At last

Have I whinged about the state of the Cambodian post system recently? Because I've just had a delivery to my office from the main post office in Phnom Penh of three large envelopes which contained books and stuff sent to me in early February. It's now close to the end of April and frankly, the service is crap. Though at least this time the envelopes hadn't been opened. So what did the postie bring you might ask? Two books from Demaz Baker, namely her A Taste of Cambodian Cuisine, a Khmer cookbook of ingredients and recipes, which she uses in the cooking classes she teaches; and Khmer Legends, seventeen folk tales from her homeland including the story of Wat Nokor and Phnom Pros Phnom Srey (Man and Woman Mountain). From James Rosin came his look back at the classic cult sci-fi television series in the late 60s called The Invaders, which was a big favourite of mine with David Vincent doing his best to warn the world of the invasion of aliens. Okay, you had to suspend belief and the invaders were recognisable by their distorted pinky finger but that was part of the fun. The final envelope contained a DVD of excerpts from Sarah O'Brien's new musical, Winds of Angkor, which she hopes to premiere in Cambodia in the not too distant future. She also sent me a book of images from the musical. My grateful thanks to all three. I also need to get out to Monument Books sometime soon, as I have a list of books that are missing from my library of Cambodia publications and that needs to be addressed.

Stiff little fingers

Roy Thinnes in The Invaders

The author of a brand new book on my favourite sci-fi television series, The Invaders, has been in touch to tell me about his recent publication. The Invaders: A Quinn Martin TV Series is the latest output from James Rosin, who specializes in books on classic television series. It contains a commentary from the star of the show, Roy Thinnes, producer Alan Armer, and others involved with the show, plus many photos, a complete episode guide and a biography section of the many guest stars that appeared in The Invaders, a show that ran for two seasons in 1967 and 1968. You can find out more about the television series here and it's leading star Roy Thinnes. You can order a copy of the book here.
The Invaders has become something of a cult sci-fi classic since its untimely demise in March 1968. The good versus evil battle was played out in 43 episodes but without a conclusion, when the series ended abruptly with low ratings forcing ABC to axe the show. The series was the first of its kind to deal with alien invasion and spawned future series such as V, War of the Worlds and The X-Files. Thinnes played the character, David Vincent, an architect, who took it on himself to expose the virtually undetectable aliens (except they each had a crooked little finger). Great fun, cheesy plots and re-runs on television in the UK ensured I was hooked.