2010 books

31) John Christopher, The Death of Grass, 1956
I'm honestly not sure if this is a re-read – I have a vague recollection of reading it circa 1976 but my memory must have somehow conflated it with that other 'floral apocalypse' The Day of the Triffids, to which it bears little resemblance, and yet if I did read it I'm surprised I didn't remember more as all-round it's a far better read, one that leads me to believe it was a book I wrongly tossed before finishing. There's certainly a greater similarity to Golding's Lord of the Flies (which is also up for a re-read soon) in the way it shows civilisation as little more than a fragile set of agreements, easily ignored when the chips are down as the world's diseased food chain collapses and Britain descends into anarchy. This is deliberately a very adult book that gives little consideration to half-formed attitudes – the perspectives of the coterie of children who also head north with John Custance are more or less ignored as a deadly adult type of playground power-play is put centre stage instead. There are a couple of well-drawn characters in the cynical Roger Buckley and particularly the enigmatic Henry Pirrie, whose individual influence throughout the novel is consistent and believable. The Death of Grass has been out of print so long that a 2007 Bookfinder survey named it as one of the top ten out-of-print British books; another out-of-print book it reminds me of – in believable environmental themes at least – is Brunner's The Sheep Look Up, although John Christopher/Sam Youd's conception of a highly contagious and adaptable form of stem rust seems to be coming ever-closer to reality. A timely and overdue reprint, and a scary read indeed.

1950s SF film

"Professor, what do you make of all this? There’s nothing but women!”
“Perhaps this is a civilization that exists without sex.”
“You call that civilization?”
“Frankly, no."

Queen of Outer Space, 1958, USA   DIRECTED BY EDWARD BERNDS
Four astronauts stranded on Venus have their teenage fantasies fulfilled in this classic slice of camp in which they get to save the Earth from destruction and get the girls. After the Venusian war with the planet Mordo, and having banished the violent Venusian men to the small moon that apparently circles Venus, the evil Queen Eliana turned their attention to Earth where they suspected more men were developing weapons to attack. From a satirical script by top Hollywood screenwriter Ben Hecht a rather decent and fun movie emerged, largely as a result of Hecht's natural way with dialogue peppered with a few well-aimed one-liners: “You know, there’s a certain irony in the fact that our lives and perhaps the lives of everyone on Earth may depend on Captain Patterson’s sex appeal…” The humour smacks of Abbott and Costello, a host of ideas were nicked from Cat-Women of the Moon, the spacesuits were recycled from Forbidden Planet and the scenes of romantic attraction (as well as the stage sets) now possess an unmistakable Star Trek vibe. This is tame 'battle of the sexes' stuff now, but here is Zsa Zsa Gabor as the rebel freedom fighter Talia – along with a host of other women with legs, guns and attitude – all of whom predated Ellen Ripley by twenty years.

(Cross-posted with cult_movie)