Sunday, September 4, 2011

Deathworld by Harry Harrison

Deathworld is an great novel from the Golden Age of Science Fiction.
Written by Harry Harrison for Astounding Science Fiction(which is now known as Analog Science Fiction and Fact)

Harry Harrison, an science fiction author best known for his character Stainless Steel Rat and his humorous and satirical approach to science fiction. He started his career as an illustrator for EC Comics, he also wrote comic strip including Flash Gordon newspaper comic strip.
But currently he is more known for this contribution to science fiction as an author, his most famous works include the Stainless Steel Rat series, 1966 novel Make Room! Make Room!, 1962 novel Planet of The Damned and of course Deathworld his 1960 masterpiece.


It is an amazing story that grips you, I read it in 2 days because I just couldn't put it down.

Its quite an epic tale that moves in a great flow and the details are mesmerizing, specially the details of Planet Pyrrus(Deathworld).

Deathworld 1966 novel is about a planet called Pyrrus,

Pyrrus has twice of Earth's gravity and an 42° axial tilt which creates severe weatherand causes constantly changing icecap,
It highly tectonic resulting in frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions,
the open seas perform dual destructive function of supplying water vapor  to keep the weather going and build gigantic tides,
Pyrrus' two moons Samas and Bessos pull the oceans up to thirty meter tides which sometimes laps into active volcano,
plus the planet is near many supernovas,
and over that this harsh condition gave way to evolution of the most dangerous kind to life forms.

Story is about a protagonist named Jason dinAlt, a professional gambler who is challenged by Kerk Pyrrus the ambassador of Pyrrus to turn a large sum of money into an immense sum of money, in which he succeed and decide to accompany Kerk to his home despite his warnings.


Story moves from an pleasure planet called Cassylia where Jason meets Kerk and tells him about Planet Pyrrus, from here we first learn about Pyrrus. The events on Planet Cassylia are also a pleasure to read how Jason gamble there and wins then authorities try to stop him from leaving the planet with the money.
The anticipation about Pyrrus builds up a lot at this point and keeps growing even in the transit part of the story when they are en route to Pyrrus. And when finally when they land on Pyrrus it lives up to all the hype and anticipation.
I will not go much into the plot so those who haven't read it yet.

Currently it is available in public domain as an extensive research by Project Gutenberg did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.



Deathworld is the name of the 1960 novel as well as the series.

followed by:
Deathworld 2 in 1964
Deathworld 3 in 1968
Return to Deathworld in 1998
Deathworld vs. Filibusters also in 1998
The Creatures from Hell in 1999
and
Deathworld 7 / Foes in Intelligence in 2001


Note:
Deathworld 1
Deathworld 2
and
Deathworld 3

These are the part of Original Deathworld Trilogy from 60s.

However the author has written additional novels in continuation, these are the ones that I have mentioned.
I checked it on wikipedia as well as the author's official website.
These are however written with collaboration with Ant Skalandis in Russian and still remained untranslated in English.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Web Originals Horror Shorts

Web Originals
or Web Television

Currently the concept of web originals have expanded earlier people thought internet would not take over T.V.
It still hasn't but catching up, thanks to video hosting websites like Youtube.

Recently Mortal Kombat: Legacy concluded with uploading of the ninth and final episode on Machinima's youtube page.

If you haven't seen this series then you should its awesome and to my knowledge one of the best web original.

Mortal Kombat: Legacy was produced by WB with a good budget.
But is that all, aren't there anymore good shows or shorts on youtube that is not comedy.
And there are many youtube users and studio with good quality humor videos.

But what about us, those who like a little violence, horror and action.
I am sure there are many people thinking that.


The answer yes there are not as grand as Mortal Kombat: Legacy with high budget but still pretty decent.

I will list some of them here:

I will not include any spoilers in these post so I will keep details about the stories to the minimum.

Firstly I would like to list and animated adaptation of 'The Statement of Randolph Carter'.
The Statement of Randolph Carter is a short horror story written by horror master H.P. Lovecraft, currently this short is in public domain so you can read it at Wikisource or download free from Feedbooks.




The Statement of Randolph Carter is about Randolph Carter who is being questioned by the police about his friend Harley Warren and recounts an strange and unusual story.

These story has adapted into an animated short Eldritch Animation
It is a great adaptation and you can view it on their youtube page.
Click here to watch The Statement of Randolph Carter

They have modernized it a little bit and there is a few differences from the original story, but still its the best adaptation of the story till this date.

The Statement of Randolph Carter is not the only Lovecraft adaptation that Eldritch Animation made they have also adapted The Terrible Old Man



The Terrible Old Man can also be read on Wikisource

This is a very short story so I don't want to reveal anything about the story to those who haven't read it yet.
You can watch Eldritch Animation's adaptation on youtube.
To watch The Terrible Old Man Click Here

There are also so original animation out on the web too like Deadtime Stories which is uploaded on youtube by a user named 'minordemon'


The description says its a "Pilot for animated horror series."
But no other episode has been upload till date even through it has generated a great positive response.
To watch Deadtime Stories Click Here






The story is not much explained in the episode, its quite weird and bizarre.
The episode is about a young girl who is disturbed my her nightmares and has been recently released from asylum.
She is back to her parents house and her home makes her go to the house across the street to say 'Hello' but she hears strange screams from that house.

Moving away from the Animation there is also another adaptation of The Statement of Randolph Carter uploaded on youtube by a user named DRW90.
Its a live action adaptation, not as good as Eldritch Animation's animated short but still very good.
Check it out by Clicking Here



Moving back to animation there is an youtube user named katytowell
This user has made many great animated shorts, mostly featuring creepy yet cute little girl.
One of my favorite is El Despertar
Think of it as and Mexican twisted to Pied Piper story with samba and zombies.


And there is also another great video by katytowell is Candy
Click Here to watch Candy


Its an Halloween special and a great little video.

Another Halloween video is The Black Halloween
Click here to watch The Black Halloween


But the best story from katytowell would be Ida's Luck
Click here to watch Ida's Luck (Part 1)
And
Click here to Watch Ida's Lick (Part 2)


These are some of the great Web Originals out there hope you like the list.
There are tons of more of these out there on the web just need to be searched.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Story: From Beyond by H.P. Lovecraft (audio reading)


From Beyond by H.P. Lovecraft
From Beyond is a sci-fi horror short story written by H.P. Lovecraft.

It was adapted into a movie called From Beyond which is loosly based upon the short story.
The story is about a scientic called Crawford Tillinghast who invents a machine that emits some waves which stimulates a person’s pineal gland, thereby allowing them to perceive planes of existence outside the scope of accepted reality.
Narrator is a friend of Tillinghast with whom Tillinghast shares his experiment, during which narrator perceives an alien environment that overlaps our own reality.


This is an Awesome story by the author who is inspiration to many modern horror writers, including Stephen King, Bentley Little, Joe R. Lansdale, Alan Moore, and many others.


H.P. Lovecraft is to horror cinema what Philip K Dick is to Science fiction cinema.
Lovecraft's influences can be seen in novels, films, comic books.


This story is available free on internet due to expiry of its copyright. You can find this story on Wikisource.
Your browser may not support display of this image.



HP Podcraft has done a full audio production of this story, read by Bruce Green.
This episode is simple reading of the story.
Its an awesome reading that captures the true atmostphere of the story.
Its a must hear reading for any H.P. Lovecraft fan and those who like horror story.
Episode is available on there their website at their From Beyond reading page.


HP Podcraft is an podcast solely dedicated to the literary works of H.P. Lovecraft, they have done many readings of Lovecraft's stories but they are mostly known for there discussion based episodes in which the two hosts Chris Lackey and Chad Fifer dissussion about an story along with the reading of that story.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Short Story: And It came from the sky

Short Story: And It came from the sky
by
Abhay Adil

The short story "And It came from the sky" is a science fiction horror story about an alien invasion with an twist. This story is also available free to download from feedbooks in ebub, pdf and mobi(kindle) formats.
You can also download this story from smashwords where you have a option of setting the price you can choose to download it for free or you can choose to pay as much or little as you like.
you can also find other of my free ebooks there on feedbooks and both free and paid ebooks on smashwords.

License Note:
Although this ebook is free it still remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes without the permission of the author.


And It came fron he sky

  It was an incident that changed the world. For a long time people wondered a simple question 'Are we alone in this universe?' now they wonder no more as this question has been answered in the most horrific fashion imaginable.

   It was an incident that shocked the world a simple comet dared to come near earth, the scientist and astronomers said the same thing; its tiny size would not allow it to penetrate much into the atmosphere. Soon it started to show unnatural movements, it slowed its speed, it changed its course, and it did everything that a natural comet should not.

   It entered the earth's atmosphere and crashed on the surface and later it rose up and left in the same way.

   And that everyone could do was just watch, except for the few unfortunates. All this happened in the course of one day through it had been discovered months ago by the astronomers.

   Everything happened too fast, it was in the orbit on it natural course to burn out when suddenly it started to wander away from its path and displayed variations in its speed. It crashed on a vegetated region, after crashing it started to deflate and spread out onto the surface expending itself on the land. It stood there deflated for nearly half an hour. At that time authorities had gather around it and many scientists of various field came to study the matter that crashed for the sky.

   It had an odd gray-green colour tone and appears to feel like both metallic and rubber. Only a few people got to observe it as it only stood idle for near half an hour, most of the scientists that were meant to study it could not reach it in time. Some did try to collect small specimens but it proved to be virtually indestructible, it wouldn't cut, break or tore.

   Nearly half an hour after the crash it started to show some movements, little wobbles were observed and soon its surface started to sink in itself as if it was swallowing itself but it was open up to reveal that it was indeed hollow from inside concealing dark void, but it wasn't empty.

   As the people looked on in wonder, a few curious creatures came out of the opening. They seemed to be made up of the same material as the comet but more organic, they seemed somewhat humanoid as they walk on a pair of legs and had a pair of hands but no head and seemed somewhat more octopoid. There bodies looked as if they were still trying to take shape.

   Soon various other opening started occurring in similar fashion all over the spread comet. More of these being came out from other openings as well and soon there numbers grew large. People who witness this were awe struck they didn't knew what to do? What to expect? What to do whether to fear or to welcome them? How to communicate?

   For sometime they just stood their and the people wondered what to do? After a few moments they moved around and started grabbing plants pulling them out of the ground and take them inside. More appeared from the comet as they started to move in harmonic manner as they started taking plants, shrubs, bushes and even trees into the comet with swift and powerful movements. Everyone was confused and just looked on, but soon this activity turned horrific as they started grabbing humans as well.

   Solders were also present at that scene, they opened fired on the beings but to no avail, bullets had no affect on them, they keep moving in the same harmonic manner grabbing everything and everyone, they even grabbed the solders as well as the animals. They moved at astonishing speeds and displayed great amount of strength, they were grabbing only the organic matter. There was a great panic all over, people tried to run away falling and stepping on each other. There was no escaping these things they displayed unmatched speed and strength. They were invariable to anything we could throw at them they resisted every thing with ease.

   Military men did everything they could they tried their best weapons against them, giant cannons, tanks, helicopters, jets, all failed. It was like throwing little stones at rocks. They continued the activity in the same harmonic fashion as before like nothing was happening.

   They striped a large area of plants, trees, grass, animals and humans. They were too fast for anything we could use to run away they keep moving further and further striping the land.

   Military even dropped a nuke on them hoping to destroy the comet and those creatures but even it didn’t have any effect on it either. It was clear then that we were hopeless in front of them, the nuke only made them reach further to great lengths to strip thousands of acres of land of all its vegetation and animals, humans included.

   Then they left, they left as they came. Every one of those creatures went back inside the comet and it closed up, it took some time before it inflated itself up again. After it had inflated back to it original shape it flew back to space leaving Earth scarred.

   Upon observation of the crater formed from the impact it was discovered that they dumped a few people, animals and vegetation before its takeoff. Many were just the little remains of them, corpus oddly decayed and burned but some were still alive. Those who were alive were all well physically but mentally they were scarred as was the whole humanity was scarred.

   The survivors told that had been taken inside the comet and thrown in a pit full of something organic and slimy. There they were shallow in like it was quicksand it was almost like being inside the belly of a beast. They said that when they were inside that thing they felt as if they could feel its conscious, the conscious of the comet, it was alive like a big living organic ship and it shared its conscious with the beings it host. They could feel their conscious as well through they had separate conscious it was as if they were parts of the ships conscious like they had been separated from it and developed differently. They even felt the conscious of the other people inside the pit as well as those of the animals and even those of the plants.

   They learned from the comet’s conscious that it needs organic material to fuel itself and when ever it starts to run out on fuel it lands on any near by planet to gather organics to refuel. They were left because the present need for fuel was fulfilled.

   This horrific indecent answered some questions but raised many more. Yes we are not alone in this universe. The universe hosts creatures like we witnessed and creatures that it may had consumed before.
   A lot of questions are remained to be answered, how can we protect our self? Can this happen to us again? Are there more such things?

   Through these questions are remained unanswered some questions are answer, we are not alone and we are helpless, maybe there are some friendly one perhaps like us those who had suffered a similar fate but some are hostile and dangerous like the one we encountered.

---END---

Thank you for reading my story you can also find me on my Facebook page

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Mortal Kombat Legacy Rebirth REBOOT

Mortal Kombat: Rebirth and Mortal Kombat: Legacy

In 2010 Kevin Tancharoen directed a short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth to pitch to Warner Bros. his idea of a new mortal kombat movie, this later turned into a web series based on mortal kombat rebirth by Warner Bros. perhaps to test the market first before going into production.

