tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47682000595164330132024-03-05T01:07:16.575-05:00ATTIC OF ASTOUNDING ARTIFACTSA blog for the discussion of vintage space toys, including robots, ray guns, rockets, saucers, and whatever else strikes my fancy.Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.comBlogger195125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-49846260345058385442012-08-16T01:16:00.003-04:002012-08-16T01:19:00.715-04:00Died: SF Author -- Legend! -- Harry Harrison<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">I was sad to recently learn that Harry Harrison passed away. According to his official web site, he was 87 years old.<br /><br />Harrison remains one of my favorite authors, and I had the privilege of interviewing him a number of years ago. The conversation never saw the light of day, and with Harrison's recent death, it seems like as good a time as any to put this out there for everyone to read. (Re-reading it all these years later, I wish I'd talked about more than just his satirical writing. Ah well.)<br /><br />He was a nice, friendly man, someone who had no problem chatting with me for a surprisingly long time. I'm glad I was able to speak with him, and I'm sure he'll be sorely missed, both inside and out of the science fiction community.</span><br />
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<b>HARRY HARRISON: AN UNPUBLISHED INTERVIEW. </b><br />
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Harry Harrison came away from his time spent in the United States Army Air Corps having learned a lot: He knew how to shoot, and had a sharpshooter medal to prove it; he could repair and use the Sperry Mark 1, a secret targeting computer; and he taught himself the universal language of Esperanto.<br />
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But more than anything else, Harrison learned to hate the military.<br />
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The author drew on this animosity when he wrote his classic piece of science fiction and military satire, <i>Bill, The Galactic Hero</i>. The story focuses on Bill, a hapless draftee conscripted into a military that treats bureaucracy like a fetish, awards mindless devotion and excessive violence, and generally runs amok through space, stomping whoever gets in its way. Full of black humor, the novel never misses an opportunity to point out the pointlessness of war and the stupidity of a military-industrial complex.<br />
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Drawing on his experiences in World War II, Harrison ended up crafting a novel that rings frighteningly true today.<br />
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But Harrison has built his fame and success on a whole foundation of characters and stories. <i>The Stainless Steel Rat</i>, and the many other books in the series of the same name, is a chuckle-out-loud adventure tale about a youthful thief whose intelligence, ingenuity, and unmatched fighting ability keep him one step ahead of law enforcement. Like a twisted Horatio Alger, Harrison delights in documenting the Stainless Steel Rat’s development from an untested would-be criminal to a mastermind whose legend extends across the galaxy.<br />
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Harrison has a serious side, too, as evidenced by novels like <i>Make Room! Make Room!</i>, which addresses the threat of overpopulation, and <i>The Streets of Ashkelon</i>, wherein an atheist attempts to save an alien race from the onset of Christian missionaries. Harrison had sat on the latter story for years until science fiction writer and editor Judith Merrill announced that she planned on putting together an anthology of original work written to take on the various taboos imposed upon writers during the Fifties and Sixties. Unfortunately, the book was never published and Harrison's story remained unpublished for over a year until Brian Aldiss—himself a daring purveyor of boundary-busting sf—purchased it for an anthology he was editing called <i>More Penguin Science Fiction</i>.<br />
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Novels like <i>Bill the Galactic Hero</i> and <i>The Streets of Ashkeon</i> demonstrate Harrison’s devotion to honesty, even in the face of public discomfort. Cultural sensibilities be damned; if a story makes people squirm, it probably needs to be told.<br />
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Harrison’s talents lie in his ability to write satire that never devolves into either preaching or angst-fueled rhetoric. He lets the events and characters in his novels tell the stories, and he never forgets the importance of a compelling plot. He’s able to sustain an idea long enough to thoroughly explore it without ever boring the reader or beating his subjects into the ground.<br />
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Harrison began his career in science fiction after the war, working as an artist and supplying work to such genre magazines as <i>Galaxy</i> and <i>Worlds Beyond</i>. He also illustrated comics, working closely with famed artist Wally Wood on a variety of titles, including EC’s detective and horror line. They eventually ended up on <i>Weird Science</i>, which Harrison initially suggested to the publisher. Harrison took a break from comics for a while, but eventually returned for a stint on the newspaper strip "Flash Gordon."<br />
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He began writing at an early age, but turned to the medium professionally when illness prevented him from completing some art for the magazine <i>Worlds Beyond</i>. With nothing better to do, he began writing a story, “Rock Diver,” which the magazine’s editor, Damon Knight, purchased for $100. From that point on, Harrison was a regular contributor to that, and many other magazines.<br />
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Harrison never stays in the same place for long. He was born in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1925, but his family moved to Brooklyn when he was two, and a few years later, settled in Queens. It was there that he grew up and got his education. He was drafted into the Army Air Corps in 1943; they sent him first to Mississippi, then to Denver, Colorado; Laredo, Texas; and finally Panama City, Florida. After his discharge, he moved back to New York, where he took art courses, worked as an illustrator, and eventually began to write.<br />
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As soon as his freelance career took off, Harrison and his wife, Joan, moved down to Cuautla, Mexico. A year later, taking advantage of a cheap flight arranged so that fans could travel to the first Worldcon outside of the U.S., Harrison and Joan moved to Bromley, Kent, in the U.K. They then lived in London for a while, before continuing on to Italy, New York again, Denmark, back to England, across the Atlantic (and the continent) to San Diego, and finally to Dublin, Ireland, where they live today.<br />
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Harrison has written more than 60 novels, encompassing not just satire and social commentary, but also sf adventure, alternate histories, and mysteries. He’s published six non-fiction books, and has appeared in numerous collections. Harrison has edited more than a dozen anthologies, often in close association with Brian W. Aldiss. He has won numerous awards and honors, including the Nebula in 1973 for the film <i>Soylent Green</i>, which was based on <i>Make Room! Make Room! </i><br />
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<b>DOC ATOMIC: What is it that you love about science fiction? What keeps bringing you back to it? </b><br />
HARRY HARRISON: It started as a kid, you know, during the Depression. A very gray world, a very poverty stricken world. So I found something that gave a little bit of life to it, and color. Like all writers, I read everything—fiction, non-fiction. Science fiction just woke me up and had that extra bit, went that extra bit, that normal fiction did not.<br />
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<b>What was that extra bit for you? </b><br />
A sense of wonder, something completely different. It tests the brain, it tests the emotions, it tests the intelligence. It was a much bigger, fuller, more complete form of fiction than anything else going down the pike at the time. It wasn't very well written by hindsight, but when you're 12 years old, what do you know?<br />
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<b>This was all the early pulp stuff. At that point we're talking about <i>Amazing</i>, <i>Astounding</i>... </b><br />
Absolutely. I started reading the pulp magazines when I was seven or eight years old. I formed a fan club with other fans when I was 13 in Queens, New York. Went to the first convention ever in 1939 [Worldcon], so it was the hobby that really kept me moving very much through school, during school. I kept reading it in the army. I came home after the war, and I'd made a career as a commercial artist—but I was illustrating SF magazines, doing book jackets and science fiction, which I loved. I was writing a lot of stuff as well. I eventually wrote some science fiction which sold and that was that. I never turned back.<br />
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<b>Did you know as a kid that this was something you wanted to be involved with on a professional level? Could you even imagine being involved with it on a professional level?</b><br />
Not really. Well, in a way, yes. I mean, I knew all the writers in New York and we had lots of meetings. I enjoyed meeting editors and artists—it was just a pleasure to meet them, but I had no idea that I would get involved myself.<br />
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I know I wasn't sure at the time whether I wanted to be a writer or an artist. I went to art school after the war, and then became a very good artist. I lived on that and started editing magazines and started writing for them and that was it. A kind of automatic transformation.<br />
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<b>It seems like your career really took off when you returned from the war.</b><br />
Very much so. We all felt very left behind after the war. We'd been away for three or four years. The kids we graduated high school with were now graduating college, and we were in a hurry to catch up.<br />
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It was a good time for science fiction. They started with a half dozen and ended up with 30, 40, 50 magazines in a few years. Pulp magazines and films. It was a very active field and there weren't very many good practitioners. We who were fans became semi-professional and professional. The ones who could do it, did it. The ones who couldn't, dropped by the way.<br />
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There was a lot of talent in that for some reason. It's gone now. We were all short story writers, novel writers, editors. A lot of the people like myself and Fred Pohl, were writers and editors. It was a very small community and we all knew each other, and we traded favors back and forth. It was a nice time to grow up.<br />
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<b>I've always been interested in the early days of science fiction, because it seems to me like the fans and the professionals mingled and mixed to a much greater extent than they do today. I always assumed that it was because the field was so much smaller at the time. Was that part of it?</b><br />
Oh, yeah. The thing was, there were very few pros in those days. The first generation writers like Robert Heinlein and A.E. Van Vogt were older people who had written other things as well as science fiction. But we fans who came back from the war, we're now 18, 19, 20, 21, we were professional fans and had been fans a long time. And there was a lot of opportunity to write this stuff.<br />
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The good ones graduated to become the second generation of pros. Myself, Jim Blish, Fred Pohl, David Knight. These are all people I knew through fandom, who came from New York—the heart of publishing in the United States—and became successful.<br />
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The writing was crude, perhaps boring, But it waxed enthusiastic. In the end it became very good. Then experimental stuff came in, and sf died. It's one way of thinking about it.<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>There was so much interaction among the fans and the professionals back in the early days. I have these visions of everyone working together, hanging out, helping each other. Was it like that?</b><br />In a way it was, because we had no money, we were all poverty stricken, all poor from the Depression and poor after the army. We didn't have any money but we had a good life together. We'd chip in a quarter each for a party and buy bottles of beer. A 25 cent bottle of beer was 20 cents in those days, with five cents back on the bottle.<br /><br />In New York there was a five-dollar loan that went around from hand to hand. The amount of money I borrow from you, I give that money to somebody else. It was a very warm ambiance, fans and pros overlapped a good deal. People married each other and they divorced, and they married somebody else's wife. It was a very social scene there, all of which I think is pretty well gone now.<br /><br /><b>It's gotten so big. You go to a convention and there's thousands of people.</b><br />It's unbelievable. I went to the Worldcon in Boston and there were 8,000 people there. I was also invited to the Comiccon in San Diego, and there were 80,000 people.<br /><br />But you know, at a convention of 80,000, you don't see people you know. You make appointments with people. You don't meet them by chance, just rarely. You go to enjoy yourself, have a holiday, and see publishers. I make sure I see my publisher at least once a year, and they mostly show up at conventions. I see them there. I do my best. It's a nice social life.<br /><br /><b>When you were first getting into science fiction, did you ever imagine it would get this big?</b><br />No idea. Never even thought about it. We knew it was a ghetto field. We knew we were in the pulps, and we had to tear the covers off of those magazines just to read them in front of our parents. My friend's mother threw out my magazines I loaned to him.<br /><br />But we didn't care about mainstream. We'd try and cultivate it every once in a while, but then we finally gave up on the idea altogether. We felt superior to them, with the fan activity and the fan speak. People who don't read science fiction in fandom are called “Mundanes.” We felt the rest of the world were Mundanes. We didn't want to talk to them and we could care less about them.<br /><br /><b>So is it fair to say that the mainstream sort of snuck up on science fiction?</b><br />Science fiction quietly invaded the mainstream, although the mainstream won't admit it yet. We started selling books out of category and the category expanded. It was always a very, very small market. A hundred thousand would be a good sale for a science fiction magazine. Campbell sold 250,000 one year. That was fantastic. Books, two or three thousand copies. Paperbacks, 10,000, 20,000 copies. It was a very small field. </span></b></div>
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<b>Going back a bit, having started as an illustrator and then shifting over to writing, did you find the process of approaching science fiction visually different from the way you approached it through words? I’m talking more about the way you thought about it and approached it creatively.</b><br />
Yes. I know physicists who play the piano very well. There's nothing wrong with having two or three arts in your life. I loved science fiction and I wanted to be an artist—I was an artist. I still illustrated science fiction. But when I started writing novels, I found with my visual sense, I could get that across in words as well, and all the training I had visually came out in my writing.<br />
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In hindsight, I look back in my years in the comics and I realize that the very first bit of writing I ever sold—I'd just come out of the army, out of art school—was to <i>Writer's Digest</i>. It was an article on how to write for the comics. My first sale was to a professional magazine, which meant I had certain talents I wasn't even aware of at the time.<br />
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I was analytical. I could understand scripts. At that time I was editing comics. I got a job editing magazines. I found I could do that as well as draw and write both.<br />
