Classic films you have to watch.... Hawk The Slayer.

Let me take you on an adventure, to a fabled land of long ago where the miraculous used to happen; films were once played on tapes. Yes, children: tapes! I know, as incredible as it seems, there was once a time before streaming and downloads (just forget DVDs and Blu-rays; they're being retconned out here) and this technology was so marvellous and amazing that you used to have to sell your aunty's kidney in order to purchase what was called a VHS or (even-rarer) a Betamax player.

Anyway, during this sepia-tinted time of wonder, little A.S.Chamber's mummy used to have a job cleaning at a clothing store in a small market town and above this store was a shop that sold and rented out such tapes. (At this point everyone under sixteen is looking at each other and shrugging in a manner that says “What is the old guy on about here?”) So it was that, during the long, hot summers of my youth, I was deposited in front of the TV in the video store and given two things: a remote control (attached to the player by a cable, no less) and free run of the rental stock.

After a few false starts (My mother sort of did not approve of me watching Friday The Thirteenth or I Spit On Your Grave, I wonder why..?) I finally latched onto a little gem which I still carry in my heart to this very day: Hawk The Slayer.

So, the basic plot is: evil older brother stomps around a curious version of Middle Earth looking like a Tolkein version of Darth Vader whilst valiant younger brother rounds up a mythical Magnificent Seven to take him out, free the land and avenge the death of his beautiful wife.

Right, so not that imaginative, I agree. It was a blatant attempt to draw followers of Star Wars over to a more fantasy-based genre and, to be honest, it didn't really work for the masses. However, it has a core following which I could probably count on most of my body's digits, so that has to count for something. Surely that makes it a cult movie?

But all that aside, it had two things that just spoke to a young author in the making. First, the evil brother's last words were, “I'll wait for you at the gates of Helllllllllllllllll........” and, even better, it had a sword controlled by the mind of the younger brother, Hawk. I mean, this sword could FLY! I so wanted one then and I still yearn for one today. Admittedly, it was probably an idea conjured up by scriptwriters that would allow him to draw the sword from an unreachable scabbard across his back, but all the same, it was cool. So cool that, years later, I pinched the idea and utilised it in Fallen Angel a book due for release at some point in the future.

So, yes, if you haven't seen it yet, pick it up cheap as chips on Amazon, switch off the more cynical half of your brain and just enjoy Hawk The Slayer.

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Also feel free to visit my website (www.aschambers.co.uk), follow me on Facebook (A.S.Chambers) or stalk me on Twitter (@ASChambersUK) where you can find various bits and bobs regarding books, films TV series and whatever drops into my lap.

If you fancy a bit of bedtime reading then please drop in on Amazon and purchase The Casebook of Sam Spallucci.

The late, great... Douglas Adams.

Even as I start typing this, I am quietly chuckling to myself. How can I not? This was the creative genius who gave us The Bugblatter Beast of Traal, Pan-galactic Gargle Blasters and Marvin The Paranoid Android. Oh, and don't forget, without Adams we would never have realised that the meaning of life was 42!

When most of the planet was going sci-fi crazy after watching Luke Skywalker thwart the evil machinations of the not-yet-paternal Darth Vader whilst mooning over his gorgeous secret twin sister, Leia, Douglas Adams was working on a piece of fiction which would turn around and say, “Actually, you know all those aliens out there? Well, they're rather like us, just a bit dafter.” I am, of course, referring to The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

The thing which I enjoy most about the books is the way that Adams could take totally mundane items and bend them to his surreal imagination. A fish became an intergalactic translation device. A pint of beer became a relaxant for a teleportation device. A bureaucratic demolition official could torture you with his god-awful poetry. I think this approach to writing is something which inspired me as an author so, in The Casebook of Sam Spallucci, I ended up fashioning actors from a suburban sitcom who were in fact inept Satanic cultists, a vampire who liked dressing up as Spock from Star Trek and a keeper of a children's zoo who (when the moon was full) transformed a crazed werewolf. In short, if it wasn't for Adams, I would not be writing today.

Hitchhiker's was a work that went through a number of transformations. It started out as a radio play, then became the ever-growing trilogy of books. For a while, it was a computer adventure game. (I slaved over that for days on my old Atari 800xl. Never got anywhere.) Then, finally the film was released in 2005, a few years after Adams's died in 2001. It's because of this huge legacy which he left that many people forget that he worked on a number of other projects. There was Dirk Gently, and The Meaning of Liff to name but two books. We must also remember that be worked on Doctor Who. Shada, which was finally turned into a radio play for the eighth Doctor by Big Finish, was originally penned by Adams. He also wrote The Pirate Planet and City of Death for the fourth Doctor.

