Something Wicked SF and Horror Magazine #4 Read online

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  Inkless Media

  www.somethingwicked.co.za

  Copyright ©2007 by Something Wicked and Contributing Authors

  First published in August, 2007

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  NOTICE: This work is copyrighted. It is licensed only for use by the original purchaser. Making copies of this work or distributing it to any unauthorized person by any means, including without limit email, floppy disk, file transfer, paper print out, or any other method constitutes a violation of International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines or imprisonment.

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  www.SomethingWicked.co.za

  SCIENCE FICTION & HORROR

  ISSUE 4—AUGUST 2007

  cover art by

  Jesca Marisa

  aingealliath.deviantart.com/

  Published Quarterly by Inkless Media

  ISSN 1991-0444

  Editor: Joe Vaz

  Managing Editor: Vianne Venter

  Contributing Non-Fiction Writers: Paul Blom, Fayyaad Hendricks, Dominic Lee, Sarah Lotz, Joe Vaz, Vianne Venter

  Marginals & Additional Art: Genevieve Terblanche

  Design & Layout: Joe Vaz

  Cover Art By: Jesca Marisa

  Advertising: Joe or Vianne on +27 74 197 6456

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  www.SomethingWicked.co.za

  [email protected]

  Subscriptions: R105 for one year ($39.60 for International Orders). Cheques or Postal Orders should be crossed and marked payable to Inkless Media and sent to P.O. Box 15074, Vlaeberg, Cape Town 8018, South Africa or log on to the site for information on how to pay by credit card or EFT. NO REGISTERED MAIL PLEASE. Check out info inside the back cover. Submissions: Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. Submissions must ONLY be sent via e-mail to: [email protected] as an attached Word .doc or .rtf file with the subject line ‘Story Submission'. We keep all artists on file and solicit work from them as and when needed. Send portfolios or links to [email protected] with the subject line ART. No postal submissions will be accepted. Please send all other queries, letters or suggestions to the above postal address or by email to: [email protected] or log on to forum.somethingwicked.co.za.

  Printed By Trident Press, Cape Town and Distributed by MagScene +27 11 579 2000

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  All material copyright © 2007 by Inkless Media, Something Wicked and by the individual creators. All rights reserved.

  This material may not be reproduced in any form without prior written permission.

  All characters within stories are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental, unless otherwise stated.

  The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher.

  CONTENTS

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  FICTION

  Subtle Thief by C Hellisen, art by Vianne Venter

  Liberation by Kevin Anderson, art by Vincent Sammy

  An Eye For An Eye by Sarah Lotz, art by Pierre Smit

  Half A Bottle of Rum by Nicole Strickland, art by Joe Doe

  Justice by Bernadine Rogers, art by Jesca Marisa

  Child by Gareth Robertson, art by Hendrik Gericke

  Night Time is a-Coming by Werner Pretorius, art by Pierre Smit

  Dreaming My Life Away by Brett Venter, art by Hendrik Gericke

  Burnt by Caitlin Leigh, art by Kobus Faber

  The Destination by Malcolm Cumming, art by Kobus Faber

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  FEATURES

  Editor's Note

  Interview with Ed Neumeier, by Joe Vaz

  Writers Cornered by Vianne Venter

  Film Fest to Die For by Paul Blom

  The Crypt of Literary Treasures by Sarah Lotz

  Disturbo 10 by Dominic Lee

  Out & About

  Book Reviews

  Music Reviews

  Games Reviews

  Featured Artists’ Gallery

  CONTENTS

  EDITOR'S NOTES

  INTERVIEW WITH ED NEUMEIER

  THE SUBTLE THIEF by C Hellisen

  WRITERS CORNERED: SOUTH AFRICAN FANTASY by Vianne Venter

  LIBERATION by Kevin Anderson

  A FILM FEST TO DIE FOR by Paul Blom

  AN EYE FOR AN EYE by Sarah Lotz

  HALF A BOTTLE OF RUM by Nicole Strickland

  JUSTICE by Bernadine Rogers

  THE CRYPT OF LITERARY TREASURES by Sarah Lotz

  CHILD by Gareth Robertson

  NIGHT TIME IS A-COMING by Werner Pretorius

  10 MOST DISTURBING MOVIES EVER MADE by Dominic Lee

  DREAMING MY LIFE AWAY by Brett Venter

  BOOK REVIEW—The Riddler's Gift by Greg Hamerton

  BOOK REVIEW—Demon Lord by TC Southwell

  BOOK REVIEW—Blaze by Richard Bachman

  MUSIC REVIEWS

  GAMES REVIEWS by Fayyaad Hendricks

  BURNT by Caitlin Leigh

  THE DESTINATION by Malcolm Cumming

  FEATURED ARTISTS’ GALLERY

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  EDITOR'S NOTES

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  Now is the winter of our content—and boy do we have tons of it.

  For those of you who have just tuned in, or can't count, this is Issue 4—Winter 2007. That's right, we've been around for four full issues and we're still clawing onto the parapet above the long steel spiky things.

