The Future

As of right now I have no idea with the state of this year. I hope to see myself in a design firm someplace up north with a steady job in a lively but not too crowded city. Eventually I'd hope to move from an office setting to either starting my own business/design firm, or go completely freelance, and depend on larger clients. I'd like to focus my extra free time into an eco-friendly lifestyle, and own a vegetable garden with a couple dogs to keep me company. I hope to visit lots of places with beautiful views and connect with friends I have made in college/high school again. I'd like to sit down on the hood of my hover car and watch the night sky and reminisce about David Steiling's, Literature of Horror, Fantasy and Sci-Fi class, and say "Those were the days."

Thanks for reading.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

I've been a huge fan of the nonsense and laughable scenarios presented in Douglas Adam's great world of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy since I was in middle school. I actually preformed in a play based on the first couple chapters of the book. It was good to hear the radio version now because there are a lot of lines in the book that are very dryly presented. It's important to the humor and it definitely helped push it further into the realm of British dry humor.

I am drawn to this story among other sci-fi novels, not just because of the excellent humor, but for the unconventional plot line. Earth is destroyed and there are only but 2 humans living in the galaxy. Arthur Dent is so wrapped up in how amazing Earth is, but soon finds that the galaxy only knows it as a "Mostly Harmless" planet. In the same way many humans feel strongly about how important or how amazing their country is, Arthur defends Earth even if no one cares.

Blowing up the planet in the first 5 minutes of a book is a bold step to take, most books wait until at least halfway, or have moved past the destruction of the Earth with a new hope. There is no new hope for Arthur, he is but a hitchhiker on a wild adventure tagging along a group of criminals. Most books have a pretty good reason for blowing up the Earth as well, but again, in Douglas Adam's mind, he wanted to explore the idea of the Earth being demolished for the sake of an interstellar bypass. This almost knocks us down a peg as Earth-dwellers, and reminds us we are not that important in the galaxy. I absolutely love that. It's interesting to see the human race as but an evolutionary offspring of a giant, super computer planet, holding "the ultimate question."

It makes sense for such events to happen in the form of a British humor novel. I do recommend the first few books in the series, and only really dive into the last half if you're feeling a deep connection to the characters.

The Aquatic Uncle

The short story, The Aquatic Uncle, by Italo Calvino goes on about a point in evolution where fish are drawn to the land, and start to move there. I really appreciated all the themes of modern society versus traditional values. I also thought it related a lot to the older generation of today, and how they're sometimes less accustomed to what the younger generation chooses to do. The idea of older people using texting was out of the picture 10 years ago. Many preferred making telephone calls to texting. And before that, people were haunted by the idea of hearing someone's voice through a wire, and refused Alexander Bell's invention. There will always be someone who prefers the old fashioned way in every generation. Change is scary, and this short story explains it.

I also thought it was an example of being out of place, as immigrants are when they move to America, sometimes they are shunned by both their native country and Americans. The main character fish is currently dealing with the same struggle as he is somewhere in between land and sea, but master of none. And because of that he is not great at swimming or dwelling on land. He feels like he doesn't fit in. Immigrants today who might have moved from their country at a young age are at a disadvantage in the new country they are in.

And finally, the idea of the grass being greener on the other side can be seen. As the fiancé is transfixed by the idea of living in water. She asks the great uncle to explain the underwater world. The main character is revolted by his persistence and embarrassed that the uncle won't stop praising the aquatic life. History is doomed to repeat itself, so just as fish were drawn to the land, eventually there would be land-dwellers that would be drawn to the sea.

Listen to your elders or they will steal your fiancé.

Bloodchild

This book follows a settlement of humans on an alien planet. The most interesting aspect of the story is that the alien planet is populated by intelligent lifeforms which are able to be political and have different worldviews. The main character is forced to accept the agreement, which is unfair and unconventional, but it was necessary for both to survive. The author seemed to want to depict a symbiotic relationship between an alien and human race.

Throughout the book we can see the immediate connection of childbirth and how it's a terrifying it can be. In our world childbirth is dangerous and painful for women, and children are usually hidden from this procedure. In the short story, the roles are flipped and the male is forced to take on the role of carrying an alien child. The author also wanted see what it would take for a male to have maternal feelings for the life in their abdomen.

I also see a connection to afro-futurism through the group of people in this book. The humans fled from their world, and came to this new world. I can assume that space travel to a new planet would cost a considerable amount of money, and I could imagine that only the wealthy and important humans were the ones who boarded this ship to this planet. As soon as the humans came to the planet they were enslaved and held on reservations. I believe this could be considered a role reversal, where the wealthy and in power are now second to an entire species. One could also go as far as to say this settlement of people could have been the ones who caused their world to fall apart in the first place.

This short story was an interesting one and I believe made the reader think more about the history of our world in respect to this short story. It's very important not to forget history, or you are doomed to repeat it, so the author was saying: "Here look this is your world's history from a different perspective." Sci-Fi shouldn't be something left to the white heterosexual men to write.

Fragments of a Holographic Rose

There is a lot of symbolism in this short story: Fragments of a Holographic Rose. The rose is a metaphor for the life that is being lived. The fragmentation illustrates a world where when we lose something dear to us and it's been shattered into pieces, we are constantly looking through the shards to see the beauty it once held. Parker had his life shattered when his girlfriend left him so he is sifting through the remnants of their relationship and reliving her memories through the use of the ASP tapes.

The ASP is a new technology which has totally changed the future of the world. Parker, the main character, has shifted his life dramatically from a steady job to a life in the slum suburbs. In a world where jobs are rare, it makes sense that people have these tapes to rely on as a way to soak up all their free time. In much as Ready Player One has a less dystopian, but more functional society where people don't have jobs, but do spend all their free time playing the VR game, Fragments of a Holographic Rose has these sensory tapes that people can turn to for comfort. This is another cautionary tale of a writer who is predicting a fictional but not entirely impossible future. It sounds like the main character made a choice to leave his job and promised fiscal security in a post apocalyptic world. He did this because of the alluring temptations of the ASP tapes which he could cybernetically lose himself.

The life he chose to live in the shantytown, versus the life he could have had with a stable paying job, would confuse most people. Why wouldn't Parker choose to live in the higher society? I think this choice illustrates the power and grip of the new scary technology of total immersion into recorded memories. The sadness of being lost to the technology of the future can lead people to avoid similar possible mistakes, or make them too afraid of change and making it harder for mankind to progress.

COME TO VENUS MELANCHOLY

Today I read Come to Venus Melancholy by  Thomas M. Disch. The very "Melancholy" idea of the cyborg trapped alone for eternity with only a few books to read caused me to sympathize with the main character. This story acts as a cautionary tale, if mankind ever created immortality through cybernetics, they should know of the consequences. Considering a lot of test subjects who gave their lives to live forever cybernetically went psycho or died in the transformation process, it should be avoided. Although one last problem which this story focuses on, shows what would happen if the science of cybernetics was too successful.

The idea of putting a human mind full of emotions and personality into a machine room with another human and have the two depend on each other fascinates me as a future possibility. The tension between the two would have to be high when topics arose. The example of sex being one of those topics makes sense the cybernetic being would be uncomfortable conversing about. One other topic of sensitivity for the cybernetic being was the sacredness of poetry, specifically works by John Milton. She loved John George Clay, the man who was stationed with her, and believe he loved her back. There was a sense of anger when Clay attacked one of the only things she held dear: Poetry. His parody of a simple phrase by her favorite poet caused her to lash out and leave him alone for five full days. This abandonment would be a foreshadowing for her own destiny. For who knows what a human would go through being alone, locked in a room with no food.

So was there someone in the room with her this whole time? If they were, did they stay the entire time? Were her speakers even in tact? There's a lot of reasons why she shouldn't even bother trying, but given she had simply nothing else to do but hope for rescue, it made sense for her to give it a shot. The sadness and melancholy comes from these questions, and leaving it to the reader to imagine a figure coming back and interacting with the cyborg. Did the figure experience pity? sympathy? vengeance? interest? disgust? I'd like to picture perhaps there was a figure, who sat and listened to the poor cyborg. Who maybe tried to fix her microphone or visuals, but when they couldn't they gave up. Finally when the cyborg let them out, they couldn't bring themselves to destroy her. They left. It's a possible scenario, but an even more possible one would be no one was ever there. That seems to be the most fitting for the theme of the story.

Artemis

"She looked at him like he put the Earth in the sky"

Absolutely loved this book. I wanted to know more about the city of Artemis from page one. As the story progressed I felt the city becoming more and more a possibility in the near future. Andy Weir takes the idea of lunar colonization to a new level and drops us in the shoes of a blue-collar working smuggler who's goal is to make it to the top.

Starting at the bottom rungs of this lunar society helped the reader feel like they are getting the real view of the city. And there is a lot of science and technology which is explained to really make the moon feel a reachable goal for mankind. I have read Andy's The Martian a few years ago and could feel similar world building with science and just out of reach technology. Artemis is the the same attempt of world building times 100. There are hundreds of roles required for a city to function properly. It honestly felt like Weir created the city before creating the characters. There is opportunity for entirely new books written on the same book.

The humor keeps the reading light and interesting, and the first person point of view keeps the story linear and easy to follow. This is important for a book that is world-building so hard, and I think Andy knows how to balance the two. If the book followed multiple characters, and had too much long drawn out dialogue, and talked largely about lunar/rocket science, the reader would be lost. I greatly appreciated this pacing and I know Andy has learned from his previous book, and will continue to write stories such as these.

The genre of "Space Opera" handles a lot of challenges by simply suggesting "science has advanced." Much like our past reads, the genre has epic missions and usually follows an underdog character who's traveling through space, unlocking mysteries, or saving space colonies. We've seen this before in genres of Magical nature. Simply replacing that magic with "science" and you have space opera. 

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

In The Ocean at the End of the Lane, there was a few mythical aspects to find. I was most interested in the powerful sorceresses in the story.

One of the main examples of mythology in Ocean at the End of the Lane was the Hempstock family. After researching more on this peculiar set of females, I found they represented the triple goddess,  by weaving and tying threads to create life. The three faces of the triple goddess are Mother, Maiden and Crone. The Maiden is open to everything and unspoiled, a child of nature, and portrayed as a virgin. It was important for the boy to meet Lettie Hempstock first, as she was a child, which the boy only trusted children because was certain that adults would never listen to him. She is considered powerful by mythology and a successful hunter.

The Mother, the nurturer in the trinity, had the job of taking care of Lettie and Gran. She might not be a biological mother, but in the story she had to be something which the 9 year old boy could understand. Thus she had a very maternal look about herself, offered cucumber sandwiches, and reminded the kids to be careful. She's a quick thinker based on how she would cover up acts of magic, and had lots of power. Her main driving goal is to be taking care of every one, and the boy would feel comfortable with her filling the absence of his own mother.

Finally the Crone, "Gran" or  Old Mrs. Hempstock, is the omniscient, omnipotent, wise old woman. She acts as the savior in various points in the book, and has more abilities than the other two. Her powers are important because although she can solve almost anything, she doesn't intervene unless she has to. I believe this is because she is all-knowing and in a way, knows everything will be alright. Old Mrs. Hempstock also represents death, or a waning moon. The book portrays this as her needing to take long "naps" when she has been magically drained. Due to her old age and power, these naps are a sign of temporary death, because she cannot be awaked.

I enjoyed this novel by Neil Gaiman, his work is a bit dreary at times, but I appreciate how simple and uncomplicated his stories are, but when you go back and look at the motifs, you're able to dig up references to mythology and underlying themes that are truly amazing. I hope to read more of this classic author's works.

Witcher Book Series - Blood of Elves, The Time of Contempt, & Baptism of Fire

In much the same way one might view Harry Potter, Cirilla, in The Witcher is viewed as a "chosen one" of sorts, and has to learn how to harness her intrinsic magical powers. The book follows a collection of stories, separate timelines which do eventually end up coming together. One of the most important being Ciri's development and training. She is forced to learn to fight like a witcher as her father, Geralt. (not by birth, but by gift of surprise, bound by fate) This challenge is forced upon her only as a means of survival. She is hunted by evil characters who want her not only for her royal blood but also her magical abilities.

After she is trained in the ways of the witcher she is taken under the wing of Yennifer where she would learn the ways of a sorceress. Yennifer plays a role as mother figure in the training, using harsh punishment and withheld praise to strengthen ciri. She also experienced this same strong handed during her sword-fighting and agility combat training. The way she is taught first the ways of sleighing monsters and hand-to-hand combat and then pushed into the intellectual side of magic training shows a dramatic shift in lifestyle and challenge.

She is faced with several moral issues throughout the book, the first being when learning magic. Yennifer teaches Ciri the basics of magic and progressively moves onto larger/stronger spells. One example of a moral issue is when Ciri is told to stay away from "fire magic." Not understanding the ramifications of such power, she uses it—given she is in a time of dire need and has no choice—and it causes her to have hallucinations urging her to kill anyone who abandoned her at a young age. After understanding the downside to magic, this challenge causes her to be more careful and avoid all fire magic.

As the series progresses, her powers continues to form her into a force to be reckoned with.

Chinese Ghost Stories - Curious Tales of the Supernatural

Of the Chinese Ghost Stories - Curious Tales of the Supernatural collection, I chose to write of my two favorite stories.

The Legend of Zhi Nü:
One of my major assumptions about the themes of good and evil in this book are that it follows a Biblical sense. The main character, Dong, had a loving father who unconditionally loved his son and spent every penny on his education and well-being. I see this as a parallel to the biblical christian belief that God has given everything to his people, without asking for anything in return. Moving on, when Dong's father passed away, he felt ashamed for not having enough to honor the father's death with a proper funeral. This could also relate to how Christians feel a need to honor their god for all he has provided for them. Then after Dong honors his father, when most of his friends called him crazy. After Dong gets terribly ill and the mysterious magical "goddess" female figure appears, revives, and marries Dong. This could also be a representation of Jesus, as he came down to earth and rescued those who believed. Dong is recognized in the end of the story for his hard work and honor to his father. His good is rewarded with life and freedom. Which is another way of representing the religious values of good and evil. There supernatural elements which are prominent in Chinese and Japanese horror stories are apparent in the "beautiful woman" and her mysterious power, weaving skills, and sudden appearance/disappearance. Western Horror doesn't have mysterious beautiful women of power.

The Soul of the Great Bell:
In this second story, another form of sacrifice is recorded. This story follows the premise of a bell maker who couldn't get his metals to bond properly. He is faced with one final try to get it right or he would die. This ultimatum, which he was destined to fail, is prevented by the sacrifice of his daughter, a virgin. The good in this story can be seen as the daughter saving the life of her father. Much like the last, these Chinese short stories uphold the theme of honoring parents and self sacrifice. The evil in this story is the greed-filled emperor who wanted the biggest and loudest bell in all the land. Something impossible without a blood sacrifice. The story illustrates that sometimes life is challenged by evil and only an act of ultimate sacrifice can fix it. I appreciated these short stories and can now see how they differ from western cultural writing. There is no monster, no heroine in distress, no scary castles and dark nights. Just a sad tale of a sacrifice made by a son/daughter.

The Hobbit

The Beginning of Bilbo's journey begins with a refusal to the call to action. Bilbo wanted nothing more than a peaceful life, and is happy with his current state of living, a life of "innocents." The abruptness of the dwarves smashing into his home and eating all of his food, makes Bilbo upset and angrily refuse. Once some time passes and he learns more about the mission, who the dwarves really are, and what kind of adventure was ahead of him. The next morning Bilbo realizes he's missing an opportunity of a lifetime and makes a brave decision to join the party. This moment of Crossing the First Threshold into the world of adventure happens which is a very common theme in a lot of Hero stories.

Throughout the story we find other elements of the classic hero journey such as the initiation when the trolls capture everyone. The book also has plenty of other tests and trials along the way until the final Nadir when the party leaves Bilbo behind in the caves. He is lost in a cave and has a famous encounter with Smeagol. A moment of fending for himself using his whit to escape the dreary caves. Once he's found his mojo he meets up with the party. Being independent for some time is a key element to his character growth, which leads to his first kill: The spider. Much more happens between now and the final battle but essentially more meat to the adventure Tolken writes.

Finally the book ends with the "Ultimate Boon," the epic battle of goblins, humans, elves, dwarves, and eagles. The cycle ends with the return home for Bilbo. When arriving home his neighbors don't like him much because of how much he's changed. Instead of living a quiet simple life, he has left that behind and lives for the next "Hero's Journey." I believe Tolken was inspired by past epics and Campbells work. Because of his living alongside World War One he incorporated a lot of his experiences into this version of a Hero's journey which leads the book to be a much more lively and real tale.

Annihilation and the New Weird

The weird in Annihilation is what we don't understand. The uncomfortable feeling of not being able to wrap your head around a mystery makes the reader uncomfortable. When people read horror it's full of characters who are tied to something we already know. Horror writers connect the monsters and aliens to human characteristics and give them some relation to what we already know.

In the book itself we stumble upon a new "being" of some sort. It's hard to tell what the "monster" is. Is it a virus? a spiritual being that possess animals and plants? Honestly I still don't know. I enjoyed the endless dive into the unknown world. As the book progresses, the weird becomes more prominent creating more questions than answers. I liked the use of hypnosis as one of those mysteries, it showed us that even though they were in a world of unknowns, there are levels of unknowns still in the real world, like the power to control people's minds. The bio matter letters that the biologist looked at infected her with some sort of spores. These spores then undo the hypnosis mind control which the psychologist was capable of. I believe this to be a moment of showing that the "weird" was almost a good thing. Undoing what mankind has done. After finishing the book and watching the movie, I figure the main goal of the "weird blob" was to cure earth of Mankind.

The book doesn't really have a goal besides a vague "we need to get to that lighthouse" direction. But what do they do when they get there? The new weird makes us feel like we are powerless and almost helpless to what is going to happen. In the book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy there is a short throw away line meaning to be a joke about an alien species that is just "a shade of blue." This idea of an alien or creature being only a shade of blue boggles my mind. I think Annihilation gives me the same feeling about the new weird. I hope to read more of this series to learn about the mystery even if it remains unsolvable.

Akata Witch

Diving into this book Akata Witch, I certainly picked up tones of an underdog character who possess a lot of power. She is born an albino and doesn't fit in her community in the United states or in Nigeria.  After dealing with bully problems and feeling rejected by society she is brought into a new unknown world which teaches her she is actually very special and learns to possess a very strong power. Her major flaw in society becomes a powerful tool in the realm of Juju.

The book is written from the perspective of Sunny and follows her journey through learning a very powerful magic, very much like the book series Harry Potter. There are a few other archetypes alike stereotypical American's and school bullies but there are more witch related ones as well. Every witch has to have some sort of mentor ad Sunny does, along with a few other younger witches in her Oha coven. 

Her albino skin means more than just appearance. In the book it is said the albino people are halfway in between the real world and the spiritual realm. This is illustrated in the scene of the goat head magic scene. Where she learns her powers are because of her albino genetics. Her identity is very flexible and she learns she has her freedom in this new world of magic. She is called a free agent, meaning she is both free to practice magic and witchery but also doesn't have a place to call home. Her need to fit in becomes a underlying driving motive, and she eventually finds her place in the magic of Juju. She wants to be self sustaining so her magic abilities teach her she would be just fine in the world she does not fit in.

The male figures in this story are viewed as kind of a point of conflict. She wants to leave and play with her friends, but her father keeps enforcing her to do female/girl activities. Once she becomes powerful, her family has to embrace her for what she is. Instead of her leaving her family for another "family" somewhere else, she stays with them and continues her studies under her parent's roof. I hope to read the sequel to this book one day, as I am very much enjoying the characters and writing.

Interview with the Vampire - Character Analysis

Being a vampire changes a lot of things. Once you've been bitten, your whole world changes and there's not much you can do about it. In Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice explains how Vampires are forced to live alone. Looking specifically at Lestat, we can see how such an evil character who practically views himself on the same level of Satan interacts with humans and other vampires. Lestat himself acts broody and malicious as if he is better than everyone else. In reality he is afraid of being alone as a Vampire and desires a companion to spend eternity with. At one point in the book Louis notices this dependency and expressed that Lestat only turned him into a vampire so that he wouldn't be alone. "It's you who need me" He says.

Being a vampire means you live forever, (if you are careful,) and you will eventually outlive any human who you meet. There are many different reasons why a vampire might turn a human. First, for love, to ensure that the two will be together forever. Second, for increasing the vampire population keeping the vampire race alive. Finally in the case of Lestat, to have someone to talk to. Turning a human into a vampire means you have the ability to "show them the ropes" and train them to become a ruthless killing machine, lording over the human race. Lestat attempts to train Louis to be as such, but fails to convince him to follow in his footsteps. I believe that regardless of being a vampire or human the book I read illustrates that your moral code doesn't always change when turned. In the case of Lestat, his father tells of times when Lestat was a nicer person, before he was turned into a Vampire. But ever since his turn he put on a cynical bastard persona. This shows a dramatic change in Lestat's life, although this is not always the case. When Louis was turned he did not become a murderer quite like Lestat. He believed humans to be his equal and did not want to do any harm unless necessary. The difference between the two shows that depending on the case, becoming a vampire could either effect your relationship to humans or not depending on what kind of person you are.

Gothic themes in Frankenstein

One of the most gripping fears many people have is being alone in such a vast world. Frankenstein's monster personifies this phobia as being someone too ugly for anyone to love. We can view this fear being manifested as a very Gothic-style tragedy. Was it his fault for lashing out in several violent ways, and destroying the life of his creator? Or were his surroundings and hard situations to blame. After thinking about it for sometime, I figured since violence and anger was all he knew during his life it can be justified.

The only moment of goodness experienced was when the monster hides inside the walls of a family cottage, watches, and listens in on their conversations, they still threw him out when he was ready to play nice. The monster was capable of hope and offering second chances, but as soon as he tried he was shot down. The cruel twist in this moment lead to even more death and destruction than before. I believe the writer uses this Gothic sad twist as a way of justifying the monster's actions.

Most novels have some sort of character development and satisfying endings. In the realm of Gothic novels it is common for endings to be sad and dramatic. The tale of sadness usually begins with a mistake or wrongdoing that brings much misfortune as time progresses. Dr. Frankenstein decided to re-animate a dead body and flee as soon as he realized his mistake. This poor decision haunted him and literally followed for the rest of the book. Near the end of the book the monster offers one last opportunity for Frankenstein to redeem himself, but sadly, the doctor fails and gives up. This last effort to save his life and everyone dear to him blows up in his face. The author uses this to illustrate how immature and reckless the doctor was being. Another moment of hope dashed by the Gothic storytelling twist. I thoroughly enjoyed this book no matter how sad the ending might have been.