ALL SCI-FI

[filmdetective]

Keeping in mind the limitations of the search function of allsci-fi.com, which were pointed out to me, and on this one page forum, not seeing either Basil Copper and / or his novel, The Great White Space, listed, I'm introducing these two subjects of both this author and one of his works, the only one I am familiar with.

Mr. Copper's novel is an obvious imitation of HP Lovecraft's work, specifically At the Mountains of Madness, according to the reviews I have read, which generally find it a fairly good work.

In my case, I read The Great White Space, in late 1976-early 1977, and did not read any Lovecraft works until 1980.

So, when I read Lovecraft's works, there was a lot which seemed to me familiar from reading The Great White Space.

I would be interested in what the more experienced veterans of SFantasy here on the board think of both Basil Copper, and his Novel The Great White Space.

I'm open to any opinions, positive or negative.

[Bud Brewster]

I found a Wikipedia article about Mr. Copper, and it has this paragraph about The Great White Space.
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Copper's novel The Great White Space (1975) describes an expedition into a remote part of Asia to discover the location of the mysterious Old Ones. The Great White Space was influenced by Edgar Allan Poe and Lovecraft and includes elements of the latter author's Cthulhu Mythos stories.[3] The novel also features a character called Clark Ashton Scarsdale, who appears to be an affectionate tribute to Clark Ashton Smith.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[filmdetective]

Thanks for the post, Bud.

I found many things quaint and amusing in The Great White Space, such as the leader of the Northern Expedition telling the narrator how the Great Old Ones used the Great White Space to travel from place to place as the went about their "errands," (of doing unspeakably horrible things), and his consulting a blasphemous book, "The Ethics of Igor (or was it Ygor? I know Forry and James Warren were at odds as to how that name was spelled, but, as Forry claimed Mark Twain told him as a young boy, "I got no respect for a man" who can only spell a word (and in this case a name) only one way.

I can't remembrer if, at that time, I was familiar with "The Necronomicon," but, now I do remember, too, because it was in the film, The Dunwich Horror that I first learned of that blasphemous book), and The Old Ones.

I'm not really all that great a judge of Fantastic Fiction, with or without the S or Sci in front of it, but The Great White Space definitely made an impression on me and I did find it to be a bit scary.

[Eadie]

[Gord Green]

Lovecraftian fiction in general and the Cthulhu Mythos in particular is an odd blend of horror and science fiction genres.

HPL described it thus :

[filmdetective]