Eve Of The War
http://www.focusgaming.co.uk/eveofthewar/

"The Martian War" Book Review
http://www.focusgaming.co.uk/eveofthewar/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=551		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  eveofthewar [ Thu Jun 09, 2005 7:01 pm ]
Post subject:  "The Martian War" Book Review
FULL STORY HERE : http://www.the-trades.com/

Kevin J. Anderson is going through something of an identity crisis. As K.J. Anderson, he provided the thrilling "real-life" adventures of Jules Verne and his friend, Captain Nemo. Now, writing as Gabriel Mesta, he takes a step up in historical revision fiction as he teams H.G. Wells up with Percival Lowell and T.H. Huxley, and adding to them fictional companions Professor Cavor, Dr. Moreau, and Hawley Griffin.

In The Martian War, Mr. Lowell observes the launches from Mars. Eager to be the first to make contact, he flies to the Sahara, there to begin digging a series of geometrical trenches to serve as a signal to the approaching Martian craft. It is there in the desert he encounters Dr. Moreau, a biologist on the lam from London for his horrific violations of professional ethics.

Meanwhile, H.G. Wells has been invited by his old instructor, T.H. Huxley, to offer his insight to some of the secret research being done to develop weapons and defenses against a predicted offensive from Kaiser Wilhem and his armies. Professor Cavor is developing a light and indestructable metal; Hawley Griffin is closing in on a formula for invisibility; and other scientists have created a food substance that accellerates the growth process. But one of the men is a traitor, and shortly after the abolished Moreau crashes the symposium with his Martian cadaver, warning of threats far greater than the Kaiser's, Wells, Huxley, and Wells's ladyfriend Jane find themselves in Professor Cavor's sphere and launched into space.

Image
Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Thu Jun 09, 2005 8:19 pm ]
Post subject: 
Sounds good :D I like sequels and I know most of the characters there, some real and some fictional.
[-o< I'll put it on my wish-list.
cheers Lee =D>
Author:  Loz [ Thu Jun 09, 2005 9:57 pm ]
Post subject: 
Sounds good but quite a bit of a rip off of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. [-X
Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Thu Jun 09, 2005 10:38 pm ]
Post subject: 
Yes, but before the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, fictional characters had been used in other stories, like Sherlock Holmes in WOTW so you could say League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was copying off them.
Author:  Loz [ Fri Jun 10, 2005 7:59 pm ]
Post subject: 
True. Alan Moore was playing with a bit of a tradition of Victorian literary characters turning up in stories as real characters. But there was time between and he had a fresh aproach.
Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Fri Jun 10, 2005 10:14 pm ]
Post subject: 
How many 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ' graphic novels has Moore done? Is it just the two? and do you know, if there are any more planned?
Author:  Loz [ Sat Jun 11, 2005 10:26 am ]
Post subject: 
Yes just two so far, which came out as six part comics each at first.

He is going to do more. But when? Who knows with Moore?

He hates the film by the way as do I.

The Comics are very adult in material, especialy Volume 2.

Moore has spoken of doing ones set at different times. say with 30's characters or 50's.

You'd like them because they are so full of H G Wells characters and inventions. The first has Carverite, which Fu Man Chu steels for a War in the Air invasion of London.

Even M from the bond stories runs the team. Obviously an earlier M.
Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Sat Jun 11, 2005 5:09 pm ]
Post subject: 
Wasn't 'M' in the film, short for Professor James Moriarty from the 'Holmes' stories?
I enjoyed the film but there again I've not seen the graphic novel, so I can't compare :a009:
By Carverite I guess you mean Cavorite? (from 'The First Men in the Moon'?) another great classic =D>
Author:  Loz [ Sat Jun 11, 2005 9:03 pm ]
Post subject: 
Lonesome Crow wrote:
Wasn't 'M' in the film, short for Professor James Moriarty from the 'Holmes' stories?
I enjoyed the film but there again I've not seen the graphic novel, so I can't compare :a009:
By Carverite I guess you mean Cavorite? (from 'The First Men in the Moon'?) another great classic =D>


Yes new I'd probably got Cavorite spoelt wrong. But yes thats the stuff.
Yes M is meant be the M of Bond lore but turns out to be Moriarty but there is a new M after that. And James Bond great grandad is also in it, Campion Bond.
Author:  morrisvan [ Sun Feb 25, 2007 10:22 am ]
Post subject: 
Here's my review of "The Martian War" by Gabriel Mesta.

If you're expecting a novel with thought-provoking concepts then you'll be disappointed, but if you're just after a rattling good story then that's what you get and it's hugely enjoyable. You could see it as a "Greatest Hits" for as well as then main works there are also references to the virus in "The Stolen Bacillus" which resolves the story. Bensington and Redwood who develop the "Herakleophorbia" in "The Food of the Gods" and demostrate two giant rats that they've fed the substance to. The Imperal Insitute where the first third of the story is set, gets blown up as it did in "The Argonauts of the Air", and The Crystal Egg pops up too. There are also references to Wells' life, his fragile health and also, his first marriage to his cousin, Isabel, whom Wells still feels guilty over.

