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Impland: An Alien Utopia : A 40th Anniversary Retrospective
Part science fiction, part fantasy, part retrospective, Impland presents a future vision from a child's eyes, reinterpreted
through that child as a man 40 years later. The descriptions are fanciful, and not always consistent with science of the 1960s
and 70s when the bulk of the 20-year project was done, but they are also prescient, anticipating the current search for worlds by decades. Meticulously laid out in writing and illustrating, Impland depicts a radically different species, raising questions not only of adaptation, but of how a utopia should be defined.
Appealing to children and adult world-builders alike, Impland traces the progression of the Imp world as well as the author through childhood, as well as the troubles with trying to publish a genre-busting book in the early 1980s.
At once micro-focused on diet, households, social relations and spirituality, and macro-focused on planetary and moon
orbital dynamics, ecology, life in a cavern, and governance, Impland asks questions that all sentient readers can learn from, no matter what their species.
through that child as a man 40 years later. The descriptions are fanciful, and not always consistent with science of the 1960s
and 70s when the bulk of the 20-year project was done, but they are also prescient, anticipating the current search for worlds by decades. Meticulously laid out in writing and illustrating, Impland depicts a radically different species, raising questions not only of adaptation, but of how a utopia should be defined.
Appealing to children and adult world-builders alike, Impland traces the progression of the Imp world as well as the author through childhood, as well as the troubles with trying to publish a genre-busting book in the early 1980s.
At once micro-focused on diet, households, social relations and spirituality, and macro-focused on planetary and moon
orbital dynamics, ecology, life in a cavern, and governance, Impland asks questions that all sentient readers can learn from, no matter what their species.
Kindle Edition
Published September 15, 2022
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About the author
Scott Baker
89 books10 followersScott Baker discovered his love of reading in grade school when his mother bet him he couldn't stay up until midnight every night reading Dracula. He finished the book, won 50 cents, slept with the lights on for the next four years, and was hooked for life on science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
Scott first attempted a novel in third grade. It was a page long and featured a rocket ship that ran on liquid copper.
In college, Scott drifted away from SF, but he was driven back to it by the deadly dullness of U.C. Irvine's Ph.D. program. Abandoning academia, he devoted himself to chemically-assisted hedonism in the Los Padres National Forest. During this time, Scott made several attempts at novels, but it was only after his van was stolen, he lost his job, his girlfriend left, and his roommate stole his rent money that he decided a life devoted to the joys of the moment wasn't all that much fun, so it was time to get serious about writing.
Scott wrote four novels-Nightchild, Dhampire, and Symbiote's Crown--before selling Symbiote's Crown. By the time it was published, Scott and his wife were living in the archetypical writer's garret, a cramped fifth-floor walk-up in Paris. Symbiote's Crown won the 1982 Prix Apollo for best French science fiction novel of the year.
Scott stayed in Paris for twenty years, working as translator and publisher's reader. He collaborated on several film scripts, working with directors such as Raoul Ruiz, Chile's former Minister of Culture. One film, Litan, won the Critic's prize at the Avoriaz Film Festival.
He also began writing shorter fiction. Four of Scott's stories were World Fantasy Award finalists and Still Life with Scorpion won the World Fantasy Award. He has three short story collections published in France.
Scott's next two novels, Drink the Fire from the Flames and Firedance, were fantasies set in the world of Ashlu. Inscrutable editorial imperatives meant that Firedance, second in the series, was published first, creating some confusion. The Ashlu books were followed by Webs, a psychological thriller with rather large spiders. Dissatisfied with Dhampire, he rewrote it from scratch. The vastly improved version was published as Ancestral Hungers.
After moving back to California, Scott created websites for the on-line tie-in for Steven Spielberg's film, AI, including one written in pseudo-Boolean code. The tie-in, AI: Who Killed Evan Chang was the first Alternate Reality Game. It was ranked Entertainment Weekly's number one website for 2002 and one of the New York Times' "Cool Ideas of the Year."
Scott's work has been published in England, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, and Finland. He has been a judge for the World Fantasy Awards, and is currently chairman of the judge's panel for the 2011 Philip K. Dick award.
After a long hiatus, Scott is currently working on an alternate history novel revolving around ethnopsychiatry, dire leopards, ancient Nubian medicine, traumatic brain injury, behavior-modifying parasites, and Napoleon's attempted conquest of Egypt.