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<b>You had done two cover illustrations for Damon Knight’s <i>Worlds Beyond</i>, and then illness drove you to writing, correct?</b><br />
In one sense. I was still working as a comics artist, but I was doing a lot of illustrations, too. I had friends in New York and I did magazines, I did book jackets, and I was still an artist. I illustrated the first two issues of <i>Worlds Beyond</i>. The third issue, I was doing illustrations for it and I got the flu. I had a very high fever and was in bed and couldn't draw. But I had an idea for a short story. I'd already sold a lot of men's adventures and articles to a lot of magazines.<br />
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So I wrote this short story and brought it to Damon Knight, and said, “Damon, let me ask you. You write science fiction—what'll I do with it?”<br />
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He said, “I'll buy it from you and I'll give you $100 for it and change the title.”<br />
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So my agent was Fred Pohl, and I said, “Fred, Damon paid me $100 for this story.” He looked at it and he said, “I'll put it in an anthology.” That was $200.<br />
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I was being paid $5 for the illustrations. So $5, and now $100. It’s a big difference!<br />
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But for a whole comic page in those days I was getting $25 or $30 for drawing and inking an entire page. We worked two-up, 12 by 18 inches.<br />
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I found I could do my writing. I was more successful in writing than I was in art, and I wasn't that interested in hacking out comic art anymore. So I had original stuff in science fiction. And I took one step sideways, one step back, and starting editing pulp magazine.<br />
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All of a sudden I was a writer, not an artist.<br />
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<b>Was that surprising to you? Had you anticipated becoming a writer?</b><br />
In a way. I wasn't sure if I wanted to be an artist or a writer. But we were all young and very strong. I can remember a guy sold a short story, the most incompetent story I read in my life. I said, “God, if he can sell that piece of crap, I can write better than that.” So it was an open field. There were a lot of magazines lying around. I knew I could sell anything I wrote. I was pretty good.<br />
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I was doing men’s adventures, 2000 words of absolute nonsense, and the good ones I sold for about $400 to $500 to Argosy. So I knew I could write. I knew I was successful, knew I was better than the other guys around, and I just forged ahead.<br />
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You need a little chutzpah to go into a room with a typewriter and a piece of white paper all by yourself. You have to feel you're doing something good and something important, and if it works out that proves you were right.<br />
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<b>It's one thing for you to know that you're good and to understand your own abilities. Was there ever any trepidation on your part in handing it off to other people who'd been doing it for a while, who were professionals in this field already? Or had you already gotten past that?</b><br />
I'd gotten past that as a commercial artist. All I knew were writers and artists, and I was Harry the artist in New York with all the science fiction professionals. They were good friends of mine from fandom days, and now they were editing magazines, they were writing. We were all friends. We sort of grew up after the war after the military. We helped each other a good deal. Those were good days then.<br />
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I mean, when I was editing I'd buy stories from my friends and commission articles. Then when I was writing, I'd call editor friends and get some work from them. It was a much more wholesome, rousing kind of life then. Now it's money making and doesn't have quite that same effect.<br />
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[Back then] We were included out of the mainstream. We knew we were in a ghetto and we didn't mind it. We wouldn't let the press come to conventions. They’d only talk about little green men from space. We had an extended family of fans and professionals. We all knew each other and we got along.<br />
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The best market was <i>Astounding</i>, with John Campbell. I sold my very first novel to him as a serial and sold it to Bantam for a book. I said, “That's not bad, my first novel.”<br />
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After that I think I sold John three or four serials. That was the only way to make money in those days. John was paying three cents a word, and you sell a serial in three parts, then you sell it to a book afterwards. Paperback. There were no hardbound books in those days.<br />
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I actually started getting some money I could almost live on. That's when I left New York and moved to Mexico to go freelance. It was very cheap in those days. I wanted to work on my first novel, which I couldn't do in New York. We decided to take a chance, my wife Joan and I, and the year-old baby.<br />
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“Let's get out of New York and see if I can my living as a freelance writer.” If everything fell apart and we'd cable my wofe's dad, say his grandson was hungry, and he'd cable us money. And we'd go back to New York, I'd get another crappy job. We'd get another crappy apartment and we'd have lost nothing. But we would have tried. So we left New York in '56 and never went back.<br />
<b><br />Some writers have told me that they’re surprised by the art that comes back to illustrate their stories. It becomes clear to them that the artist never read a word of the pieces. How did you approach sf illustration?</b><br />
I've had rotten covers, I’ve had rotten illustrations of my stories. I try and make the publisher listen to me, but you can't control it. They're bastards, the art directors. They couldn't care less.<br />
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But I would read the story before illustrating it, or I'd already be familiar with it—I knew the writer's stuff.<br />
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I've written stories to match covers for <i>Galaxy</i>. Fred Pohl was the editor at the time. He was only two or three days a week in the office in New York, and when he wasn’t there, the publisher would buy crappy paintings from indigent artists for science fiction covers. And Fred would have them in his office and I'd come over to see him, and he'd tell me that if I match a story to the painting, I’d get a cover story!<br />
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But there should be more feedback between the artist and the writers, because most artists don't really care very much. They don't read the stuff. In fact, most artists are pretty stupid when you get down to it. I mean, it doesn't require intelligence to be a very fine artist.<br />
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<b>Did you find that being a fan gave you an advantage over other artists?</b><br />
No. I wasn't doing it full time. I was grinding out comics full time. But when a new editor would come in, he'd say, “Harry, we want some art,” and I'd go down and talk to them. I did a book jacket for the publisher of Gnome Press, Marty Greenberg. It was just more of a hobby for me. I liked science fiction and I loved reading it, but I wasn't getting paid big money from it. But I was keeping my hand in.<br />
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I was pretty bored by comics by that time, and trying to get out of it. Lucky I did.<br />
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<b>I would have thought that working in comics would be a perfect place for you to combine your interests in art and writing.</b><br />
I found it a very mediocre field after a while, but I did make a living off comics. After I went freelance, I still could always write comics. So I wrote English comics. I wrote "Flash Gordon" for 10 years. I knew comics so well, I could always add to my income by writing them. But I just did it because I could do it very well and I could do it very fast, as a way of getting more money.<br />
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As soon as I started selling my novels, I got out of comics completely. Fans would tell me, Harry, maybe you don't like comics but you made a living as a comics artist working for E.C. Comics publisher Bill Gaines.<br />
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Which was true, but I was never going to be the very top artist in the field. I hate to be mediocre. I found as a writer, I was right near the top, so I got out of it.<br />
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<b>You were working with Bill Gaines at a time when E.C. was doing some great stuff. Good enough, one could say, to attract the attention of Congress and nearly get itself shut down.</b><br />
That was only with the horror comics. Bill was turning out crap. Wally Wood and I worked for him. We did Western romances, rangeland romances, and horror comics. That's all Bill was doing. The horror was doing very well. That got the investigation and everything going. We did talk Bill out of rangeland fiction, and we talked him into doing a science fiction comic, <i>Weird Science</i>.<br />
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They wouldn’t let me write because I was an artist, so I wrote in my wife's name and she turned them in. I wrote a lot of that early stuff. </div>
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<b>You helped revive Flash Gordon in the comics.</b> </div>
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That's right. Alex Raymond, who did the original, died in a car accident during the war. After the war, Sputnik went up and rockets were getting interesting. King Features owned the rights of Flash Gordon. They hired Dan Barry, and he wasn't much of a writer so he hired other people to write the scripts for him.<br />
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I was living in Italy at the time and he was living in Paris. I wrote to Dan and said, “How many ex-science fiction authors do you know living in Europe?” So he came down to see me in Italy and I started writing the thing.<br />
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I knew all about science fiction, of course, and I knew what he wanted. I did years of Flash Gordon and I just couldn't face it anymore. When I first started, I was doing a year's scripts in three months. But by the time I'd finished, it was taking me a week to write a week's comics.<br />
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<b>Where you enthusiastic about taking on such an iconic character?</b><br />
Yeah. I had collected all the early Flash Gordon, I'd read it and I was glad to develop a new character and work for a syndicate. It was a bit of a challenge, and I worked very well and for a number of years. So that kind of comics I did enjoy very much.<br />
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<b>William Tenn says that science fiction is the perfect vehicle for satire, because the powers that be ignore it, and the people who read it really pay attention to the ideas and take them to heart. Would you agree with that?</b><br />
I do! You know, I got one of the basic ideas behind <i>Bill, the Galactic Hero</i> from William Tenn. He talked about all those stories with thousands of space ships and battles. He said, “What about the tail gunner on one of those ships? What would his life be like?” So that's what I wrote.<br />
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The only way to write about the military is black humor. You have to laugh at the bastards. They're pretty unhumorous themselves. I read <i>Candide</i>, and <i>Catch-22</i> came out, and that's really the way to handle it. From that, I got<i> Bill, the Gallactic Hero</i>, which is still being read, I'm happy to say.</div>
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I once had a fan come up to me, a guy with a scar on his face. “I'm a combat marine sergeant,” he said. “I read <i>Bill, the Gallactic Hero</i>.” </div>
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I'm waiting for him to chop me down, and he then says, “I think it's the only story about the war that's absolutely true.”<br />
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Another guy, a green beret, said the same thing. He read it to his squad at night in Vietnam.<br />
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<b>When writing satire, there’s a fine line between telling a good story and simply preaching.</b> <b></b></div>
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That's right, but that's why satire works. If you try and do a straight war novel, an anti-war novel, you'd be preachy. But with humor you're not preachy—you're vulgar, you're broad, you're funny, and you're interesting.<br />
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In one of the Stainless Steel Rat stories, I wrote, "The higher a rank an officer is, the more of an alcoholic he is. Lieutenants and captains get drunk every night, majors get drunk all day on Saturday and Sunday. Generals are drunk all the time.” It's an absolute lie, but I got away with it because it's a bit of a satire. It's what every G.I. wants to believe.<br />
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<b>While working on <i>Bill</i>, did you ever find yourself drifting too close to preaching? Or did it ever start swinging in the other direction, with the book getting too goofy?</b><br />
No. I used a structure of [Robert Heinlein's] <i>Starship Troopers</i> for certain parts. I did a parody of other science fiction writers. But what I found is that I was writing very slowly. I couldn't get more than about a thousand words, twelve hundred words done a day. Humor is very difficult. I'd laugh at it and then the next day I'd go in and it read like crap. So I learned very early on if you laugh when you write it, don't change a word of it. Of course, the next day it's very familiar and not funny in the slightest. So you have to bring it out deep within yourself somewhere, bring up the jokes, put them down, and go on to the next page.<br />
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I think some writers go overboard when they do humor in science fiction. I had an illusion of reality at all times. It was sort of a mad illusion, but it still seemed to make sense on its own, horrible, terrible level.<br />
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But I lay it out like it is. I don’t cover your eyes in any way. I think that’s why the professional soldiers liked the book.<br />
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When my mother read the book, she said, “I didn't know you hated the army so much,” and didn't laugh at anything in the book.<br />
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<b>I've never been in the military, I've never been near the military.</b><br />
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Right, nor will you go now. I met a fan once—pot belly, beard—and he said, “Mr. Harrison, you may have saved my life.”<br />
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He enlisted in the army after high school. That night he read <i>Bill, the Gallactic Hero</i> and he tore up his enlistment papers.<br />
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Maybe I did save his life. Why not? Literature has a lot to say for it, a lot of responsibility as well. <i>Make Room! Make Room!—</i>the book is there to tell you how bad overpopulation is so you go out and do something about it. It's what science fiction does very well, shakes the finger at you. Shape up or ship out!<br />
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Science fiction is a very literate field and open to anything, open to humor, open to mind-smashing concepts. Some of the modern writers, they don't think very much. They don't really get up and get it all done the way they should, and you get mediocre writing. I can't stand mediocre writing.<br />
