This Is Inner Space

...the concept of Tau... the world of inter-atom... 

It was an area of  non-logic which only grudgingly conceded a place to man and his fallibilities.

Caught in a twilight world somewhere between between death and the edge of life, they hung at the very fringes of endurance in a state of mental and physical chaos.  

- Colin Kapp
Lambda 1 New Worlds Science Fiction, December 1962

illus: This Is Inner Space (Lambda 1), 2014

Space Opera An Interview With A C Evans

Space Opera, eight linked poems employing Science Fiction imagery, contains willed ironies reflective of the element of ambiguity so inherent to the works of the writer concerned, ‘hermetic artist’ A. C. Evans.

Neogaea – New Earth – as a term summons up hopeful visions by association, while Space Opera calls upon the reader to expect epic, even glorious, space adventure. Yet, in fact, the sections cumulatively ‘tell a story’, insofar as clear and sequential narrative can be drawn from the image data projected by these pieces (even the use of the word ‘poem’ is rendered ambiguous by Evans’ own preference for the term ‘texts’) not of hope or wonder but of flawed personnel with fractured motivation bedeviled by fragmented data and encountering, finally, only failure of ‘a great attempt’.

This ‘great attempt’ – to explore the massive outer space planet Neogaea and its alien-inhabited satellite Neon, where strange non-human ‘cathedrals’ dominate a bizarre landscape (which is told in the Space Opera itself, and also affects a prior but unrelated Evans piece, ‘Contact Zero’), relates to many illustrations, and continues as an ‘undertow’ or concealed reference point in some of his more recent work – should have been a notable landmark in the development of speculative poetry in Britain.

That this was not so is a function, I suspect, partly of the difficulty of the work, a density of form, and demands on reader concentration more familiar in the ‘cutting edge’ areas of American speculative poetry of the time. It is also, perhaps, a result of the actual place of publication. The sequence appeared not in a genre outlet (though, as an aside, attempts by other writers at experimental work in UK genre outlets at about the same time also met little response), but in a more ‘mainstream’ group of publications, namely issues of Rupert Loydell’s little magazine Stride and related booklets from the same editor’s press: Stride Publications.

As the passage of time gives the perspective to appreciate more easily the importance of the achievement represented by Space Opera, and as a growing number of genre readers develop a capacity to attempt the appreciation of work which combines SF iconography with experiments in communicative form, therefore there is a value in returning to the sequence.

In an interview with Stride’s editor in Spring 1985, published in Stride 20, A. C. Evans gave considerable insight into his sources, inspirations, and methodology; but this interview had concentrated heavily on his artwork, rather than his poetry, and at no point in time overtly touched on the use of Science Fiction or speculative themes and imagery. I felt an interview directed to clarifying these areas would be of value, particularly in terms of contexting the powerful Space Opera sequence.

I began by asking about the use by the writer of the term ‘texts’ for this and other written work.

A. C. Evans: I use the term to distance myself from traditional verse writing. I actually prefer the phrase ‘poems and/or texts’ – so referring to the material as ‘prose-poems’ or just ‘poems’ is not a problem at all.

A related group of questions followed, aiming to elicit the roots of Evans’ use of Science Fiction material, and its meaning to his writing.

Steve Sneyd: How do you see your work in relation to Speculative poetry as a whole – do you see a connection? Are you influenced by others, and if so, who?

A.C. Evans: Regrettably, I am not in touch with Speculative, or Science Fiction, poetry in the UK (although I guess I should be!), so I can’t identify any influences in this context. My only formal connection with the Speculative scene was the appearance of a couple of drawings in the American magazine Velocities (1983), which is definitely “a magazine of speculative poetry”. Influences do surface of course, but they are external to current small press SF. Quite a complex area this, but if asked I would cite J. G. Ballard and Olaf Stapledon (crucial). American influences would be William Burroughs (inescapable) and H.P. Lovecraft, and possibly Harlan Ellison. But the SF influence generally is non-specific, culled from mass media SF and SF/Fantasy art, etc. etc.

Are you someone who has come to these forms/topics via an interest in Science Fiction?

Science Fiction has always been part of the cultural landscape (for me), so SF topics were a natural element in the ‘symbolic repertoire’. I have no real intention of being an SF writer – SF is just a component of the mass media environment we inhabit. I’m using SF as raw material, in fact, so I’m not really working from within the genre – this accentuates the alienation-distancing effect I hope to project. The details of the SF scenario I use probably derive from the mass media SF I mentioned: Dr. Who, Star Trek, or 1960s TV plays such as Collin Kapp’s ‘Lambda 1’; also the films of Andrei Tarkovsky – Solaris and Stalker, and the use of SF in David Bowie’s music (‘Space Oddity’, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs) which gave a new slant to things circa 1972.

The use I make of SF material? I use the idea of endless voyages through multi-dimensional space(s) as some kind of metaphor for an underlying theme of voidness (that is, ideas of outer limits, alienation, non-communication, and angst). SF-type ideas fit in with this – or seem to. After all, where are the (scientific) outer limits? High Energy Physics and Cosmology enter in – so some of this comes out like SF, but actually derived from Cosmology – e.g. Black Hole Singularities. This endless voyage thing is archetypal: look at Jung and Coleridge.

It also overlaps with a ‘symbolic repertoire’ of ‘occult themes’, such as the astral plane. I should also note a continuity with other more traditional sources, particularly Apocalyptic/Millenarian visionary materials – hence angels and cathedrals all mixed up with Starfleet Command in Space Opera.

Do you see yourself as part of the SF/Speculative poetry world?

As I said, I’m not ‘in touch’ enough to be part of the Speculative scene – but having said that, I’m not against being classified in this way.

Your very experimental approach is almost unique in this century, certainly within this area of genre poetry in the 80s. What reaction have you found from editors to this kind of material?

I have only worked with a small number of editors who’ve been very supportive – particularly the editors of Stride and Memes. My feeling is that the material we are discussing runs counter to the anecdotal/humanistic mould of most small press straight ‘poetry-verse’, so one regards blank reactions as understandable, given the overtly hermetic and inaccessible style of the pieces themselves. Getting down to the cutting edge inevitably means getting into an area where rational communication starts to break down, and I expect editors not to relate to this sort of thing – although I haven’t submitted poems to pure SF editors, ever, so have no idea how they would react.

Was the Space Opera sequence conceived as a whole?

Yes, although ‘Neogaea’ (Space Opera 5) was actually written first, in 1984. The other parts were derived from it some months later. ‘Space Opera (The First Report)’ was published in Stride 21. I think ‘Gaze Of The Medusa’ was especially written for The Serendipity Caper anthology, as a sort of introduction to the sequence.

Does any other work relate to the sequence?

It was linked to ‘Contact Zero’, which also appeared in The Serendipity Caper, and initially in Stride 19. The Space Opera texts also stimulated a number of drawings such as ‘Centre Of Gravity’ from 1984; and ‘Life On Neogaea’, ‘Angel With Raiding Party’, ‘Styx Insect’, ‘The NeoNova’, ‘Destination Tomorrow’, and others, from 1985.

Have you written other Science Fiction texts?

There are SF-type poems in both of my Stride booklets (Exosphere and Decaying Orbits) – such as ‘Metacropolis’ – which are not part of the Neogaea complex.

Finally, could you explain what you were trying to achieve with the Space Opera sequence, the extent to which you think you achieved your aims, and, perhaps, a few words on how it – the sequence – relates to your body of work as a whole?

