<![CDATA[io9: michael moorcock]]> http://tags.lifehacker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png <![CDATA[io9: michael moorcock]]> http://io9.com/tag/michaelmoorcock http://io9.com/tag/michaelmoorcock <![CDATA[Moorcock Answers Doctor Who Skeptics]]> Michael Moorcock's announcement that he'd be writing a Doctor Who novel for release next year has prompted all manner of questions from concerned fans wondering about his Who credentials. Thankfully, Moorcock is happy to provide what they're looking for.

Responding to questions on his messageboard, Moorcock wrote,

I've been watching Dr Who since it began. Haven't liked all the doctors and after Peter Davison stopped watching regularly until the new BBC Wales series... I share an enthusiasm for the current Dr Who broadcasts with quite a few friends who are 'literary' novelists and I sense in some of the Gallifrey remarks a suspicion of the 'outsider' which you used to get when someone with a reputation as a non-sf writer would decide to write an sf novel. All I can answer to this is 'wait and see'. I'm certainly not a non-watcher! Neither am I someone who ascribes a kind of religiosity to an enthusiasm. This phenomenon crops up a lot, these days associated with sf/fantasy, LOTR, H.Potter, Twilight and so on. I hate these presumptions of exclusivity either in my own corner of the literary world or elsewhere. Mike Kustow, once director of the Royal Shakespeare Co, described this as 'the anxious ownership syndrome', when faced with his first confrontation with sf fandom in Brighton 1968. He'd found the same sort of expression with Shakespeare fans when someone from 'outside' showed an interest. I've been asked to write Dr Who scripts or stories almost since the series began, because I was known to enjoy Dr Who. Only recently did the time feel right to me to do one. I'm going to enjoy that, too.

For those worried by his original comment that his novel wouldn't be "a tie-in," he explained,

I do have to submit it to editors so they can make sure it fits into the canon and this, of course, is understandable. By saying it wasn't a tie-in I did, of course, mean that it would be an original novel, not one which was linked to previous stories.

We admit it; we'd read a Moorcock Who even if it wasn't canon. But now we're curious who the other "'literary' novelist" fans of the show are, and how quickly the BBC can convince them to contribute a book or two, as well...

By Tardis Through The Multiverse [Multiverse] (Via)

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<![CDATA[Moorcock To Write Doctor Who]]> It's the mash-up you never knew you wanted but now will be unable to wait for. Over on his website, Elric creator Michael Moorcock has announced that he'll be writing a Doctor Who novel for release late next year. Meanwhile, Eoin Colfer told Wired he'd like to write a Doctor Who too — although whether he meant a book or a TV episode, it's not clear. [Multiverse]

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<![CDATA[Bad Boys of the Multiverse: An Alternate Universe Reading Guide]]> Have we gone multiverse crazy? Iain Banks' latest novel, Transition, is just the latest of a long line of sideways-traveling books, and this theme is more prevalent than ever. Here are some of my favorites, with spoilers and foul language.

The idea of traveling between alternate realities is a common theme in speculative fiction. Multiverse stories are a logical extension of allohistory, and a close relative of that other grand old convention, time travel. The idea is often explained as inspired by the Many-Worlds Interpretation first formulated by Hugh Everett in 1957, but its use in literature and storytelling has been long with us. Jorge Luis Borges used the theme in his 1941 story "The Garden of Forking Paths". There are earlier examples in Margaret Cavendish's The Blazing World of 1666 (recently revisited by Alan Moore) and in one of the stories in the One Thousand and One Nights. Ancient multiverses can be found in the Hindu cosmology and the nine worlds of the Norse mythos were around long before Jack Kirby.

Right from the start, Banks' Transition has superficial similarities to Michael Moorcock, especially the Jerry Cornelius stories. Both books feature amoral agents with shifting loyalties, flitting between versions of Earth. They party down in exotic locales, averting or causing global calamity — like rock stars trashing an infinity of hotel suites. Victorian airships and super-assassins abound. The theory goes that all of Moorcock's fiction is one big multiverse, from the Sword and Sorcery worlds of Elric of Melniboné or Corum Jhaelen Irsei to the decadent Dancers at the End of Time. All the various characters in these works are aspects or avatars of a stock cast of meta-players often compared to the Commedia dell'Arte theater tradition with its tricksters, oafs, and backstabbers. Jerry Cornelius is a 20th Century face of the slightly mis-named Eternal Champion. He's an anarchist secret-agent, a super-slick antihero whirling in a blaze of intoxicants and ready fuck anything that fucking moves. David Bowie as Doctor Who, turned up to fuckin' twelve! While quite entertaining, it should be no surprise that these quintessential examples of SF's New Wave movement can be a wee bit disorienting. Product of the times.

