Week Fourteen: Science Fiction Parody and Satire

            For the last blog post we were asked to read in the genre of Science Fiction Parody and Satire. The reading selection we were asked to read orlisten to was Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy. Before taking this class I have heard of the title of this piece of work but I’ve never seen nor read it but I have always wanted to. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a comedy science fiction series and originally a radio comedy broadcast. Later it was adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon.

            I really like this novel. There were a lot of parts that I thought were very cute and made the storyline very quirky. For an example one of the major characters is an alien from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse and a researcher for the eponymous guidebook, who named himself Ford Prefect. He named himself after the Ford Prefect car to blend in with what was assumed to be the dominant life form, automobiles. Another part of the novel that I thought was interesting and funny was that the planet earth got turned into a massive computer. This massive computer was designed answer what is life and the computers answer was the number 42. As I was reading that section of the novel all I was thinking about was the death star in Star Wars because the concept of planet earth being a giant computer is close to death Star in Star Wars. Overall it is not enjoyable read and very cute and funny.

I recommend reading the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy because it is a fun quirky trilogy. Also I recommend you should read all five of the books in the trilogy to see the differences between them because each book uses the same underlying characters but they do different things. Last but not least I also recommend listening to the radio broadcast of the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

Week Thirteen: Literary Speculation

            For this week we were asked to read in the genre of Literary Speculation. Speculative fiction is an umbrella term encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres. The reading that I selected for this week was John Crowley’s Little, Big.  Little, Big or the other title is The Fairies' Parliament is a modern fantasy novel. I felt as I read this story that it was a romance, comedy, drama and fantasy story wrapped up into one. Also I think it fits the genre that it is classified by, which is Literary Speculation because how the author John Crowley, creates and forms this magical “more fantastical” world that is used in the novel.

 Little, Big is the story of the Drinkwater family and their relationship with the world of Fairy. I thought the use of a fairy world in combination with this family was interesting because the storyline goes through hundred years of the intertwined family trees of the Drinkwaters and their relations. The use of the family lines intertwining is interesting and complicated because of how all the characters lives intertwine. For an example Violet Bramble, who is an Ancestor of the Drinkwater clan, had a son Russell Eigenblick by her first lover, Oliver Hawksquill. Later on Russell Eigenblick becomes the despotic ruler of The City late in the history of the family.  The family ties just go on and on.

This story also pushes the concept of destiny and prophecy. Smoky Barnable is the novels protagonist. He marries into the Drinkwater family by marrying Daily Alice Drinkwater. In the novel it said that the marriage between Smoky and his wife was prophesied long before the marriage occurs. There is also a prophecy for Daily Alice Drinkwater that her destiny was assured from a young age by her aunt Nora Cloud. I think the concept of prophecies in this novel was interesting and I think it was a fun twist as you read the novel.

Week Twelve: Diverse Position Science Fiction

For this week we were asked to read in the genre of diverse position science fiction. The reading selection was an Octavia Butler’s novel entitled Dawn. Which is one of three works in a collection called Lilith's Brood.

            This weeks reading I enjoyed the authors depiction of the alien race, that the main character Lilith gets taken by. The oankali is the name the alien race that the author depicts in the story. They don’t have eyes, or ears, or noses, but sensory tentacles over their entire bodies with which they can perceive the world much better than a human can, as they say.  The concept for how the alien race looks was great because it is definitely not an every day looking person or creature and does not really have human components to it. I feel with the use of not using a human component makes the alien race more creepy and unsettling as you read the story.

Also I thought it was interesting that the author has three different sexes for the oankali: male, female, and ooloi.  All oankali have the ability to perceive biochemistry down to a genetic level, but the ooloi have the ability to directly manipulate genetic material. Ooloi can mutate and “evolve” any living thing they touch and build offspring gene by gene using the genetic material from their male and female mates. I thought the concept of the ooloi was interesting because they are able to evolve any species that comes in contact with them even though from what I read in the story, they are strangely alluring, sexually arousing even while being a visually repulsive creature.

I recommend this reading selection if you like aliens and them interacting with human beings.