It’s easier to answer the last part of the question first. Space Opera fits into a range of discursive prose texts subverted by surreal and aleatoric elements. The Xantras (1992) is a more recent example. It was an attempt to see how ‘far out’ (or in) you can get without being too abstract (I don’t really believe in pure abstraction) or too conceptual. Also, as we’ve said, the sequence relates to graphics like Contact Zero (not in this volume) and a number of line drawings (some of which are in this volume): I like to think there’s a non-rational continuum in my work in all media – unexpected links connecting things in half-hidden patterns. pathways to the outer limits.

I tried to achieve a fusion of ‘genre’ thematics with an ‘experimental’ prose style in order to, as it were, get the genre aspects into another gear - it was a clash of disparate elements – a populist space opera scenario filtered through a linguistic style derived from a more refined ‘arty’ ethos. But technical, aesthetic considerations are only part of the equation. There’s an entertainment factor as well. So if the reader finds the sequence dull then I’ve failed in my objective of translating the reader into another sphere. I wouldn’t want to change or revise any of the sequence – so I guess I feel I achieved my aims. Only the readers can say if Space Opera works for them.

(c) Steve Sneyd, 1995

On Some Faraway Planet

On Some Faraway Planet

Funky Space at the Boogie Lounge

Amplify your visuals, get connected, go anywhere.
Hot metal, new leather, fishnet crop tops
Scalp electrodes connect us to fashion dreams
When, after a grey and misty start,
The future merges with yesterday’s news
And mirror ball madness vamps up your eyes
All table dancing, flirting and catfights
At a burlesque cabaret in a downtown cellar
On some far away planet a long way from home
Where raffish grid girls wear suede retro hot pants
And alien entertainers swoop from the chandeliers
Yeah, it’s love, lipgloss and show business
Out here on the Western Fringes, so it’s
Another teen slasher bloodbath from Mr Pink
As Starfleet Command takes all the tables
Calling for posh totty, sentimental songs
And two pianos on wheels of steel,
Like this sex bomb in specs adds some oomph
To her scary cocktail shaker routine
Behind the bar on the seventh floor where
Snap happy space cadets preen in their frocks
Flicking ciggie stubs across the room
At some hick comedienne from The Big Squirm
Too boring darling I hear you say.
Where’s that pause button?
No wet shirt moments here then, just armchair
Radicals, Mr White, some other geezer
And a crystal breeze chilling the action, while
Sporting a smarter class of clobber,
Mohair suits and electric boots,
We truffle shuffle to a plinky dinky soundtrack.
You lucky, lucky people!

Published in Inclement Vol 11 Issue 1 Spring 2011

Illustration: We Always Come Back, 2003

Space Opera

GENESIS OF THE MECHANOMORPHS
A Space Opera Memoir

Space Opera was written over a period between 1984 and 1985.
The bulk of the sequence was written between April 4 and April 25, 1985. This comprised four of the seven prose poems, in the following order (1) ‘This Report Follows’ (4 April, 1985), (2) ‘The Neon Fly-By’ (5 April, 1985), (3) ‘Discovered This Other Report’ (14 April, 1985) and (4) the title poem, ‘Space Opera’ (25 April, 1985). These four sections comprised the ‘core’ of the Space Opera story. They had been preceded by ‘The First Report From Neogaea’ (Space Opera 1) written in isolation the previous month (26 March, 1985). This ‘First Report’ provided the immediate stimulus for the cycle, which was then crystallised in April. The final poem in the sequence ‘Anathema (We Are All Survivors)’ was written in May 1985. The introductory ‘prelude’ called ‘Gaze of the Medusa’ was written in 1986 for the Serendipity Caper publication of the complete sequence.
However, the ‘First Report’ referred back to an earlier poem with the title ‘Neogaea’ written in 1984 and included in a loose, evolving series of other poems, sketches and drafts with the overall title Ethos Mythos. The semi-Lovecraftian title Ethos Mythos was at that stage a provisional ‘working title’ finally carried over as a catch all label for a group of poems written (or finished) between 1984/5 and 1986. This group of poems was eventually included in the Stride collection Colour of Dust (1999), and has no direct relation to Space Opera. The 1984 poem ‘Neogaea’ with its disintegrating typography provided the initial inspiration for the eventual saga of the planet Neogaea and its weird satellite moon Neon. It was, initially, an exercise in visual typography, inspired by numerous Cubo-Futurist and/or Dada-Surrealist examples and also by the typographic style of e.e. cummings. An early draft of the poem in conventional blank verse quasi-stanza form was given the title ‘A Report From Neogaea (Necrophoresis)’. The term catagenesis in the final stanza refers to both regressive evolution and a process of cracking and organic breakdown in geology. It was probably this imagery that triggered the idea of the visual typographic ‘breakdown’ depicted in subsequent drafts.

