A FLIGHT TO THE MOON (1813) – Written by George Fowler. This story introduces readers to Randalthus (no last name given), an 1800s American man who has come to regard the moon with a mixture of near-pagan worship and pioneer longing.
Randalthus, who often goes by the shortened name Rand, is admiring the moon as he does nearly every night when a beautiful female alien figure appears to him. Having read the adoring thoughts that our narrator directs at Earth’s satellite, she has come to grant him his wish to visit the moon and meets its peoples.
She wraps Randalthus in the white glow which surrounds her and flies the two of them to the moon. Randalthus recounts experiencing gravitational changes during the flight and eventual landing on the moon. Continue reading
An alert reader reminded me that I did not remember to put up a blog post with links to all my reviews of female author C.L. Moore’s six Jirel of Joiry pulp stories from the 1930s. Here is that collection of links in one convenient blog post. 
FIRST SEMIFINAL – In this game the ELMHURST UNIVERSITY BLUEJAYS played the WABASH COLLEGE LITTLE GIANTS. 
Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know that all – or at least most – roads lead to bad movies with me. Since 1976 the movie Track of the Moon Beast has been a cult hit for the Psychotronic-minded and for those people who were lucky enough to catch it at various drive-ins during their heyday. 
Frustratingly, the song was not quite complete and had a few interruptions by dialogue from the film. For decades clearer versions of California Lady were incredibly rare. Mike Wolfer found and has uploaded two versions of the song at his YT Channel (subscribe 
The first was the studio recording of the song (below) and the second was the entire EP from Frank Larrabee. California Lady is at the 10:03 mark and is a much smoother, less worn recording of the song and is MUCH MORE LIKE THE PERFORMANCE IN THE MOVIE. No interruptions in either case, so you can enjoy this cult item the way it was meant to be heard. 
GHOSTWATCH (1992) – This was a British made for t.v. movie that aired on Halloween Night in 1992. Ghostwatch is a nice – albeit boring – little novelty item for the way it anticipated the paranormal “reality” (LMAO) shows of today. 
The telefilm also can’t help but put viewers in mind of the Paranormal Activity series and countless other Found Footage horror movies. Ghostwatch involves much older technology of course but for once, since the make-believe t.v. crew is filming their investigation of a haunted house, it MAKES SENSE for people to be filming everything. 
Weekends are the time for Balladeer’s Blog’s escapist forays into superheroes, who seem to be everywhere these days. This time around it will be a multi-week look at Iron Man and one of his most memorable story runs from the 1970s. 
IRON MAN Vol 1 #52 (November 1972) 
This afternoon all of the destructive devices and traps are overcome by Iron Man’s latest improvements. The test session over with, Tony Stark catches a flight to California. With his engagement to long-time girlfriend Marianne Rodgers called off recently our hero is off on a vacation. 
FIRST SEMIFINAL – The 4th seeded NORTH LAKE COLLEGE BLAZERS ended the Cinderella run of the 8 seeds – the ROCK VALLEY COLLEGE GOLDEN EAGLES. 
THE BANQUETERS – By Aristophanes. This was the very first comedy from the Athenian whose name is synonymous with ancient Greek comedies, especially political satires. The nineteen-year-old presented a landowner from Athens whose two sons were being introduced to his phratry brothers at a banquet dedicated to Herakles. 
THE ADVENTURES OF A MICRO-MAN (1902) – This work of vintage or “ancient” science fiction was authored by Lancelot Bayly under the pen name Edwin Pallender. The central character of the story was Doctor Geoffrey Hassler, a wealthy eccentric scientist who has discovered “microgen” a gas which shrinks objects down to a very small size. 
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – Fighting it out for the 2022 title in the NAIA were the LOYOLA UNIVERSITY (LA) WOLFPACK and the TALLADEGA COLLEGE TORNADOES. 
SOUTH CENTRAL DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – In this game the 2 seeds – the EASTFIELD COLLEGE HARVESTERS – faced the top seeded NORTH LAKE COLLEGE BLAZERS. 
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