For a speculative fiction ride of sex, drugs, and rock&roll that's less experimental (ahem, easier to read), I prefer Mick Farren, singer of the proto-punk band The Deviants, White Panther Party member, and Elvis scholar. Out of print, but well worth the hunt, are his multiverse romps in The DNA Cowboys Trilogy and Necrom, some truly weird fun shit. The dimension-tripping demon Yancey Slide from those adventures also turns up in the more recent Kindling and Conflagration He also wrote the Victor Renquist novels, a series of vampire novels that aren't totally lame. 2002's Underland has the CIA, vampires, and Nazis duking it out with flying saucers in the Hollow Earth beneath Antarctica. Yeah. Hell, just track down anything you can by Mick Farren.

Along with Moorcock, two other Monsters of Multiverse Literature ( or "Mul-Lit") are The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny and the series that inspired that, World of Tiers by Philip José Farmer. They have much more of a fantasy feel than the above, especially because of an overuse of courtly language in the former and centaurs and other classic monsters in the latter. You'll also find plenty of complex machinations by powerful groups or families (Zelazny is notorious for Daddy Issues) and decadent, lusty adventure (more of Farmer's bag in trade, but evident in both). I enjoyed both of these series as a teen, but to be honest that was a long time ago and my impressions are murky at best. I recall the fiveTiers with more fondness, but that might be due to the risqué covers by Boris Vallejo. I can assert with some authority that the reader should stop after the first five Amber books, do not read the second series, do not collect the recent stuff written by John Gregory Betancourt. Sadly, Amber suffers from a terminal case of Herberts' Syndrome.

The quirky standalone Roadmarks by Zelazny could be considered a multiverse book. In it, the space-time continuum is an actual highway accessible to a few. The protagonist tools around the centuries in a dusty old pickup running guns to the Persians at Marathon. Occassionally he passes Hitler, his VW bug parked at the side of the road looking for the weed-choked off road to where he won WWII. I'm going to try and fit in some Amber andTiers, maybe revisit Riverworld too, just for old time's sake.

Now that I'm thoroughly soaked in nostalgia, allow me to wax rhetorical on multiverse comic books I always liked. Yes, they're old, I'm old; get used to it, and get off my urine-covered stoop.

The capes-and-tights set is plagued with multiverses, and they're always having Ultimate Critical Infinity Wars — boooring. A refreshing change from all that was the " Zenith" strip in2000 AD (1987-1992). This was young Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell's contribution to the British superhero deconstruction attack of the 1980s. It had battles between multiple Earths, hippie/fascist versions of the same superheroes, the Lloigor from the Cthulhu Mythos, and a hero who was a real asshole. Yeowell's brushy B & W artwork was a sweet counterpoint to the usual 4-color superhero look, too.

For graphical goodies of a more science fictional bent, you cant go wrong with the ligne claire and spacey psychedlia of Jean Giraud better known as Moebius, co-creator of Métal Hurlant magazine. The Airtight Garage is a series of artificial pocket universes built into the asteroid Flower 51. They are the playgrounds/battlefields for the likes of Lady Malvina, Major Gubert, the crew of the spaceship Ciguri, and Jerry Cornelius. Hey, whaaa? Yep, Moorcock allowed other artists, writers, and musicians the use of the character in a sort of Open Source deal. For a while Marvel had a problem with that and the character was renamed Lewis Carnelian for a while. Weird. There are songs about Jerry by Blue Öyster Cult and Hawkwind, but I digress. Moebius returned to the Airtight Garage in '96 with Man from the Ciguri from Dark Horse. All lots of fun.