Publication
The Stride Publications illustrated booklet Space Opera (1997) was preceded by publication in editions of Stride Magazine. ‘The First Report From Neogaea’ appeared in Stride 21 (Summer 1985). It was printed on green paper and accompanied by some related illustrations. These comprised the drawings ‘Life on Neogaea’ (1985) and ‘Social Symbioses on Neogaea’ also known as ‘Styx Insect III’ (1985), and two sections from the simultaneous collage-poem sequence Contact Zero (1985-1985).
Three edited sections from Space Opera appeared in a double issue of the US magazine Fantasy Commentator Vol. III, Nos. 3 & 4, issues 47 & 48, Fall 1995, edited by A Langley Searles, with an interview by Steve Sneyd. A version of this interview subsequently appeared in the Space Opera booklet under the title ‘Visions By Association’. The three sections from the sequence in Fantasy Commentator were ‘Gaze of the Medusa’, ‘The Neon Fly-By’ and ‘Discovered This Other Report’.
The complete Space Opera sequence was published in a special edition of Stride Magazine called The Serendipity Caper (Stride 24/25) in Summer (July) 1986. The sequence had a special title page using the drawing ‘The Neo Nova’ (also used as illustration without the title in the booklet) and was preceded by the complete version of Contact Zero. The now-redundant title Ethos Mythos still appears at the foot of the page for some of the poems from the sequence. Some phrases and lines in Space Opera link directly with Contact Zero, for example ‘gaze of the Medusa’, ‘chimaera obscura’, ‘I denounce everything: that is enough’ and ‘the membrane intercepts…’ A case of osmotic interchange confirming that the two were written in parallel and roughly about the same time.

Centre of Gravity – The Video
In February 1999 the London based digital filmmakers partnership OS2 expressed interest in using the published Space Opera text as the basis for a video film. Following discussions with Stride work started and progressed during February-April 1999. The final 6m.30s digital video production, referred to as the ‘onedotzero presentation version’, was based on parts 1-4 of the published sequence and called Centre of Gravity. It was hoped to produce a longer version incorporating parts 5-7 but this proved incompatible with the OS2 production schedule. However, the finished fragment, which includes many lines of animated original text used to overlay sequences of found footage and hi-tech diagrammatic graphics, together with an evocative soundscape of fractured effects and narrative by Firefox, successfully depicts the ‘technological breakdown of communications on board a deep space mission’.
Centre of Gravity was shown as part of wow + flutter 99, the ‘contemporary motion graphics and digital effects’ segment of the onedotzero3 digital moving image festival (in association with Film Four) held at the ICA, London between April 30-May 9, 1999. The Centre of Gravity screening took place at the ICA on May 6 and according to a press release was also shown at the SVC window (Wardour Street) and the soho_inc film festival the same year. Wow + flutter 99 films were subsequently screened at NFT2 in a Digital Underground strand on 10 August 1999.

Artwork of the Mythos and other Associations
The video title ‘Centre of Gravity’ is derived from a drawing of the same name dating from 1984. This ‘Centre of Gravity’ was incorporated into the promotional artwork for a 1985 Stride audiocassette music compilation (Step 50 in the Stride series) using the title of the original drawing.
The compilation included tracks from bands such as Face in the Crowd, Pacific 231 and Celestial Orgy, among others. The drawing itself featured as the cover art of the accompanying booklet and even on a promotional T-shirt. The inlay card for the Centre of Gravity cassette used another drawing entitled ‘The Way Of All Flesh I The Crypt’ (1981) from a graphic series with the general title Resident Aliens. ‘The Crypt’ drawing was rendered in a kind of techno-gothic style that pointed forward to the macabre SF ethos of Space Opera, as did various other drawings from this period. The ramshackle silhouette with its battered wheel and trailing wires in the ‘Centre of Gravity ‘illustration pays homage to Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel readymade via the kinetic constructions of Jean Tinguely (particularly La Tour, 1960) many of which at been displayed at a Tate Gallery exhibition in 1982. These ‘mechanomorphs’ (the name probably a distant echo of Picabia’s dessins mechaniques) surfaced in a number of drawings included in a series called Satanic Planets (1984-1985) containing many images linked, in one way or another, to the Space Opera sequence.
The mechanomorphs became identified as the inhabitants of Neogaea, the planet of astroscarps described in the original 1984 poem with its disintegrating typography. From one perspective it is fair to say that the main sequence of prose poems written from March to May 1985 were based on, or inspired by, the Satanic Planets mechanomorph drawings and the general atmosphere of the graphic series. Of the seven illustrations in the 1997 Space Opera booklet only two (‘The Scene of the Crime’ and ‘Worker Display Arena’) are new to that publication. The others had all appeared elsewhere: in Stride Magazine (editions 21 and 23) and, as already noted, in the Centre of Gravity cassette artwork. Some were published in two sets of postcards (published separately by Stride in 1985) which also included the drawings ‘Satanic Planets’ and ‘Metacropolis’ (first published in Stride 17/18 double issue, 1984), both sharing an oblique relationship with the Space Opera mythos.
The poem ‘Metacropolis’ occurs in the collection Hidden Limbo (1978) published in Colour of Dust, and, together with the small collage ‘Another Stargate (The Eye of Time)’ dated 1970, may provide the earliest intimations of the imagery of the Space Opera cycle. A small drawing ‘Stargate Variation I (The Eye Of Time)’, from 1994 but based on the 1970 collage appeared in Monomyth Issues 24 & 36 in 2004 and 2005. The phrase ‘the eye of time’ occurs in ‘The Neon Fly-By’.
In ‘Discovered This Other Report’ (Space Opera 4) is the line ‘We escaped the decaying orbit.’ This is an overt reference to the drawing ‘Decaying Orbits’ (1985) from the Satanic Planets collection. This image appeared in the 1985 Stride poetry booklet Decaying Orbits (Step 84 in the Stride series) and has been published elsewhere, including the occult-zine Nox 7 (1990) and The Grail Anthology (2004), from Atlantean Publishing. The image ‘Decaying Orbits’ with its supermassive centre of attraction and in ‘mechanomorph’ style fragmented spacecraft is a symbolic, if oblique, resume of the entire Space Opera story.

Brief Points
The phrase ‘satellite gone’ in ‘Gaze of the Medusa’ is a line from a Lou Reed song.
The 1970 collage ‘Another Stargate (The Eye of Time)’ was subsequently incorporated into a series of Xerox-based repromontage images Another Stargate/Another Room (1987). A sub-set of this series, with poems by Rupert Loydell, was included in Chain Lightning (1989) a project from Apparitions Press. The image ‘The Eye Of Time’ provided the basis for a short poem with the title ‘Some Other Star’.
The French mathematician, who gave his name to the Roche Limit, Edouard Roche (1820-1883) was a real historical figure, known for his work in celestial mechanics.
Glendenning (‘old G’ the Exosociobiologist) is a fictional character. His expedition to Neogaea is situated in the remote past in relation to the ‘present’ action of Space Opera.
The names ‘Cassegrain’, ‘Herschelian’, ‘Coude’ and ‘Schmidtt’ refer to astronomical telescopes and their lenses.
Much of the jargon in Space Opera, such as ‘trophic eggs’, ‘ergatomorphs’, ‘psychogenic symbioses’ and so on was derived from the book Sociobiology: The Abridged Edition (1980) by Edward O Wilson, particularly the description of insect societies and behaviour.

The multi media Centre of Gravity Collection (2010) is listed in the Poetry Library catalogue

Space Opera Publication History, 1985-1997

Space Opera I The First Report From Neogaea, Stride 21, 1985
Space Opera (Prelude) Gaze Of The Medusa , Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper, 1986
Space Opera I The First Report From Neogaea, Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper, 1986
Space Opera II This Report Follows, Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper, 1986
Space Opera III The Neon Flyby, Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper, 1986
Space Opera IV Discovered This Other Report, Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper, 1986
Space Opera V Neogaea, Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper, 1986
Space Opera VI Space Opera, Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper, 1986
Space Opera VII Anathema (We Are All Survivors), Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper, 1986
Space Opera (Prelude) Gaze Of The Medusa , Fantasy Commentator Vol III, 3/4, Nos. 47/48, Fall 1995
Space Opera III The Neon Flyby, Fantasy Commentator Vol III, 3/4, Nos. 47/48, Fall 1995
Space Opera IV Discovered This Other Report, Fantasy Commentator Vol III 3/4, Nos 47/48, Fall 1995
Space Opera (Prelude) Gaze Of The Medusa , Space Opera, Stride Publications, 1997
Space Opera I The First Report From Neogaea, Space Opera, Stride Publications, 1997
Space Opera II This Report Follows, Space Opera, Stride Publications, 1997
Space Opera III The Neon Flyby, Space Opera, Stride Publications, 1997
Space Opera IV Discovered This Other Report, Space Opera, Stride Publications, 1997
Space Opera V Neogaea, Space Opera, Stride Publications, 1997
Space Opera VI Space Opera, Space Opera, Stride Publications, 1997
Space Opera VII Anathema (We Are All Survivors), Space Opera, Stride Publications, 1997

Related Artwork – Publication History 1984-2008

Metacropolis, Stride 17/18 Autumn 1984, Stride Publications, 1984
Satanic Planets, Stride 17/18 Autumn 1984, Stride Publications, 1984
Centre Of Gravity, Centre Of Gravity C60 (Step 50) [booklet] cover art, Stride Publications, 1985
Centre Of Gravity, Centre Of Gravity C60 (Step 50) [postcard], Stride Publications, 1985
The Way Of All Flesh I The Crypt, Centre Of Gravity C60 (Step 50) [inlay card], Stride Publications, 1985
Decaying Orbits, Decaying Orbits (Step 84), Stride Publications, 1985
The Question, Decaying Orbits (Step 84), Stride Publications, 1985
Contact Zero 4 Flesh Eating Beasts, Stride 21 Summer 1985, Stride Publications, 1985
Contact Zero 5 The Rattlesnake Pit Organ, Stride 21 Summer 1985, Stride Publications, 1985
Life On Neogaea, Stride 21 Summer 1985, Stride Publications, 1985
Styx Insect III (Social Symbioses On Neogaea), Stride 21 Summer 1985, Stride Publications, 1985
Life On Neogaea, Stride Postcards [bronze], Stride Publications, 1985
Styx Insect III (Social Symbioses On Neogaea), Stride Postcards, Stride Publications, 1985
Metacropolis, Stride Postcards, Stride Publications, 1985
Satanic Planets, Stride Postcards, Stride Publications, 1985
Angel With Raiding Party, Stride 23 Spring 1986, Stride Publications, 1986
The Cathedral Of The Damned, Stride 23 Spring 1986, Stride Publications, 1986
The Question, Stride 23 Spring 1986, Stride Publications, 1986
Contact Zero (Complete), Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper Summer 1986, Stride Publications, 1986
The Neo Nova, Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper Summer 1986, Stride Publications, 1986
Satanic Planets, Formaos Vol 1 No 5 March 1987, Sothis Publishing, 1987
Styx Insect III (Social Symbioses On Neogaea), Nox, Vol 1 No 4 Issue 4 Mar 1987, Disrupters Press. 1987
Another Stargate/Another Room, Chain Lightning, Apparitions Press, 1989
Decaying Orbits, Nox, Vol 2 No 3 Issue 7 Jan 1990, Disrupters Press, 1990
Angel With Raiding Party, Chimaera Obscura, Phlebas, 1992
The Cathedral Of The Damned, Chimaera Obscura, Phlebas, 1992
Angel With Raiding Party, Space Opera, Stride Publications, 1997
Centre Of Gravity, Space Opera, Stride Publications, 1997
Life On Neogaea, Space Opera, Stride Publications, 1997
Scene Of The Crime, Space Opera, Stride Publications, 1997
The Neo Nova, Space Opera, Stride Publications, 1997
The Question, Space Opera, Stride Publications, 1997
Worker Display Arena, Space Opera, Stride Publications, 1997
Life On Neogaea, Space Opera [cover art], Stride Publications, 1997
The Elastic Mirror, Death's Door, Springbeach Press, 1999
Satanic Planets, Cold Print, Feb 2001
Decaying Orbits, The Grail Anthology, Atlantean Publishing, 2004
Stargate Variation I (The Eye Of Time), Monomyth Vol 4.1 No 26 Issue 28 2004, Atlantean Publishing, 2004
Stargate Variation I (The Eye Of Time), Monomyth Vol 5.4 No 34 Issue 36 2005, Atlantean Publishing, 2005
Astroscarp III, Midnight Street, Issue 9, May/June 2007, Immediate Direction, 2007
The Colossus Of Neon, Old Rossum's Book Of Practical Robots, Atlantean Publishing, 2008

Selected References

Bruinsma, Max, Exploding Cinema. Rotterdam Film Course, Sandberg Institute, 1999
Denyer, Trevor (ed.) Midnight Street, Issue 9, May/June 2007, Immediate Direction, 2007
Evans, A C, Decaying Orbits, Stride Publications, 1985
Evans, A C, Chimaera Obscura, The Phlebas Press, 1992
Evans, A C, Space Opera, Stride Publications, 1997
Evans, A C, Colour of Dust, Stride Publications, 1999
Hanson, Matt/ Walter, Shane R J, onedotzero3, Film Four/ICA, 1999
Jebb, Keith, A C Evans Space Opera/A C Evans Dream Vortex, PQR, 1998
Kopaska-Merkel, David C, Space Opera, Dreams and Nightmares, 1997
Loydell, Rupert M (ed.) Stride 17/18, Autumn, 1984
Loydell, Rupert M (ed.) Stride 21, Summer, 1985
Loydell, Rupert M (ed.) Stride 23, Spring, 1986
Loydell, Rupert M (ed.) Stride 24/25, The Serendipity Caper: An Anthology of Prose, Summer, 1986
Marsh, Jane, Jane Marsh Interviews the Poet A C Evans, Neon Highway 13, 2008
Ratcliffe, John (ed.) Cold Print, Feb 2001
Ross, Sian (ed.), Death’s Door, Springbeach Press, 1999
Ryan, Paul A (ed.), Formaos Vol 1 No 5 March 1987, Sothis Publishing, 1987
Sennitt, Stephen (ed.), Nox, Vol 1 No 4 Issue 4 Mar 1987, Disrupters Press, 1987
Sennett, Stephen (ed.), Nox, Vol 2 No 3 Issue 7 Jan 1990, Disrupters Press, 1990
Sneyd, Steve, A C Evans SF Poetry Sequence Space Opera, Data Dump 104, 2006
Sneyd, Steve, A C Evans Space Opera poem sequence, Data Dump 43, 1999
Sneyd, Steve, Flights From The Iron Moon, The Hilltop Press, 1995
Sneyd, Steve, Space Opera: An Interview with A C Evans, Fantasy Commentator Vol VIII, 3/4 Nos, 47/ 48, Fall, 1995
Sneyd, Steve, Space Opera, Data Dump 25, 1998
Sneyd, Steve, Term Speculative Poetry has more definitions, perhaps…, Data Dump 128, 2008
Tyrer, D-J (ed.), The Grail Anthology, Atlantean Publishing, 2004
Tyrer, D-J (ed.), Monomyth Vol 4.1 No 26 Issue 28 2004, Atlantean Publishing, 2004
Tyrer, D-J (ed.), Monomyth Vol 5.4 No 34 Issue 36 2005, Atlantean Publishing, 2005
Tyrer, D-J (ed.), Old Rossum’s Book of Practical Robots, Atlantean Publishing, 2008
Various Contributors, Chain Lightning, Apparitions Press, 1989
Wilson, Edward O, Sociobiology: The Abridged Edition, Belknap Press, 1980
Zine Kat , Space Opera by A C Evans, Dragon's Breath 46/47, 1998