While some of the dialogue is predictable, it's the energy with which its put across and the characteristion is economical but memorable. Wells is the young, energetic enthusiast, but he does care esspecially for his soulmate, Jane and for his mentor Thomas H. Huxley. The close relationship between Wells and Jane is well depicted in an early scene where the two discuss ideas while on a bike ride. Maybe it is hard to take Wells' conversion into an action hero considering his fragile state of health, but you can't forget the passages where he takes over a fighting machine and sends it striding through the Martian desert. It's excitingly written. Jane comes across as a practical, no-nonsense woman, mischieviously sharing Wells' interests (and his bed) and a nice touch is she retains her botanical interests even on the Moon. I also liked the scene where, coming upon a stray mooncalf, she whistles to the creature to follow them and it does. Like Amelia in "The Space Machine" she triggers off the rebellion on Mars with an jewelled eye given to her by the Grand Lunar, and there's a twist to this which I won't give away. Huxley takes everything in his stride whether in the Cavorite sphere or imprisoned in the Martian's laboratory. Mesta includes details of Huxley's life and career notably his time as ship's surgeon, and his run-ins with people such as Bishop Wilberforce. As the novel is set in 1894 and Huxley died the following year, I liked the scene where Huxley chooses to stay on Mars as the different atmosphere has eased his arthritc pains and given him a new lease of life.

The best part of the novel is the sub-plot dealing with the encounter between Dr Moreau, astromoner Percival Lowell and a Martian scout that lands in the Sahara and is taken by them to Lowell's obsevatory on Mars Hill, Arizona. Moreau is well-depicted as the arrogant, contemptous man whose cool, egar manner turns to unease and then alarm as he realises the Martian's intentions. Lowell comes across as a rich, ambitious man whose interest in astromony is geniune but is not above using his money and connections. As for the Martians they are are brooding menace that hang over the story, and while the subplot may seem to be crudely inserted into the book's structure, -one chapter deals with Wells, Jane and Huxley, the next with Moreau and Lowell and so on - it does work and the reader is left comparing Moreau and Lowell's excited curiousty with the horror that Wells and his friends encounter on Mars. A memorable passage is where Wells and Jane witness the Martians frenzied feeding which the aliens get a gleeful enjoyment from. The Martian's victims are the Selenites, exported to Mars as slave labour after an attack on the Moon. While Nesta describes the lunar society in detail I did find it hard to work up any sympathy for the aliens. Might a group of kidnapped humans been more effective?

There's also humour. In a nod to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," Huxley embarks on his interplanetary journeys in his dressing gown. Bessington and Redwood say that while Herakleophorbia sounds impressive it's very hard to spell (their giant rats also escape at the climax). When Wells and Jane return to Earth in the sphere they land on a flower bed in the Insitute grounds and are confronted by students branishing cricket bats, and when Wells tells Jane that Griffin runs naked past his room thinking he's invisible, Jane looks out hoping to get an eyeful. My favourite has to be Wells and a very burly Cavor chase after and catch the naked Griffin. "Haven't you got a coat to put on?"askes an embarressed Wells. "Yes but it's invisible too," Griffin replies.

Hope you find it useful. If not, get the book and decide for yourselves.

Thanks.
Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Sun Feb 25, 2007 12:45 pm ]
Post subject: 
Cheers 'morrisvan', once again a good review =D>
I have the book but haven't got around to starting it yet as I'm halfway through another book at the moment.
Have you read 'The Time Ships' by Stephen Baxter? it's a sequel to 'The Time Machine' I can highly recommend it.
Author:  morrisvan [ Sun Feb 25, 2007 3:48 pm ]
Post subject: 
Yes I have, and I can say it blew me away with it's ideas and also it's marvellous readabilty. Baxter's also included references to the Gottfried Plattner, the reluctant dimensions traveller in "The Plattner Story," the carolinum bombs from "The World Set Free" and also the deleted passage from "The Time Machine" of the traveller's further voyages before he arrives at the end of the world.

Stephen Baxter has written another story featuring Wells which has him travelling to the site of the huge cannon that featured in Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon." I can't remember the title of it but it appeared in his short story collection: "Traces" and the "The Mammoth Book of Jules Verne" published in 2005 to mark the cenetary of Verne's death.

You probably know that Baxter is also on the board of the H G Wells Society.