  For a lot of you, and us, this comes as a huge surprise, indeed I wrote my obituary about four months ago, but hey we're here and we've got a great magazine for you.

  Some of the more attentive of you out there may have realised that you paid a full five Rand more for this issue than you did for the last. The reason for this is a cunning plan to see if we can make it to our one-year anniversary. We figured our loyal readers would want in on that project, and could spare the extra fiver so that we could eat—oh and keep Something Wicked alive, of course.

  But enough with the doom and gloom and let's get on with the show.

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  The big news is that next issue is our one-year anniversary and to commemorate the occasion we'll be back at the HorrorFest (check page 15 for details) launching Issue 5. We'll be there selling back-issues and our newly designed T-Shirts, not to mention watching horror movies, of course. We're also gearing up for another short-story competition and this time we're hoping to stretch into sci-fi territory with some scary spaceman stories. Check out page 35 for more info.

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  If you were out and about these last few months you might have bumped into us at the Cape Town Book Fair or perhaps Icon in Jo'burg, where we spent some time promoting the mag, selling signed copies and T-shirts to the fans. Thank you to all of the writers, artists and fans that popped over to say hi, we loved hanging out with you guys and always appreciate your feedback and kind words.

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  In the last month I was also fortunate enough to be sent to London on some (paying) work and I used the opportunity to meet up with some International distributors in the hope of getting Something Wicked and all the brilliant South African writers and artists we feature out into the global market.

  We'll keep you posted on that one.

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  Meanwhile, in this issue we have ten brand-new stories—some disturbing, some funny, and some downright blood-curdling, and all of them awesome. We welcome back Brett Venter, Werner Pretorius, and the lovely Sarah Lotz, winner of Issue 1's Short-Story competition. SW first-timers include Gareth Robertson, C Hellise
n, Bernadine Rogers, Nicole Strickland, Caitlin Leigh, Malcolm Cumming and our first-ever American writer—Kevin Anderson. Welcome to the asylum, we hope you stick around.

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  I think you'll agree that the art for Issue 4 is truly gorgeous. Some of your old favourites are back—see Vincent's work on Liberation, and Jesca's fairytale illustrations for Justice. (Incidentally, Jesca is also responsible for the leather-winged babe on our cover.) Our phenomenal regular contributors, Hendrik, Pierre, Joe, and Kobus have stepped up to the plate once again, along with brand new artist Vianne, (though she is not really brand new as she has been drawing bits and bobs for the mag for the last 3 issues, she just hasn't been credited for it).

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  Our interview for this quarter is with creator and scriptwriter of Robocop and Starship Troopers, Ed Neumeier, who was recently in SA directing Starship Troopers: Marauder.

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  So sit back and enjoy this jam-packed issue. Great articles, great stories and great art for your late night pleasures.

  You ready? Take a deep breath—now jump.

  Joe

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  Got something to say? Go on, byte me: Send your letters, compliments, complaints & suggestions to: [email protected] or P.O. Box 15074, Vlaeberg, Cape Town, 8018, South Africa or register on our forum at forum.somethingwicked.co.za/

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  INTERVIEW WITH ED NEUMEIER

  words & photo by Joe Vaz

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  At first you may not recognise his name, but Ed Neumeier has created two of the greatest Sci-Fi franchises ever, Robocop & Starship Troopers.

  He was recently in South Africa shooting his directorial debut, the third instalment in the Starship franchise, Starship Troopers: Marauder, which he also wrote.

  Having had a small role in the film I was lucky enough to get on to set and given the opportunity to interview him.

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  How did you get into scriptwriting?

  Well, I've always been interested in writing, my father was a journalist, so writing and reading were pretty important in the house I grew up in, and I always liked movies, but the two didn't come together until I went off to the University of California. I also knew I didn't have enough money to go out and make a film so then I had to be a writer.

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  What was your first gig?

  At first I did some journalism and stuff. I learned how to do paste-up, in the old days before computers. As a result of that I learned a trade, which allowed me to work my way through college.

  Then I decided I'd go to UCLA film-school and I took some writing classes. After that I wanted to get a job on a studio so first I got a job as a runner on a TV show called Taxi, and then, almost on the same day, I got another job, on the other side of the Paramount lot, as a story-analyst. I couldn't decide which one to take, so I took them both.

  So for about two months, I was riding my bike from job to job. It was very stressful. But that got me into reading a lot of scripts.

  As a story-analyst you basically do all the reading for the executives, who don't have the time to read all the scripts that come in, and that was probably how I learned to write scripts, by just reading, I don't know, about 4000 or something like that, most of them bad.

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  So how did Robocop come about?

  Well, I was reading at a studio, which is now Warner Bros, but at that time it was a little more complicated because it was half Columbia and half Warner Bros—but that's another story. But I was working on the Columbia side and right near my office was the dividing line between the Columbia side of the lot and the Warner Bros back-lot and they were making this enormous sci-fi movie, and it was the coolest thing ever.