Dream of Aldebaran

Dream of Aldebaran

Blazing red star flaming eye
Taurus Alpha following
Images of opaque objects
From the Hyades to the Pleiades.
Nine bright stars that rule our sky, with
Nine ladies and three dark sisters,
Mystical figures who control our destiny:
Calliope, her epic screams create terror,
Clio, her revelations paralyse thought,
Euterpe, the sound of her flute chills the blood,
Thalia, her laughter is an antidote to death,
Melpomene, her tears flood the universe with pain,
Terpsechore, her ritual chanting is the dance of the stars,
Erato, Angel of Eros, her lyric passion excites the senses,
Polyhymnia, her devotions define the limits of the possible,
Urania, her science is the word of truth.
Just turn the lights out – this is a chapter from
The Book of Storms,The Primal Dream of Three Uncanny Sisters
(Melete, Mneme, Aoide) – no Fates these,
Three Dark Stars in the shadows hidden
From the advance of Orion.
As the galaxies expand,
Surreality is disclosed in moments of distraction.
And these are the Nine bright stars of the dream:
Aldebaran, the burning eye
Capella, so much brighter than the sun
Castor, twin star so far, far away
Pollux, hero of the hour but so far, far away
Procyon, you rise before the dog
Sirius, source of Sothic Mysteries
Rigel, you dominate the mirror world
Bellatrix goddess of war, you are deadly nightshade
Betelgeuse, you tower over all, but
The blazing red eye feasts on human flesh.

A previous version of this poem appeared in Bard 74, 2009

Boo Galaxy

Boo Galaxy

We reached the Boo Galaxy
Via the Shrine of Roquepertuse
A gate mounted with severed heads.
We were blazing a path
Through an evaporating universe,
Escaping from an old film
Called Chain Gang Charlie.

Yes, we attain immortality through art
For divas never die, and
Even topless movie babes live forever.
Not just a playground love spat
The situation was much, much worse
– Apocalypse when?

As we approached the Boo Galaxy,
At just below the speed of light
Well within the law,
Edging into overkill, I said,

Oh, darling!
You’re an icon of sleaze
I can forget my painkillers now!

As we waited for the lights to change
– Emergency road works – I thought
We’re a pack of ragged ravers
A troupe of mad performers,
Heading for Seventh Heaven,
Not Arcturus – and the Boo Galaxy
Engulfed us in a violet glow.

A previous version of this poem appeared in Handshake 75, 2008 edited by John Francis Haines