CoastConFan Blog: December 2015

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Christmas on Mars

An old friend of mine who was part of the forming of the SF convention CoastCon (and even earlier fan activity) sent me his fan-made music video called Christmas on Mars. I guess you could call it a traditional Christmas filksong. Given the renewed interest in Mars these days, I thought this post might reflect some of the past interest in Mars, specifically in Science Fiction and Science Fantasy.

Now here’s a good old-fashioned science fiction Christmas carol, performed on Christmas Eve (on Earth) 2013. Originally performed at a company Christmas party back in 2008, but it was written way before the movie of the same name.

lyrics to Michael Sanborn's

CHRISTMAS ON MARS

The children are sliding down the sand dunes

While the robots trim the tree.
Both moons sparkle up above us
And the eggnog pills are free...

Chorus:

Though our spaceships travel

Out among the stars,

We're snuggled at home:

It's Christmas on Mars.

There's holiday cheer

In the oxygen bars.

It's that time again:

It's Christmas on Mars.

Li li li (etc.)

The energy blobs

Wheel and bob

In the town promenade.

Let's raise a cheer

For the Laser Brigade!

While the fresh-grown Snow Clones

Serve warp-berry pie

And the zeppelins soar

In the pink winter sky...

(Spoken:) "Wait, zeppelins?!" (I hear you thinking.) "Zeppelins could never
float in the thin Martian atmosphere!" Ah, but what you're forgetting is that these a
re future zeppelinspowered by advanced Martian anti-gravity technology!

(Sung:) That's why they can fly!

(Chorus)

Beam the festive gamma rays!

Blast the craters all ablaze!

Crash the comets to amaze

The Old Ones!

Sled through the magnetosphere!

Chestnuts and ammonia beer!

Gone, the worries! Disappear,

The doldrums!

(Chorus x 2)

Christmas on Mars!

I hope you enjoy this fun filksong from an old-time fan and CoastCon supporter, Michael Sanborn. Sorry he didn’t make it back this year for the holidays.

Sprinkled through this post are just some of the many books inspired by Mars exploration. Happy reading this holiday.

CoastConFan

Update: I finally got the corrected lyrics for Christmas on Mars. Sorry for any errors, but I blame solar flares for the garbled transmission!

Links of interest to the reader

Mars has always been of interest to Earth people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Mars_observation

Mars has spawned a lot of fiction over the years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_in_fiction and http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/mars

The Planet Mars by William Sheehan , readable on line http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/onlinebks/MARS/CONTENTS.HTM

A copy of the script for the Orson Wells radio presentation of War of the Worlds 30 Oct 1938 http://www.sacred-texts.com/ufo/mars/wow.htm

Project Gutenberg has a variety of free, out of copyright books you can download in a variety of electronic formats. With a little bit of searching, you can turn up some interesting books there https://www.gutenberg.org/

LINKS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

CoastConFan's YouTube Videos a page for my YouTube videos on YouTube on sundry subjects.

CoastCon Inc's Official Site CoastCon is a Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Anime & media convention that has been around for over 30 years

Michael W. Moses Pottery Site of unearthly pottery that brings to mind H. P. Lovecraft and the drawings of Ernst Haeckel

Propnomicon's Site a site dedicated to making props for Call of Cthulhu RPG

AboutSF is a resource center for speculative literature, science fiction, and education. They are also hosting podcasts of classic SF read aloud.

Reading for the Future is a grassroots volunteer organization whose aim is to help young people develop a love of reading and intellectual adventure through the vehicle of science fiction, fantasy and other speculative fiction.

S. T. Joshi's Blog A leading scholar on H. P. Lovecraft and other authors of weird and fantastic fiction.

The Steampunk Forum at Brass Goggles is a forum for Steampunk enthusiasts with an emphasis on physical props and how to make them.

AWOL - The Ancient World Online A fantastic conglomerate site about research on ancient

CITY OF DUST Primarily a site about New Mexico ghost towns and history

Gaslight and Gilt A clever look at steampunk from an arts and crafts standpoint

H. P. Lovecraft And His Legacy A site about HPL and his works

The Cat's Meat Shop Postings about Georgian and Victorian England, primarily London

The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana An interesting view of comics from a Turkish point of view

The Tobacco Pipe Artistory The artistry and history of pipes

Tom Banwell—Leather and Resin Projects Clever props and masks

Warfare in the Age of Steam NeoVictorian wargaming

Fancyclopedia 3 A wiki by fans for fans. Learn about the heritage of fandom through the years.

Paleobabble Your antidote to cyber-twaddle and misguided research about the ancient world. Lots of people do research on the mysteries of antiquity. Some insights are valuable; others are insanely stupid, learn why.

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