Thanks for the kind words.
Author:  morrisvan [ Sun Feb 25, 2007 4:13 pm ]
Post subject: 
Have just remembered another story that Stephen Baxter wrote featuring Wells. "The Adventure of the Inertial Adjustor" with Wells involving Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson in a murder investigation which includes an anti-gravity machine. It can be found in "The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures" edited by Mike Ashley and published by Robinson in 1997. (ISBN 1-85487 -528 -0)

Thanks.
Author:  McTodd [ Sun Feb 25, 2007 4:47 pm ]
Post subject: 
morrisvan wrote:
Stephen Baxter has written another story featuring Wells which has him travelling to the site of the huge cannon that featured in Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon." I can't remember the title of it but it appeared in his short story collection: "Traces" and the "The Mammoth Book of Jules Verne" published in 2005 to mark the cenetary of Verne's death.

I'd not heard of that one, ta for the tip Morrisvan.

Another Wellsian story of Baxter's, though it doesn't feature the great man himself, is the short 'The Ant-Men of Tibet', an absolutely scorching sequel to 'The First Men in the Moon'.

As for 'The Time Ships', there are numerous elements of Wells's stories incorporated into it, other than the carolinum bombs etc. you've mentioned: an improved land ironclad; the London Dome, a nod to the squat concrete city-bunkers of 'The Shape of Things to Come'; the Babble Machines of 'When the Sleeper Wakes'; and in the Epilogue, the Time Traveller even finds a model of the city from 'The Sleeper Wakes', with its glass domes and windmills. Doubtless there are many more, but it's a testament to Baxter's wonderful homage that even a cursory glance finds so much of Wells in 'The Time Ships'...
Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Mon Feb 26, 2007 8:09 pm ]
Post subject: 
morrisvan wrote:
Have just remembered another story that Stephen Baxter wrote featuring Wells. "The Adventure of the Inertial Adjustor" with Wells involving Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson in a murder investigation which includes an anti-gravity machine..

Thanks for that morrisvan and thanks McTodd for 'The Ant-Men of Tibet', you have mentioned it before but I had forgotten. #-o
:-k My brother still owes me a Birthday present :D
Author:  Loz [ Mon Feb 26, 2007 8:39 pm ]
Post subject: 
All sounds good to me. I'll be trying to get some of these soon.
Author:  morrisvan [ Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:22 pm ]
Post subject: 
I've found out the title of that story where Wells visits the cannon site. It's called "Columbiad" and can also be found in Stephen Baxter's short story collection: "Traces".
Author:  Alland [ Tue Feb 27, 2007 12:43 am ]
Post subject: 
Nice collection of Wells characters. "Hawley Griffin" threw me for a moment; in "The Invisible Man", Griffin's first name wasn't given, not even when he was trying to reintroduce himself to a panicked Dr. Kemp.

Oh, and if we're following Wells' works, then Griffin's coat wouldn't have been invisible, as his process only worked on living things.
Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:21 am ]
Post subject: 
Alland wrote:
Oh, and if we're following Wells' works, then Griffin's coat wouldn't have been invisible, as his process only worked on living things.

Yes I think you've missed the point 'morrisvan' said
Quote:
Griffin runs naked past his room thinking he's invisible,

Griffin is obviously mad, not invisible.
Author:  Alland [ Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:49 am ]
Post subject: 
Sorry. Though in the original novel, he's both mad (or at least hot-tempered to a fantastic degree) AND invisible. He reminds me of myself when I'm having a bad day.
Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Fri Mar 02, 2007 1:11 am ]
Post subject: 
:a103: What!? you turn invisible? Cool :D
Author:  Loz [ Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:00 am ]
Post subject: 
Alland wrote:
Sorry. Though in the original novel, he's both mad (or at least hot-tempered to a fantastic degree) AND invisible. He reminds me of myself when I'm having a bad day.


Does that mean that you're invisible and angry every day then? :mrgreen:
Author:  Alland [ Sun Mar 04, 2007 12:30 am ]
Post subject: 
Not EVERY day. But whenever I'm feeling down, or various idiots have been giving me a bad time, I hunker down in my secret basement laboratory, inject myself with an invisibility drug, and sally forth into the outer world. Once there, I break a few windows, trip a few pedestrians, kick a few dogs and cats to shut them up (with their sense of smell, they know I'm there without seeing me), and maybe let the air out of some automobile tires. Makes me feel better in no time.
Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Sun Mar 04, 2007 1:33 pm ]
Post subject: 
:a103: The Invisible Pennsylvanian strikes again. :a103:
Author:  Loz [ Sun Mar 04, 2007 11:10 pm ]
Post subject: 
Alland wrote:
Not EVERY day. But whenever I'm feeling down, or various idiots have been giving me a bad time, I hunker down in my secret basement laboratory, inject myself with an invisibility drug, and sally forth into the outer world. Once there, I break a few windows, trip a few pedestrians, kick a few dogs and cats to shut them up (with their sense of smell, they know I'm there without seeing me), and maybe let the air out of some automobile tires. Makes me feel better in no time.


Oh, me too!
Page 1 of 1 All times are UTC
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/