AWARDS AND ACCOLADES
2002 Entertainment Weekly's number one website (AI: Who Killed Evan Chang?)
2002 A New York Times' "Cool Idea of the Year" (AI: Who Killed Evan Chang?)
1990 World Fantasy Award Finalist (Varicose Worms)
1990 Chosen for The Year's Fantasy and Horror (Varicose Worms)
1987 World Fantasy Award Finalist (Nesting Instinct)
1987 Chosen for The Year's Best Science Fiction (Sea Change)
1985 World Fantasy Award Winner (Still Life with Scorpion)
1983 World Fantasy Award Finalist (The Lurking Duck)
1982 Critic's Prize, Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival (Litan)
1982 Prix Apollo for best science fiction novel published in France (Symbiote's Crown)
NOVELS
Symbiote's Crown (1978)
Nightchild (1983)
Drink the Fire from the Flames (1987)
Firedance (1985)
Webs (1989)
Ancestral Hungers (1995)
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS (French)
Nouvelle Recette Pour Canard Au Sang (1983)
Fringales (1985).
Aléas (1997).
FILM SCRIPT
Scott first attempted a novel in third grade. It was a page long and featured a rocket ship that ran on liquid copper.
In college, Scott drifted away from SF, but he was driven back to it by the deadly dullness of U.C. Irvine's Ph.D. program. Abandoning academia, he devoted himself to chemically-assisted hedonism in the Los Padres National Forest. During this time, Scott made several attempts at novels, but it was only after his van was stolen, he lost his job, his girlfriend left, and his roommate stole his rent money that he decided a life devoted to the joys of the moment wasn't all that much fun, so it was time to get serious about writing.
Scott wrote four novels-Nightchild, Dhampire, and Symbiote's Crown--before selling Symbiote's Crown. By the time it was published, Scott and his wife were living in the archetypical writer's garret, a cramped fifth-floor walk-up in Paris. Symbiote's Crown won the 1982 Prix Apollo for best French science fiction novel of the year.
Scott stayed in Paris for twenty years, working as translator and publisher's reader. He collaborated on several film scripts, working with directors such as Raoul Ruiz, Chile's former Minister of Culture. One film, Litan, won the Critic's prize at the Avoriaz Film Festival.
He also began writing shorter fiction. Four of Scott's stories were World Fantasy Award finalists and Still Life with Scorpion won the World Fantasy Award. He has three short story collections published in France.
Scott's next two novels, Drink the Fire from the Flames and Firedance, were fantasies set in the world of Ashlu. Inscrutable editorial imperatives meant that Firedance, second in the series, was published first, creating some confusion. The Ashlu books were followed by Webs, a psychological thriller with rather large spiders. Dissatisfied with Dhampire, he rewrote it from scratch. The vastly improved version was published as Ancestral Hungers.
After moving back to California, Scott created websites for the on-line tie-in for Steven Spielberg's film, AI, including one written in pseudo-Boolean code. The tie-in, AI: Who Killed Evan Chang was the first Alternate Reality Game. It was ranked Entertainment Weekly's number one website for 2002 and one of the New York Times' "Cool Ideas of the Year."
Scott's work has been published in England, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, and Finland. He has been a judge for the World Fantasy Awards, and is currently chairman of the judge's panel for the 2011 Philip K. Dick award.
After a long hiatus, Scott is currently working on an alternate history novel revolving around ethnopsychiatry, dire leopards, ancient Nubian medicine, traumatic brain injury, behavior-modifying parasites, and Napoleon's attempted conquest of Egypt.
AWARDS AND ACCOLADES
2002 Entertainment Weekly's number one website (AI: Who Killed Evan Chang?)
2002 A New York Times' "Cool Idea of the Year" (AI: Who Killed Evan Chang?)
1990 World Fantasy Award Finalist (Varicose Worms)
1990 Chosen for The Year's Fantasy and Horror (Varicose Worms)
1987 World Fantasy Award Finalist (Nesting Instinct)
1987 Chosen for The Year's Best Science Fiction (Sea Change)
1985 World Fantasy Award Winner (Still Life with Scorpion)
1983 World Fantasy Award Finalist (The Lurking Duck)
1982 Critic's Prize, Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival (Litan)
1982 Prix Apollo for best science fiction novel published in France (Symbiote's Crown)
NOVELS
Symbiote's Crown (1978)
Nightchild (1983)
Drink the Fire from the Flames (1987)
Firedance (1985)
Webs (1989)
Ancestral Hungers (1995)
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS (French)
Nouvelle Recette Pour Canard Au Sang (1983)
Fringales (1985).
Aléas (1997).
FILM SCRIPT
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 25, 2022
An Oriiginal and Unique Alien Utopian vision
A very educational read for middle school and high school students.
This prescient book shows that the ideas developed by a child/teenager 40- 60 years ago are relevant today.
The alien life theories in the book are being discussed within newer sciences like Astro-Biology that did not exist in 1960's and 1970's when the book was written.
Life in other worlds was contemplated in so much details in this book so long before it could be detected using today's space scanning technologies.
Impland provides a World building exercise which can be a challenging and inspirational group exercise for students and they can learn complex concepts to try to solve today's problems.
Enjoy reading... and discuss....
A very educational read for middle school and high school students.
This prescient book shows that the ideas developed by a child/teenager 40- 60 years ago are relevant today.
The alien life theories in the book are being discussed within newer sciences like Astro-Biology that did not exist in 1960's and 1970's when the book was written.
Life in other worlds was contemplated in so much details in this book so long before it could be detected using today's space scanning technologies.
Impland provides a World building exercise which can be a challenging and inspirational group exercise for students and they can learn complex concepts to try to solve today's problems.
Enjoy reading... and discuss....
October 25, 2022
KIRKUS
REVIEWS
TITLE INFORMATION
IMPLAND: AN ALIEN UTOPIA
A 40th Anniversary Retrospective
Scott Baker Manuscript (46 pp.)
BOOK REVEW
In this illustrated SF book, a writer revisits the alien world that he imagined and built throughout his childhood.
Baker first conceived of the Imps when he was only 3 years old. These intriguing aliens, who reach all of 1 foot as adults, somewhat resemble beans, with noses almost as long as their spindly legs. They live inside a climate-controlled cavern in "Imp World"-one of the 25 moons of the planet Obor in the Milky Way galaxy. In this volume, the author looks back at different "editions" of his Imp writings, dating from when he was a child in the 1960s through his early 20s. He compiles old, sketched diagrams of spaceships and Imp World as well as typewritten specifics on the aliens' biology, ecology, government, and transportation system. Much of the material is gleefully inventive; all Imps are born female, and those whose eggs are fertilized eventually turn male. They are various colors, although "Color Changing Tanks" allow an Imp to choose a different one. The author's drawings are wonderfully and meticulously detailed, from the Imps' anatomy to the layout of the Surface Center, which rests between a subterranean city and Imp World's surface. But in other instances, this world mirrors familiar sights on Earth. Additional creatures on Imp World, for example, include the electric snake, the striped bird, and tyris, which are fish. Imps get around in floating trucks and buses and even simple boats and submarines. Baker cohesively ties together all of the alien facts and diagrams and earnestly discusses his decadeslong creation. But his retrospection comes with a bit of welcome humor, as when he notes the parts he "never got around to doing," and some clear sources of inspiration (for instance, maglev trains and the author's fascination with caverns). In the end, Baker has the foundation of an SF saga that's waiting for a story and a hero.
An entertaining retrospective that explores a smart and innovative alien civilization.
REVIEWS
TITLE INFORMATION
IMPLAND: AN ALIEN UTOPIA
A 40th Anniversary Retrospective
Scott Baker Manuscript (46 pp.)
BOOK REVEW
In this illustrated SF book, a writer revisits the alien world that he imagined and built throughout his childhood.
Baker first conceived of the Imps when he was only 3 years old. These intriguing aliens, who reach all of 1 foot as adults, somewhat resemble beans, with noses almost as long as their spindly legs. They live inside a climate-controlled cavern in "Imp World"-one of the 25 moons of the planet Obor in the Milky Way galaxy. In this volume, the author looks back at different "editions" of his Imp writings, dating from when he was a child in the 1960s through his early 20s. He compiles old, sketched diagrams of spaceships and Imp World as well as typewritten specifics on the aliens' biology, ecology, government, and transportation system. Much of the material is gleefully inventive; all Imps are born female, and those whose eggs are fertilized eventually turn male. They are various colors, although "Color Changing Tanks" allow an Imp to choose a different one. The author's drawings are wonderfully and meticulously detailed, from the Imps' anatomy to the layout of the Surface Center, which rests between a subterranean city and Imp World's surface. But in other instances, this world mirrors familiar sights on Earth. Additional creatures on Imp World, for example, include the electric snake, the striped bird, and tyris, which are fish. Imps get around in floating trucks and buses and even simple boats and submarines. Baker cohesively ties together all of the alien facts and diagrams and earnestly discusses his decadeslong creation. But his retrospection comes with a bit of welcome humor, as when he notes the parts he "never got around to doing," and some clear sources of inspiration (for instance, maglev trains and the author's fascination with caverns). In the end, Baker has the foundation of an SF saga that's waiting for a story and a hero.
An entertaining retrospective that explores a smart and innovative alien civilization.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews