Contents
Space Savers
The Easter Island Horror
The Boy Who Hid in Leaves
Wooden Steps in the Schoolyard
Monkey On A Stick
by Special Guest Author
Bradley Mason Hamlin
Day At the Office
The Zaffer Colonic
Meme Rhymes With Scheme
Selected Poems
and Other Stories
by Bill Ectric
with Bradley Mason Hamlin
With this book, Bill Ectric has not only absorbed but transcended his original influences such as Burroughs and Poe. He has developed a recognizable style, on a par with other masters of the short story form. The title story takes place in the most banal of settings – a Florida retirement home. Indelible characters, however, populate the narrative: the Borg twins, Lawn Care Larry, and a thinly disguised Bill Ectric as narrator. As the story unfolds, we find that residents of the retirement home are being displaced in time and space at the whim of a particle accelerator corporation that has diversified into retirement home management. It is a nice blend of science fiction, noir storytelling, and black humor.
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I'm reminded of Forrest J. Ackerman, the man who coined the term "Sci-Fi" and edited the highly influential fanzine, Famous Monsters of Filmland. When asked his opinion of the movie Starship Troopers, Ackerman, a non-religious free-thinker and part-time nudist who nevertheless did not smoke, drink or stray from his wife, praised both the exciting special effects and the nude co-ed shower scene, which he found "touching." Like Forrest Ackerman, Bradley Mason Hamlin embraces both the wide-eyed wonderment of youth and the mature appreciation of adult themes.
In an article about The Ramones' box set, Weird Tales of the Ramones (Rhino 2005), Hamlin shares a photo showing one of his kids posing with Marky Ramone, who played drums on 11 out of 21 Ramones albums, as well as drumming for Richard Hell and the Voidoids in 1977.
A piece on vintage kid’s lunch boxes shows three of the collectible boxes Brad actually carried to school and still owns: Scooby Doo, Peanuts, and Land of the Giants.
Did I mention that Brad is married to Pop Erotic model Lucy Hell, inspiration for Devilgirl in the “Secret Society” series?
When I read Brad Hamlin’s autobiographical story, Monkey On A Stick, it struck me as being a damn near perfect short story. Loss of innocence, edgy adult situations, commentary on American imperialism, and an off-beat resoltion. I wanted to bring this tale to the printed page.
Click here for an interview with Brad Hamlin
Once a month, a bus from the Elm Shade Nursing Home rolls up to the Publix grocery store, where I am now the manager. A group of elderly men and women, including Grandma Cole, invade the store, accompanied by a couple of caretakers.
One of the bag boys says, "Here come the Borg twins!"
People cringe in embarrassment at the phrase "borg twins" but the two old men smile and wave at the bagboy like celebrities.
They don’t mind the nickname, being old science fiction buffs that play chess together and debate everything from the merits of Ray Bradbury versus Isaac Asimov, to the theories of evolution versus creation. The word "borg" comes from the television show Star Trek. Borg is short for cyborg, which is a creature that is part human and part machine.
The "borg twins" are two old fat guys, Pops and Agee, who can’t breathe normally because they have emphysema, so they carry portable oxygen tanks in the top section of their shopping carts. Plastic air tubes run from the oxygen tanks to their nostrils. They stroll side by side, each pushing a shopping cart, basking in latter-day recognition by youthful nerds.
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I also loved the whimsical, conversation style of the writing especially when concerning the conversations within the story."
Gareth Doyle
Time Adjusters
and Other Stories