Bryan Talbot's The Adventures of Luther Arkwright is also often compared to Moorcock, and in many ways improves upon him. Frankly, when you want to read about sexy psychic spies fighting transdimensional evil, it's hard to top the Arkwright stories. I love Talbot's vision of alternate Britains, like the one where Cromwell's Revolution still rages on and the Puritans terrorize the skies from massive airships. The complex plot jumps around jarringly in the original series, before finally coalescing, as you begin to see the multiverse as Luther does. There is also an audio version with the voices of David Tennant and Paul Darrow, I've never heard it — but wow, fangasm. The later 1999 sequel, Heart of Empire from Dark Horse again, follows the story of Luther's daughter in a much more linear fashion, with absolutely gorgeous art and much of that retro-Victorian futurism the kids like.

I have a particular fondness for the idiosyncratic doodles of doom by of Matt Howarth. His anarchic city-world of Bugtown is the home of indestructible assassins, rockstars, giant sharks, and nuclear goddesses; all of whom flit through the most surreal and impossible alternate universes imaginable. The series Those Annoying Post Brothers and Savage Henry are just packed full of crazy. Many experimental underground musicians make regular appearances in Howarth's work. There are adventures featuring Conrad Schnitzler, The Residents, and Micheal Moorcock collaborators, Hawkwind. Geez, that guy gets his beard into everything. Howarth also draws great aliens that look really alien, like cacti crossed with really uncomfortable furniture. Look for the very funny SF Konny & Czu strips.

"So Grey", I hear you say, " how about something less reminiscent of your college-dorm lava-lamp days? Something more, y'know [describes a circle in the air] for the kids?"

Well, the most well known Young Adult books with multiverse themes would probably be Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. Chris Roberson should be getting a lot more attention for his time-space tripping adventures of the Bonaventure-Carmody family in novels likeHere, There & Everywhere, Paragea, and End of the Century. Oh and big surprise, Roberson has worked with Michael Moorcock often.

For something different, try Changing Planes by Ursula K. LeGuin. This is a collection of bright and witty capriccios about a woman who discovers how to shift to alternate worlds by being bored and dyspeptic in airport waiting rooms. As usual, LeGuin makes many wry observations about society and class. There's one story about a civilization of flightless avian people and their transcontinentaln migrations...the ending is beautiful. I could mention Dark Tower series by Stephen King or Charles Stross' The Merchant Princes but I'm just not into them, so I won't. Philip K. Dick's doesn't make the cut either: that's really only a duoverse.

I really loved Neal Stephenson's Anathem and it's all about the multiverse, but does it really belong with these other stories? Well of course it does! If for no other reason than it's completely different from the Michael Moorcock imitators. Yes, all the action takes place in one cosmos — going to another world is a one-way trip and requires a big honkin' generation starship. There is the mystery of Fraa Jaad, who appears to be able to move at will between the slightest possibilities. I noticed something odd, even though Stephenson beats us about the head and neck with tons of higher mathematics and metaphysics, he's awfully vague about the actual mechanism for traveling from one reality to another. This is probably the smartest move. Some writers do a lot of handwaving about Quantum and dress it up in blinky lights and an Einstein-Rosen bridge. But usually, it just boils down to closing your eyes and clicking your heels three times. How very apt for a thought experiment.

Multiverse stories are becoming more prevalent on TV these days. That kid from Stand by Me fought Nazi cavemen from Dimension X or whatever in Sliders. The color coded Charlie Jade looked interesting, but I haven't watched it yet. Lost has used the Many Worlds Interpretation, but they will try just about anything these days.

I see Leonard Nimoy is going back and forth in alternate worlds a lot these days (in Fringe and the Star Trek movie.) Glad to see that sort of thing again.

Somebody asked me recently if multiverses were the Next Big Thing in Speculative Fiction? I like the multiverse concept and would like to see different takes on it, that aren't all about decadent ubermensch and their interdimensional power struggles.

And honestly, we don't need Next Big Things. Trendy conventions in writing are a symptom of a lack of originality. Speculative fiction itself should be a glorious sprawling multiverse exploring all manner of settings and styles. Right now, too many of the worlds in the new book section are getting too recognizable, I'm looking at you Contemporary Urban Fantasy! And you with the top hat and goggles, we've talked before about this, you need to seek help.

So yeah, this trip down multiverse lane has been fun — but I think it points out a flaw in sub-genre stories. Why do they all start running together? Why so many Shadowy Conspirancies, Power Hungry Libertarian Scensters and Moral Relatavisim in a majority of these alternate reality adventures. The Multiverse must have more possibilities than that.

Special thanks to Alan Beatts and Chris Braak for their helpful ideas.
Top image from Heart of Empire by Bryan Talbot, 1999.

Commenter Grey_Area is known on many worlds as Chris Hsiang. He brachiates through the endlessly forking branches of possibility frightening all the turtledoves.

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<![CDATA[Michael Moorcock Can't Read "Transhumanist" Fiction Because It's Not About People]]> Interviewed by BoingBoing's readers, New Wave legend Michael Moorcock says he's disconnected from science fiction that gets too abstract: "I'm not entirely sure about transhumanist fiction. It holds no attractions for me. Assuming I really know what it is. I've only really ever been interested in 'humanist' fiction. That is, fiction about people. As I've said, I don't read sf for pleasure and very little of it for review, so I'm no expert. I think I'm probably sympathetic to the writers you mention, but personally believe political fiction should be set in at least some version of the here and now. [...] This was always my argument about sf — that generally, by abstracting it, putting it in some 'other place', you lost some of the relevance. That said, I haven't been vastly interested in technological advance since I was young. I have every sympathy with Banks, Mcleod et al, but to be honest I've been no more able to read more than a page of their stuff than I have Heinlein's or Asimov's. The moment a spaceship turns up, you've lost me." — BoingBoing via Tachyon via Ken McLeod.

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<![CDATA[The Most Fantastical Cities On Earth, As Chosen By Ursula K. Le Guin And Michael Moorcock]]> Their books take you to strange cities from other planets, alternate histories and mythical realms. But what real-life cities inspire Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Moorcock, Nalo Hopkinson and China Miéville? The SharedWorlds project found out, with fascinating results.

The SharedWorlds project sends teens on a two-week camp focusing on science fiction and fantasy, at Wofford College in South Carolina. Assistant director and instructor (and io9 contributor) Jeff VanderMeer curated the discussion, asking the authors, "What's your pick for the top real-life fantasy or science fiction city?"

Those four authors listed above, plus Elizabeth Hand, weighed in, and the evocative descriptions will make you want to dust off your passport and go traveling. The five chosen cities couldn't be more different from each other — some (like London) are shiny and high-tech, others (like Venice) are ancient and crabby.

In the process, you learn a lot about what each author considers fascinating about cities. Le Guin and Moorcock both seem to find the weight of history, settling onto a city or driving it into the ground, compelling and fecund with storytelling possibilities. Miéville seems to find London's lack of planning, its crazed ad-hoc development, exciting. Nalo Hopkinson finds Kingstown's mix of high and low technology, cobbled together, to be futuristic in a William Gibson-esque way. And then there's Hand's forceful argument that Reykyavik is like an outpost on an alien world.

Most fascinating of all? No cities in the United States — and none in Asia, either. I would have expected somebody to reach for Shanghai or Mumbai, which are being touted as the most "futuristic" cities by many observers. My personal pick? Hong Kong. I lived there for many years, and its crazily shifting landscape (buildings constantly being torn down, put up, torn down again, and tons of bizarre business schemes blossoming all over) felt like a future megacity at times.

The full list, with each author's comments, is well worth checking out. [Shared Worlds]

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<![CDATA[Get Away From It All By Traveling The Multiverse]]> As summer brings thoughts of vacation, why not consider stopping off on one of the many Parallel Earths of science fiction? There's an infinite number of possibilities available to you - and here are some of our favorites.

Even before most people had heard of Erwin Schrödinger, we knew that there were plenty other Earths out there; we'd seen Star Trek's Mr. Spock with a goatee, or watched the Justice League and Justice Society meet up thanks to a crystal ball. I've already written about my undying love for the concept, and I'm not alone; sci-fi loves to offer glimpses of the roads less taken, whether they're character-based or somewhat more... epic. Consider the following while planning a summer trip to another world:

What Mad Universe
If you're looking to get away from it all, you could do much worse than decide to take a break on the parallel Earth from Fredric Brown's 1949 novel. Admittedly, you'd have to avoid being accused of being an alien spy when you try to spend your money, but isn't that a chance you'd want to pay to visit a world where spaceflight was accidentally discovered in 1903, and astronauts are pin-up girls?

