to a Tripod. The aliens are reveled to be huge reptiles. The high gravity environment ensures that the human slaves will only last for two to four years. While Fritz gets a master that likes to torture him, Will gets a kind master. The Tripod treats him like his dog. As his slave he finds out the history of how the Tripods conquered Earth. He also finds out that they plan to terraform the Earth in four years. Soon humanity and all life will be extinct. So now Will and his companion Fritz must escape the city to warn the resistance.

The second book in the trilogy gives us a look at the Tripods. Who they are and why they conquered Earth. They also give us a brief history of how they conquered the Earth. Seems they used TV signals to brainwash enough people to help them take over. Kind of an amusing idea. I always found this such a creepy book in how they have so successfully gained control of the minds of humans. The slaves are totally devoted to their masters and will actually go to The Place of Happy Release when they feel they can no longer serve their masters. The Place of Happy Release is where they kill and dispose of the slaves. I found it an interesting and unique idea to have the aliens conquer and control us my using mind control. The second in the trilogy is the best of the books. It was enjoyable, exciting and established the approaching threat to Earth.

THE WHITE MOUNTAINS BY JOHN CHRISTOPHER

Copyright 1967.

Will Parker is a thirteen year old living in the English village of Wherton. Only he is living in a future where the Tripods now rule the Earth. When a person turns fourteen they are Capped by the Tripods. This makes people docile and obedient to the Tripods. Will has doubts about the benevolence of these aliens. Especially after the change that takes place in his best friend. One day a vagrant those that the Capping damages wanders to the village. Only the man who calls himself Ozymandias is actually an uncapped man. He travels looking for young recruits to join a resistance based in the White Mountains in Switzerland. Will decides to leave his village and join them after hearing the truth. He is joined by his cousin Henry. In France they also join up with a young boy who they name Beanpole. The three boys journey through the country and see the marvels of the ruined city of Paris. They have some adventures and manage to destroy a Tripod before reaching the White Mountains and the resistance.

Some thirty plus years ago I was looking for something to watch on a Saturday afternoon. At the local Ma and Pa video rental place I found the first season of the BBC adaptation on one VHS tape. I found it an interesting and enjoyable story so decided to get the original trilogy it was based on. This is actually an early YA series before they were known as YA. Teenagers in a future dystopia. A fascinating idea about aliens conquering Earth and implanting caps on them so they are obedient. John Christopher is the pen name of Sam Youd, an English writer with many post-apocalypse books to his credit. It is said that he has ending the world in every combination possible. I will have to check them out in the future.

The BBC series is available on YouTube for free.

THE SURVIVALIST #36 OPERATION PHOENIX BY JERRY AHERN SHARON AHERN BOB ANDERSON

Copyright 2019.

The Globalist conspiracy to form a one world government is meeting with success. The alien KI and their Russian allies have attacked the minor governments of Britain and Spain effectively destroying their opposition. The major powers of the U.S., New Germany and Australia stand down and let them take over thanks to the puppet leaders of these nation. Yet the Rourke family is now ready to take the fight to the enemy. After faking their deaths they with their followers are now safely hidden in Retreat II in Missouri. Already an alliance is forming with a faction of the KI. Also they have the mysterious alien Keeper on their side. Yet they have to fight off a kooky religious group in Missouri. Rourke goes to search for a third Chinese city that survived the Night of the War. There he finds allies in the fight for freedom.

So there is some sad news to announce. Bob Anderson the main writer for the revived series has passed away. He died of heart complication on January 31 at 72. Without him I don’t know what the future for this series holds. I have enjoyed the new books. Sure they go off on some weird tangents and meander along in plot but they were always interesting and entertaining. He did get the characters of the Rourke family right and the stories still felt like Survivalist books because of that. It seems poignant that he ended with a tribute to his Air Force buddy that just recently died. He based the alien Keeper on him. He writes “Allen, I’ll see you when I see you, old friend.”

Rest in Peace.

THE MONSTER FLY AND OTHER STORIES OF THE UNREAL BY CHARLES A. PIDDOCK

Copyright 1974

THE MONSTER FLY

Sam and Charlie are hiding out from the police outside Yuma City. They see what looks like a plane crash and decide to get out before the police arrive. They drive to the crash site and find a giant ball that changes color. It releases white spheres from an opening. They hatch giant flies which attack them. Later the citizens of Yuma City are attacked by giant flies.

TO THE MIDDLE OF THE EARTH

Captain Leo Leopold is in a meeting with the President of the United States. Seems that Dassia is drilling to the center of the Earth to plant a bomb. They then can threaten to blow up the Earth unless their demands are met. So Leo is to drill down and leave a device that will neutralize the bomb. So he drills down and ends up in Hell with the devil waiting for him.

THE MEN FROM OUTER SPACE

Two aliens Kral and Gak land on a strange new world. They are attacked by a giant centipede. Then they are crushed by the foot of little Billy Cranshaw. The two year old makes sure no more visitors will ever come to planet Earth.

THE TIME MACHINE

Red and Billy are two bums looking for a warm place to spend the night. They come on a garage and see a guy who is building something leave. Going in they find that the thing he was working on is a time machine. They try it out and end up in 1944. The appearance of the machine causes a car to hit a ten year old. When the two go to help they find out it is Red as a child. They jump back into the machine and go back to the present. Only Red is not their. Billy goes to the police and finds out that Red dies as a child in 1944.

THE ZOO

Robert Harrison is upset at his family. They seem content with their lives. While getting drunk mechanical arms come out of the wall and restrain him. His family continue on as if nothing has happened. Later in the morning they join the neighborhood as they go out and play sports. A tram comes along with aliens to see the human exhibit. A voice warns not to feed the humans but the aliens do anyway. As his family go to get the food Robert cries.

NIGHT DRIVER

Cindy is driving home in a winter night in Kansas. A snowstorm causes her car to break down. Luckily a truck comes by and gives her a lift. The man seems friendly but mysteriously talks about saving a lot more lives. She is dropped off at an old couples home and finds out the man is a ghost. He died in a crash that killed a bus full of kids and now goes around trying to make amends.

THE SPIDER GOD

Captain Billy Joe Smith is with some South Vietnamese soldiers checking out a village. A building is still standing and they chase a VC into it. A fight ensures and Billy sees it is some temple. Filled with cages of spiders and an idol of a giant spider. Billy puts out his cigar in the eyes of the idol offending the Spider God. Years later in Denver him and his little daughter are attacked by hordes of spiders. Back in the village the idols eyes then start to glow signaling that the god has been avenged.

So this was a book that I checked out of the school library when I was in second grade. It is written for young kids and has illustrations on every other page to show what the story is trying to convey. The illustrations by Richard Maccabe are crude but effective in visualizing the story. I still vividly remember the drilling to Hell and meeting the Devil and the human zoo. The stories were quite effective on a young mind that I still remembered them after all these years and decided to search out this book. An enjoyable nostalgic trip back to my childhood.

THE SURVIVALIST #35 BLOOD MOON BY JERRY AHERN SHARON AHERN BOB ANDERSON

Copyright 2018.

Michael Rourke finally finds his father John Rourke. John has been captive with an alien race of grays that decide to release him. So now John finds out the dire situation of the world. Of the assassination of Wolfgang Mann the leader of New Germany. The alliance by a faction of the alien KI with nationalist Russians. The death of his newborn son to the alien virus. The biggest threat is the global cabal that is about to seize the world’s governments. Luckily Michael and his family have been planning ahead as he taught them. Michael already has a secret cavern in Missouri set up to operate from. So finally the whole Rourke family fake their death as the insidious global cabal seizes the US government.

There was a glitch on Amazon so I was able to be one of the lucky that ordered this book before it was supposed to be officially released. Finally John Rourke after being absent for the last two books is now part of the story. I think Sharon and Bob are finally getting comfortable with the story. It is a lot more tightly written. Their first books were a bit scattered all over the place and somewhat weird. We finally have an understanding of the enemy. Both the alien factions and the globalist cabal that is pulling the strings. I am enjoying this revived series and think that Jerry would be proud to see his creating continuing on after his death.

MARS ATTACKS WAR DOGS OF THE GOLDEN HORDE BY RAY W. MURILL

Copyright 1996.

It is after the truce between the Martians and the nations of Earth. The threat from Earth’s nuclear submarines have forced an uneasy peace. The Martians have build the World Wall to separate their holdings from the human controlled lands. In Asia the Martians have Siberia and parts of northern China. Telian Piar a disgraced member of the Martian council comes on an interesting bit from Earth’s history. The Mongol Genghis Khan managed to conquer most of the world. He goes to the military commander Komo Dath and convinces him the Mongols could be used as pawns in their war with the humans. So they go out to capture a Mongol. This happens to be Qasar a Mongol who was banished from his tribe. Together with a companion he met named Bayar they kill a whole bunch of the Martians before being captured.