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<b>I went to a very interesting panel at Philcon a couple years ago where they talked about the use of science fiction props. Writers and fans can just say “ray gun” and everyone knows what they’re talking about. “FTL,” and everyone knows it means “faster than light.” And they know what that implies. The writer doesn't have to create these things.</b><br />
No, he doesn't. That's what’s bad with a lot of modern science fiction, as well as all science fiction written for the cinema and television. Those guys use the props of science fiction. They have a time machine, they have rocket ships. You push a button and you get there automatically. In <i>Star Wars</i> they pressed the FTL and the stars go zipping by outside the windows. That was well done but it was all props and no content. They're all standard government issue science fiction ideas, and it looked great and it sounded great and it worked very well. But it was all props.<br />
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<b>You had trouble getting <i>Bill, the Galactic Hero</i> published at first, from what I understand.</b><br />
Very much so. We were all fans. We were juvenile. The editors treated sf as such. They never let the words “hell” and “damn” into a story. No sex, no cursing. I remember telling myself, “Harry, you don't have to stick to these rules. You can break out of it, you can do something different.”<br />
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My first two or three books were adventure stories. I knew adventure sold, like <i>DeathWorld</i>. I wrote variations on a theme. The first book that got me out of the mold was <i>Bill, the Gallactic Hero</i>. It didn't sell, of course. No one wanted the damn thing. My publisher bounced it. Damon Knight bounced it—and he had commissioned the thing!<br />
<br />
Eventually, Fred Pohl serialized it in <i>Galaxy</i>. Michael Moorcock serialized it in <i>New Worlds.</i> It went on to be translated in about 30 languages.<br />
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This last Worldcon in Glasgow, Joe Haldeman and I were on a panel discussing why liberals write military science fiction. At one point, Joe said, “How many in this audience have read <i>Forever War</i>,” and almost every hand went up. He asked, “How many have read <i>Bill, the Galactic Hero</i>,” and every hand went up. Admittedly it's a Worldcon full of science fiction fans. But still, if more than 30 years later we’re in a room where everyone present has read our books, then they’ve done okay. So I can’t knock it.<br />
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<b>SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY</b><br />
<i>Deathworld</i> (1960)<br />
<i>The Stainless Steel Rat</i> (1961)<br />
<i>Deathworld 2</i> (1964)<br />
<i>Bill, the Galactic Hero</i> (1965)<br />
<i>Plague From Space</i> (1965)<br />
<i>Make Room! Make Room!</i> (1966)<br />
<i>The Technicolor Time Machine</i> (1967)<br />
<i>Deathworld 3</i> (1968)<br />
<i>The Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge</i> (1970)<br />
<i>The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World</i> (1972)<br />
<i>Skyfall</i> (1977)<br />
<i>Homeworld</i> (1980)<br />
<i>Wheelworld</i> (1981)<br />
<i>Starworld</i> (1981)<br />
<i>A Rebel in Time</i> (1983)<br />
<i>There Won’t Be War</i> (with Bruce McAllister, 1991)<br />
<i>Stars and Stripes Forever!</i> (1998)<br />
<i>Stars and Stripes in Peril</i> (2001)<br />
<i>Stars and Stripes Triumphant</i> (2003)</div>
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Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-36472186143930813372012-06-12T05:01:00.000-04:002012-06-12T05:01:28.741-04:00Ray Bradbury. Not Much Else to Say...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">It's been a while; I've been locked away working on the film and haven't had time to blog. But the recent death of Ray Bradbury couldn't go without comment. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;"><br />We've lost a literary giant, that goes without saying. A champion of science fiction and weird fantasy; a supporter of space exploration; a friendly, funny, and kind man. He earned the rank of Legend, and he wore it graciously.<br /><br />Since there's not much I can say that hasn't already been said, I'd like to instead post an unpublished interview I did with him maybe six or seven years ago. It was a highlight of my career—even if it wasn't really my finest moment as a journalist. But heck, it's not every day I'm star struck by the people I get to speak to; this conversation smacked my upside the head like a nuclear brick stuffed inside a laser-beam sock. It's a fond memory, and I'm glad I get to finally share it.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>UNPUBLISHED INTERVIEW WITH RAY BRADBURY</i></b></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The truth: My </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">dad</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, a man not given to literary flights of fancy, has read and enjoyed multiple books by Ray Bradbury. The author of such classics as </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Martian Chronicles</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fahrenheit 451</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Something Wicked This Way Comes</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, as well as too many short stories to mention, has transcended the science fiction and fantasy genres to become one of the Great American Authors.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In more than 60 years as a professional writer, Bradbury has found a literary voice that speaks with poetic symbolism and haunting melancholy. There’s a sense of nostalgic loss that runs through most of his stories, as if he’s mourning the passing of a simpler way of life—while simultaneously trying to will it back into existence.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More of a weird fiction author than a practitioner of sf, Bradbury's a master of mood, letting tension linger patiently in the background while waiting for the right moment to reveal some terrible truth.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Bradbury cut his teeth on science fiction. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1934, his father moved the family from Waukegan, Illinois, to Los Angeles. Bradbury was 14; three years later, he became an integral part of L.A. fandom, where he grew close to such seminal figures in the sf community as Forrest J. Ackerman, Ray Harryhausen, and Henry Kuttner. His first sale, “Pendulum,” came in 1941 to </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Super Science Stories</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. It was then that he met Leigh Brackett; she helped him develop his writing style as the two became close friends.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1946, Bradbury wrote “The Million Year Picnic,” which he would later include in 1950’s </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Martian Chronicles</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. The novel—really a collection of short stories—describes man’s many attempts at colonizing Mars... and the way our own fears and prejudices make the task impossible. Despite its subject and title, there is no hard science behind any of the stories, and they instead feel more like fables than sf. Nonetheless, the book remains a key entry point to the genre for generations of new fans.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Martian Chronicles</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> helped provoke Bradbury’s mainstream success, and it wasn’t long before he found himself writing for the high-paying slicks like </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Collier’s Weekly</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Esquire</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Saturday Evening Post</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. His stories often pegged themselves on science fictional or fantastic ideas, and his work in this market began to break down the walls that had previously confined both genres within a literary ghetto.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bradbury’s first official novel, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fahrenheit 451</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, is set in a dystopian society that gleefully burns books. Focusing on a "fireman" who undergoes a radical change of heart, it addresses the suppression of civil liberties and questions the extent of power. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fahrenheit 451</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> remains a powerful and frighteningly relevant cautionary tale.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many of the best of Bradbury’s more than 300 short stories were originally collected in</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Dark Carnival</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">;</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The October Country</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Illustrated Man</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Golden Apples of the Sun</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Medicine for Melancholy</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Today, much of his output can be found in </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Stories of Ray Bradbury</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since the 1950s, Bradbury has had a close relationship with the artist Joseph Mugnaini, who created covers and illustrations for </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fahrenheit 451</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The October Country</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, and many other classics. In fact, Bradbury credits one of the painter’s surreal pieces with inspiring the story </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Something Wicked This Way Comes</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Bradbury himself is a highly regarded artist who frequently paints and draws. Examples of his work, and Mugnaini’s, appear throughout </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Illustrated Ray Bradbury.</span></span></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i></i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bradbury’s stories have been adapted for stage and screen, and early films include </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It Came From Outer Space</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. The latter helped Bradbury realize a long-time dream of working with stop-motion effects wizard Ray Harryhausen. He also wrote the acclaimed script for </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moby Dick</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, directed by John Houston—Bradbury eventually wrote about the experience in the book </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Green Shadows, White Whale</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bradbury has won numerous awards and honors, and in 1989, he was named a science fiction Grand Master for his lifetime achievements within the field.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DOC ATOMIC: What draws you to science fiction and fantasy in the first place?</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">RAY BRADBURY: Well, you're free to do any damn thing you want to do. It's the freedom that I love.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was ten years old I fell in love with the Buck Rogers comic strips—I began to collect them. Then I discovered Tarzan and John Carter of Mars, and I read all the books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. He was a huge influence on me. In fact, I wrote my first short story when I was 12—it was a sequel to Burroughs’ </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gods of Mars</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He continued to be an influence, and when I was 30 years old, I wrote </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Martian Chronicles</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What was so attractive about Burroughs’ writing? Why did he have such an impact on you?</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He was romantic, he was fantastic. He was impossible. All the creatures on Mars—all the people—were impossible. They were not real at all, and I didn't want to write about real people. I wanted the romance of Mars. That’s what attracted me.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Was it difficult to begin a career as a professional writer?</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had complete trouble. Nobody wanted me. I didn't sell anything. I was 21 years old before I sold my first story to </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Super Science Stories</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and I worked with Henry Hasse, a story called "Pendulum.” We got $30 and we split it and so I got a check for $15. But along the way—complete refusal of editors and agents to have anything to do with me. It was very difficult.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What kept you going?</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My love of writing and my love of libraries. My love of H.G. Wells. My love of Jules Verne. My love of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Love keeps you going in the world, always.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Did you have any goals in those early days?</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My goal was to be the greatest writer that ever lived.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is that all?</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">laughs</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">] You're damn right, boy. That kept me going.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You’ve always been a big part of science fiction fandom. What attracted you to that community? And how did it impact your writing?</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During my high school years—1937, ’38, and ’39—I went and attended meetings at Clifton's cafeteria in downtown L.A. That’s where I met people like Forrest Ackerman and Ray Harryhausen. There were other established writers there who accepted me as a friend and became my teachers—Leigh Brackett, Edmond Hamilton. Robert Heinlein became my friend, and he sold my first short story. So he became not only a friend but my agent.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We stuck together because everyone thought we were crazy!</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Science fiction is unique, I think, in that so many of the professional writers in the Thirties, Forties, and Fifties mingled directly with the fans and amateurs. In the early days, did you find that to be a nurturing environment?</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh, it was wonderful. I got to know Leigh Brackett and starting in 1940, I went to the beach every Sunday for five years and I sat with her on the beach. I watched her play volleyball and then I read the wonderful short stories that she was writing. And she read my dreadful short stories that I was trying to sell but was having no luck with.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It wasn't until I was around 22 that I began to write stories that sold to </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Weird Tales</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thrilling Wonder Stories</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amazing Stories</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. I got half a cent a word for them. In the meantime, I sold newspapers on a street corner to make ten dollars a week so I could survive.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Did you entertain dreams of the type of success you’ve come to achieve? Did you ever have any inkling as to how far you’d go as a writer</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">?</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No. I thought it was a long time away, and it took a lot of years. But I had a lot of friends that I loved and they loved me and they helped me, so I survived.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Was there anyone in particular who stands out?