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J. Scott Phillips
United States
Приєднався 3 гру 2021
An avid, life-long reader of science fiction, historical fiction, biographies, history, science and folklore. I'm also a big fan of the art created for books and storytelling, and of the artists that share their own visions of the books we love to read.
A reluctant but overdue Book Unhaul & Giveaway
I've finally run out of room for books! So, I'm beginning the massive endeavor of releasing old books inherited from friends and family over the decades back into the wild and, if you're interested, into your own library. Hopefully, these books still have time to find a new home.
MY EMAIL
jscottphillips503 (at) gmail
#bookunhaul
MY EMAIL
jscottphillips503 (at) gmail
#bookunhaul
Переглядів: 103
Відео
Book Trek 2024: Reflections on James Blish's "Spock Must Die!"
Переглядів 3,4 тис.3 місяці тому
A look back at the first original adult Star Trek novel, "Spock Must Die!" by James Blish, and judging its cover by the book. A last-minute offering for "Book Trek 2024: The Wrath of the Summer of Trek" - an original BookTube event created by @revenantreads VIN'S COMMAND CREW OF CO-HOSTS: @saintdonoghue @michaelk.vaughan8617 @TheBookclectic @bookssongsandothermagic @ReadbyFred @LiterateTexan AU...
The New York Book Tag
Переглядів 953 місяці тому
An original book tag about books, New York City and life Created by @jimsbooksreadingandstuff I found the tag through @ArtBookshelfOdyssey PROMTS: 1. What is your favorite book set in or around New York City? 2. New York is famous for its skyscrapers. What is the highest building you have ever been up? 3. New York, New York: The town so nice, they named it twice. What is the last book you rerea...
Rocket Summer 2024: Rocket Summers, 2 short Ray Bradbury stories
Переглядів 2364 місяці тому
Discussion of two separate stories titled "Rocket Summer" both by Ray Bradbury, and some of the artwork inspired by them. An offering for Rocket Summer, an original BookTube event created by @michaelk.vaughan8617 ROCKET SUMMER ANNOUNCEMENT VIDEO ua-cam.com/video/_65hsNoYPcs/v-deo.html ROCKET SUMMER CO-HOSTS @BookChatWithPat8668 @TheBookclectic @saintdonoghue @ShawnDStandfast @LiterateTexan @Boo...
Rocket Summer 2024: "Shambleau" - The Weird Tale of the debut of C. L. Moore
Переглядів 1994 місяці тому
Discussion of the background, story and art of C. L. Moore's first professionally published story, "Shambleau" An offering for Rocket Summer, an original BookTube event created by @michaelk.vaughan8617 ROCKET SUMMER ANNOUNCEMENT VIDEO ua-cam.com/video/_65hsNoYPcs/v-deo.html ROCKET SUMMER CO-HOSTS @BookChatWithPat8668 @TheBookclectic @saintdonoghue @ShawnDStandfast @LiterateTexan @BookTimewithEl...
Book Trek 2024: "Mission to Horatius" by Mack Reynolds
Переглядів 2184 місяці тому
A look at the very first original Star Trek novel by Mack Reynolds and its artwork by Sparky Moore. Book Trek 2024: The Wrath of the Summer of Trek An original BookTube event created by Vin at @revenantreads for the months of June, July and August, celebrating Star Trek literature of all kinds ua-cam.com/video/nu8AZcmTriU/v-deo.html SUMMER OF TREK CO-HOSTS @saintdonoghue @michaelk.vaughan8617 @...
"It Isn't That Bad" Book Tag: Ten prompts on how I take care of my books. Number 10 will SHOCK you!
Переглядів 1144 місяці тому
An book tag created by @awebofstories I came across this tag at @readandre-read THE PROMTS: 1. Do you dog-ear your books? 2. Do you annotate your books? 3. Do you roll covers or break spines when you read? 4. Do you listen to something while you read? 5. Do you read in the bathroom? 6. Do you read in water (such as in the bathtub, in a pool, etc)? 7. Do you DNF? 8. Do you ever read ahead or ski...
June on the Range 2024: On the trail of the story and art of Zane Grey's "Nevada"
Переглядів 2675 місяців тому
A look at the story and art of the 1926 novel "Nevada" by Zane Grey. JUNE ON THE RANGE 2024 An original BookTube event created by @michaelk.vaughan8617 Co-hosted by: @saintdonoghue @ShawnDStandfast @BookTimewithElvis @anotherbibliophilereads @M-J @CriminOllyBlog @LiterateTexan @MysteryandMayhem-gr7nn @bookssongsandothermagic ARTISTS DISCUSSED • Stockton Mulford • David Triggs • Phillips • James...
