In Memoriam Banks

(Reposted from Prefect Slog)

No matter who you lose – loved ones, relatives, friends, personal heroes or heroines – life goes on. But it carries a heavy taint and the world loses some of its colour. For a while at least. Actually, that colour’s gone forever, but we do what we can by way of a restoration job. Put some of our own colour back in.

Yesterday, I checked in on Twitter to throw some glib comment out into the virtual world only to be stunned and saddened when I read the news that Iain Banks had died. Just two months after he’d announced that he was terminally ill. Just over seven years ago, my Mum was diagnosed with cancer on a Friday and passed away on the following Wednesday. Five days later. But somehow the news about Iain Banks still managed to come as a shock.

Bastard cancer. You’d think I’d be inured to it by now.

I didn’t even know the man.

On the other hand, to call him a hero of mine would be no understatement. Like Lis Sladen, Caroline John and Mary Tamm, he added colour to my life. Starting, in his case, many years ago when I first discovered The Wasp Factory and bought a whole bunch of his books (including Walking On Glass, The Bridge, Canal Dreams, Espedair Street) in one go one sunny Saturday afternoon after browsing the local bookstore in search of something new and different to read. What a haul of riches. I read through that lot like a shot. Then imagine my delight when I discovered that the same guy (with the deft application of a middle initial) wrote science fiction.

Bloody hell. Seventh heaven.

Vast, imaginative, thought-provoking heavens they were too. Whether he was writing in our world or other worlds, I’d never read anything like them.

So needless to say, he was a major influence on me. The first novel I ever completed was a misguided effort to emulate Mr Banks to some degree. Even with the Evil UnLtd, books, serious sci-fi is as key an inspiration as Douglas Adams and Hitch-Hikers. Possibly even greater in many respects. And back in my days of role-playing games, I used to run a Traveller campaign and pinched stuff from the Culture to help colour the official RPG universe. Adding colour, like I said. And to more than my reading experience.

So. Thank you, Iain. You’ll be greatly missed. I haven’t memorised every line of your books like in Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 – my brain’s not nearly equal to that task – but rest assured I still carry them with me in my heart and my imagination.

They made a difference. The least I can do now is to try to make some small difference in the fight against cancer.

Last November I launched my Evil vs Cancer campaign, which came to an end on May 24^th this year. I’d intended to continue that in some form, donating half of the proceeds to Cancer Research UK. It goes without saying, the books don’t make huge amounts of money and the practical reality is that I need some level of revenue in order to produce the paperbacks. But I couldn’t sit by and allow cancer to claim another hero of mine without doing something.

So here’s me saluting you, Iain Banks, and shaking my fist at cancer again.

For another year (and I’m backdating that to include all purchases that were made between now and last May 24^th) I’m extending the Evil vs.Cancer campaign and we’ll be donating the full 100% of royalties from all the Evil Unltd books (all formats) to Cancer Research UK.

You can find links to the various ways you can get your hands, virtual or otherwise, on the paperbacks and/or ebooks here:

EVIL UNLTD VOL 1: THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL

Available from Amazon.co.uk

and Amazon.com

EVIL UNLTD VOL 2: FROM EVIL WITH LOVE

Available from Amazon.co.uk

and Amazon.com

EVIL UNLTD VOL 3: EVIL UTD

Available from Amazon.co.uk

and Amazon.com
Please help spread the word and share links on Facebook, Twitter, blog, email – wherever you can.

Help make Evil do some Good.

 

SAF

Happy Towel Day 2013

Sass that hoopy Ford Prefect, there’s a frood who really knew where his towel is.

He also used to like carrying a book around with him. Obviously we can’t match The Hitch-Hikers Guide for sheer helpfulness or the comforting words of ‘DON’T PANIC’ on the back, but we can at least offer a volume as absorbing as any towel!

EVIL UNLTD VOL 3

EVIL UTD

Released today on Amazon UK and Amazon US

The Farce Of The Dark Side.

 

Villains are the new Heroes in this epic Sci-Fi series.

War! What is it good for? A great many things, according to Dexter Snide. But the current interstellar conflict threatens to divert public attention from his plans to plunge the universe into economic ruin.

To make matters worse, rival broadcaster the PHUX Corporation, has exclusive coverage rights for the war between the ultra-bureaucratic System and the cute but belligerent Bunnymen. The ratings war is on.

Sentient planet Alphaterre Metroplaisir – or Alph to his friends – faces devastation and an end to his cheerful theme-park ambience as his capital city is torn apart by Evil’s latest TV phenomenon,The Minion Factor. Alph turns to PHUX for help and, in a primetime advertising slot, the call goes out for heroes.

Even with a war on and heroes in short supply, there are some who will always find time to tackle Evil UnLtd. Especially those with old personal scores to settle.

Once they’re done with the System, the Bunnymen are coming for Evil UnLtd too.

The odds are stacked and the Evil gang need to be more united than ever.

A tall order, when they are divided and scattered. And perhaps the most serious threats of all come from within…

Other ebook formats will follow, plus a paperback for those who prefer a bit of hard copy.