The whole project is reimagining the whole mortal kombat universe with more realism. (Something like to Christopher Nolan's Batman reboot)

Currently there are two Mortal Kombat: Legacy episode released online with Machinima and it's recieving positive feedback from fans and critics.

By the looks it appears that mortal kombat legacy is following rebirth's premises but if its following rebirth's story line is yet to be know

If you haven't seen Mortal Kombat: Rebirth (or want to watch it again) than watch it now at College Humor just click the link below
Mortal Kombat: Rebirth

Both Rebirth and Legacy features Michael Jai White as Jax and Jeri Ryan as Sonya Blade
with Darren Shahlavi playing Kano in Legacy

All the actors did a very fine job is portraying their characters both in Rebirth and in Legacy

In Rebirth there is no other realms concept and focus is on realism but it does not affect the overall quality.
The short film got great amount of blood and violence and above all a great character development.
We see Jax as a police captain interviewing an convict whose face is not shown, he informs him about Reptile a mass-murderer born with a rare genetic disorder and Baraka a plastic surgeon gone psychotic after  accidentally killing a patient.
There was a awesome fight between Baraka and Johnny Cage which ends in latter's death.
Jax believes that they both are working for Shang Tsung and that he is planing an underground death tournament between world's top fighters and Jax wants him to enter into the tournament and kill them all as he Hanzo Hasashi is the top assassin of the Shirai Ryu.
When Hanzo asks him want he can offer him in exchange then Sonya Jax's partner shows up and inform Hanzo that his arch enemy Sub-Zero would be at the tournament. He agrees to participate and before leaving he calls himself Scorpion.

Mortal Kombat: Legacy follows the same premise.
Recently second episode is released and it is said that the series will be comprise of 9 episodes.

The First Episode wasn't as good as the Rebirth but looks promising.
We again see Michael Jai White as Jax and Jeri Ryan as Sonya Blade in middle of an operation to bring down Kano who is  shipping stolen robotics under the codename "Cyber Initiative" to an undisclosed location.
Sonya is captured by Kano while trying to report back to Jax about Cyber Initiative.
Jax and Stryker (played by Tahmoh Penikett) trys to rescue Sonya.

This episode was more about shooting than fighting and kind of gives the feel of a 3rd person shooter game adaptation than a fight game adaptation but it is good. The Action is great very gritty and action packed. Later we do see a fight between Kano and Jax, the fight sequence is great. There are explosions and gun fire all over the place. Later an explosion weakens Sonya's captive chains and she frees herself.

The episode ends with the viewers wanting more and hope that the next episode would get more into mortal kombat universe.

To watch the First Episode of Mortal Kombat: Legacy click here
And to watch Episode Two click here

The Second Episode picks up where the first left off, between Jax and Kano's fight.
This Episode is better than the first the only problem is that its too short. It has been difficult waiting for the whole week for the second episode.

This episode focus on character development, it explore the origin of Kano's red eye and Jax's robotic arms.
This episode is awesome and the ending scene reminds me of The Terminator for the obvious reason.

The whole series looks promising and I can't wait for the next episode, hope they introduce Scorpio and Sub-Zero soon and they should make longer episodes.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Quotations Compilation

I am compiling some quotations here which I have used both online and offline.
This list comprise of randomly arranged quotations by great personalities as well as some proverbs and excepts from books and movies.
I have also included my own quotes which I have came up over sometime (I am not trying to compare myself to these great people just want to share by thoughts)
My thoughts will be followed by "-- my quote" and other will be followed by their name like "-- Martin Luther King Jr."

Enjoy

-----------------
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
-- Martin Luther King Jr.

A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.
-- John F. Kennedy

There are almost 7 billion people in the world
but nearly all of us are lonely inside.
-- my quote

Never fry a fish till it's caught.
Never offer to teach fish to swim.
Never put off till tomorrow
What you can do today.
-- proverb

Remember that the greatest crime is to compromise with injustice and wrong.
-- Subhash Chander Bose

Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves: will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone, and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?
-- Odysseus's dialogue from the movie Troy

A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.
-- Martin Luther King Jr.

The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.
-- Adolf Hitler

There is no greater deed than protecting the innocent.
And there is nothing as low as hurting the innocent.
-- my quote inspired from T.V. show Dexter's episode 4 of season 1

The moon is so beautiful. It's a big silver doller fliped by God. And it landed scarred side up.
-- exemption from Batman - Arkham Asylum graphic novel

you know at the end of the day people are going to get what they need
you can't move forward without fuel
and no one wants to be left behind
-- Dominic "Dom" Toretto's dialogue from the short film Los Bandoleros

When difficulty come, don’t give up remember that pain is only a byproduct, be a man and suck it up because in the end we are what legacy we leave behind.
-- my quote

Luck is a servant and not a master.
-- from a James Bond novel Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

No man is free, specially in a democracy.
-- my quote

If freedom is short of weapons, we must compensate with willpower.
-- Adolf Hitler

The truth will come to you at last, If you listen very hard.
-- my quote

Life should be great rather than long.
-- B. R. Ambedkar

Guide on how to walk:
Lesson 1 - start running
-- my quote

Political tyranny is nothing compared to the social tyranny and a reformer who defies society is a more courageous man than a politician who defies Government.
-- B. R. Ambedkar

Time is your Friend, Only if you respect it.
-- my quote

Ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country.
-- John F. Kennedy

Freedom is not given, it is taken.
-- Subhash Chander Bose

A woman's love is worth respecting as there is nothing more pure be it a mother's love, a sister's or a wife's love.
-- my quote

If God gifted me free will, then why should I comply to someone else's will.
-- my quote

Stop looking for answers, Start making them.
-- my quote

Best thoughts comes from an insane mind.
-- my quote

Monday, April 11, 2011

Marvel Anime Review

Marvel Anime, the joint venture of Marvel Entertainment and Madhouse.
Those who does not know this project is to take marvel characters and make 12-part anime series.
Sounds exciting? Well it is, there are four shows plan of 12 episodes.

It is an old news, trailers of Iron Man and Wolverine anime were released a few months ago.
Currently we are half way through the project, as Iron Man and Wolverine anime have already been concluded.
And currently X-men anime is underway with 2 episodes been broadcast.

I had great hopes for this project and the trailers were so awesome.
Then finally Iron Man anime was brought out into public view, and it was a complete massacre.
First of all the anime didn't look anything liked the trailer.
If you haven't seen the trailer then click here
Now the trailer looks quite good with great 3d animation and the looks are somewhat futuristic.
This trailer makes you want to watch this show, but the final product is nothing like that.
The first episode was so pathetic that I didn't even bother to watch any other episode.
The story seems to be going no where, I know you can't make such a judgement based on only one episode.
But I was so disappointed in that episode that I couldn't help myself.
What they did to Tony, God it was such a bad animation.
But the worst part was the awful narrative approach.

Well Iron Man was a nightmare but their are other shows in the line up too.
Second was Wolverine

Wolverine anime was not that bad, it had a ok-ok narration plus the story was good too.
Animation was hard to shallow but bearable.
But again it was different from what the trailer showed, in fact it's completely different.
If you haven't seen the trailer then click here
WTF?! The Trailer is so awesome, it has anime style Wolverine fighting ninjas and demons.
And it looks like feudal Japan. But in the anime Wolverine design is changed a lot.
The slim version of Wolverine looked good in the trailer but in the anime looked just odd.
The story was good through, it explored Logan's relationship with Mariko.
Logan and Mariko loves each other but his yakuza lord father doesn't want them together.
So Logan fights yakuza and few other marvel villians get involved.
From demons to yakuza, quite a big leap don't you think?
Honestly I only made it till the first 5 episodes only

Now X-men Anime
Well for starters check out the X-Men Anime Trailer
This Anime came out during the Japan Nuclear Crises resulting from the Tsunami.
May God have mercy and help the people of Fukushima.
This anime came out during crises like a phoenix.
There is still problems in Japan and we all should pray for them.

X-men Anime
The trailer is epic, just epic and fortunately the anime is same as the trailer.
The scenes in the trailer are actually in the anime.
The Story is intense and emotionally charged, the animation is mind blowing.
The opening scene is so awesome, we see Jean in her phoenix form and everything is in chaos.
We see bulky wolverine this time with Storm, Cyclops and Beast.
And professor Xavier back at cerebro.
Everyone is looking stunning. Great anime style animation with an american touch.
The story is that the X-men are informed that a mutant girl named Hisako Ichiki has been kidnapped.
Tohoku region from where she had disappeared shows no signs of mutants to cerebro.
So X-men head to Japan to investigate and discover that the U-men are involved.


X-men anime is truly amazing and I will watch every episode this time.
Currently 2 episodes out and 3rd will be broadcast in Japan on 15th April.
I am waiting for the rest of the series and praying for Japan.
Hope you will also pray and watch this anime.