The Off the Top of My Head Book Tag
Переглядів 1356 місяців тому
10 bookish prompts answered "off the top of my head" - a book page created by @TheLibraryMouseGina PROMPTS 1. What was your favorite picture book as a child? 2. What book series did you love as a child? 3. The worst book you have read or tried to read 4. Your favorite reading or book memory 5. A book you loved as a movie 6: A book you wish they would make into a movie 7: A book character that y...
Spring into Adventure: "Fantastic Voyage" by Isaac Asimov
Переглядів 3267 місяців тому
A look under the microscope at the writing and art of Isaac Asimov's novelization of the 1966 20th Century Fox movie "Fantastic Voyage. A salute to SPRING INTO ADVENTURE a BookTube celebration of Adventure Fiction of all kinds. WEEK THREE: Alternative Forms: A book adaptation of a movie, tv show, cartoon, comic or other media SPRING INTO ADVENTURE HOSTS @BookTimewithElvis ua-cam.com/video/wgRyb...
Spring into Adventure: "Pacific Vortex!" by Clive Cussler
Переглядів 2287 місяців тому
A salute to SPRING INTO ADVENTURE, a BookTube celebration of Adventure Fiction of all kinds. WEEK TWO: Adventure Fiction, Long Form (200 pages or more) SPRING INTO ADVENTURE HOSTS @BookTimewithElvis ua-cam.com/video/wgRybb-qsD4/v-deo.html @ShawnDStandfast ua-cam.com/video/o43dybl4LoA/v-deo.html CO-HOSTS @anotherbibliophilereads @LiterateTexan @bighardbooks770 @Mysteryand...
Spring Into Adventure: "Courage of a Coward" by James Merriam Moore
Переглядів 837 місяців тому
A salute to Spring into Adventure, a BookTube celebration of Adventure Fiction of all kinds.@ShawnDStandfast SPRING INTO ADVENTURE HOSTS • @BookTimewithElvis ua-cam.com/video/wgRybb-qsD4/v-deo.html • @ShawnDStandfast ua-cam.com/video/o43dybl4LoA/v-deo.html CO-HOSTS @anotherbibliophilereads @LiterateTexan @bighardbooks770 @MysteryandMayhem-gr7nn ARTIST DISCUSSED • Lou Feck MY EMAIL jscottphillip...
The Art of Detection of the first Dr. Gideon Fell mystery, "Hag's Nook" by John Dickson Carr
Переглядів 4808 місяців тому
A March Mystery Madness offering, investigating the story in and behind John Dickson Carr's "Hag's Nook" and its cover art over the last 90 years. This is the ninth year of March Mystery Madness, an annual BookTube event co-created by @lizziefayelovesbooks and @TowelTroi: ua-cam.com/video/N9z9oAT289s/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/CO7AX4eeG7U/v-deo.html MARCH MYSTERY MADNESS CO-HOSTS @courtreezy @...
The Art of Detection: "A Scandal in Bohemia" by Arthur Conan Doyle, illustrations by Sidney Paget
Переглядів 1829 місяців тому
The unmasking of the story behind Arthur Conan Doyle's first short story adventure of Sherlock Holmes and his premier illustrator for the Strand Magazine, Sidney Paget. In celebration of the BookTube event, "Holmes is Where the Hear Is" HOSTED BY @MysteryandMayhem-gr7nn @anotherbibliophilereads @BookTimewithElvis @LiterateTexan A GOOGLE MAP for "A Scandal in Bohemia" www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/e...
The Art of Detection: "A Study in Scarlet" - the debut of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes
Переглядів 5519 місяців тому
An investigation into the origins and earliest illustrations of Sherlock Holmes, from the 1887 Beeton's Christmas Annual and the first edition of "A Study in Scarlet. In celebration of the BookTube event, "Holmes is Where the Hear Is" HOSTED BY @MysteryandMayhem-gr7nn @anotherbibliophilereads @BookTimewithElvis @LiterateTexan ARTISTS DISCUSSED • David Henry Friston • Charles Altamont Doyle AUTH...
