Warrior of mars

[Vym Cotex]

Dear Mike,
I hope you dont mind me asking but it is something that has preyed on me mind since i first read warrior......is it an unfortunate coincidence that The warrior of Mars shares his name with an annoying actor(front rank ....fire!)?...or was it planned ?
Vym :?

[Marca]

Annoying? :?

My name... is Michael Kane

[liar_on_high]

Caine of Old Movies?

[Michael Moorcock]

It's one of those names which I tend to associate with old pulp magazines and I must admit I wasn't THAT familiar with the actor at the time I wrote the books. I think he was probably just starting his career.
I'd think twice about doing it now. Of course, there's also Michael's sister 'Sultry' who died so violently on the Compact Books thread... :)

[GuyLawley]

The coincidence has given me no little amusement over the years.

Caine the actor has been in some god-awful stuff, but also in one of my favourite films, Get Carter, which he also co-produced.

Mike, did your path ever cross with that of Ted Lewis, Carter’s writer?

[Michael Moorcock]

No. I've always wanted to read the book which, as I recall, was originally called Jack's Return Home.

[GuyLawley]

Yus. At an early stage in development of the film, it was going to be called simply Carter. So there is a film tie-in paperback called Carter with Michael Kane on the cover. Mostly nowadays you find copies with the Get Carter title. I’m not sure there’s been a Moorcock book published under three different titles, though I wouldn’t be surprised.

I’ll have a look in Maxim’s this evening, see if they have a copy. If the shop is still open, that is.

Did you know Murder One/New World’s is having to move to a smaller shop over the road? The whole site on their side of the road is being re-developed. A major bummer for the retailers there. They have my deep sympathy.

Word is that the SF section (New Worlds) will disappear. Also not great news. Am I going to have to go to Forbidden *shudder* Planet for my new hardbacks? And never browse the shelves of second hands and bargains? I’ve had the great pleasure of finding missing issues of New Worlds and Impulse etc there. It is property developers’ greed that is to blame, needless to say.

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Another thing about the Get Carter movie… the English assassin, never named, who appears right at the end, glimpsed twice earlier in the film, is identified by a gold and black ring bearing a big initial, J. Hmm…

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Has anyone else ever seen the little van on the streets of London with the legend “G.E.T. Carter, Electrician and Handyman� (or similar) on the side? Not just an urban myth, I’ve had two sightings myself. I’ve always wondered if those are his genuine initials.

[Marca]

I have the Carter paperback - the film title must have been changed very late in the day...

Murder One/New Worlds moving!? New Worlds disappearing?! That's always been one of my first stops anytime I get to London. They're not knocking the place down are they? That row of shops has always looked very distinctive. And the second hand prices in New Worlds are almost always reasonable. In fact, I've found some real bargains in there over the years, including some Moorcock items.

[GuyLawley]

Yes, a pal of mine who runs Comic Showcase showed me the plans in the Evening Fascist (I beg your pardon, Evening Standard) some weeks back. Total rebuild job. Huge mall-style arcade with lots of smaller units (= more rent coming in). Deep Pan Pizza already dead and gone (sob!). Cheap internet caff just down the road, which has only been there a few months, will presumably go… I won’t miss Holland & Barrett. There’s a branch of Vintage Mags there which some will mourn, I expect. Not my thing. Also a much-frequented gay club (again, not by me). I suppose the point is, the affordable rents have meant lots of idiosyncratic smaller businesses have thrived there. Now it will be Next and McDonalds again.

Murder One / NewWorlds is apparently relocating just over the road but to a smaller shop. I’ve heard the SF is to go, don’t know about the Romance section. And yes, their second-hand stuff has always been very resasonable.

As for my beloved Comic Showcase… ?????????

[Michael Moorcock]

New Worlds is definitely going. Forbidden Planet had a part share in the business, so presumably they'll be able to absorb some of the NW business.
Strange that the whole block should go, given that it's probably the most recent bit of building in CC Road. Presumably the other side is not
going ? It'll be pretty horrible if the property developers get their hands on the whole damned place.

[IanAbrahams]

Murder One/New Worlds moving!? New Worlds disappearing?! That's always been one of my first stops anytime I get to London.

I dunno, sounds like another "must visit" in my infrequent London trips is going. Last year it was Helter Skelter, this year it sounds like New Worlds and Comics Showcase. Nothing, of course, stays the same but it's a crying shame none the less.

Mind you, I still miss "Dark They Were & Golden Eyed" - and Forbidden Planet hasn't been the same since it's two dark and dingy stores become one in New Oxford Street, let alone the clinical shopping experience that is the new Shaftesbury Avenue store - that's *not* what comic shops are meant to be.

Ian :D