Book Review

Norton Antivirus 2.0

by Peter Norton

Symantec 1996

Paperback

Rereading this book having discovered it on a bookshelf of long forgotten tomes one is reminded of another age of computing, when malicious and mischievous programmers would exploit the weaknesses of the then dominant PC operating system called Windows 95.

The book tells the story of a war between the users of the Operating System and a world-wide network of hackers, but it also hints at a conspiracy, a plot-line not actually written in the book itself, but hinted at implicitly; That a large corporation whose sole income is generated from the profits of software designed to eradicate these viruses, and who's employees represent the world's foremost experts on the subject, might just be the ones who stand to gain the most by the perpetuation of this 'Virus War'.

As soon as you peel back the bright yellow cover of 'Norton Antivirus', with the shirt and tie wearing be-spectacled Norton smiling smugly back at you, you enter a world of danger, fear and uncertainty. The book starts with a starkly logical piece of concrete poetry, a sort of late 20th century version of "There's a hole in my bucket!"

Does my computer have a virus? Have you installed Norton Antivirus?

No

Install Norton Antivirus. Has Norton Antivirus detected a virus?

No

Scan your disk. Go to Chapter 2, "Using Norton Antivirus"

Has Norton Antivirus detected a virus?

Yes

Remove the virus. Go to Chapter 3, "Eliminating Viruses"

Chilling stuff, I think you'll agree.

One of my favourite stories in the book though is entitled 'Macro Viruses'.

"Many older applications had simple macro systems that allowed you to record a sequence of operations within the application and associate them with a specific keystroke. Later you could perform the same sequence of operations by merely hitting the specified key.

A typical chronology for a macro virus infection begins when an infected document or spreadsheet is loaded; the application also loads any accompanying macros that are attached to the file. If one or more of the macros meet a certain criteria, the application will also immediately execute these macros." -Doh!

This virus could do almost anything from renaming all your files to 'Ethan Frome' to rewriting your autoexec.bat file so that next time you booted up your computer it would execute a full format of the C: drive!

I think this book serves to remind us what computing used to be like in those early days. With it's talk of floppy diskettes, .exe files and modems the size (and bandwidth) of toasters. These were more innocent days when the knocked-up in the garage Operating Systems of companies like Microsoft ran on the majority of the world's computers, which were just starting to become connected through a new medium called 'the internet'.

Here at the end of the first decade of the 21st century it's easy to forget that the computers of the mid-90s were really very fragile things. Once users started demanding better security and stability from their operating systems Windows and Norton must have seen that their days were numbered and they went the same way as the old Blue-Screen-of-Death!

I wonder what that guy in the short-sleeved shirt is doing now, fifteen years on? He's probably off somewhere counting his money with that Gates guy, whatever happened to him?

As for the virus wars, well we all know who won that one. Many of the most 'imaginative' hackers have since gone on to do some of their best work on social networking sites like Facebook, but as for the 'viruses' themselves, the weapons of war you might call them; Like all weapons from wars long gone they are now preserved in a kind of virtual museum formed by the few remaining Windows Operating systems which are maintained by a small but dedicated band of enthusiasts - war veterans of a sort. If you want to find out about the virus wars just ask around and I'm sure you'll find one, if you're lucky they might even show you their collection of viruses and maybe even a copy of Norton Antivirus!

Micro Fiction

Back in September we held a competition on the Forum to write a story no longer than 200 words! We had the biggest response EVER to this and so a big thank you to everyone who entered.

It's a tall order to fit a complete story with a beginning a middle and an end into such a short space, but the judges felt that these examples manage to show that it is possible.

So here are the winners as selected by Blane, who set up the competition in the first place, and the other members of the Starbase Leicester Admin Team.

------Winner------

The Last Hope

by Paul L

He sat alone in the small capsule, his face turned towards the tiny glass porthole that was now his only connection to the spinning planet below.

He knew it had to be done. There was no other option left, not after the infection had spread the way it had. The leaders of the Earth had made it quite clear – if there was no hope, then the world must be destroyed. But it looked almost peaceful from here.

The clock beside him counted down slowly, ready to send the remote signal that would detonate the warheads.

Any moment now.

He would be the only survivor, but at least the Human race would continue.

The clock reached the 1 minute mark, not long now. He glanced down at the embryos beside him. The last hope for humanity.

30 seconds. Just 30 seconds until everything he knew, everyone he loved, would burn for eternity.