As part of our ongoing Evil vs Cancer campaign, we will be donating *100%* of royalties from all Evil UnLtd books to Cancer Research UK. Thanks to all those who’ve lent their support so far.

Live long and prosper. And purchase.

And don’t forget your towel!

EVIL UTD is available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

SAF 2013

IMPORTANT UPDATE: In light of yesterday’s sad news about author Iain Banks, we’ll be donating a full 100% of royalties on all Evil UnLtd books for another year. Watch out for  a full post on this later.

May 24th Be With You!

Welcome to 2013.

50^th Anniversary year of some long-running sci-fi show. Ah yes, Doctor Who, that’s the one. One of those infuriating hero-types who’s been around forever and a symptom of some villains not doing their job right.

Anyway, yes, it is late to be welcoming people to the new year, but we at Evil UnLtd do love to be fashionably late and besides, while time waits for no man, it had better wait for us and just count itself lucky that it isn’t waiting on us.

We have special minions for that.

Speaking of dining, it has come to our attention that the world was recently shocked to discover that some of its beefburgers were found to contain 29% horsemeat.

Perhaps the world now understands the horror and disgust we felt when it was discovered that our Evil enterprise was found to contain unacceptable levels of goodness.

Our ‘illustrious’ – and often inebriate – author, Simon A Forward, is entirely to blame.

Over the course of just over a year, Doctor Who fans were hit with the sad news of the passing of three actresses who had portrayed three favourite companions from the series. Lis Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Caroline John (Liz Shaw) and Mary Tamm (Romana). All down to cancer.

So you can see how a sensitive soul with an affinity for this Doctor Who phenomenon might feel moved to do something in this anniversary year. Especially someone, like Simon A Forward, who lost his own mum to cancer seven years ago this coming May.

Hence, all royalties from Evil UnLtd books will be going to Cancer Research UK until May 24^th 2013.

Vol 1: The Root Of All Evil

Kindle – Amazon (UK) £2.05

Kindle – Amazon (US) $3.31

Other Ebook – Smashwords $2.99

Paperback (Signed) £9.99 (inc P&P)

Vol 2: From Evil With Love

Kindle – Amazon (UK) £2.05

Kindle – Amazon (US) $3.31

Other Ebook – Smashwords $2.99

Paperback (Signed) £9.99 (inc P&P)

Furthermore, with Evil UnLtd Vol 3: Evil UTD due for release that same month (in time for Towel Day, Douglas Adams/Hitchhikers Guide fans take note!) our author was keen to continue with some longer-term contribution beyond that date.

With that in mind, he has decided that a full 50% of royalties on all Evil UnLtd books, including future volumes, will go to Cancer Research UK.

50% goodness is a troubling level of contaminant to find in your own produce and we are far from happy about it, let us tell you. But it’s not in our nature to apologise or withdraw our products from circulation. We’d much rather withdraw circulation from consumers.

Naturally, those same consumers can dispense with book purchases altogether and donate directly to Cancer Research UK.

Jedi and others of a similar lightsaber-wielding hippy-dippy persuasion would caution you to beware of the dark side. We would urge people to embrace it.

Much as it pains us, you will be doing some good.

But ultimately, as we’ve mentioned before, cancer is evil and we could do without the competition. So, please, treat yourself to a book and/or help spread the word by sharing links on your blogs, Facebook, Twitter, by email, whatever your preferred means of communication.

The Farce Of The Dark Side, it proclaims on all our book covers. Although we’re sure that must be some sort of typographical error.

In any case, as the subject header says, May 24^th be with you.

Help Evil do some Good.

Have Yourself A Wicked Merry Christmas!

Mwahahahahappy Christmas!

We here at Evil UnLtd would like to wish a Wicked Merry Christmas to all our fans and followers out there on the world wide winternet.

Well, obviously we wouldn’t. This is all our author’s doing. Bad enough that he has insisted we donate our hard-won profits to charity, now he’s gone and lampooned us in some silly seasonal cartoon.

Still, since the charity in question is Cancer Research UK and we are as dedicated to combating rival evils as we are to crushing annoying hero types, we will indulge him on this occasion. Although we will of course be exacting our painful revenge on him at some point in the future.

All I would ask is that people follow this link here and please be so good as to share word of this LIVE UnLtd: Evil vs. Cancer campaign on Twitter, Facebook and generally wherever they can, all over the web – before we suffer any further indignities at the hands of our misguided author.

May your wine be mulled and your senses dulled.

Dexter Snide

(PS People can of course visit Cancer Research UK to donate directly.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us and helped spread the word so far!)

SAF 2012)

LIVE UnLtd

“Tom Hiddleston, another actor our author thinks would make a good me. I suppose he almost looks the part in the suit.” Dexter Snide

Fiction is rife with tales of creations – robots, monsters, what have you – turning on their creators. But it’s not so common to find creators attempting to royally shaft their creations. It is a truly despicable thing, a betrayal of the author-character relationship and quite frankly if the author expects his characters to behave as he wishes in his next book he will be in for a surprise of the nastiest kind.

Nasty is one of those things that we here at Evil UnLtd do best.

