A New Map Of Hell

Not Literally -
 - after all, since when did BOOJUM! ever begin with the truth?  Or even begin with what we mean to go on with?
     Well, yes, there was that time about syndiotactic polymers, but that was an exception.  Don't change the subject!
     The title refers, of course, to that work by Kingsley Amis, "New Maps of Hell".  Art?

A metaphor, lest you wonder

     This is a survey of the science-fiction scene by Ol' Kingy, as of 1962, and of course it has nothing to do with what follows.  As usual!
     Let the motley begin -

Yes, Back To "The Satan Bug", Again
I could keep on about this for a while yet, so if you aren't keen on lethal microbes or desert landscapes, you have my permission to skip this bit.  But I will bear a grudge about it*.
     One of the attractive things about TSB is the desert vistas, which are shot in California, including Joshua Tree National Park.  Art?

Visible during the abduction

     Then there is Station 3 and surrounding landscapes. Art?  Less coal, more pictures.

Bleak and yet beautiful

     Here you can see why Station 3 was set where it is - squarely in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a whole lot of nothing, meaning nobody turns up there by accident.  Can we have another picture of more bleak landscapes?

There you go, road, car, mountains.

     The howlingly ironic thing about all this is that, according to locals talking on the (sorely missed) IMDB forum, all those blank landscapes have been developed and swallowed up by residential housing.  From bleak to buildings, so to speak.  
     So.  Now you know why Hell has been reshaped.

"Dead Man's Land" By Robert Ryan
Well well what the heck.  This novel is a splendid introduction to the medical structure and practice of the British Army in the middle of the First Unpleasantness, with a whole lot of details that are novel to your humble scribe - Conrad tends to concentrate on what happens before people get injured.  Art?

Same as my edition

     There is a bit that Ol' Rob appears to have created out of whole cloth - voluntary nurses at the Battle of Mons, who negotiated with the Teuton hordes to attend to British wounded.  They wore impromptu green headcloths to signify who they were -
     - EXCEPT IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!  It sounded a tad suspicious to Conrad, and a bit of digging revealed that Ol' Rob has crafted this out of whole cloth, along the same lines as Thomas Pynchon.

There may be Green Howards but - there aren't any Green Ladies!

     If you wish to know more about the VAD and FANY, "Dead Man's Land" is well worth reading.  And yes, those are both genuine SFW acronyms**.
     
That Excluded Middle Again
You ought to know how this goes by now - a collection of swivel-eyed paranoid conspiracy loons*** assert a wildly improbable scenario, because they reject any kind of more realistic middle ground.  

Sorry - neither stylish nor functional

It's a logical fallacy, which we can also call "Reductio ad Absurdum" if you want to sound impressive at parties.  Should you also really want to annoy people, don't tell them what the translation is^.
     Now, I know that this kind of thing sits better with an example, and there I was, watching "Bones", wondering what to use as an example - when it dawned on me that they were talking about the Chupacabra.
     Result!
     Art, put down your plate of coal and get picturing.

An artist's impression.  No photos available.

     Now, the RAA here is that the proponents of the Goatsucker posit that either that goat died through natural causes or IT WAS RIPPED APART AND IT'S BLOOD DRUNK BY THE CHUPACABRA!
     The middle ground, that it was killed by a pack of dogs, is excluded; although this does not require the presence of a beast nobody has any evidence for, ever.  I have seen this confirmed by a forensics lab, who conducted an examination of Goatsucker hairs found at the scene of an exsanguinated goat.  What kind of hairs were they?
     Dog hairs!

Resting after a busy day of killing, this Goatsucker only looks cute ...

*  Forever.
**  Voluntary Aid Detachment and First Aid Nursing Yeomanry
***  This is being kind to them
^  Tee hee!