At least he had survived. That gave them all hope.

20 seconds. He inhaled deeply, and tried to relax.

The last hope.

10 seconds.

An inhuman scream from outside! Something clawing against metal. The handle of the airlock began to turn, and below him, the world began to burn.

------Runners Up------

ABC

by Logic

(Having been given an alphabet of words from the editor it was a story he wanted…so a story he got…)

Anthony blamed Coraline his personal AI buddy.

“Why did I have to get a girl buddy! ‘don’t expect financial gain. Hell I justkilled Larry’ is a classic quote from 26th century gangster movie… a boy buddy would know.”

Coraline the AI folded her holographic arms and pouted.

“If it made sense I’d know it.”

“Doubt it. I bet the teacher did this on purpose, for a laugh” moaned Anthony.

“Maybe not on purpose…”

“Gah! Shut it with your artificial logic! I’m calling Ted. Dial Ted.”

“Dialing”

Two seconds later Ted’s holographic face appeared on Anthony’s media wall.

“Yo! Ant”

“Yo! Hey you having trouble with your AI?”

“I was… Stan Fixed it.”

“Stan? Quick ring Stan!”

A second later Stan was convincing the boys he could reset the AI even with its top security. But the interference from all his hacking gear meant all they heard was “take up” and “very willing”. But soon the reset was done and a new AI appeared. It was a Telazian kid.

“Hey! It’s a Telazian” moaned Anthony.

“OI! You xenophobic young zeolets!”

“Oh boy it’s a grumpy one too. Good luck Ant… Bye”

And both Stan and Ted left Ant with his new … grumpy… AI.

The Ship Crashed

by Garak

The shiny, polished, sleekly marvellous, glitteringly beautiful, glimmering, majestically-starbourne, silvery, thin, graceful, feather-like, heavily-laden, lightening-quick, altitude-losing, air-splitting, radio-signal-absorbing, guidance-laser-reflecting, delicate, fragile, vulnerable, ground-destined, doomed, precious, aerodynamically-unstable, gravitationally-attracted, carbon-spaceframed, computer-misguided, non-impact-absorbing, Altair-originating, shelter-from-asteroid-storm-seeking, ice-trail-streaking, abnormally smooth, overheating, highly-insured, well-maintained, pristine, illogically-navigated, incomprehensibly-flight-planned, unmarked, brand-new, pleasantly-spacious, rich-merchant-owned, explosive-carrying, space-trading, comprehensively-armed, courageously-crewed, inexpertly-piloted, ship, spectacularly, quickly, magnificently, completely, heart-crushingly, inexplicably, unexpectedly, totally, unmissably, firestorm-inducingly, terribly, amazingly, fatally, greatly, non-planet-missingly, formidably, unpredictably, urgently, ungently, quite-accidentally, profitably, horrifically, horrifyingly, horrendously, atrociously, abominably, deplorably, egregiously, abhorrently, frightfully, shockingly, hideously, grimly, monstrously, sickeningly, seriously, non-non-non-non-heinously, gravely, nauseatingly, gruesomely, noisily, loudly, unpleasantly, excruciatingly, agonisingly, unbearably, cruelly, hatefully, unfairly, lamentably, song-of-legend-inspiringly, hopelessly, obnoxiously, crappily, brutally, wretchedly, sick-but-not-the-good-kind-of-sick-ly, conscience-strickenly, shamefully, troublingly, repellently, bone-crushingly, skull-burstingly, blood-spillingly, ash-tray-emptyingly, remorsefully, 'I've-been-in-bed-all-day-feeling-ill-just-thinking-about-the-nastiness-of-it'ly, utterly, bitterly, badly, unforgettably, 'oh-the-humanity'ly, crashed.

Gun

by Blane

The barrel of my gun is pressed against her cheek; tears spill over it and I can’t help wonder if it might rust.

"Don’t hurt me."

I usually remember detail but I’ve overlooked something.

The city canopy swayed overhead casting a light shade to the buildings and streets some six hundred metres below. Still, the sandy desert wind bit hard underneath, not many ventured out from their comfy air-conditioned homes or offices. I leapt from a rooftop and easily landed in a roll on an adjacent platform. I felt fuzzy from the blow to my head. My readouts flickered in my sight –

Memory Caching Error 0x1AF

- my target, a building downtown. I scaled the wall, scratched my way up the crumbly concrete before it’s self-aware™ surface repaired. The roof was vacant. I kicked through the service door – Habitat A – and sprinted through the guts of the building to room 2401.

"Taren please." She struggles against the vines, "it’s me, why are you doing this?" I glance at her. She’s naked.

"A runner finishes the mission." I place my finger on the trigger.

Memory Caching Error 0x0AC

I open my eyes and it’s dark. The implant restarted.

"Sarah."

The Interview

Avatar's own Daniel Ribot talks to local writer/director Mehul Desai.

It is not often that a Leicester scriptwriter is showered with accolades by Hollywood. This very thing, however, happened to North Evington film-maker, Mehul Desai, by dint of winning the 2009 Page International Screen-Writing Awards.

He scooped the top prize of $25,000, against competition from 4000 entries from 58 countries. A veritable scoop, particularly as Mehul's script, like much of his work, is in the SF genre. His script, Progeny, was described by judges as "terrifying and thought-provoking", reminiscent of the Stanley Kubrick classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey. It has also sparked a lot of interest from Hollywood agents, something that bodes well for the future. 

At the moment he is busy with another SF project; a short film with the title Extermination. Mehul describes it as "a war film but it's nothing grand and epic, it's all set in a ditch where these two soldiers are hiding. It's very short, probably only 5 minutes, focusing on their differing views on life and the fate of man. What interests me about the project is the chance to create (at least on a small scale) a future war scenario like the flashback scenes in the original Terminator. Dark, gritty, frightening." He plans to submit this film to the DV Shorts competition for East Midlands Arts and to Blank Slate in London. Making room in his busy schedule to answer my questions, he talked about his Science Fiction influences, Hollywood, Leicester and the craft of script-writing.

Daniel Ribot -- When did you first become interested in Science Fiction as a genre? What was the first SF book/film/TV show that really sparked your interest?

Mehul Desai -- I’ve always been a sci-fi fan. Growing up, all the movies I used to watch were things like Ghostbusters, Back to The Future, Star Wars, etc. I really got into Star Wars in my early teens, which was in the mid 90s. I was a huge Star Wars geek and that inspired me to write. I even remember trying to write a Star Wars novel when I was 13; it was set the day after Return of The Jedi, although I later found out that it had already been done.

In my late teens I saw Titanic (don’t care what people say, it’s a masterpiece!) and that reintroduced me to James Cameron’s films and his films got me REALLY excited about screenwriting and filmmaking.

DR --When did you decide to become a writer (of all things!), and an SF writer at that? 

MD -- James Cameron was the biggest influence when I was around 15/16. I knew I wanted to pursue a career in film or something creative in the media. My parents were very supportive, they didn’t try to push me into another direction. I think they had concerns these last few years, with university becoming a distant memory. Was I ever going to get a real job? But I think I was probably more concerned. For all those post-uni years I was doing odd freelance video projects here and there but it was never enough to make a living off of. Fortunately I landed a steady job at the start of this year and have been pretty comfortable since. Now I probably need to reassess the direction I’m taking.

DR -- Have you ever worked in collaboration with other writers or do you write purely on your own? Which do you prefer?

MD -- I've never written in collaboration. I'm sure it works for some, but personally I'd find it difficult. Both writers would have to be 100% synched on story and characters. I do show my scripts to writer friends after I've completed the first draft. Fresh eyes always help, not just to spot typos but also scenes or sections of scenes that can be cut out.

DR -- How would you describe the style of your work? (i.e. do you tend towards comedy, horror, melodrama, social commentary, action etc).

MD -- I like writing about character journeys, think it might be the Joseph Campbell influence. Whether it's in a serious setting or a more light hearted one doesn't matter. Some of my scripts are quite bleak but they're still always about how a character got from A to B, what factors effects their decisions and perspectives. I love the hero's journey but also the villain's journey.

DR -- You have worked on a number of projects for the BBC and now seem to be casting your net farther afield to the US. In which country do you see yourself working in future?

MD -- I haven’t had any real involvement with the BBC. They’re close to impossible to break into unless you know the right people. The only association I’ve had with them was one of my short films being shown on the BBC Film Network. But I think they were forced to put it on there because they were sponsors of the event the film was being made under. Oddly enough, I got an email the other day saying they didn’t like the film and they’re taking it off the site (phrased much nicer though).

It’s still very early days in terms of what opportunities will be available from the US. It might not amount to anything, just have to wait and see. But if things go well I’m kind of forced to look to the US since they have the power to make the kinds of films I write and am genuinely interested in.

In the immediate future I’m staying put, though. I’ve just sent off my application for "Digital Shorts" in the East Midlands. The project, which I will hopefully also get to direct, is another science fiction piece, very different from what we usually get in terms of Brit shorts -- Extermination. Hopefully the fact I’ve won an award for a science fiction feature script will work in my favour.

Concept Artwork for Extermination. A Film by Mehul Desai. Artwork by David C Ayling

DR -- Are you at all apprehensive about having your work subjected to the Hollywood machine or about how your work will be reinterpreted or rewritten? How hard do you fight for your vision and when do you back down a little bit?

MD -- I’m not apprehensive about Hollywood at all. It’s a business, they need to make money. I’ll do my best to push the kind of film I want, but I’m not that experienced so I’ll have to go with the flow a little. But, to be honest, the people I’ve been talking to so far are very friendly and they “get” the stories I write. Their enthusiasm is really refreshing after the rejections I’ve got from UK production companies, producers, etc.

DR -- In a recent interview with the Leicester Mercury you mention that the hero of your award-winning script Progeny was based on the actor Morgan Freeman. Do you usually model your characters on real actors/people? Is there anyone that, in your wildest dreams, you would love to play one of your characters?

MD -- I said Morgan Freeman because he was the first actor to sprung to mind. I don’t write characters with actors in mind, maybe as an after thought but never while I’m writing.

That said, I did model a character in Progeny on Richard Dawkins, or at least how I see Richard Dawkins.

I’ve never had dream actors for any of the characters I write. I sometimes think a recognised face can be a distraction. I want the story to be the focus and the characters to be the characters, not such and such playing such and such character.

DR -- What are your greatest writing/movie heroes? Which of them would you most like to work with?

MD --James Cameron (obviously), but over the years I’ve had many more filmmakers that have inspired me: Oliver Stone, Terrence Malick, Kathryn Bigelow, M Night Shyamalan. 

Shyamalan was a great inspiration for me. The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable came out when I was in college doing my first videos. Before M Night Shyamalan, I didn’t know of any western-raised Indians who wrote and directed films that weren’t associated with Bollywood. Also he was doing genre stuff.

In terms of writing, Stephen King was one of my first favourites but lately it’s been a lot of Arthur C Clarke and Carl Sagan. There’s also Joseph Campbell who really helped shape my perspective on life and the world.

DR -- This September Leicester-based writer Graham Joyce scooped the Best Novel prize at the 2009 British Fantasy Awards and you have just won the Page International Screenwriting Award. Can you think of any reason why Leicester has suddenly become such a hotbed of SF talent?

MD -- I didn’t know about Graham Joyce, that’s brilliant stuff. Writing a novel takes a lot more time, focus and dedication than screenwriting.

I’m not sure why Leicester is having success in terms of science fiction and fantasy writers. These are genres of escape so maybe everyone wants to escape Leicester – I’m kidding!

DR -- Do you think growing up/living in Leicester feeds into what you write?

MD -- I don’t think it has much. I think it’s more to do with the people I’ve met, the places I’ve travelled, life experiences, books, movies, a whole lot of things. I’ve never written anything that’s specifically set in Leicester.

DR -- How will you be using the prize money; to help you further your writing career or blowing it on something cool and/or insane? 

MD -- I think I’ve become more responsible the older I get so I’ll just put it away for a rainy day. In all honesty, I’m too busy at the moment to think about spending it on anything. Perhaps if I need to go to LA next year it will be useful. Have to wait and see.

DR -- What advice would you give to someone who thinks they have a great idea for a movie script?

MD -- Write it. Don’t be one of those people who say “I have a great idea” and then do nothing with it. Just write it. If you can’t get enthused enough to write it then it’s not really a great idea. Be passionate about the story and characters and don’t write to try and impress others. I’ve made that mistake in the past and it’s made the whole writing process a horrible experience. 

You have to write something that you’ll be proud of. So much so that it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t get made.

There’s a saying I read once, write out of inspiration and not aspiration. Take that as you will.

-------------------------

Avatar would like to thank Mehul for taking the time out from his busy schedule to talk to us and we wish him every success for the future. Also, many thanks to Mehul for kindly providing us with the concept artwork for Extermination.