</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leigh Brackett. She was about two years older than me. I think when I met her I was 19 and she was 21. She was my love, she was my sweetheart.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You’re closely associated with two visual artists: the stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen, and the painter Joseph Mugnaini. What drew you all together?</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We all loved illustration. We all loved the metaphors that were given us by people like Joe</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mugnaini.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't meet him until I was 30 years old; I discovered his work in an art gallery. I went and I bought some of his paintings and we got to be friends, and then he illustrated my books as the years went by.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We became noticed by people as an author who has an artist who is his soul. So Joe</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mugnaini is part of my life and represents my ideas.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What was it about his art that first attracted you?</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He was fantastic.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Besides that.</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He was a great illustrator. He was talented. That's what attracted me. He was excellent.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What about Ray Harryhausen? How did that friendship begin?</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I met Ray Harryhausen at Forrest Ackerman's house; he was there trying to get some photographs from science fiction films, like </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Lost World</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">King Kong</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. I discovered that Ray Harryhausen loved dinosaurs as much as I did, so I went to his house and, by God, there, in his garage, were all of his dinosaurs that he was creating and animating. In later years when I became engaged, the first person I introduced my fiancé to was Ray Harryhausen.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We all had dreams of some day making a film, with my screenplay perhaps and Ray Harryhausen's dinosaurs. And it finally happened when we did </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You’re an accomplished visual artist yourself. When you’re working with illustrators, how closely do you collaborate? How did you work with Mugnaini on covers for books like </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">October Country</span></span></i></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> or </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fahrenheit 451</span></span></i></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, or any of the other books on which he worked?</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He was wonderful to work for. I would do a sketch. I would do a metaphorical sketch and give it to him and say this is what I think I would like to see for the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">October Country</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> or </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Golden Apples of the Sun</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Then he would go do sometimes 15 or 20 sketches and final art pieces.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were two hands that clapped, so you've got a left hand and a right hand, and I don't know if I was the right hand and Joe was the left, but we held on to each other and we loved creating and we loved life together.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He was full of ideas, and he was a wonderful wild Italian artist. He lived life to the fullest, so I loved to be with Joe</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mugnaini.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Your willingness to interact with fans is legendary within the field. Many writers, when they reach your level of success, remove themselves from the hustle and grind of book signings, meet-and-greets, and hand-shaking opportunities.</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To hell with that. Life is wonderful because we share these excitements. I'm still in touch with so many young people.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thirty years ago, when Greg Bear was a teenager in high school near Sand Diego, he wrote to me and I allowed him into my life. He wanted to be an artist, so he illustrated my stories and brought me his illustrations. So I encouraged him. Then a few years later, he decided to become a writer and I encouraged that. Now he's one of the biggest science fiction writers in the United States. So you have to keep your contacts with young people—because people bothered with me when I was a teenage jerk. They put up with my being stupid and wild and loud. So this continues. The fun of living is meeting young people who are like yourself at a certain point.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Your books are considered classics today. Critics and scholars like to point out that the most powerful pieces of writing are the ones that have universal appeal. Shakespeare’s plays, for instance, are just as relevant today as they were 500 years ago. I think that today, a book like</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fahrenheit 451</span></span></i></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is still particularly relevant—</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh, God, yes it is. I'm very fortunate.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you were writing it, though, were you even aware that a book like that, a story like that, could remain important 50 years down the line? As an author, are you thinking in those terms at all?</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No, no. You can't think that way. You just have fun writing. You love what you do. I wrote </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Martian Chronicles</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> as a series of short stories. I got paid $30 apiece. The total money I got on </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Martian Chronicles</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">was probably around $300. So I didn't know I was writing a classic.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Same way with </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fahrenheit</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. It started as a series of short stories, and it turned into a novella of 20,000 words called</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The Fireman</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Then it grew into a novella of 50,000 words. So I had no idea what I was doing, except that I was loving what I was doing. That's the secret of all writing is love.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I actually read a very interesting story of yours called "The Pedestrian."</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That was one of the beginning stories of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fahrenheit</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both “The Pedestrian” and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fahrenheit</span></span></i></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> as a whole struck me as very personal. As a writer, the themes inherent to such stories must strike pretty close to the bone with you.</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, Guy Montag is me. He's the pedestrian. He's me. And Favor is me and Clarisse McClellan is me. They're all parts of my soul.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you consciously attempt to put yourself into your stories?</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No, no, no. It just happened that way.</span></span></div>
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<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Martian Chronicles</span></span></i></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> have the feel of modern-day fables—or perhaps fables of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tomorrow</span></span></i></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. They read, in many ways, like morality tales. Was that something you were shooting for.</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No, no. I don't know what I'm doing when I write.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I met Federico Fellini in Rome 30 years ago and we became fast friends. At one point I said to him, “I hear that when you're making a film you don't look at the dailies, you don't look at the rushes. Why is that?”</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He said, “Because I don't want to know what I'm doing.” He said it's all got to be a mystery, provoke yourself every day to try to remember what you did the day before. So the same thing happened with me on</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fahrenheit</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and on </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Martian Chronicles</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and on </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Something Wicked This Way Comes</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't care. I just did it because I had to do it. So that's the secret of all great writing, not to know what you're doing and do it.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So far the two secrets are “Love it” and “Don’t know what you're doing.”</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And don't be an intellectual. Just have fun. Be passionate. Have great fun. Then you'll turn out lovely stories.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Science fiction and fantasy have always had a stigma attached to them. I’ve read it described as writing for the illiterates.</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's crap, that's pure crap.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you developed as a writer, did you find yourself having to defend science fiction and fantasy?</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes. But gradually what happened is the students taught the teachers. The students who loved me went into the classroom and handed the teacher one of my books, or a book by Heinlein, or a book by Leigh Brackett, and said, “Teacher, try this.”</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the teacher said, “Really, should I bother?”</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the student said, “Try it, you'll like it.”</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So the students taught the teachers starting 30 years ago, and gradually the teachers came over on my side, because the students who were not illiterate, who were literate indeed, taught the teachers.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Your seeing that fan loyalty, and the way it impacts the genre and the field. The people who love these stories are willing to carry the charge forward.</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's right.</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I read in </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Illustrated Bradbury</span></span></i></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> that you asked Doubleday to remove the term “science fiction” from the covers of your books.</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's right, because it's wrong. I'm not a science fiction writer, I'm a fantasy writer.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But there shouldn’t be categories at all. Just read me because you love the stories. That’s enough for me.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">##</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">Will do, Mr. Bradbury.</span></span></span></div>
</div>Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-6285306267308174532011-07-25T03:55:00.001-04:002011-07-25T05:15:30.372-04:00I'm Making a Documentary!I'm currently in production on a documentary called <b><i>Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys</i></b>. It is, as the title suggests, a movie about... <i>Star Wars</i> toys!<br />
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The film will explore the history and pop cultural impact of the action figures, play sets, space ships, and props that we all know and love -- all through conversations with fellow collectors, former Kenner and Hasbro employees, toy experts, and more. And, of course, there'll be a lot of cool toys!<br />
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The film will be released on DVD in August, 2012, at Celebration VI -- it'll also be available for purchase through many brick-and-mortar stores and through an online shop. Besides the film itself, I plan on including all sorts of extras... but for now, I'm keeping them secret!<br />
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Check out the teaser trailer!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="261" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DPktegyXP0Q" width="406"></iframe>
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For more information and updates, you can check out <i>Plastic Galaxy</i>'s official web site, <a href="http://www.plasticgalaxymovie.com/">www.plasticgalaxymovie.com</a>. You can also follow us on Twitter (@Plastic_Galaxy) and friend us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Plastic-Galaxy-The-Story-of-Star-Wars-Toys/167765446628184?sk=wall">Facebook</a>. If we can get this telepathy thing to work, you can follow us with you mind, too.<br />
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And for those who like to keep things within the blogger community, we've got another blog set up that you can follow: <a href="http://plasticgalaxymovie.blogspot.com/">plasticgalaxymovie.blogspot.com</a>. We'll try to update it every time we update the main news feed on the official site, but just in case, you might want to check both every once in a while.<br />
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So that's it -- that's why both this site and Galactic Awesome have kind of dried up of late. I've been extremely busy with the film -- and I anticipate many more months of work ahead of me. But it'll be worth it... I hope!Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-52464735228371966132011-04-25T02:27:00.000-04:002011-04-25T02:27:57.553-04:00Well Then, That's That!So I'm married. Little Mary Switchblade said "I do," even after our officiant made her promise to love me if my robot and ray gun collection overruns the entire house.<br />
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Wow.<br />
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Now that the wedding's over, I'm hoping I'll be better about updating the blog. No promises, but I'll do my best. I've got many, many new toys and I really should get off my butt and get them up on the ol' Attic. So I'll do my best!Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-50688174171571276162011-03-26T15:53:00.000-04:002011-03-26T15:53:07.686-04:00Wedding Rings (2011, Little King, NYC)So in less than a month, I'll be marrying Ms. Little Mary Switchblade. Doc Atomic and Little Mary Switchblade -- sounds good, right?<br />
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Here's a photo of the rings we had made. Guess which one's mine.<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/random/rings.jpg" />
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How many fiances would encourage their weirdo boy friends to get a lightning bolt in his wedding ring? Clearly, we're perfect for each other!Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-87720564880723691732011-03-15T03:01:00.001-04:002011-03-15T03:03:16.284-04:00JapanHang out in the Attic and you'll quickly realize that most of my favorite toys were made in Japan. Robots, ray guns, some Star Wars figures... Lots of toys. It's a tenuous connection, I guess, but I can honestly say that Japan has, via a few twists and turns, brought me a lot of happiness over the years.<br />
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The situation over there gets worse by the hour as the death toll climbs and meltdowns in numerous nuclear reactors becomes more and more likely. It's a horrible, terrifying tragedy.
I encourage everyone reading this to help out however he or she can. Donating a few extra bucks is probably the easiest thing you can do -- organizations helping the relief effort can always use the money. But if you're tight right now (and believe me, I understand), then see if there's any other way you can help.<br />
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Anyway... I guess that's all I've really got to say on the matter.<br />
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To my Japanese readers: My thoughts are with you guys... I hope you and your families are safe and sound.Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-50781080129145865822011-03-01T01:35:00.000-05:002011-03-01T01:35:26.936-05:00Original Science Fiction Artwork, Pt. 4New additions to the Attic's collection of original science fiction art! For those who're interested, here are Parts <a href="http://astoundingartifacts.blogspot.com/2010/06/original-science-fiction-artwork-pt-1.html">1</a>, <a href="http://astoundingartifacts.blogspot.com/2010/06/original-science-fiction-artwork-pt-2.html">2</a>, and <a href="http://astoundingartifacts.blogspot.com/2010/06/original-science-fiction-artwork-pt-3.html">3</a>.<br />
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<b>1. "Tales of Time and Space," by Tom Nachreiner. 21" x 26". 1976. Gouache on board.</b><br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/original_art/tsp_painting_edit.jpg" /><br />
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Truth is, I don't know a hell of a lot about Tom Nachreiner. He seems to have done a lot of work outside of the science fiction genre; in fact, there's no listing of him in Jane Frank's<i> Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists of the Twentieth Century</i>, the premier guide to genre artists. Strange. Oh well. I like a good mystery.<br />
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The painting was done as the cover for an anthology published in 1976 by Golden Press called<i> Tales of Time and Space</i>. It's a great piece of Seventies sf art; it's organic and fluid and strange, with bold colors and a trippy series of images pulled directly from the stories themselves. A little later than I tend to collect, but there's just no denying the quality of the painting. Hey, older, newer -- cool is cool!<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/original_art/tsp_detail1_edit.jpg" /><br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/original_art/tsp_detail2_edit.jpg" /><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">Two close up details of the painting.</span><br />
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What's particularly fascinating is that the painting came with the book cover's mechanical -- the package of sheets used to paste up cover elements like the title, publisher, book description, etc. I also received at copy of the book straight from the printer's files. Taken together, these pieces help illustrate the process by which a painting becomes a book cover. As a book collector, this is exactly the kind of thing that sends me over the moon.<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/original_art/tsp_workcover_edit.jpg" /><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">The outer cover of the package containing the cover's mechanical. The letter taped to the front is the job order, and lists what elements will be delivered by the printer. </span><br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/original_art/tsp_mechanical1_edit.jpg" /><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">The first layer of the mechanical. Tissue is laid down and on it is written various color guides.</span><br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/original_art/tsp_mechanical2_edit.jpg" /><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">The next layer down is an acetate overlay. The cover's text is laid down here, all carefully within the safety margins. </span><br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/original_art/tsp_coverfront_edit.jpg" />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">The cover itself. This is a file copy, and the handwritten notes are from the printer.</span><br />
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Now, if I can just figure out how to display it all...Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-76267734042332465382011-02-21T00:02:00.000-05:002011-02-21T00:02:41.942-05:00Posting Schedule. Because I'm Lame.<br />
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Okay. I realize that as time passes, my posts become more and more infrequent. I've got good excuses -- I'm a hard working freelancer who's just trying to raise enough money to buy more toys! -- but I admit, it's still pretty lame.</div>
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So here's the deal. From now on, this blog will be updated once a week. <i>Most likely</i> on Tuesdays or Thursdays, though that's not in stone. On the other hand, I reserve the right to post more often if something cool comes up. </div>
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Would I prefer to update The Attic daily? Sure. But I'll be honest -- I've gone through a lot of my vintage toy collection over the last year or so, and I don't get new toys too often. (It's the nature of this particular beast.) So I'm spreading things out a bit... Though like I said, if something good pops up, I'll be sure to let y'all know!</div>
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Anyway, that's that! New post -- a <i>substantive</i> post -- on either Tuesday or Thursday!</div>Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-29614540536124224532011-02-04T13:39:00.002-05:002011-02-04T14:39:41.393-05:00A Question For Fellow BloggersA question!<br />
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Would people use a virtual chat room if I were to set one up? I envision it as being a place for like-minded collectors to meet up and discuss... whatever they feel like discussing. It'd be available to <a href="http://galacticawesome.blogspot.com/">both my blogs</a>, which means there could be some interesting cross-over. (Most people reading my blogs are collectors, but the discussions would go wherever they're inclined to go...)<br />
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The chat room would always be open, so in theory, anyone could pop in whenever they felt like it. No need to schedule anything in advance (though there's also no guarantee anyone else will be there...)<br />
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Note: This isn't a <i>forum</i>, like Alphadrome or Rebel Scum or any of the million other forums out there. This would be a <i>chat room</i> -- similar to AOL Instant Message or Gmail Chat, except for multiple people at once. If you're of a certain age, think of those old telephone "party rooms," only without the implied sleaze.<br />
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I'd have to implement some level of security to avoid spammers, trolls, and all the other annoying denizens of the 'net that swarm to open, free, online chat sessions. The means, probably, either a list of pre-approved email addresses, or perhaps some sort of invitation system. Of course, everyone's privacy would be a priority, and if I do end up soliciting your email address, I'll never use it for anything other than making sure you can join the chat.<br />
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So... What do you think? Should I set it up? If enough people comment positively, I'll go ahead and set it up in the next day or so.Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-2577921552090591702011-01-30T02:30:00.003-05:002011-02-03T15:40:35.727-05:00Pre-Production Space Trooper (Yoshiya/1959/Japan/6 inches)<b>Most collectors have "holy grails."</b> You know, the pieces we dream about even though the odds say we'll never, ever, <i>ever</i> get our hands on them. The ones that keep us away long into the night, dreaming impossible dreams of glory through astonishing acquisition.
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Well... This robot's one of mine. And right now, it's sitting on my desk in front of me.
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/spacetrooper_main_edit.jpg" /><br />
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You're looking at a <b>Pre-Production Sample</b> of a Robby the Robot knock off called the <b>Space Trooper</b>. It was made by Yoshiya way back in 1959.
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As toys go, your basic Space Trooper isn't terribly complicated. Turning the crank engages a flywheel system, which causes the robot to roll forward while the multiple antennas in its head rotate in different directions. The wheels in its feet are off-center, which makes the robot wobble side-to-side as it rolls. It's simple, it's primitive, and frankly, I think it's <i>completely</i> awesome!
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As I said, this is a Pre-Production Sample. I know, I know: "<i>Doc, what the heck is a Pre-Production Sample</i>?" Gather 'round, kids, and I'll tell ya!
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Pre-Production Samples were one of the last stages in toy production before achieving a finished product. They were used by the toy companies for catalogue photos, as salesman's samples, and as display pieces at industry events like Toy Fair in New York City. They share most of the traits of a final production toy -- the one that ends up on toy store shelves -- but they also differ in many significant ways.
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In the case of the Space Trooper, there are four major differences.
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<b>1. COLOR</b><br />
The production models of the Space Trooper only came in red or black. A similar toy by Yoshiya that replaces the robot dome with an astronaut's head was also sold in dark blue. The Pre-Production Sample is a classy silver with black and red accents.
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The few sightings we've uncovered in toy catalogues from 1959 all show this silver version. In fact, Pre-Production Samples of other toys have shown up over the years and they're also silver, as are the catalogue photos for these other toys. It makes me think it might be some sort of industry standard thing; perhaps this color scheme works better when rendered as a high-contrast, black and white catalogue image. There's no conclusive evidence that the colors were chosen for this reason, though -- I'm only thinking out loud.
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/spacetrooper_comp_edit.jpg" /><br />
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<b>2. MECHANISM</b><br />
As I mentioned earlier, Space Troopers feature off-center, reciprocating wheels. The silver Pre-Production Sample, however, has wheels with a centered axle. They roll normally. The wheels are also larger than those found on a production toy. This is really one of the most important differences between the two versions as it illustrates a major development of the toy from one stage to the next. It shows Yoshiya attempting to inject more play value into the toy -- but in the cheapest way possible. I'll tell you what, though. Those wobbly wheels on the final version are definitely pretty neat! <i>Good job, Yoshiya</i>!
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/spacetrooper_feet_edit.jpg" /><br />
<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/spacetrooper_compfeet_edit.jpg" /><br />
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<b>3. BODY STAMPING</b><br />
Given how rare all Pre-Production Samples are, they were most likely done in small batches. Remember, these weren't meant to reach the public so the toy companies didn't need nearly as many pieces. It's likely that they were also not held to the same level of quality control. See, while <i>all</i> tin toys have wrinkles in the metal around the more complex folds, they're much more prominent on this early version of the toy. Also, the smooth, rounded parts have a little bit of unevenness to them that you don't see on the final, production robots.
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Basically, Yoshiya spit out these samples so they could have something to show off the toy. Production lead-times being what they were, there was ample opportunity to clean up and refine the manufacturing process before shipping out the robots.
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/spacetrooper_legs_edit.jpg" /><br />
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<b>4. CHROME</b><br />
The strip of chrome running up the side of the toy is supposed to fit tightly, conforming to the robot's curves. The strip of chrome on the pre-production sample looks like it was assembled by a blind monkey. It's kind of a mess. But as I've argued in the past, that's a big part of the charm of pre-production toys and prototypes. These aren't perfect, and they should look a little rough around the edges. <i>Pre-Production should look like Pre-Production</i>!
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/spacetrooper_chrome_edit.jpg" /><br />
<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/spacetrooper_rack1_edit.jpg" /><br />
<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/spacetrooper_rack2_edit.jpg" /><br />
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<b>There are only two or three known examples</b> of the Pre-Production Space Trooper. Or so I've been told -- I'm sure some others are floating around... <i>maybe</i>.
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But this particular Space Trooper is very important to me. See, I helped uncover it many years ago. A woman from Kansas had listed it on eBay back in 2004, and found herself inundated with questions from potential buyers demanding to know why it was silver. She quickly realized she was out of her depth, so she did some checking online and ended up finding my old web site. She sent me an email asking for help.
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Of course, I had no idea what it was, either. But I did some digging and discovered that there was -- at the time -- only one or two other silver Space Troopers, and that they all might be a Pre-Production pieces. Whatever it was, it was valuable. Valuable enough that I couldn't come <i>close</i> to affording it.
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However, I was able to hook the woman up with a friend of mine named Pat Karris. Pat had, at the time, the world's most complete <i>Forbidden Planet</i>/Robby the Robot collection. However, he didn't have <i>this</i> piece. Happily, Pat and the seller were able to work out a deal and the robot ended up on his shelf.<br />
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I was there the day he got it in the mail, and when I finally saw the toy up close, I fell desperately in love. I wanted one -- <i>badly</i>. But I knew it wouldn't happen. However, I consoled myself by remembering that Pat lived in NYC, which meant I could have visitation rights.
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Fast forward a number of years. Pat decided to sell off a bunch of his robots (for a variety of reasons) and they ended up going to a man named Al Rosen. Rosen made a name for himself buying and selling baseball cards, and he's a legend in that hobby. When he caught the robot and space toy bug, he pursued the toys with the same passion -- and deep pockets. Soon, he had nearly everything. <i>Every</i>. <i>Thing</i>.
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And then he decided to get out. His toys were auctioned off about a year-and-a-half ago by Smith House Toys in a two-part auction that I can't even talk about without my head exploding.
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And <i>yes</i>, this little Space Trooper was on the block with everything else.
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And <i>no</i>, I couldn't afford to buy it at the time.
