William D. Flackes

http://nhw.livejournal.com/669210.html

This is the third sf book I have read attributed to the veteran Northern Irish political journalist W.D. Flackes, written in the early 1950s. It is basically the only one where we can be pretty certain of his authorship as it is under his own name - the other two that I have read are both by "Clem Macartney", and John Clute informs me that he is thought to have been one of the people behind the pseudonym "Vektis Brack". Reading this was especially useful for me because I felt that the two "Clem Macartney" novels were quite possibly by different people, one a competently executed but unexciting Dan Dare rip-off, the other a thoughtful but clunky rewrite of When Worlds Collide.

On the basis of Duel in Nightmare Worlds I now feel pretty certain that Flackes wrote the latter but not the former of the Macartney books. The prose has improved, but we have the same somewhat cardboard characterisation, the same casual disregard for celestial mechanics, and most of all the same colonial/imperialist approach. The agenda is made clear on the first page:

Kyle and Gar Braddan had been commissioned by Earthcontrol, the Earth Government, to prevent the occupation of Venus by the Mercurians, as well as to conquer the planet, Mercury, where two separate races had developed, each possessing scientific knowledge rivalling Earthmen's. On Earth, there was widespread fear that the Mercurians would conquer Venus and threaten the Earth.

Rex Kyle, our hero, and his allies Walter Holt, Burgess, West and the glamorous Kay Lammins, all have good British-type names; the treacherous human military leader Gar Braddan and his sidekick scientist Carl Roshen sound vaguely foreign and sinister. The story is largely set on Venus, which rather than rather than being hot and swampy is a desert rather reminiscent of North Africa. The native "Veenies" are an inferior race, sometimes quaint, sometimes vaguely threatening, but in any case destined to remain under the enlightened rule of the Earthmen (note the gender of that noun). The intriguing possibilities of the two civilisations of Mercury are not, in fact, explored, as the Earthmen unite in conquest of the planet.

The book is interesting as a revelation of the author's mind-set, but really not one I could recommend as literature.… (altro)

http://www.incore.ulster.ac.uk/services/ecrd/new/reviews/311.html

Since its first edition in 1980, this directory has been an essential reference tool for anyone interested in the politics of Northern Ireland. The fourth edition was published early in 1994, just before the paramilitary ceasefires. It was exhaustive, authoritative and definitive - up to that point. However it contained little information on the new groups and personalities that came to prominence in the six dynamic years that followed. The new fifth edition, completed during a pause in the peace process in summer 1999, therefore has a tough act to follow. It does not completely succeed. This is particularly true in the "Dictionary of Northern Ireland Politics" section which lists key personalities, themes and events of the Troubles in alphabetical order. One of the joys of previous editions was their wealth of detail on obscure politicians who won an election sometime in the 1970s (or earlier). For the new edition, this should have been judiciously pruned. More space should have been given to those who were elected to the Northern Ireland Forum in 1996 and the new Assembly in 1998, some of whom have entries only two lines long. The Northern Ireland Women's Coalition gets only a short entry, and the Northern Ireland Labour group which also participated in the 1996-98 talks has no entry at all. A leading supporter of the Orange Order's "right to march" is listed, but the leaders of the residents groups opposed to her are not. There are a number of inaccuracies relating to the most recent period - John Alderdice was not a candidate in the 1994 European election (p. 155); names such as Glendinning (p. 211) and Ramaphosa (p. 443) are misspelt. Besides the "dictionary" section, the other parts of the new edition - a chronology, lists of office holders, notes on security and systems of government - have been updated as necessary. One high point: in the section listing election results, the descriptions of the most recent campaigns are vivid and accurate. This book is still essential, but the new edition is merely useful rather than excellent. I am looking forward to the seventh edition.… (altro)