OFF: Amber Revisited

M Holmes fofp at TATTOO.ED.AC.UK
Tue Feb 25 06:24:31 EST 1997


Andrew Gilham writes:

> >> Wylie, nervously eying his Trumps
> >Interesting name-and an awesome set of books!
>
> Well, the first ones were (when the idea was fresh and new), but one of the
> second lot (_Blood of Chaos_?) is one of the few books I've actually thrown
> across the room for being so crap.

I'm less than convinced that Zelazny actually wrote those rather than
passed the plotlines over to the guys he had working writing the
Roadmarks(?) stuff. A signature of the first series was a reasonably
tight and limited set of magical technologies. The second series
introduced new magic technologies with every chapter. Drama is about
having characters resolve situations within specified limits. If you
don't know the limits, it undermines the drama.

In visual terms, the first series has everything going for it to make an
awesome film in the Star Wars/Costume Drama/Politics/Adventure line. The
second series of books would be perfect for one of those interminable TV
series along the lines of Fantastic Journey or whatever it was called
(it started in the Bermuda Triangle).

P.S. To the yanks: Over xmas here there was a film that looked like a
pilot for a series. It had this woman trip through from an alternate
world escaping some bad guys who were working for "Dark Lords". She was
helped by a hospital Doctor and they both escaped her pursuers to
another alternate America where all the oil had been destroyed in the
Gulf War. her pursuers tacked 'em down again and after a battle they
escaped to yet another...

Not a great film but I'm curious as to whether a series ever appeared?

> - Andy
>
FoFP



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