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But another friend of mine, Steve Jaspen, was able to snag it. He lives in New York, too, and it was nice having the robot "come home." Besides, my visitation rights were restored.
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And then, about a week or two ago, I got a call from Steve. It turned out he had decided to sell this robot. He knew my history with the toy and wanted to offer it to me first. We discussed the price a bit, did a little back and forth, and then let the dust settle. "So," he asked. "Do you want it?"<br />
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Dumbest. Question. Ever. Just tell me where to send the check.
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<br />
So here we are, one more Holy Grail crossed off the list. I've waited a <i>loooooong</i> time for this one. I never thought it'd shake lose, and now that it has, I feel like it's come full circle. I'm a very, <i>very</i> happy camper.Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-83040466497979147112011-01-28T13:08:00.000-05:002011-01-28T13:08:57.771-05:00Surpise! Stuff You Never Expected To LikeThere are a number of items in my collection that, until I actually saw them in person, left me feeling lukewarm, at best. Their photos never did them justice, I guess, or maybe I just never saw anything about them that made them compelling. Whatever the reason, they were on my "meh" list, and I figured they'd never leave.<br />
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But then I'd see them in person, and it was like having a fire lit under me. I had to have 'em! And now that I do, I can't imagine ever letting them go. <br />
<br />So I'm wondering: What are some of the pieces in your own collections that surprised you with how much they've come to mean? Maybe it was something that went from zero to hero in a moment, or maybe it was something that grew on your over time. Regardless, tell me about the pieces that once were ignore, but now you'd never do without. Feel free to link to pictures if you're able.<br />
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I'll write about my own examples in a future post.Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-43459781975954259082011-01-21T02:50:00.000-05:002011-01-21T02:50:11.392-05:00Wonderful Batman Fan Film: "The Rat"Okay, okay... Why am I writing about a Batman fan film in the Attic of Astounding Artifacts? I'll tell ya. Because it was directed by a friend of mine named Dale Fabriger. He's immensely talented and watching his film, "The Rat," is a <i>great</i> way to spend five minutes.<br />
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Plus, Dale is a robot and ray gun collector, with one of the most kick-butt collections I've ever seen. So there's yer connection to the Attic. A short film about Batman made by an amazing filmmaker who just so happens to have the kind of toy collection that makes me drool. Any other questions? Didn't think so. Now watch the flick.<br />
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Oh, if you want to watch a higher resolution version of the film, click through to YouTube. Just sayin'.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="youtube-player" frameborder="0" height="258" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9t86Q_IcuzE" title="YouTube video player" type="text/html" width="406"></iframe>Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-7247902563134064052011-01-08T01:12:00.000-05:002011-01-08T01:12:40.635-05:00Videos of Toys!Donald Conner -- a.k.a. Captain Conner -- has one of the most amazing flying saucer collections in the world. He's also got some amazing robots and ray guns -- including a bunch that I'd love to own. I once visited Don's house way out on the West Coast, but at the time, his collection was a fraction of what it's become. So I was thrilled to hear that he'd made a few home movies showcasing his shelves.<br />
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I asked for permission to repost them here, and he graciously agreed. So grab some popcorn and sit back to gawk at some toys that can truly be called "top flight." (Ha! Get it?!)<br />
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(Click through to You Tube to see the videos in higher resolution.)<br />
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VIDEO 1<br />
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VIDEO 2<br />
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VIDEO 3<br />
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<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SklqXexeEts?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="406" height="329"></embed></object>Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-76935719363626560582010-12-12T22:20:00.000-05:002010-12-12T22:20:09.319-05:00Collecting Achievements and Goals: 2010 Edition(<i>I've shamelessly stolen this idea from a Star Wars forum called <a href="http://www.rebelscum.com/">Rebel Scum</a>. Go check it out!</i>)<br />
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With the end of 2010 fast approaching, I thought it would be fun to reflect on our <b>collecting achievements</b> over the last year, while also establishing some <b>goals for 2011</b>. When next year comes to a close, we can drag out this post and see how we did.<br />
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I'll list mine here, and you guys can list yours in your own blogs.<b> Please post a link to your lists in the comments below!</b> Then visit each other's blogs and leave your links in those comments sections, too. (If you don't have your own blog, just put your entry in my comments section.)<br />
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Ready? Then here we go!<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/acheivements/achievements_group.jpg" />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Collecting Achievements for 2010</span></span></div>
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2010 was a great year for me as a collector. The Smith House and Morphy auctions were great fun, and Botstock was, as always, a blast. I met a bunch of collectors across a variety of hobbies, and made a whole bunch of new friends. A number of my robots and ray guns were used as models by an amazing painter named Steven Skollar, and I was asked to participate in a TV show about collecting (though we'll see if my segment ever airs). And, of course, I also scored <i>lots</i> of new goodies, including some that have been on my want-list for a <i>long</i> time. <i>Some highlights</i>:</div>
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<b>Vintage Tin Robots</b></div>
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The Yonezawa Prototype TV Robot • Cragstan Ranger Robot • Horikawa Mr. Zerox • Yonezawa Moon Robot • Mr. Atom Robot </div>
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<b>Vintage Star Wars</b></div>
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Early Bird Set with Double Telescoping Lightsaber Luke • DT Lightsaber Prototype • Full run of Takara R2-D2s and C-3POs • Full run of Kenner R2s</div>
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<b>Other</b></div>
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Hamilton Electric Pacer watch • 1939 World's Fair die-cast tram and squished penny • Alphabot Robot • Science Fiction paintings by Morris Scott Dolens and Donald Simpson</div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Collecting Goals for 2011</span></b></div>
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For 2011, I'd like to continue meeting other collectors -- that's always one of the most fun parts of any hobby. I'd also like to make it back out to Robot Hut if possible, and continue to visit the collections of different Star Wars collectors. I've also got my sights set on some specific toys that I'd love to add sometime next year, including:</div>
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Lantern Robot • Blue Polka Dotted R-7 • Mr. Atomic • SY Mechanical Walking Robot • Nando Robot • Rex Mars Sparking Ray Gun • Hiller Atomic Jet Gun • Vinyl Cape Jawa • Vintage "The Force" Lightsaber • Takara Transforming X-Wing • Takara die-cast Darth Vader</div>
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Will they happen? Who knows... We'll see how 2011 unfolds. At the end of the year, when we return to this list, I'm looking forward to seeing how many goals I'll be able to reclassify as achievements.</div>
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<b>So... Who's next?</b></div>Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-64112591347390437492010-12-11T18:39:00.002-05:002010-12-12T13:53:38.323-05:00DIA Space Gun (Unknown / late 1950s? / Japan / 3 x 4 inches)The very best tin lithographed space guns were the ones that used the toy's body as canvases for miniature works of science fiction art. I've always thought that this double-barreled holdout pistol was one of the coolest.<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/ray_guns/dia_right_edit.jpg" />
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There's not a whole lot known about this little guy. It's a cap gun, and it was made by <strike>DIA</strike> an unknown company in Japan sometime around the late 1950s. The toy has embossed features, brightly colored and imaginative lithography, and, well, that's pretty much it.<br />
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But hey, how much more do you need?<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/ray_guns/dia_left_edit.jpg" />
<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/ray_guns/dia_anglefront_edit.jpg" />
<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/ray_guns/dian_handle_edit.jpg" />
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The mechanism's fairly simple: The small latch on the left side of the toy releases the barrel, which flips forward. A roll of caps is inserted and the gun's ready to blast the enemy. It uses a standard roll of paper caps.<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/ray_guns/dia_hook_edit.jpg" />
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This is a pretty rare gun, especially in decent condition. And while mine has a few scratches and rough patches, I'm just happy to own one at all. There's no special story behind how I got it -- eBay provides, you know? I definitely felt good adding it to my shelf, though.Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-88050550237459956452010-12-01T04:23:00.001-05:002010-12-01T04:26:06.035-05:00New Blog!It's official: My new toy blog is up and running. So if you're interested in seeing all the stuff in my collection that's not 50-plus years old, head on over to what I hope is the appropriately named <b>Galactic Awesome!</b> at <a href="http://galacticawesome.blogspot.com/">galacticawesome.blogspot.com</a>.<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/galactic_blog/galactic_awesome_banner406.jpg" /><br />
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As I said, it'll showcase things like vintage Star Wars toys, old Japanese die-cast robots and space ships, vinyl kaiju, Star Trek and Lost in Space ephemera, monster toys, and pretty much anything else I can think of. Should be fun!<br />
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Have no fear, the Attic of Astounding Artifacts isn't going anywhere. But sometimes I'll post here, and sometimes I'll post in Galactic Awesome!, and sometimes I'll post in both of them. And, of course, often times I'll simply not post at all. Because sometimes it's more fun to play with toys than to write about them. (Duh!)<br />
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(That said, expect a neat ray gun update later this week!)<br />
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By the way, thanks to everyone who suggested names for the new blog. Some of them were... um... awfully creative. In the end, though, I decided to just go with one of my own. Love it, hate it, it is what it is. Personally, I think Galactic Awesome! is kind of weird and syntactically challenged, but also charmingly in tune with all those great toys. (And yes, the exclamation point is part of the official name. I could get annoyed by it, though, so I reserve the right to change my mind.)<br />
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Anyway, I'm reasonably certain that Galactic Awesome! will appeal to a number of the Attic's readers. But I'm also sure that a number of you will look at it and think, "Meh." But if you're interested in seeing what grew out of all the toys featured <i>here</i>, I hope you'll take a gander at the toys I feature <i>there</i>. Who knows? Maybe you'll find a whole bunch of new ways to blow your hard earned cash!<br />
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<br />Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-39544667826293928322010-11-29T14:55:00.001-05:002010-11-29T14:56:25.458-05:00New Blog: Help Me Name It!I've got a lot of toys. Most of them are more than 50 years old, and I write about them in this very blog. Obviously.<br />
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But I also collect some newer vintage toys, like Star Wars figures, Tron stuff, old Star Trek phasers, and a bunch of weird Japanese things. And frankly, I'd like to write about them, too. But the Attic of Astounding Artifacts isn't really the place for it.<br />
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So I'm starting a new blog to focus on all these other toys. It'll be a little less formal, probably, and I can't promise it'll be as chock full of information. But it'll be cool, it'll be fun, and hopefully it'll show off some toys that not everyone has a chance to see.<br />
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<b>But now I need help naming it.</b> So I'm calling on you, my weird and faithful readers, to shout out some suggestions. This isn't a contest, there's no prize. If I use your name, though, I'll be sure to give you all the credit in the world. I'll give you so much credit that you'll be getting credit for stuff you didn't even do. Hardcore credit, yo.<br />
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Leave your suggestions in the comments. I'll keep them hidden until the final name is picked.<br />
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Thanks!Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-17352675926694280422010-11-29T01:09:00.000-05:002010-11-29T01:09:36.547-05:00Leslie Nielsen (February 11, 1926 - November 28, 2010)Leslie William Nielsen died early Sunday evening of complications stemming from pneumonia. He was 84.<br />
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This makes me very sad.<br />
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Nielsen was probably best known for his comedic roles in such movies as <i>Airplane!</i> and <i>The Naked Gun</i> (the latter based on a role he created in the TV show <i>Police Squad</i>). But for myself and most readers of this blog, he will forever be remembered as Commander John J. Adams in 1956's classic science-fiction film <i>Forbidden Planet</i>.<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/nielsen/nielsen-adams.jpg" /><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">Publicity still of Nielsen as Commander John J. Adams in <i>Forbidden Planet</i>.</span><br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/nielsen/fb-onesheet.jpg" /><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">The one-sheet movie poster for </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">Forbidden Planet</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">.</span><br />