Still, we are to some degree at the mercy of our author’s whims and he has decided to fritter profits away on (permit me to shudder) charity. That’s right: all his royalties are going to Cancer Research UK for the next six months (until May 24^th 2013).

Personally, I see it as a cynical marketing ploy, exploiting a much-vaunted ‘worthwhile cause’ as a promotional tool and in that respect a laudable scheme. But really, either way, it shouldn’t concern me. It’s his money – the author’s share – and Evil UnLtd are not strictly about profits. One can make more money any time, after all – by printing your own, stealing and so on. Whereas spreading misery and despair et cetera, well, that’s priceless.

Indeed, it is exactly this line of thought that ultimately leads me to applaud this move.

Cancer is evil.

It’s remarkably effective in its ability to make people miserable, devastate lives, all that sort of thing. So you could be forgiven for thinking we would be doubly opposed to any charitable agency that sets out to combat it.

But quite frankly, we can do without the competition.

So I would like to see the back of it.

To that end, I would suggest that we, Evil UnLtd, and all you good people out there, if not actually unite in a common cause, at least engage in this temporary uneasy alliance to do what we can against this pervasive enemy.

You can contribute by purchasing a copies of our first two volumes, The Root Of All Evil and From Evil With Love. Links to the paperbacks and ebook formats are readily available on this site, but I’ll see to it that a minion provides them here again for your convenience:

Evil UnLtd Vol 1: The Root Of All Evil

 

Kindle (Amazon UK) £2.05

Kindle (Amazon US) $3.28

Other Ebook Formats (Smashwords) $2.99

Paperback (Amazon UK) £8.99

Evil UnLtd Vol 2: From Evil With Love

 

Kindle (Amazon UK) £2.05

Kindle (Amazon US) $3.28

Other Ebook Formats (Smashwords) $2.99

Paperback (Amazon UK) £8.99

You can also do your bit by spreading the word, telling your friends and/or enemies. Everybody and anybody.

See, our author was convinced we would disapprove and he would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for ‘us meddling characters’.

We are far smarter than that.

Long live Evil. Down with cancer.

Dexter Snide

 

Alternatively, please visit Cancer Research UK and make a direct donation.

Happy Birthday DNA

Douglas Adams will be 60 this Sunday.

That is to say, he would have been if not for, you know, Death, The Universe and Everything.

And although we at Galaxy Six Broadcasting are proud to forge our special blend of entertainment (and infotainment, edutainment and all-round lobotainment) with its own distinctive flavour, it would be no overstatement to say that DNA was – or is – the origin of our existence. We’ve created our own Universe and our own Everything, but if it wasn’t for dear old Douglas and his Hitch-Hiker’s Guide – plus numerous strong sources of Brownian motion (yes, sometimes a hot cup of tea, but sometimes the all-important Double Horlicks) – our efforts would have amounted to the equivalent of finding a lump of green putty in our armpit and completely failing to record the incident in verse.

As it is, we’ve recorded our incidents in no less than two volumes, with a third already in production and due for release in December this year. (2012, or an hour later on Galaxy Six +1.)

While others may contribute to the Adamsian universe with sixth books in the trilogy or TV episodes ‘based on’ Dirk Gently, we prefer to honour the man’s memory by creating our own brand. We all pine for more of his lovely fiddly bits around the fjords, but we are not parrots.

So why not try something new.

With that in mind, this weekend we are offering the first instalment in our top quality SF series at HALF PRICE – FOR THIS WEEKEND ONLY. Your chance to climb on board the rollercoaster at the beginning – with a discounted ticket.

Evil UnLtd Vol 1: The Root Of All Evil is available on Kindle:

From Amazon in the US

From Amazon in the UK

and in all other ebook formats

From Smashwords

The book was a smash-hit on HarperCollins’ authonomy site, within a month of the sample chapters being posted there, with hundreds of glowing comments from SF readers and those who’d never been near sci-fi in their life. This is what one reviewer had to say on Amazon:

“Evil UnLtd: The Root of All Evil is a genius space farce. Dexter Snide and his associates bumble their way through a series of (mis)adventures with a view to accumulating as much power, notoriety and wealth as they can. It is a wickedly funny, extremely well-written sci fi comedy that reads like a mash-up of Douglas Adams meets the TV sit-com, Red Dwarf, and one of my favourite sci fi tribute films, Galaxy Quest. It’s literate sci fi, chock full of humour and word play with some lovely nods to the genre and a wonderfully fitting cast of characters.”

Author Simon A Forward has written a number of books, audio dramas and short stories for Doctor Who as well as novelisations for the BBC’s Merlin series.

He is not DNA. Nor is anyone here at Galaxy Six. We just loved the man’s work.

Hopefully, even as we weave these new and exciting tales, that shows in ours.

Here’s to you, Douglas.

Share and Enjoy.

SAF

(Note: The books are also available in paperback, through Amazon, with signed copies available direct – secure payment with Paypal – from the author’s own webpage www.simonforward.co.uk. Sadly we are unable to offer the paperbacks at a discount at this time, but of course the ebooks can be enjoyed on your PC, Android phone, iPhone, iPad and probably iClaudius as well.)

Evil Movie Database

(Click on the images for larger views)

SAF 2012