They come to an agreement with Qasar that they will help him be Khan of the Mongols. They use their technology to find the secret tomb of Genghis. With his armor and standard Qasar rides out and rallies the Mongols into a formidable horde. They go into free China and start pillaging. Soon though the Martians won’t help him in his conquest so Qasar Khan feels loss of face and turns his horde against the Martians. It ends in a fierce battle between the two where the Great Wall of China meets the Martian World Wall.

The second book that was released in the Mars Attacks series. This one was not as good. The main reason is that Qasar is a real loathsome asshat. Like Genghis he is an arrogant narcissistic psychopath who is only interesting in pillaging, raping and looting. He has delusions of being the next Genghis and conquering the world. Not sure why someone would make the central character someone who isn’t positive because it really doesn’t bring the reader to sympathize with the character or his motives. Yet it was done here and I have seen it in other books, movies etc.

There was some other oddities in this book. The way the Mongols talked seemed a bit stilted and phony. I mean “Those are good words to speak.” says Bayar. “Yes they are indeed good words.” replied Qasar. I mean I am not familiar with Mongol culture but I just can’t see them talking that way. Also his sidekick Bayar had allergies and always had a runny nose. He would sneeze and blow snot into his food and wipe his nose on his sleeve. I suppose he was the comic relief and supposed to be funny but I found just gross. Oh and at the end his concubine Morning Doe lies dying and wants to be released quickly. So Qasar cuts into her chest and pulls out her still beating heart. Wow how romantic. Yes this was a weird book.

Still is doesn’t mean it didn’t keep my interest. I just didn’t really care if the Martians or Qasar came out on top. In fact I was kind of rooting for the Martians and they some bad hombres. Qasar does survive at the end but there was no third book in the series so his story seems over. I do love the Mars Attacks idea and loved the first book and the various comic book incarnations from Topps, Image and IDW. Perhaps in the future we may get some new books in the series.

MARS ATTACKS MARTIAN DEATHTRAP BY NATHAN ARCHER

Copyright 1996.

The Martians have invaded and no place is safe. A group of bikers are riding down the highway when the Martian ships start strafing the highway. Bud Garcia manages to survive but his buddies Lenny, Blitz and Screwy Joe aren’t so fortunate. Needing a place to hide he comes upon the Gelman Mansion. A rich millionaire named Ebenezer Gelman build a huge place with secret passages and filled it with weird antiques and other kooky stuff. Now it is a tourist attraction. Bud finds the tourists watching the attack on TV. Meanwhile the Martians come on this place and leave a squad to check it out and see if its a threat to their invasion. Now the survivors are trapped in this crazy mansion with a Martian deathsquad. Outside are giant insects that the Martians unleashed but can’t control. Both sides are trapped and must fight each other and the insects if they are to survive.

Back in 1962 the Topps Bubblegum Company released a line of trading cards. These cards combined an H.G. Wells type invasion with the true horrors of war. They were gruesome and quickly banned to protect innocent young minds. The cards became a cult collectible. In 1995 the Topps company released these cards and a comic book series. When the Tim Burton movie came out two books were released based on the comic books. This is the first.

This was a fun book. I am a fan of the comic book series and someday I will cover it on my comic blog. It is just a pure cheezy adventure filled with Martians gunning down and torturing people including young boys. The humans come in a wide variety from the hero biker Bud to the parents who seem to not be concerned that their boys were killed by the Martians. There is a phony mobster who is really an accountant but pretends to be a wiseguy to pick up girls. His showgirl date Tiffany who goes full Rambo with a captured Martian gun and gets captured and tortured. A group of college students who were on the beach and arrive at the mansion still in their swimwear. Even the Martians are treated as individuals and get own personality quirks. Indeed they are just grunts dropped off and trying to survive themselves. Add to this the giant insects like the beetles that bit a woman in two or a giant mosquito who impales a man this is just a fun B-movie ride.

I think the Gelman Mansion is based on the House on the Rock in Spring Green Wisconsin. It is a crazy place filled with old antiques and other strange exhibits. I know when I first when there and was just expecting a house on the rock but it is so much more. I recommend visiting if your in the area.