Can I put CARIBBEAN CRISIS online?

[Sexton Blake]

Once I was Lupus. And I lost my login details. Then I was a guest named Stilettoblade. Now I'm registered again and I'm called Sexton Blake. It's an audacious choice... which may explain why Pedro just took a chunk out of my thigh. Keep him away, Tinker!

Mike, in an old thread, now buried in the Q&A Archives, you state that you wouldn't object if someone put CARIBBEAN CRISIS online. I'd like to do just that, in time for the relaunch of my Blake website. Would that be okay?

Cheers

SB

[Governor of Rowe Island]

'Fraid someone beat you to it Sexton, old chap -

http://www.eclipse.co.uk/sweetdespis...ck/crisis.html

I think thought this was an officially sanctioned site. Though Mike not knowing about it (seemingly) might suggest otherwise!

I've been aware of this site for quite a while and the copyright at the bottom is 1996-2000. I'm surprised some hasn't posted this link before me. Guy, Aral, demos? You all know this site, don't you?

[Sexton Blake]

Wellll... the web ain't exactly a beating each other to it sorta place really, is it? As long as Mike says it's okay, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't put it online too. Only thing is, I won't do it without his permission.

[David Mosley]

I've been aware of this site for quite a while and the copyright at the bottom is 1996-2000. I'm surprised some hasn't posted this link before me. Guy, Aral, demos? You all know this site, don't you?

Yep, I know it. :)

It was Sweet Despise that first put me on the trail of The Nemedians (see [broken link]this thread). It's a good site and one I've found very useful in researching my Bibliographies of Mike's work.

[Whiskers]

it was posted here at one time

[Sexton Blake]

Why was it removed, Berry?

[GuyLawley]

Yes, thanks, I was aware of it (ages ago). I printed off the "novel", informed the webmaster that one chapeter was missing , and even READ part of it! Not all. I think when I found out it was co-written by Mike and then re-written by as many as two other people I lost interest.

Always meant to go back and finish it some day...

[Michael Moorcock]

It's such a dog's breakfast, I'm not sure it's of much interest to most readers, though I wouldn't have any particular objection. I can't see much point in it, that's all -- i.e. I agree with Guy! Is it still online from sweetdespise, which is a very good site and one I'm in regular touch with, so I would have given them permission. If it's still up, thenall you'll need do is make a link. Otherwise, I really don't mind. I'd rather see some of the Zenith stories I haven't seen, of course. :)

[Whiskers]

Why was it removed, Berry?

The site redesign occurred and I never got around to posting it back up here. I'm sure there's a link to it to be found with a search here. But it can be found at sweet despise via Google, so I thought "What's the point?"

[GuyLawley]

I'd rather see some of the Zenith stories I haven't seen, of course. :)

There's a thought.

Sexton and I might be able to rustle something up between us, but it would be helpful to know which Zenith stories you've already seen, Mike.

Not that I'd expect you to be able to reel 'em off from memory!

[David Mosley]

It's such a dog's breakfast, I'm not sure it's of much interest to most readers, though I wouldn't have any particular objection. I can't see much point in it, that's all -- i.e. I agree with Guy!

I downloaded* CC from Sweet Depise sometime last year and reformatted it in MS Word for better readability, and I think I then failed to actually read it. :roll: Once I've finished up with the Elric novellas from the Science Fantasy era in the Moorcockopedia** I'm thinking of going back (as it where) and writing up an entry on CC. Having said that I think I'd much rather read Mike's pro-Castro version than Bill Baker's anti-Castro re-write.

In reality, I think that CC's 'significance' is almost solely down to it's rarity - in that sense, it shares something in common with Douglas Adams' script for the Tom Baker-era Doctor Who story 'Shada', which acquired a 'mystique' among fans because the BBC never finished filming it. But when you actually read the script you realise that despite Adams' pedigree it would have made for a very average tale had it ever been broadcast.

* By download, I think I mean 'copied 'n' pasted'. ;)
** I uploaded the M'pedia entry on Black Sword's Brothers last night and should be working my way through 'Sad Giant's Shield' in the next week or so.

[Sexton Blake]

ZENITH THE ALBINO

Part of the purpose of the newly designed sextonblake.co.uk (launching in just a few days) is to place some of those long-lost stories online. Upon launch, it will carry 12 stories from PENNY PICTORIAL circa 1909-1912 in which Blake duels with one of his first super-criminal opponents: Marston Hume.

There will also be 8 tales from the same paper, same period, in which Blake is accompanied by Lady Molly, the 'Lady Detective'.

CARIBBEAN CRISIS will also be there.

Plus a 13-part old time radio series: SEXTON BLAKE AND THE TIME KILLER.

I own all the Zenith stories and will definitely (eventually) reproduce those that I can scan without damaging the paper... but some of those UNION JACKs are crumbling wrecks and would die in the scanner, so it's a delicate operation.

[GuyLawley]

I know what you mean about that old paper. I will only scan stories if I don't care about the magazine falling apart, and that usually means I've got a second copy.

Some old Blakes, though, I will happily scan so long as I've got the Eric Parker cover intact, and the text in some surviving form, electronic or paper. So I'll take some chances with the scannning!

I haven't got many, though; a very incomplete collection chosen for their nice Parker covers and whatever Zenith stories happen to have come my way.

We must pool our resources, Sexton old bean!

Meanwhile I look forward to reading a few bits of Marston Hume and especially Lady Molly. (I've been a big fan of the Lord Peter and Harriet Vane stories for some time; wonder if there's any similarity?)

[Michael Moorcock]

I find that if I remove the staples and then replace them, most SBLs are okay and most of my UJs. It's a great project. Maybe Savoy would like to join in. We do have plans to put out another Zenith book at some point. Wouldn't it be great to have every Zenith available on one of our sites ? I have another series in Popular which aren't Blake, as such, but are about George Marsden Plummer. Do you know these ?
Amazing how much better my old age is looking! Get busy lads! PLEASE!
:)

[Sexton Blake]

PLUCK

Hey Mike, Do you mean POPULAR or PLUCK? I have all the POPULARS that carry Blake stories but there are no Plummer tales in them. Possibly they appeared after issue 221, which was the last issue with Blake in it (incidentally, every single POPULAR Blake story is a reprint or rewrite of earlier UJ tales).

PLUCK, on the other hand, definitely did carry Plummer stories, featuring him as a young none-to-honest C.I.D. man (a disreputable C.I.D. man... surely not! :D ).

PLUCK also had a series of stories about a young Detective-Inspector Spearing. An older Spearing became Blake's first police ally, preceeding good old Coutts by at least a decade. In the PLUCK tales he's a fairly good character but by the time he joins Blake he's a complete pain in the arse; speaking in abrupt, semi-coherent sentences: "Villain gone. Failure. Fault yours. Get dog. Off Leg!" -- sort of thing. Nearly every sentence is followed by 'he jerked' -- "Poison in drink. Doctor! Need! Get now! Why not moving? Urgent!" he jerked.

In fact, Spearing was a jerk, full stop. Whenever I read one of those early stories, I always have to follow it with a Coutts tale. I like Coutts. The gruff old bugger.

Mike, you're dead right about the staples. I wonder how many issues survived two world wars only to succumb to the creeping acid that leaks out of those little demons. I take 'em out and stitch the issues together with cotton. Time consuming but worth it.

Oddly enough, some of my very earliest issues - the HALFPENNY MARVELS, for example - look like they were printed just a few months ago. It's the stuff from the WW2 period that suffers the most - bad quality paper, for obvious reasons.

Incidentally, my absolute favourite Blake era is the 1912-1919 period when all the big villains were first introduced. Creativity just crackles off the pages.

Site relaunch due in the coming week - full details will be posted here. And absolutely YES, I would love to pool resources with anyone who is as passionate about preserving and reviving SB as I am!