As well as his writing, he was also committed to his personal beliefs. He described himself as “radical atheist” and was a good friend of Richard Dawkins. He also had strong feelings regarding environmentalism as was shown in his radio series Last Chance To See and various other activities he undertook promoting awareness in our environment, such as climbing Mount Kilimanjaro dressed in a rhino suit!

The world definitely became a tad drearier when Adams died, I just hope that whenever people read, watch or listen to his works, his legacy will uplift their spirits and empower them to stand up against (or lie down in front of`) the impending bulldozer.

Thanks for reading this blog. If you like what you see, please click on the “follow” button.

Also feel free to visit my website (www.aschambers.co.uk), follow me on Facebook (A.S.Chambers) or stalk me on Twitter (@ASChambersUK) where you can find various bits and bobs regarding books, films TV series and whatever drops into my lap.

If you fancy a bit of bedtime reading then please drop in on Amazon and purchase The Casebook of Sam Spallucci. (It's only £1.53 on Kindle – what a bargain!)

Book Review of the Week: Star Wars - Lost Tribe of the Sith.

Okay, so before I start, I have to put my hand on my heart and say that right from the first time I saw Darth Vader’s Imperial Star Destroyer swallow up the small, rebel blockade runner back in 1977 I have ben a fan of the Dark Side. Let’s face it: it’s just cooler. They have the smarter uniforms, the more powerful weapons, that air of mystery, RED LIGHTSABERS and (allegedly) cookies. So when I found out that the Sith were returning in theFate of the Jedi series, my heart leapt higher than the forest moon of Endor. Then, when I found out that a series of novellas were being penned to fill in back story, my heart went totally Alderaan! John Jackson Miller’s collected volume of these stories was placed firmly on my Amazon wish list and I hovered by the front door waiting for its arrival.

I actually read it in conjunction with two other books: Crosscurrent and Riptide by Paul S. Kemp. Between them they told the story of the catastrophic space battle that caused the Sith dreadnought Omen to be hurled through space to the uncharted planet of Kesh and what happened to the Lost Sith during their isolation there. We see the intricacies of an abandoned people who are used to dominating all that they survey when they are marooned on an apparently resourceless planet. We watch how they gradually eliminate unwanted elements of their own culture and subdue the indigenous people until, finally, a new civilisation evolves which, although definitely Dark Side in nature, is a civilisation of culture and beauty – a thousand miles away from the likes of Darths Sidious, Vader, Caedus et al.

It is a classic “What If…?” scenario.

Certain things really appealed to me. The first was the characters which Miller built. They came across as memorable and believable and set a good grounding for the likes of Aaron Allston and Christie Golden to build upon. The other thing which really made me smile was that lack of metal ore on the planet. This was genius! All too often I get the feeling that characters in books get a far too easy ride of it. They get stranded somewhere and they just cobble something together. It always feels like a bit of a cop out to me. However, here on Kesh, the Sith had to depend on the resources that the planet provided and that meant working with the natives and eventually drawing them into the Tribe. I loved the way that glass became the main resource of choice for manufacturing tools and materials over the precious metals which were scavenged from the derelict Omen. It showed an ingenious race developing over 5000 years until they encountered Ship in the Fate series and were brought back to the galaxy at large.

If I have one criticism it’s that I wanted more, more, more. 5000 years is a long time to cover in one book and, at times, the jumps between stories left me wondering what had happened in the intervening years. But then, is that really a bad thing? Sometimes a little mystery can really whet the appetite, leaving the reader hungry for more.

So, if you are a fan of the Star Wars universe, get out there and read this book. I would especially suggest you read it 1) before you start the Fate of the Jedi series as it really does give that needed back story, and 2) before Disney let Abrams loose on the franchise and he reboots the lot into some sort of corny force dream (or whatever they are planning).

Thanks for reading this blog. If you like what you see feel free to visit my website (www.aschambers.co.uk), follow me on Facebook (A.S.Chambers) or stalk me on Twitter (@ASChambersUK) where you can find various bits and bobs regarding books, films TV series and whatever drops into my lap.