The Thrilling Wonder Debut of Alfred Best: The Broken Axiom
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The Thrilling Wonder Debut of Alfred Best: The Broken Axiom
The Astounding Story and Art of "Misfit" by Robert Heinlein
Переглядів 1,6 тис.10 місяців тому
The Astounding Story and Art of "Misfit" by Robert Heinlein
Poetry Thursday in Victober: "Tomlinson" - by Rudyard Kipling
Переглядів 208Рік тому
Poetry Thursday in Victober: "Tomlinson" - by Rudyard Kipling
Cimmerian September: Robert E. Howard's first Conan Adventure - "The Phoenix on the Sword"
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Cimmerian September: Robert E. Howard's first Conan Adventure - "The Phoenix on the Sword"
Tag Tuesday - Book Trek 2023: The Star Trek Voyager Tag
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Tag Tuesday - Book Trek 2023: The Star Trek Voyager Tag
Tag Tuesday - Book Trek 2023: The Deep Space Nine Tag
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Tag Tuesday - Book Trek 2023: The Deep Space Nine Tag
GarbAugust 2023: Surviving the story and art of "The Outrider" by Richard Harding
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GarbAugust 2023: Surviving the story and art of "The Outrider" by Richard Harding
Book Trek 2023: Star Trek The Next Generation Tag
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Book Trek 2023: Star Trek The Next Generation Tag
Book Trek 2023: The First Star Trek Fiction
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Book Trek 2023: The First Star Trek Fiction
June on the Range:The Literate Texan's Western Movies Tag
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June on the Range:The Literate Texan's Western Movies Tag
June on the Range: "True Grit" by Charles Portis
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June on the Range: "True Grit" by Charles Portis
June on the Range: "Maverick" by Charles Ira Coombs
Переглядів 146Рік тому
June on the Range: "Maverick" by Charles Ira Coombs
The Rootin' Tootin' "June on the Range" Book Tag
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The Rootin' Tootin' "June on the Range" Book Tag
I spell it in the Latin fashion, but I loved Van Vogt and his stories. My brother went by Kalorn.
I liked it another biography
Hello Mr. Phillips! I am a caregiver for a gentleman named Tim. Now, Tim is blind and he recently came across the Perry Mason radio show. It seems as if there are missing episodes for the radio show. Is that accurate? Or are we searching for them in the wrong places? My friend Tim reads Braille and enjoys listening to audiobooks and podcasts. He asked me to write to you after listening to this video. He calls you a Perry Mason expert. He has a couple of questions. One, is it possible to get a hold of the Perry Mason radio show manuscripts? And two, is there a book called The Case of the Bartered Bikini and where can we find it? He insists that I find the book The Case of the Bartered Bikini but I am unable to find it. The only thing that comes up is the TV Show. Is he mistaking the TV show titles with book titles? He is very interested in the Perry Mason stories and has become a fan of it all. Any recommendations or suggestions are highly appreciated. Thank you! 🙏🏼 😊
Uh-oh. I'm afraid I can be of little help to you or Tim. I am NOT an expert on Perry Mason, just a fan of the novels, detective fiction, and of Erle Stanley Gardner in general. I've never listened to any of the old Perry Mason radio shows, so I know nothing of missing episodes, or where you might find manuscripts. I have only watched the TV series with passing interest over the years, but I DO know that not all of the episodes were based on books by Gardner. There is no Gardner novel by the title of "The Case of the Bartered Bikini." In case this helps, here is a Wikipedia link to all of Gardner's Perry Mason novels and short stories. You can compare the TV episodes to the literary canon: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Mason_bibliography Sorry I can't be of more help, but it's good to hear from another Perry Mason fan, and thanks for checking out my channel!
Thank you for your response! We really appreciate your help.
I know this is pretty late, but the story does answer your question about the maps. Agnarni (don’t hold me to that name. I’m going on memory) deliberately left clues in a bunch of tomes to lead people to their doom. The reason they have the sword fight with lord Ranarsch’s men is because he also found a map & they were trying to beat him to the treasure (it could be that Mouser stole the map from him, I don’t remember exactly). Anyway. It’s definitely covered in the story Thanks for giving my favorite fantasy heroes some air time!🙂
Ah, thanks! Never too late for an insight like yours! How did I keep missing that? Not sure when, but I AM planning on more Fafhrd & Gray Mouser videos. Thanks for watching!
Great video. I recently read my first Perry Mason, The Case of the Curious Kitten. And I'm hooked! I'm ready to dig in to the rest.
Cool! Enjoy the books. Thanks for watching!
What is so shocking about number 10, changing your bar for bookshelves sounds an eminently sensible idea.
I agree! But many people find eminently sensible ideas to be quite shocking.
I really appreciate your videos, since not a lot of people delve into the illustration side of SF which is honestly what sold so many books and captured the imagination from the outset. And you know your stuff and are very well spoken on the historical topic, so that is much appreciated as a fellow artist.
Thank you! Very often the cover art and other illustrations are stories in themselves, so I think they should be told! Thanks for watching!
Read the Asimov novelization; but the original story by Bixby and Klement? is hard to find.
I'm pretty sure the story by Bixby and Klement was written specifically for the movie. At least, I've never seen any reference to their original story as a published work in itself.
@@jscottphillips503 Saw an article on the original story years ago; the original tale is a steampunk style adventure. When they adapted the story for the movie, they made it very sleek and modern. So I think the original was published somewhere, or maybe they wrote it and sold it to Fox.
@@user-be2dt8eg2x That would be really interesting to read!
I don’t see how anyone can write ST fiction who is not thoroughly versed in the show, and your review proves my point. I read a lot of it many years ago and learned to be picky about it. Even without the homoerotic stuff there is some real trash out there. I don’t know how it gets published.
Yeah. I think it took awhile for the editors to catch up to what the fans actually loved about the show, and that it shouldn't just be any old science fiction with a Star Trek facade. Frederik Pohl, Bantam's original Star Trek editor, didn't really care about it.
@@jscottphillips503 I stick with tried and true, like Judith and Garfield, Duane Carey, William Shatner (which I think means Judith and Garfield), et al.
It is so hard to let books go! I enjoyed the video
They really are! Thanks for watching.
Wish I could help out, but I am in desperate need of an "unhaul", myself. I am literally running out of flat spaces upon which to pile books. I'm not exaggerating when I say I don't even eat at my kitchen table. (I promise I'm not a hoarder, LOL!) Thanks for explaining the term, "alienist"! I saw that book everywhere back in the day and had no clue. You'd think I'd have taken 5 minutes to look it up. But I'd always forget. I have my own copy of The Caine Mutiny, or else I'd be tempted to grab that one. It really is fantastic! I read it a few years ago and could not put it down. I've not seen the movie. I always feel sad for books that don't have a home. I've sold pretty much all that can be sold. (For a pittance. Ugh!) It's so hard to know what to do with them. I hate the thought of them in a dumpster too. If there are any of the Little Free Libraries around you, that might work.
I'm considering the Little Free Libraries. There are quite a few around here. But those coffee table books! I don't think they will even fit in those little bird houses! We shall see. They are both beautiful books. It would be a shame of they wound up in a dumpster somewhere. But ... you haven't seen the film version of "The Caine Mutiny"? That is now your homework assignment!. It is excellent. "It all started with the strawberries!"
@@jscottphillips503 Will do!
I had all the Blish books before I moved! My Mum gave them to me! Is it weird that as soon as I saw the thumbnail, I could SMELL the book?
Ha! That might be a LITTLE weird, but that iconic cover is certainly soaked in nostalgia!
I grew up in a seaside town in the UK and picked up Star Trek 1 at a shop on the sea front one summer. I remember getting the orange cover version of Spock Must Die and getting rather worried about the transporter.
That transporter idea really got to me. I also find it interesting how often we can remember exactly where we bought a favorite book decades earlier. Thanks for watching!
36:30 I prefer the orange cover for the memories but like the Japanese cover as well.
I'm fascinated by the Japanese rendering of the Enterprise. Do you think maybe the illustrator only had a verbal description to go by, and never saw a photo of the ship? That's what I imagine happened, but maybe he just wanted to do something interpretive. Either way - for me - it winds up being as off-beat as Blish's own handling of the characters he never saw portrayed.
22:00 wow, I had all four of those books with those covers.
Those were the days!
That Japanese cover gets an A for energy, even if it only gets a D for accuracy.
Agreed!
Only just started my own channel and was delighted to find yours. Man, this amount of detail is what I need to include. I've subbed. Please give me a sub. Nice bottle of Jamesons on your shelf by the way. By the way how long does it take to download a 48 min vid to the tube.
Ah! Glad you found me. I've subbed you back, and looking forward to following your vids. Ah, the Jameson. I'm more of a single-malt guy, but Jameson is kept on hand for emergencies, or for those times when I'd like a more economical drop of the true without having guests or contemplation time. It's more utilitarian. That particular bottle featured prominently in my video on "A Study in Scarlet", possibly the best use I've put it to recently. I see you've got a recent video on whisky yourself, so perhaps I'll curl up with a bit of Ardbeg and watch it. As far as uploading a video that long, it just seems to depend. I usually upload them just after midnight when there seems to be more bandwidth in my area available. It often takes just a few minutes longer than it takes me to fill out my description while the video is chugging upstream. So ... maybe anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes, for whatever reasons. Your mileage may vary. Welcome to BookTube, and thanks for watching! Sláinte!
Read this book so many years ago...will have to track it down for a re-read.
Enjoy!
The original cover art for Mission to Horatius was auctioned on eBay 20 or 25 years ago. I bid on it, but it soon got too expensive for me.
Interesting video. Star Trek 12 is also by Eddie Jones, and like 9-11, actually originated on German translations of earlier volumes of Blish’s Star Trek titles. Which explains why the cover layout for Star Trek 10 somehow manages to hide the Enterprise behind a block of text! It was painted for an entirely different cover layout: www.isfdb.org/wiki/images/4/4f/NTRPRSXJJP1973.jpg (the numbering was different in German - this is actually a translation of HALF of Star Trek 9)
I said the same thing about Jar-Jar Blinks 😂!!!
Ha!
I've mentioned in another comment that we didn't get Star Trek in the UK until very late - I think I said it was 1970 but I just checked and it was July 1969, coinciding with Apollo 11. I rember having those early collections, and Spock Must Die as well, but I wonder if I read the collections before I even saw the series? And the novel after seeing just season 1? I remember the story so well, all the rumonations on the transporter. The great idea of a duplicate Spock, the clever science behind it all. I'd like to read it again now, to spot the inconsistencies you mention, that passed me by as as a young teenager. I remember I had the original orange cover, goodness knows where I got it from. Great memories.
I can only imagine how those early Blish books would read if you hadn't seen the TV show first. Having read them AFTER knowing the show so well, and the specific episodes, they seemed odd in various ways. But if you read them just as original stories might have been a whole other experience!
@jscottphillips503 I don't know if you saw my other comment but we had the Star Trek comic strip in magazines based on the Gery Anderson Thunderbirds universe - Joe 90 Top Secret and TV21. (I've done some research since commenting and am correcting myself.) The comics started early in 1969 so we had six months of seeing Trek on the page before seeing the show. I wasn't at all sure I'd like Star Trek - I'd never seen a spaceship that looked like that, all these bits and pieces held together by struts, how ridiculous. And I wasn't aware of naval traditions, had no idea why everyone was Mister this and Mister that. But there must have been articles about the show because I know when July rolled round there were two things I was looking forward to - Apollo 11 and Star Trek. Neither one disappointed.
@@markharris1125 Indeed! The naval traditions carried over quite a bit. When I first saw the Enterprise, all those struts threw me, too. But I remember my father saying, "Well, you know, there is no wind or air in space, so a ship wouldn't have to be so streamlined." After that, I got it. I have a couple volumes of those comic strip reprints. That's something we haven't had in in the states at all until those reprint editions came out. Sure wish we had those back then!
@@jscottphillips503 You're the first person I've spoken to who remembers the comic strip!
Just discovered your channel! Nice video. Nice set of books on your shelves as well.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video.
Wow. Haven’t seen this book cover since I was a little girl growing up in south Texas in the 70’s (and yes, Spock was/is my favorite character). James Blish wrote so many of the Star Trek novels/stories I read in the 70’s. I saved all my allowance every week to buy Star Trek books. I’d con my big brother into giving me candy he bought from his allowance. 🤣 My favorites were the photo novels which came out during that period. Thanks for posting this! ❤ I wasn’t a huge fan of the Blish novels from the 70’s. He had great ideas, but his characterizations always seemed off to me so it was hard for me get into the stories. Did you ever read The Price of the Phoenix and The Fate of the Phoenix? Great but weird books about duplicate Kirks. Those books came out in the late 70’s. They explore the Kirk and Spock friendship thoroughly, some might think even too thoroughly, but I loved those books as a pre-teen girl. Still have them somewhere in my collection.
Yes, I plan on making videos about the Phoenix books eventually. There sure were a lot of duplicate characters back in those days! Thanks for watching!
@@jscottphillips503 I’ll watch for those. Tough books to review I’d think. They have ok plots, but the driving narrative in both books is pure emotion. As I said, they are strange books. I’ve read them as an adult and had a completely different take on them compared to my kid self.
Definitely the first Star Trek novel for adults - there are a LOT of very esoteric scientific concepts in this novel, and I love the debate of life vs death that we get throughout. Bones McCoy has good reason to fear the transporter!! It took me a long time to really like the novel. When I first read the book, I was too young to really understand it, and the relationships between the crew seemed (to me) very off. But repeated readings helped me understand its point and its focus. And it's nihilistic ending would never be permitted in spinoff media nowadays. Now, it's one of my favorite Star Trek novels, along with Vonda McIntyre's The Entropy Effect, which also had some interesting scientific concepts.
I tend to agree. With all its flaws, it's still a fun read, gives us some new concepts, and it was certainly a welcome sight on the book racks when it first came out.