  I'd come into the business at a time when budgets were very low and this movie was the biggest sci-fi movie I had ever seen, it had taken over the whole back-lot, I remember this incredible looking car, a blue car. I started going there at night and working in the Art Department—it was so big that nobody even knew who worked on it, so I would just show up and they put me to work—doing something, making garbage mash and throwing it on the street. Harrison Ford was in it and I finally I asked somebody, “What is this movie about?” And they said, “It's about robots".

  It was Blade Runner. They pointed out Sean Young to me and said, “she's a robot” and I immediately thought, “that's not what a robot looks like".

  About two nights later I was looking at that blue car and it was there on the street or on a crane and I really had, and it's never happened to me before or since, but I had this image of this character, Robocop—the title just came into my mind. I had been thinking about doing a kind of sci-fi action piece that made fun of business and was sort of half social-satire and half something else and it was there that it sort-of went whoosh and I had this image of this robot guy, who was looking at all the chaos on the street. And the first notion of him was somebody who couldn't understand why human beings acted the way they do.

  So that is where it started, and then about a year later as I working on it the notion that he was a guy that got turned into a robot was the next big break-through, and then it was a matter of writing it.

  I met a guy named Mike Miner and I told him the story I had worked out and he said, “that's really cool, why don't we write it together. I'll direct it", and I said, “okay".

  So we wrote it and gave it to a couple of people we knew and actually two people wanted to buy it immediately. One of them was a guy named Jon Davidson, who was a producer who had worked with Roger Corman, and was best friends with Joe Dante and Jonathan Kaplan and they were a whole group who had come from the NYU film-school that had Scorsese as their professor.

  So Davidson read the script and said, “let's do it” it never was so easy as that one.

  He had a deal at the time with a company called Orion and right around that time they were making Terminator, which they thought was a stupid movie but it had made money for them and so they thought, “let's make Robocop, which is another stupid movie that might make money". Which was very lucky in a way, because they didn't really take it too seriously because they were making Bounty at the time, which was their ‘important’ picture, so they weren't really paying much attention. And then they got Paul Verhoeven and he read it and that changed things a little bit. Suddenly it got serious. Meeting Paul was obviously very good for the movie but also we became very good friends on that movie and worked together quite a lot after that, but Robocop turned out to be pretty much exactly how I had written it and even a little better, which is a pretty unusual experience, it also spoiled me.

  I got to produce it which meant that I got to be on set and be a part of the decisions, so I had a sense of really having had a hand in the making of the picture from beginning to end, and it turned out better than I could have hoped, in terms of the way it played, and the tone and the jokes.

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  How important was the collaboration with Verhoeven?

  It's everything, I think. You know Paul comes from Europe where the writer was considered an important part of the equation, whereas in the US it seems that isn't always the case you know, they can always just get another writer. In some cases when you see movies that are made in the US that have four writers, that's usually a bad sign, the story is going to get pretty mushy.

  Paul always felt writers had a role and that their voice was important in making it thematically strong.

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  Clarence Boddicker is definitely one of the great on-screen villains, how did he come about?

  Kurtwood Smith was one of those great pieces of luck, again, and a great stroke of luck for me, as a writer dealing with actors. I remember sitting in on the casting and when he came in it was just one of those, “oh—that's the guy!"

  Kurtwood and I actually sat down and went through all the scenes and I'd say a good third o
f the lines you remember came out of those collaborations.

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  "Guns, guns, guns!"

  He just showed up on set with that one. “Can you fly, Bobby?” was another one he just did on the set, he's a good guy. I really learned from Kurtwood that a good actor is the best luck a writer has.

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  Moving onto Starship Troopers, how different is your adaptation from Robert Heinlein's original novel?

  When I started writing Starship I hadn't read the book in about 13 years. When you read the book now, you realise, there's not really a story there, there's a character who goes through this experience of joining the military and training and meeting some people and forming certain bonds with people, but it's really more of a kind of treatise, which is cool. I think that the real departure isn't even in the story, although there are departures, it's more that I have taken Heinlein's almost right-wing thing and turned it on it's head. It's funny because if you want to you can think it's that, but I think some of his fans have gotten kind of pissed off about it because they think maybe I'm making fun of them, and I'm not really, I'm just telling it both ways.

  Starship was really about saying that war movies are about fascism. War turns us into fascists. And the interesting thing about war is to explore the media's perspective on war. And that was what was fun to me. And the trick is to never tell anybody about it.

  One of the things that Paul and I decided to do with Starship was to not tell anybody what we were doing, to really play it down the middle. To play it on the one side as “this is just a big fun, stupid movie” and on the other hand have all these other themes in it, which if you look at it are there in every scene, they're just not underlined or pushed.

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  How much of the idea to use television broadcasts to tell part of the story in both Robocop and Starship was yours?

  That was always part of the script, in fact one of the few arguments Paul and I had on Robocop was that he wasn't certain how to do that and I insisted on shooting it the way it is, which is apparently a very Brechtian thing to do, to break the story completely. The media broadcasts just flash on screen, they're not viewed in the background, or on someone's TV, which is the problem Paul was having with it. He got into it later because we used it again in Starship.