Lighter Than Air

Drift among the bulrushes, Each sweet and scented flower, Lace wings that blur into life, cascading, Miniature dewdrop shower. Tiny body, matchstick arms, The unknown minutiae stroke and feel, Falling hair like spun gold cobweb, A thing of nature, quite unreal. Alight upon a flower’s petal, Walk a path along its stem, Little men and tiny ladies, In worlds invisible to them. So, fly away into the sunrise, Summer’s here, the meadows sing, Lighter than air, as fleet as fancy, Simple disappearing thing.   (c) Paul Ferry 2005 Continue reading Lighter Than Air

‘Rama II’ by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee

In 1972, Arthur C Clarke wrote Rendezvous with Rama, which was an incredible success; second only to the mighty 2001: A Space Odyssey in terms of popularity. The story of a massive, mysterious alien cylinder entering the solar system captured the imaginations of readers and earned Clarke both Hugo and Nebula awards, but it would be another 17 years before he wrote a sequel to the open-ended novel. By then, Clarke was working with scientist and screenwriter Gentry Lee, whom he had met whilst working on a screenplay for underwater aliens drama Cradle. The movie version of Cradle never happened, … Continue reading ‘Rama II’ by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee