campaigning to save Headington’s Library in Oxford from closure
Several of Headington’s finest writers participated today in an event staged by Save Headington Library Group as part of its campaign to fight against the proposed closure of Headington’s only local library.
is a directory of freelance journalists, broadcasters and film makers working on issues about Europe, and especially European Union, affairs. who work independently for a range of media formats and publications. http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/EU-Media-Index.html
Meeting Brian W. Aldiss is always a pleasure. I caught him in the midst of his portrait being painted and getting ready to go off to yet another of those science fiction conventions, where he will be adored by his fans. Life’s not bad for a man of 82, when admiring fans demand Brian to sign his name on their tee shirts. It’s not only his fans who have come to his door but in the past Hollywood film producers including Corman, Kubrick and Spielberg, asking for permission to adapt both his general fiction and science fiction stories. Even Britain’s Queen has awarded him with an OBE in 2002 for his services to literature.
Before we started the interview, Brian showed me to his jungle like back garden at his Oxfordshire village home. Brian Aldiss calls it his ‘mystery garden’, where in the bright sunshine, with the bubbling waterfall in the background, we discussed his frog problem. Brain commented that ‘it had been a bad year for frogs.’ I told him I had plenty to spare and would bring some round for him to replenish his pond.http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/BRIANALDISS.htm
Torchwood – in terms of plot development, acting and a real story, it was inferior to various versions of Star Gate, Star Trek, Babylon Five, Chuck or A Town Called Eureka. It was just full of promise that it did not deliver unfortunately. The trouble with the Torchwood plot development was it was full of promise at the beginning; unfortunately as the story developed by episode three the writers simply ran out of ideas and jumped for the easy option of simply telling the aliens to go home. What the writers failed to answer satisfactorily was why the aliens had come to earth and why they wanted the children. Instead we had the story focus on further character development of the Torchwood team. If the BBC is serious at making any more episodes of this series I suggest they read some science fiction for some new exciting new ideas from such writers as Brian Aldiss, Stephen Baxter, Peter F. Hamilton, Neal Asher, and George Mann etc. Though I suspect like many literati who work in the media they despise the often outstanding work of current science fiction and regard it as an inferior form of writing .http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/Oxfordcinema.htm
