Prime Attack

Zine
Title:	Prime Attack
Publisher:	Rosie Peck and the fan club Aftermath
Editor:
Author(s):	Mark Lang
Cover Artist(s):	Mike Adamson
Illustrator(s):	Mike Adamson
Date(s):	1985 or 1986
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:	gen
Fandom:	Blake’s 7
Language:	English
External Links:	review here
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Prime Attack is a gen Blake's 7 AU novel by Mark Lang published in Australia.

Reactions and Reviews

Unknown Date

Ah yes. Prime Attack. Would have been improved by the use of a dictionary on the author's part. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe not. After all, the startling misuse of three words in particular(*) made sure that I never forgot the zine, wheras if he *had* used a dictionary, then it would simply have been lost in mediocrity.

This was a one-story standalone zine, a PGP. It is Australian. I think it was produced by Rosie Peck of South Australia, but I'm not sure. Rosie Peck was the editor of Xenon.

(*) The phrases that burned into my memory were: - "in a strategically walkable manner" - "a dual triumvirate" - and the use of the word "decapitated" to refer to something *other* than a head.

That, plus remaking the Blake's 7 universe over into something that had the tone of Star Wars, made this even worse than "Aftermath".

What gets me is that some people actually loved it.

1986

If you are a BLAKE'S 7 fan, then the cover will most certainly be the first thing to attract your attention, it tells you that the story is about the now non-existant BLAKE'S 7 series, and the characters in a Galactic Empire that we have all come to understand. Also the terrific piece of artwork on the cover is of the Scorpio and was done by MIKE ADAMSON. It is a hard cover, of A4 size format, professionally produced, making it a neat and clean job worthy of being on any book shelves. The pages are all clean and neat, making them easy to look at and read.

The plot starts where one would expect all such stories to begin. "At the beginning," and of course, that point is where the BBC series finished: that point in time when Blake dropped at Avon's feet after Avon had shot him, three times. One by one, the others fell to the floor, leaving Avon circled by Federation Troopers' guns. As for the rest of the story, you will have to read the book. Particularly if you like shocks and surprises, as they come thick and fast, from all comers.

If I had a fault to pick with the whole thing it would be the printing errors, but this in no way makes the story hard to follow... In fact, Mark's writing style is an easy-flowing one, and PRIME ATTACK is an excellent piece of BLAKE'S 7 literature.

To start PRIME ATTACK you have to go back to the BBC episode, "Blake," and to a planet called Gauda Pride, and with Mark's help, live the continuing story, had the series gone on. Mark Lang's version is true and believable with the characters just as you remember them. Unlike "Afterlife," by Tony Attwood, which lost the feel of the BLAKE'S 7 universe and whose characters had become just cardboard cutouts of the originals.

The BBC episode "Blake" not only left you on Gauda Prime, but with a lot of unanswered questions. PRIME ATTACK does help to answer them, and more. Does Avon lose totally? Has Servalan won at last? And where was she while the attack was on? And perhaps more importantly, WHO WINS? For BLAKE'S 7 fans and others, PRIME ATTACK is compulsive reading. The solution is nothing short of devastating. A paragon in the field.

Superb...pace and action are stupendous. It has everything that the original BLAKE'S 7 universe had, and the heady breath-baiting action all the way to the last few blood-soaked pages. GET IT NOW! READ IT NOW!