@@jscottphillips503 One thing I recall, and I'm almost positive it was from this novel, was Blish's description of the visual effects of being on the outside of the hull of a starship while traveling at warp. He described the familiar lines and curves of the ship becoming twisted and turning along physical dimensions that don't exist in normal spacetime, thus rendering the view of the ship at warp incomprehensible. Very interesting scientific concept, but something I realized at the time would be totally impossible to try and show on screen.
Wondering about your "Bones" comment. I pulled my copy off the shelf just now. The first chapter is called "McCoy without Bones."
Yeah, I never really understood that title. If it was a nod at the nickname, it is certainly unexplained in the story. Just didn't seem there was ever a real reason for the "Doc" moniker.
I used to read Star Trek TOS original novels and most of them did not have the same feel of the original series and characters so I stopped. I suspect that many of the writers were just using Star Trek as a vehicle to start or boost their own careers as writers and had no knowledge of Star Trek.
Yes, or they were based on a lot of the fan fiction tropes of their day. They didn't have the studio oversight or adherence to the writer's guide like they would later on.
fantastic voyage will always be my favorite movie.
If Brave New Worlds rolls over into a remake of TOS, I would love to see some of the better ST novels made into episodes - especially this one.
Spock Must Die was an oasis in the desert for fans after the end of TOS. Still remember Scotty's complaint about the pants having no pockets, and how the improvised energy source of the escape ship was like tapping directly into God. Great stuff!
We were all hungry for new Star Trek back then. It was a thrill to see it show up on the bookstands.
Are any of you fans of James Blish? How does this book Spock mistake? Compare to his other writing. Are there common seams or common interest of the author present?
Blish does sneak some of his own pet ideas from other writings into his Star Trek adaptations, here and there.
I've always thought they should have played off McCoy's "taker your molecules apart" notion as just something that an uninformed or comedic person says. That it really is related to the warp drive and bends space-time locally. That makes more sense and has the added benefit of eliminating stupid episodes like "Enemy Within" and "Tuvix" 🙂 BTW, some of those early original novels were really bad!
That's an interesting take on transporter technology. Haven't heard that one before.
@@jscottphillips503 It kinda makes sense. The sheer amount of data required to specify the quantum state of every atom in a person is impossibly huge.
I remember hearing about this novel decades ago, but I never read it personally.
I bought this book when it first came out and read it at that time. But I haven't read it since and I don't remember it. I'm going to have to dig it out of one of the boxes I have in storage and read it again. I loved the book. I loved all of the books that James blish wrote for the Star Trek series. I had all of the original first three books of adaptations from the screenplays. Unfortunately, when I went to college, my brother donated my entire collection to the library so it took years for me to get copies of those books back. I still don't have the original first editions of the books which makes me sad.
I started with Blish's first adaptation and continued until his last. I did NOT continue with the Alan Dean Foster books for the cartoon series. My reading of Blish's versions was a bit off, because Blish would include stuff from his own future history, like the Vegan Tyranny; but eventually I became a fan of Blish's own work even more than I had been a Star Trek fan. I remembered that in Spock Must Die! he included stuff about Eurish, the strange pastiche language that James Joyce wrote his Finnegan's Wake in; because Blish himself was a great fan of Joyce. It became a feature on New Wave SF, as the New Wave seemed to love the Joycean stream of consciousness style. I suppose I wasn't at first thrown off by Blish not seeing the series, as I had not myself seen much of the series at first either. To my recollection, the first and possibly only ep I saw on the first run was Cat's Paw.
Many years later, I ran into a book by Dorothy L. Sayers which talked some about reflected proteins, of the L and R versions. She did not use her usual detective, Lord Peter Wimsey; this book was written in collaboration with a doctor and was called The Documents in the Case. There was not any mirror to reflect anything, but most of our foods exist in L form, but R forms are possible.
My interpretation, for what it's worth, of the Japanese cover title is Two (something something something) Spokku.
Spokku being, of course, the Japanese transliteration of Spock, rendered in Japanese katakana...
Interesting. I have sometimes wondered what a reader might make of the Blish adaptations without having seen the show before.
@@jscottphillips503 Well, as the show went into syndication shortly afterwards, the purity of my experience was quickly complicated. I just kept reading Blish adaptations alongside of watching reruns. I suppose I really know the adaptations better than the reruns, but I knew both pretty well
“The question,” said McCoy, “is, obviously, the soul. Am I still the Leonard McCoy who first stepped into that infernal machine twenty years ago, or just a very convincing simulacrum?” Kirk said, “The ability to worry about the question is, I think, its own answer.” “You may be right, Jim. In fact, you had better be right. Because if you’re not, every time we send someone through the transporter for the first time, we commit murder.” And that’s not even really the main plot of the book! Yes, the novel doesn’t capture the characters all that well, but it definitely is the product of someone who wrote about ideas for a living.
Oh man - that quote brought back memories!
As described in the story, Mirror Spock was reversed on the molecular level, which made his body chemistry incompatible with normal food. Doesn't mean his tunic was visibly reversed, or the reversal would be noticed without tricorder scan.
Well, Scotty's experiments with sending other objects through the transporter came all back physically reversed, due to the reflection of the beam off the field around Organia. He and Kirk even discussed the reversal of Spock's badge specifically but, not knowing yet about the reversal, neither had thought to look before the duplicate had time to make adjustments like that.
I haven't reread the book since the '70s, so correct me if I'm wrong. But IIRC, (1) It was fairly late in the story when someone realized the duplicate Spock was a mirror image, so no one thought to look for differences, and (2) the duplicate realized immediately that he was a reflection, and switched his uniform shirt before anyone else did, as well as consciously adjusting his habits (like the eyebrow raise).
I like how the second Bantam cover art deliberately puts a lot of orange in it's palette, as if to say "Recognize me, this is the same book as the earlier edition."
I wonder if that was actually deliberate, but you're right... it certainly helps to connect them visually.
It's been so long since I read it. I recall that one of the reasons it was difficult to differentiate the two Spocks upon initial medical examination was a mention of a symmetrical internal anatomy. Internal imaging would be inconclusive. I know that's not canon.
Ah, that's right.But if you think about it for even a minute, a symmetrical internal anatomy isn't even be possible. In the context of the story, I guess one can accept it on the surface. Still a fun story.
I recall owning and reading the original Bantam orange edition. Nice collection of books, featuring a lot of great Asimov, Clarke and Carl Sagan titles. “The Demon Haunted World” is perhaps my favorite of the 10 or so titles I read by Sagan.
Everyone remembers that orange cover! And yes, "The Demon Haunted World" is Sagan's best for me as well.
Remember Kirk calling MCcoy Doc that was annoying but the story was good and the idea of two Spock's was cool
Still a fun read!
Asimov's 'sequel' -- or 're-jiggering' -- novel "FANTASTIC VOYAGE II: DESTINATION BRAIN" is quite excellent, and it helps tie-in his other sci-fi novels' concepts, especially his version of Hyperdrive technology & physics. Basically, his interstellar spaceships make 'jumps' through Hyperspace, and it seems that the way they do this is they instantaneously are reduced to Zero Mass and Zero Volume -- and, perhaps, to LESS than Zero Mass and Volume -- so that they can zip across space-time like a tachyon in Zero Time from one position to another. The miniaturized submarine-like vehicle in the 'sequel' novel is specified to be less massive than its non-miniaturized form, losing mass as it loses size in proportion. As I recall, it is in the aftermath of the adventure that the notion of applying the miniaturization technology to Spaceflight is deduced to be the next logical application of the idea, opening the door to the potentiality of Humanity spreading out into the Galaxy. In addition to that sci-fi aspect which complements Asimov's previous notions, it's a great adventure involving West-versus-East (i.e. Soviets -- the novel having been written several years before the collapse of the USSR) intrigue, an element from the original FV screenplay-and-novelization that he probably thought ought to be included in his own 'sequel'. Incidentally, Asimov also wrote a short story (in one of his later collections of Robot stories) involving the miniaturization notion. It, too, was a good read. Its title escapes me at the moment -- sorry!
That's interesting. I know Asimov thought the idea of miniaturization was ridiculous but, when he used it in his own stories, he did his best to make it believable. Thanks for watching!
I could be wrong, but I would guess knopf is pronounced without the K, as in Knee, Knock, Knight, Knack, Knuckle etc etc. I believe I have read all the Macdonald novels. His best for me was The Underground Man. It was his The Long Goodbye. Chandler didn't rate him though. He uses far more similes than Chandler ever did. As you probably know there is/was a legend going around that the name Archer came from the last name of Sam Spade's partner in The Maltese Falcon. Thanks for the correct story. I didn't know that The Moving Target was first published under the John McDonald name. I looked up the other books except The Big Sleep (Chandler is my favourite writer) depicted at around the 25 min mark. The Blank wall was adapted into the Movies The Reckless moment and The Deep end. On the cover of Archer fighting on the bridge he is wearing a blue suit. That reminds me of the opening of The Big Sleep in which Marlowe is wearing a powder blue suit. Regarding the picture at around the 27th minute mark, Archer (if it supposed to him) looks positively satanic to me. Here I am reminded of Hammets description of Sam Spade looking like a blond satan. Wow, it wasn't until the seventh novel, that he used Ross Macdonald. On around the 31 minute mark. so the name wasn't changed fom Archer to Harper, because Paul Newman had hits with H movies such The Hustler, and Hud. Love the cover at around the 46 min mark. I don't find the words hard to read.But I am only seeing the cover on a screen. I live in irelamd. and I think the first Archer novel I read was The Doomsters. It was under Fontana Books. This was the cover for The Moving Target. live.staticflickr.com/5502/9550998618_389ab64424_b.jpg
I'm not sure how the studio selected the name "Harper." Maybe it WAS because Newman's movies often had H titles. It does have a similar literation, so felt right. But it had to be changed to SOMEthing other than Archer, because they wouldn't pay Macdonald what he wanted for the rights to use his character's name. As for the origin of the name Archer: 12 years before Macdonald named the character, he had written a poem using his mother's maiden name to symbolize a devine archer: "What bowman launched thee forth?" Naming him after Miles Archer never occurred to him then but, after he noticed the similarity, he often pointed it out himself and claimed it was intentional. Alfred A. Knopf is a venerable American publisher and famously pronounces it with the hard K> Sounds like you're an avid Detective reader who enjoys attention to detail! Thanks for watching, and for the in-depth comments!
@@jscottphillips503 Oops. Thanks for correcting me on Knopf. I discoverd Chandler before MacDonald. It was the Raymond Chandler omnibus featuring The Simple Art of Murder, and all of all the novels except The Little Sister. I fell in love with his writing straight away. I am a fan of all his novels except the last one. Someone I lent a Macdonald book to, described it as "dry". I got what he meant. I find his plots too complicated, and never understand how he solves the crime. From wikipedia page on The Moving Target movie "Goldman adapted The Chill (1964), another Macdonald novel, for the same producers, but it was not filmed.[18] Newman pulled out of the project, and Sam Peckinpah became attached as director for a while as the film was set up at Commonwealth United Entertainment. When that company ended its film operations," Yeah it's a pity there were not more movie versions of Archer novels. There aee two excellent audio versions with full cast of Sleeping Beauty and The Zebra Striped Hearse with Harris Yulin as Archer.
That Hayakawa artwork would make a great wall poster.
I agree!
Regarding the Transporter, see the novel Way Station, by Clifford D Simak.
Yes!
I really enjoyed this book. I only started reading Star Trek recently, and would never have noticed much of this (but I loooove your detail here!)
Thanks, Gina! I only wish I had gotten to more books while Summer of Trek lasted! Thanks for watching!
Still have my original Bantam copy I bought as a kid. Cover price 60cents. Remember having the same reaction to “Doc” although the first chapter name is called McCoy Without Bones. I knew Blish was working from scripts for the series adaptations but never realized he hadn’t actually seen the series initially. Although some character moments were off, I really enjoyed the story.
Yes, still a fun read!
Thanks for the well-measured comments. For me, Blish never really "got" Star Trek- as you say, his Star trek novels would have been greatly improved - had he been able to actually watch the show. My highest admiration for Blish is for his religion-based material, such as the two-book novel, Black Easter / The Day After Judgment...
And "A Case of Conscience"! I agree!
@@jscottphillips503 Yes...!
Interesting! I read his books years ago as a substitute for the show, as it wasn't broadcast where I lived and my parents were huge fans and wanted me to experience Star Trek in some form - so I never made that connection. I'd say the same about the Law & Order novels. The author has obviously never watched the show, so I get what you're saying.
These transporter "malfunctions" sound like the origin of the food replicaror, except the replicator won't give you an "evil" version of your chicken soup.
Don't be too sure. You've never tried the chicken soup my sister made!
Never before have I been talked out of reading a novel, much less a Star Trek novel, but you have just pulled it off. Thanks for the admonition. 😕
Oh, no! Such was not my intent at all! If I didn't, I should have mentioned it is definitely a fun read, especially in its historic context for Star Trek fans. I've read the book many times, myself, and always enjoyed it. But like any Star Trek episode, we can always discuss the points, good or bad, and then still watch them over and over again.
@@jscottphillips503 I see. Fresh perspective! I'll be looking for it then. And when I get a copy, I will take a pencil and mark through every reference to "Doc", writing above it, "Bones". Those little things bug me. Thanks for the info. 😌
I hope you relish it as much as I!