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In the film, Nielsen and his crew of the United Planets Cruiser C-57D land on Altair IV, where they meet Dr. Edward Morbius, his daughter Altaira, and Robby the Robot -- the sole survivors of a tragic expedition that landed on the planet 20 years earlier. They learn of the planet's former inhabitants, the Krell, a race of hyper-intelligent beings who mysteriously disappeared. And they discover that the planet harbors a dark secret, one that threatens the lives of everyone on the C-57D.<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/nielsen/nielsen-francis-robby.jpg" /><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">Nielsen with Anne Francis (Altaira) and Robby the Robot.</span><br />
<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/nielsen/nielsen-francis-color.jpg" /><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">Nielsen and Francis.</span><br />
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Nielsen played Adams as a man of action whose sense of honor and duty sits side-by-side with his reputation as an intergalactic ladies man. He's noble, dashing, intelligent, and quick with a blaster -- an old-school space hero who gets the girl in the end. (If that's a spoiler, none of you have ever read a science fiction story or seen an SF movie from the 1950s.)<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/nielsen/fb-halfsheet.jpg" /><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">Half-sheet poster for <i>Forbidden Planet.</i></span><br />
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I always admired how Nielsen took his character seriously. There was never any wink in his performance, never a sense that he was too good for the role, or that he was slumming it by appearing in a science fiction film. And as years went by, he never wavered in his attitude, always speaking fondly of the film and his part in it. (Unlike, say, Walter Pigeon, who played Morbius. He ran from <i>Forbidden Planet</i> like it was a swarm of bees, and always resented the promotional appearances he had to make to support the film. Oh well.)<br />
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<i>Forbidden Planet</i> holds a special place in the hearts of most robot collectors. Not only is it one of the best science fiction movies of all time -- and I'll fight anyone who tries to say differently! -- but it also gave us the great Robby the Robot. Toy manufacturers, in turn, transformed Robby into some of the most exciting toys ever to sit on a toy shelf. (And I'll fight anyone who tries to say differently about this, too!)<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/nielsen/robby-portrait.jpg" /><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">Various Robby-inspired toy robots. (back row) Mechanized Robot. (middle row, from left) wind up Planet Robot, Piston Robot, battery operated Planet Robot, and Moon Robot. (front row, from left) Space Trooper, battery operated Jupiter Robot, and wind up Jupiter Robot.</span><br />
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But as great as Robby was, and as near to my heart as he sits, my favorite character in <i>Forbidden Planet</i> was Commander Adams. For giving us that, as well as decades of goofy laughs, I humbly salute Leslie Nielsen. He will be fondly remembered and sorely missed.Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-22050786001944207082010-11-19T14:57:00.003-05:002010-11-20T02:03:52.479-05:00The Space Toy Artwork of Steven Skollar<b>If you're in New York City this weekend,</b> I highly recommend heading over to SoHo's <a href="http://www.arcadiafinearts.com/">Arcadia Gallery</a> to check out the latest exhibition of paintings by artist <b>Steven Skollar</b>. His focus is on (mostly) vintage toys -- robots, ray guns, flying saucers, and other odds and ends. Yep, all the stuff we love!<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/skollar/skollar_irwin_edit.jpg" /><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">Painting © <a href="http://www.stevenskollar.com/">Steven Skollar</a>. Used with permission.</span><br />
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His paintings evoke the masters of prior centuries, with a very formal approach to lighting and composition. But this juxtaposes wonderfully with his pop culture subject matter, and the end result is something forceful yet whimsical. If I had a fireplace and a mantel in my toy room, his are exactly the kinds of paintings I'd want to hang above it.<br />
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I had the pleasure of meeting Steven for the first time nearly a year ago, when he asked if he could use some of my robots and ray guns as models for his paintings. Of course I said yes, and Steven came over with a pretty interesting -- and top secret! -- photo rig which he used to snap shots of a number of different toys. (I wrote about the day <a href="http://astoundingartifacts.blogspot.com/2010/01/pictures-worth-thousand-toys.html">here</a>.) I'm thrilled to see that many of them made the final cut, and now grace the walls of a SoHo art gallery. And people say that toy collecting isn't respectable! Pshaw!<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/skollar/skollar_bluesmoker_edit.jpg" /><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">Painting © <a href="http://www.stevenskollar.com/">Steven Skollar</a>. Used with permission.</span><br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/skollar/skollar_erands_edit.jpg" /><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">Painting © <a href="http://www.stevenskollar.com/">Steven Skollar</a>. Used with permission.</span><br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/skollar/skollar-1.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">Painting © <a href="http://www.stevenskollar.com/">Steven Skollar</a>. Used with permission.</span><br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/skollar/skollar_cheif_edit.jpg" /><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">Painting © <a href="http://www.stevenskollar.com/">Steven Skollar</a>. Used with permission.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;"><br /></span><br />
<b>The exhibit runs until Sunday, November 26</b>. Arcadia Gallery is located at 51 Greene Street, New York, NY. Their number is 212-965-1387, and their web site is <a href="http://www.arcadiafineart.com/">www.arcadiafineart.com</a>. Steven Skollar can be found online at <a href="http://www.stevenskollar.com/">www.stevenskollar.com</a><br />
<br />Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-82801280131809240762010-11-18T15:20:00.001-05:002010-11-18T21:53:35.177-05:00Prototype Television Robot (Yonezawa/1960s/Japan/9.5 inches)<b>Toys aren't born, they're made.</b> And before they can be made, they go through stages of development that begin with sketches and model-making and culminate in the creation of a prototype. If the stars align properly -- i.e., the prototype works correctly, people like the design, and production isn't too costly -- the prototype is transformed into a toy.<br />
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But sometimes a toy never gets that far. Sometimes, something about the robot prevents it from making it out of the pre-production stage and on to the toy shelf. The toy industry is full of "what ifs" and "also rans," robots that started as really good ideas but, for whatever reason, never quite made the cut.<br />
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And while most of these prototypes were dismantled and turned into scrap, some survived. They remained in dark factory corners, or sitting on shelves in forgotten closets. They dodged the ravages of time and neglect until finally, finally, intrepid collectors dragged them into the light. And now, decades later, they survive as giant curiosities that hint at all the wonderful toys that, had fate not dipped and dived in the wrong direction, might be sitting on our shelves today.<br />
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This, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of one such toy.<br />
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Presenting the prototype for a never-produced Television Robot by the company Yonezawa. Please bask in its glory for as much time as you'd like. I'm happy to wait.<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype_main_edit.jpg" /><br />
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I know, I know. It doesn't look like much. Just two legs, feet, a gear box, a pair of arms, and that big, round space scene on the front of its chest. But that's part of its charm. It's a <i>prototype</i>. For a toy that was<i> never produced</i>. Of course it's not going to look like a super model. But I would argue that a prototype is even cooler when you can tell that it's a prototype.<br />
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Prototypes demonstrate the toy-making process, providing a glimpse into the often hidden world of toy development. They're stages in the act of creation, and, in my opinion, are most interesting when they illustrate these stages. This means they're often rough around the edges compared to a finished toy, but that's the point.<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype_arm_edit.jpg" /><br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype_gears_edit.jpg" /></div>
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And it gets even cooler. These prototypes are one-of-a-kind, hand-made toys. To use an art analogy, these are the original paintings and pencil sketches, while the toys themselves are just machine-made prints. As such, I consider them wonderful works of mechanical art.</div>
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So... What exactly are we looking at? Allow me to break it all down.<br />
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This is a concept for a walking Television robot. As far as we can tell, the toy walks forward with swinging arms and a spinning antenna in what would have been its head. At the same time, the disk on its chest rotates about 30% before stopping. Then a bulb lights up, illuminating the scene, which would be visible through a TV window on the robot's chest. After a few seconds, the whole process starts all over again.<br />
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It sounds fairly basic, but the toy included one feature that was positively revolutionary -- at least, it would have been if the robot had ever made it into production: Bump-And-Go action.<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype_medallion_edit.jpg" /><br />
<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype_feet_edit.jpg" /><br />
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Bump-and-go action allows a toy to slam into a wall, spin around, and go in another direction. It's common on skirted robots and many space cars, tractors, tanks -- pretty much anything that rolls. However, no one in the hobby had ever seen it on a walking robot until this prototype surfaced.<br />
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So how's it work? The robot walks forward until it bumps into a wall. This pushes in a tab on the toy's left foot, which engages a mechanism that causes the wheels in its feet to only roll backwards for a set period of time. As the robot continues to try to walk forward -- the right leg still works properly -- it ends up spinning itself in a circle. By the time it's facing away from the wall, the mechanism in the left foot has disengaged, allowing the wheels in the foot to roll forward again. This, in turn, permits the robot to start walking -- until it hits another wall, of course.<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype_footmechanism_edit.jpg" /><br />
<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype_footbottom_edit.jpg" /><br />
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It's an elegant solution that would have given the toy so much additional play value. But looking at the inside of the foot, you can see that it's a fairly complicated mechanism that probably added to the toy's production cost. It's sad, but not surprising, that Yonezawa never implemented it in any of their toys.<br />
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Now, remember I mentioned that these toys are hand-made? This brings us to one of the prototype's coolest features: The <i>hand-painted</i> space art on the chest disk. As a fan of both toy robots and original science fiction art, I can barely express how cool I think this is. I'm amazed my head hasn't exploded already.<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype_wheel1_edit.jpg" /><br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype_robotart_edit.jpg" /></div>
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My friend and fellow collector, Donald Conner, pointed out that whoever painted the wonderful scenes of rockets, space stations, and robots on this disk most likely also painted the original artwork for at least some of the litho on other robots. Not only that, there's a great chance he created some box art as well.<br />
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That noise you just heard was my head finally going <i>boom</i>.<br />
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The scene is painted on a clear piece of round plastic using what look like water colors. It's backed with a piece of thin, translucent paper that helps to diffuse the light from the bulb that illuminates the art. The disk has warped a bit with age, and you can see spots where the paper has pulled away, taking some of the artwork with it. So the whole thing is extremely delicate. Still, it displays wonderfully, delivering a tiny, funky science fiction universe.<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype_wheel2_edit.jpg" /></div>
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype_wheel3_edit.jpg" /></div>
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype_gears_edit.jpg" /></div>
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I don't really know too much about the Television Robot Prototype's history. It was discovered in Japan, and at some point it made its way onto the Yahoo Japan auction site. A well-known dealer won it for a collector here in the States, and he owned it for a couple years. Recently, he decided to get out of the hobby -- his collection was amazing! -- and he's been selling off his toys over the last couple months. When I saw the prototype on the block, I jumped at it.<br />
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When the toy was originally discovered, it was missing its right leg and foot. The funky bump-and-go mechanism was attached to the left foot plate, but the foot plate itself didn't fit perfectly to the foot housing. The toy had no battery box -- there was no way to see what it could really do.<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype_onelegged_edit.jpg" /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">(Photo: John Rigg)</span></div>
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So it was sent to toy collector, and robot-builder extraordinaire John Rigg. The prototype's owner knew that John could find a way to replace the missing parts and provide the toy with power -- but without doing anything that would damage the prototype itself. It was important to preserve this piece of history, so like all conservation and restoration work, anything done to the robot needed to be completely reversible.<br />
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John is a legend in the hobby. He's got an amazing collection, which he houses in the <a href="http://www.robothut.robotnut.com/">Robot Hut</a>, a giant building that he constructed himself on his farm out west. John's also a genius when it comes to electronics, fabrication, and all-around mad science. In his spare time, he likes to customize toy robots for himself and other collectors; he also builds life-size recreations of famous Hollywood robots, like Robby from <i>Forbidden Planet</i> and Gort from <i>The Day the Earth Stood Still</i>. He's opened and repaired more vintage robots that most of us will ever own, and there's probably no one left alive who knows more about how these toys work. So of course he was the perfect choice to take on the job.<br />
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Never let it be said that John doesn't commit 100% to a job! Using the left leg and foot, he created templates for the missing parts, which he then painstakingly fabricated out of tin. He even made molds of the medallions on the side of the legs in order to create copies. The new foot was given a simple walking mechanism, and then attached to the leg. The leg was then put in the body, and careful attention was paid to how it would hook up to the gear box. After all, John wasn't satisfied with having the toy merely stand up -- he wanted it to work, too!<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype-foottemplate-edit.jpg" /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">(Photo: John Rigg)</span></div>
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype_johnsfoot_edit.jpg" /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">(Photo: John Rigg)</span></div>
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To give it power, he attached a battery box to a piece of metal, which was then screwed into existing holes on the robot's back -- most likely where the actual battery box would have attached. Everything was attached to the toy's motor. Of course it all worked perfectly. (John didn't bother to re-attach the bump-and-go mechanism. It didn't fit right, as I mentioned, so it was decided to leave it off so that it could be displayed next to the robot. It's a choice I wholeheartedly support and agree with.)<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype_wheelmechanism_edit.jpg" /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">(Photo: John Rigg)</span></div>
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/prototype_motor_edit.jpg" /></div>
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Unfortunately, not much else is known about this robot. There's a picture of another prototype piece that might be the toy's body and head, and I'll discuss this in a future post when more information becomes available. But the robot's name, the exact year it was created, where it was found -- it's all still a mystery. Obviously, one that I'd love to solve.<br />
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A lot of collectors just aren't into prototypes. Their attitude: "It's just a step in the process, who cares? And an unproduced prototype? A step in the process that didn't even lead anywhere? Pshaw! What's the point, man? You got rooked!"<br />
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Of course, a lot of collectors also feel just like I do. They understand that this is an important, rare, and -- yes -- beautiful piece of history, and as such, is valuable to the hobby in ways that can't be understated. It's also an inspiring reminder that for every toy we've seen, there are probably hundreds that never made it out the factory doors. These unproduced toys are flights of fancy for some enthusiastic toy designers, efforts that demonstrate talent, imagination, and technical expertise. They're a direct link to the people who made all these wonderful toys that we collect, and something that very few people have the opportunity to see, much less own.<br />
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So I'm kind of freaking out. As a collector, I consider this a grail piece, something I've tried to find for a long time without ever really knowing what I was looking for. And now that I've got it? I couldn't be happier.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;"><b>Special thanks</b> to <b>John Rigg</b>, whose work with the Television Robot uncovered all of its cool features and ultimately brought it back to life. John's the one who figured out the walking mechanism, and he's graciously allowed me to paraphrase his description, and use his photos, in this post. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;">For more information on the prototype, and to see more of John's repair photos, check out this thread on Alphadrome: <a href="http://danefield.com/alpha/forums/index.php/topic/9677-robot-prototype-yonezawa-factory-japan/page__hl__%2Byonezawa+%2Bprototype">Yonezawa Prototype</a>.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000;"><br /></span>Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-64417035533010752652010-11-18T09:55:00.000-05:002010-11-18T09:55:51.714-05:00I'm Back, Baby!Too long have I let this blog lie neglected. Too long have I disregarded my right -- nay, my obligation... my <i>duty</i> -- to write about vintage space toys. Too long has the door to the Attic of Astounding Artifacts remained closed.<br />
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Today, that ends!<br />
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Time to start posting again. I've got lots of new toys, lots of new stuff to talk about... and lots of guilt for not writing anything in a while.<br />
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So... I'm working on a post right now. Photos are taken, information is collated, and sentences are being constructed. I've recently added something to my collection that's <i>so freakin' cool</i> I can't wait to share it with everyone. It's a little bit different, a little bit funky, and definitely kind of meta, but it's also historic, intellectually fascinating, and endlessly fun.<br />
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Check back later today. I promise, there will be an actual post!Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-68045999541196360462010-08-28T12:19:00.001-04:002010-08-28T12:20:59.484-04:00Excuses, Excuses...I know I'm supposed to update this blog, but I've gotta admit, I've been a little distracted lately. See, Ol' Doc Atomic is <i>engaged</i>.<br />
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And I don't mean, "I'm engaged in the act of collecting toys." (Even though I always am!) No, I mean <i>engaged</i> engaged. Like, you know, to get <i>married</i>. So I've been a little less focused than usual, and the blog, well, it's suffering for it.<br />
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But give me a couple more days to get my head together and I promise I'll start posting regularly. I've got a pile of toys just itching to be written about, I've got another "Captain Conner's Corner" article about saucers that I've been sitting on for months, I've got two amazing interviews that are begging to see the light of day -- really good stuff! Rest assured, this blog has <i>not</i> been orphaned!<br />
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But you'll understand if I've got a few other things on my mind!<br />
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And now a question, because I could really use some advice: How do I convince my completely awesome future wife that using toy robots as invite themes, table decorations, and a cake topper will <i>not</i> make our wedding look like a science fiction fan's bar mitzvah?Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-75581274296728141572010-08-24T04:03:00.000-04:002010-08-24T04:03:11.701-04:00Not Dead Yet!But I have been very, very busy. I do apologize for the long delay between posts, but I plan on putting up a new ray gun entry tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a question:<br />
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<i>Of all the toys posted here in the Attic, which is your favorite so far? And if that's too difficult, how about giving me your top three?</i><br />
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No particular reason, I'm just curious. If you're so inclined, stick your answers in the comment section.<br />
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More tomorrow!Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-52554544758734098552010-08-06T09:43:00.000-04:002010-08-06T09:43:33.471-04:00Video: Astronaut Discusses Science Fiction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNmmmW1L54lcXxYu0EMxKfTPRH_Dev9VsH3x1Dc10nRF5YCe1SuftQFqj0Vt-p94aTY8yxo7GT9kHZkzO0Cl2iyTamI50o9cdSNrd3PXZ-iSBTMf7DWHmTeeHwrgCLZJD_DDIW10Z7dK1/s1600/astronaut-creamer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNmmmW1L54lcXxYu0EMxKfTPRH_Dev9VsH3x1Dc10nRF5YCe1SuftQFqj0Vt-p94aTY8yxo7GT9kHZkzO0Cl2iyTamI50o9cdSNrd3PXZ-iSBTMf7DWHmTeeHwrgCLZJD_DDIW10Z7dK1/s400/astronaut-creamer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I recently travelled down to <b>NASA headquarters</b> in Washington, D.C., to film a presentation by<b> astronaut and U.S. Army Col. Timothy "T.J." Creamer</b>. He was discussing his days onboard the International Space Station with an audience of about 40 people, all of whom follow his tweets from space. My shoot was for a piece being produced for a web site called <a href="http://www.rocketboom.com/">Rocketboom</a>.<br />
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The entire talk was fascinating, but my ears really perked up when he took a moment to discuss science fiction. Consider it: A real, live astronaut. <i>Talking about science fiction</i>. I'm amazed my head didn't explode. Since the bite never made it into the final Rocketboom piece, I got permission to post it here in the Attic. If you'd like to see it in glorious HD, click through to the YouTube page and select the highest resolution.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: monospace, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><object height="253" width="406"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sEnVE98JoSU&hl=en_US&fs=1">
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You know, I've interviewed a lot of famous people, a lot of powerful people, a lot of downright interesting people. And after all this time, I've really learned to keep my cool and remain professional whatever the situation. But standing in front of an astronaut -- and a really friendly, cool one, at that -- was pretty amazing, and I'm not embarrassed to admit that I came real close to becoming a blubbering fanboy. I held it together, but when we walked out of the shoot, I couldn't stop grinning and I'm pretty sure my correspondent was sick of me muttering under my breath, "So cool... so <i>freakin</i>' cool!"<br />
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You can check out the Rocketboom piece, which includes a short, but exclusive interview with Colonel Creamer, at <a href="http://rocketboom.com/">rocketboom.com</a>.<br />
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NASA broadcasted the entirety of the presentation live on their web site; I'm sure it's still archived there. Find it at <a href="http://NASA.gov/">NASA.gov</a>.Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4768200059516433013.post-19311049881947655402010-07-31T10:53:00.000-04:002010-07-31T10:53:11.833-04:00W Robot (Noguchi / 1960s / Japan / 7 inches)A mystery in the toy world: What's the "W" on the W Robot stand for? "Wonderful"? "Wicked"? "Wow"? I have no idea. Like I said, it's a mystery! What's <i>not</i> a mystery is that this little robot is super cool. (See what I did there? It's call reincorporation, and it's a writing technique that's so common it's actually a cliche. But I did it anyway, because that's how I roll.)<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/w_front_edit.jpg" /><br />
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I've always liked this funky little 'bot. His unusual, round body, the playful litho, that cool sparking window on his chest -- he's a true original! The W Robot is a fairly common toy, relatively inexpensive, and often an early addition to many people's collections. I think he was my fourth or fifth robot, and I remember being excited to discover a toy I recognized immediately from one of the great books by famous Japanese collector T. Kitahara. (Not that this particular example of the toy appeared in the book, of course.)<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/w_spark_edit.jpg" /><br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/w_looming_edit.jpg" /><br />
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The W Robot is part of a category of robots known as "paddle wheels," so called because of their unusual walking mechanism that employs a pair of off-axis wheels connected to paddle-like feet. Unlike his cousins, though, the W robot's mechanics are much more finished looking.<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/w_feet_edit.jpg" /><br />
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There are a number of variations on this particular robot. One version has more human-like arms, which are in fact taken from a paddle-wheel astronaut toy that uses the exact same body as the W robot, but entirely different lithography. Another version of the W Robot features a small, plastic spinner on its head. A third, extremely rare version -- I've only seen one -- has a different red gel on its chest. And lastly, there's a version of the toy produced by a Greek company that has a different symbol on its chest (and is marked as being made in Greece).<br />
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<img src="http://www.xrayfilms.net/attic_blog/robots/w_torso_edit.jpg" /><br />
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By the way, the background in these shots is yet another experiment. I was trying for something vaguely lush and organic, something weird with a lot of texture. I think I achieved it, but I'm not sure it actually works. It's a little busy, I think. Nice, but maybe not quite right for photographing robots. The opening shot, in particular, lacks sufficient separation between the subject -- the 'bot -- and the background. The lighting's too strong, and there depth of field isn't nearly shallow enough. Oh well, live and learn!Doc Atomichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756391204121061932noreply@blogger.com7