Eye in the Sky
Of course, you'd have to be careful of your own subconscious if travel to parallel Earths followed the rules of Philip K. Dick's 1957 novel, where alternate realities were entirely subjective manifestations of your own state of mind. Unless, of course, your state of mind was completely relaxed because you're going on vacation. Oh, the tangled web we weave...

Doppelgänger/Journey To The Far End Of The Sun
Who doesn't wish that scientists could still discover a parallel Earth on the opposite side of the sun, as in this classic 1969 movie written by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, creators of Thunderbirds, UFO and Space: 1999? The idea was recycled three years later in Marvel Comics' Warlock stories (and later in their Heroes Reborn arc), but Doppelgänger's world - where everything is reversed from ours, including writing, thanks to the wonders of flipping film - remains the one to beat. Imagine getting away from it all in a world where everything is backwards.

The Eternal Champion
Michael Moorcock's Multiverse works slightly differently than most, in that each world includes facets of people, instead of multiple versions of the same people, and each world may be vastly different from the one you're familar with. This may be a plus for your holiday, of course; experience something entirely new, and be less likely to run across a more successful, happier and healthier version of yourself in the process. (Much more traditionally multiversual, but feeling like it should be mentioned in the same breath as Jerry Cornelius: Matt Fraction's comic Casanova, where the hero is trapped in a parallel Earth, replacing the him that had died there.)

Star Trek
With this summer's movie, Starfleet's finest have finally come up with a parallel timeline (including an Earth, so it counts, thank you very much) that measures up to the show's classic Mirror Universe. Out of all the revamps and reboots that we've seen, this is one of the few that made the choice to make the revamp the center of the story and patiently explain that history may have been changed, but all that did was create a new parallel timeline. Pandering to the original show's fanbase? Sure - but doing so in such a way that it doesn't stop the movie for everyone else. Yes, the crew of the Enterprise have played around in the timestream many of times, but the new Movie-Earth lines up so well with Mirror-Earth and OriginalSeries-Earth that it's really only a matter of time before some comic or novel seeks to cross them all over in a Spock-centric altern-orgy, and I for one can't wait. As it is, Trek doesn't just offer one utopian future, but two; your choice depends on just how much time you feel like you want to spend with William Shatner.

Fringe


What was the ingredient that made this show more than just an X-Files wannabe with an eccentric scientist and a cow? The sudden, surprise introduction to a war with a parallel Earth (complete with explanation of the multiverse concept for newbies, above). Admittedly, the glimpses we've seen of the alternate Fringe world(s?) haven't been especially alluring to those seeking a quiet getaway - It all seems to be explosions, Charlies with scars and grim skies, unless you're in a shining New York with multiverse magnet Leonard Nimoy and his newspapers that mention JFK still being alive (Maybe we should call this parallel Earth-StereotypicalRightWingViewOfADemocraticFantasy?) - but there's a downside to every vacation spot.

Sliders


Like Quantum Leap (or, if your tastes run to a slightly later vintage, The Time Tunnel) before it, Sliders took the idea of characters just trying to get back home and ran with it... Ran across the multiverse, that is (A similar idea was behind the earlier, and much less successful Otherworld television series from the mid-80s). Five seasons of hopping between Parallel Earth San Franciscos on a television show budget demonstrated a wide variety of possible alternate worlds out there, including an Earth where Britain won the Revolutionary War leading to the British States of America, an Earth where a zombie plague has been unleashed, an Earth where dinosaurs are still alive, and an Earth where Ancient Egyptian is the dominant culture. Sadly, they didn't find an Earth without shitty CGI effects, but it was the 1990s. As a model for how to spend your summer, I'm torn whether or not to recommend it. Maybe you should ask yourself how much you really love San Francisco.

DC Comics
Less one potential getaway than a superpowered version of Orbitz, DC's superhero line loves the idea of a multiverse like almost none other; their original multiverse came from the company trying to come up with ways of haphazardly adding characters from other publishers without confusing things too much as much as anything, but the current version is much more structured... and finite. For one thing, there are "only" 52 Earths, now. Here are the ones we know about. Pick your favorite:

Earth 0 is the "core" Earth, the one that all "regular" stories take place on and - more importantly for the purposes of this post - the one that was the basis for the 51 alternate Earths that are known to exist within DC's current multiverse. Of those 51, the following have been identified:
Earth-1 is, essentially, the Earth that most comic fans grew up reading about - Think of it as "Earth Super Friends."
Earth-2 is an Earth that missed out on all of the Silver Age of comics, so there's no Hal Jordan Green Lantern (or Green Lantern Corps at all, for that matter), nor a Barry Allen, Wally West or Bart Allen Flash. For all intents and purposes, it's the same as DC's original Earth-2.
Earth-3 is an Earth of reversed moralities - the Justice League is the Crime Syndicate, Clark Kent is the villainous Ultraman, Lex Luthor is a superhero, and so on.
Earth-4 is as close to Earth Watchmen as you're likely to get outside of the Watchmen series; it's an Earth where only the Carlton characters who inspired Moore and Gibbons' series exist.
Earth-5 is an Earth where the only superheroes are Captain Marvel and his associated Shazam Family of characters.
Earth-6, Earth-7, Earth-32, Earth-37, Earth-38, and Earth-39 are all Earths where the variations are fairly minor, and very continuity based:"What if Batman became Green Lantern?" - That kind of thing.
Earth-8 is a parody of Marvel Comics' Ultimate Earth, where the Avengers are represented by "The Meta Militia."
Earth-9 is the home to the Tangent Comics characters, who bear the same names as the more familiar characters, but are in all other respects different.
Earth-10 is a world where the Nazis won World War II, and home to the guilt-ridden super-Nazi Uberman.
Earth-11 is an Earth where genders are reversed, so you have Superwoman, Batwoman and Wonderman instead of the more familiar versions of the characters.
Earth-12 is an Earth you're very familiar with; it's officially the world of Batman Beyond, which also means that it's the parallel Earth where all the Bruce Timm DC cartoons took place.
Earth-13 is the Earth where many of DC's Vertigo line apparently occurs.
Earth-15 used to be an Earth where all crime had been eliminated by particularly successful superheroes... but then it was destroyed by Superboy Prime, just to prove how much of an asshole he can be. Of course, it theoretically was rebuilt
Earth-16 is the home planet of the Super-Sons, AKA Batman Junior and Superman Junior. Yes, that's right; Superman and Batman got married (not to each other), had sons, and named them after themselves. Don't ask.
Earth-17 is a post-apocalyptic Earth where nuclear apes rule. I promise you, I'm not making this up.
Earth-18 is an Earth where the world is still in Wild West times, complete with cowboy versions of the Justice League.
Earth-19 is an Earth where the world is still in Victorian times, complete with a Batman who has hunted down Jack the Ripper.
Earth-20 is "Pulp-Earth" - essentially, a parallel world where everything is as if it was a pulp novel.
Earth-21 is the Earth from the wonderful DC: The New Frontier series by Darwyn Cooke.
Earth-22 is the Earth from Kingdom Come, Alex Ross and Mark Waid's cautionary tale about why superheroes can't save the world, except for when they can.
Earth-26 is an Earth of smart, talking animals; it was "rendered uninhabitable" during 2007's Captain Carrot And The Final Ark series because funny animal books apparently are silly and not what the audience wants, but then reconstituted at the end of Final Crisis.
Earth-30 is the Earth from Red Son, where Superman landed in communist Russia.
Earth-31 is the Earth from The Dark Knight Returns series, so it's all mutants with sharp teeth and old grumpy Batman.
Earth-33 is an Earth where all of the familiar superheroes are now suddenly (magically, one might say) magicians, with names like "Batmage" and "Lady Flash, Keeper Of The Speed Force."
Earth-34 is an Earth where the British Empire still exists, and is ruled by a tyrannical despot called King Jack.
Earth-40 is an Earth where there are no public superheroes, just superpowered spies who work for the government. Which, if nothing else, would make James Bond movies more fun.
Earth-43 is a parallel Earth plagued by vampires, who have managed to turn Batman into one of their number. There are all manner of other mythical beasts as well, so this is pretty much "Horror Earth".
Earth-44 is Robot Earth; the main superheroes of this Earth are robotic versions of the Justice League.
Earth-48 is, unlike Earths 18 and 19, an Earth far in the future, where humanity is extinct after an intergalactic war has wiped out all native life on the planet.
Earth-50 is the Earth of DC's Wildstorm line. Again, post-apocalyptic, currently.
Earth-51 is, post-Final Crisis, the home to all of Jack Kirby's creations for DC Comics, following it having been yet another post-apocalyptic Earth. At least this one was repurposed for something constructive.

(There are also some Non-Numbered Earths (or, to be completely correct, Earths we don't know the numbers of yet), which include an Earth where Superman and Wonder Woman are black, an Earth where everyone resembles a manga character, and an Earth "just like our own" where superheroes are just the stuff of fiction.)

Charlie Jade

The 2005 South African/Canadian co-production gave us a glimpse at the parallel Earth you should really try to spend some time in: the Gammaverse, where everything is perfect, humanity has worked out how not to squander our resources, and you'll have no trouble getting a hotel room at an affordable rate. Just remember to ignore any offer of a budget weekend in the Alphaverse; it may sound exciting ("Alpha" just sounds good in general, right?), but it's pretty much the hellhole that give you anecdotes but also various forms of disease during your short stay. And if someone suggests a stay in the Betaverse, remind them that that's where you already live and go find a new travel agent. (For more class-based alternate worlds, Warren Ellis' Anna Mercury may be what you're looking for.)

Additional research and reporting by Sarah Hope Williams.

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<![CDATA[Help Michael Moorcock Keep Writing]]> Friendly literary promoter guy Matt Staggs writes in to ask for help on behalf of his friend Michael Moorcock, author of about twenty million amazing multiverse novels (including the popular Elric saga) and occasional lyricist for Blue Oyster Cult. Moorcock is ailing and needs some geeky help finding an unusual kind of PC keyboard that could make writing easier.

Staggs writes:

Michael Moorcock is ailing a bit and he needs help. He'd be able to get a lot more writing done right now if he had a wireless keyboard with large keys that he could use with his PC. He's been looking around and apparently there are no BIG KEYS keyboards that are wireless. Could that be true? And if it is, could some helpful fan out there build one for him? Surely there's someone out there who loves Mike's work and would like to help him. Anyone interested can write to Mike Moorcock care of Jay Babcock at Arthur Magazine — jay at arthurmag dot com.

If you can help, please write so we can have Moorcock writing at full-throttle again.

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<![CDATA[Rediscover Classic SF Tales with Planet Stories]]> The pulp era gave rise to some of the most exciting, innovative science-fiction ever written, but far too many of these classic SF tales have been lost and nearly forgotten. Planet Stories, an imprint of Paizo Publishing, has been working to change that by putting out novels and short story collections on a monthly basis, many of which have been out of print for decades. If doughty heroes, spunky heroines, and pioneering authors fill your veins with fire and your heart with a lust for adventure, you'll want to check out Planet Stories' upcoming publishing schedule.

You may know Paizo best as the former publisher of Dragon Magazine (until Wizards of the Coast revoked the license last year). Planet Stories is something of a labor of love, as the Paizo editors buy the rights to some of their favorite out-of-print science-fiction and fantasy stories. Most of them are from the pulp era, though there are some more contemporary authors as well. They've got everything from a Robert E. Howard novel to short story collections by authors you may never have heard of. Several less-known authors are getting their due, such as C.L. Moore and Leigh Brackett, who were often overshadowed by their male contemporaries.

You won't find much hard SF in the Planet Stories line-up, and there's a fair amount of sword and sorcery material, but you don't have to look far to find some bizarre interplanetary adventures. Michael Moorcock's City of the Beast, about a physicist who teleports himself to ancient Mars, or Leigh Brackett's The Secret of Sinharat, about a revolution brewing in the Martian Drylands, are excellent examples.

Coming months will see the publication of Brackett's The Hounds of Skaith and The Reavers of Skaith, as well as Otis Adelbert Kline's The Outlaws of Mars and Henry Kuttner's Robots Have No Tails, sort of a robot detective story. Each book costs $12.99, and you can subscribe to Planet Stories and get each edition mailed to you at a discount. Image by: Paizo.

Planet Stories [via Paizo Publishing]

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<![CDATA[Which Alternate Universe Has The Best Science Fiction?]]> Nobody knows better than science fiction fans that a few minor changes to the timeline can alter everything. And science fiction istelf could have turned out totally differently if just a few things had changed. Which alternate versions of science fiction history would have resulted in a more interesting SF landscape today?

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