Week Eleven: Cyberpunk

            For this week we are asked to read in the genre of cyberpunk. The reading I chose to read this week was Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash.  At the beginning of the novel, the main character, Hiro, discovers the name of a new narcotic, "Snow Crash.”The drug is being offered at an exclusive nightclub. Hiro's friend and fellow hacker falls victim to Snow Crash's effects, which are apparently unique in that they are experienced in the Metaverse and also in the physical world. As the nature of Snow Crash is uncovered, Hiro finds that self-replicating strings of information can affect objects in a uniform manner even though they may be broadcast via diverse media, a realization that reinforces his chosen path in life.

            This novel was different from the other reading selections we have to read this semester in the class because of the combination of people and events that the author used within the story. In this reading the main character, Hiro, is a freelance hacker that also supposedly knows sword fighting. I find this character to be interesting and unique because from what I’ve seen in other novels and movies the main characters normally not some punk kid that is a hacker and spends all their time on computers. I do however find that part of the book more interesting because you can get this new wave of angst and drama with that type of character as the lead in the novel.

Another thing I thought was different was the use of a virus in the storyline. The virus in this novel is called "Snow Crash" that is both a computer virus capable of infecting the machines of unwise hackers in the Metaverse and a crippling central nervous system viral disease in reality. The concepts of this virus affecting a computer system and it can also be a disease to a person which shuts down their body is an interesting and unique problem. In addition the virus keeps the reader on its toes and helps to move the storyline along.

I recommend this book if you like stories that had it out of the box of unique and that is uncorking.

Week Ten: Narratives From the Multi – Verse

For this week we were asked to read in the genre of narratives from the multi – verse. The reading selection that I chose to read was Babel-17 by American writer Samuel R. Delany.

Babel-17’s main storyline is an average war story. Two sides fighting and one developing a super weapon which in this novel is a language. Learning it turns one into an unwilling traitor as it alters perception and thought. The change is made more dangerous by the language's seductive enhancement of other abilities.

I found Babel-17 to be interesting because of the use of the unique language with in the story. In other war novels and stories there might be a language barrier or a secret code so they can send messages. This normal it was different because the secret language that is using the war actually alters you as a person. Is a different kind of concept with the use of language? As I was reading I was thinking about a previous selection of work we had to read that was really creative with the use of language, which was J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit. With The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien forms and creates whole new languages for each race that he developed throughout his book. 

Babel-17 is so unique because it has its own language that the reader can view as the main character learns it. This correlates with The Hobbit because in that world there are a bunch of different languages that interweave each other. Some of the races may have lost their roots in their cultures and may not be able to read old text from their past ancestors. For an example when the dwarves got the map which can lead them to the location of the keyhole to get back into their mountain to kill Smog and get the Arkenstone. They could not decipher the writing until they ended up at Rivendell. In Babel-17 Rydra Wong is the main character and she’s recruited by her government to discover how the enemy infiltrating and sabotaging strategic sites. Initially Babel-17 is thought to be a code used by enemy agents. Rydra Wong realizes it is a language, and finds herself becoming a traitor as she learns it.

Both The Hobbit and Babel-17 showcase how language can be used in different ways and that language can be a powerful tool. I do recommend reading Babel-17 if you like outer space and different languages.

Week Nine: Space Opera

This week we were asked to read a novel in the genre of space opera, which is a sub genre of science fiction. The novel I selected was Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold.

To start off with I found it really interesting that the main character was a woman. A large chunk of movies or novels that involves space travel the main character that you follow around is a guy. This novel was a great example of having a space adventure and romantic drama mixed together. I thought that this space opera was interesting and I really enjoyed reading it until I got towards the end. The book has a very strong theme with the concept of love and what people will do to find it.

For example the main character is a woman named Cordelia Naismith and she falls in love with Captain Lord Aral Vorkosigan of Barrayar, notorious as the "Butcher of Komarr". She gets captured and her crewman as Vorkosigan prisoners. Vorkosigan expresses a wish that Cordelia marry him and remain on Barryar as Lady Vorkosigan. She turns him down. Later on towards the end of the novel Cordelia recovers in a prison camp on the same planet where she first met Vorkosigan, and discovers that it was used as a staging ground for the surprise invasion.  The camp inmates, mostly women, have been subjected to torture and in some cases rape by their captors, until Vorkosigan arrives and summarily executes the officer in charge.  Cordelia inherits command of the camp by virtue of her rank and spends much her time dealing directly with Vorkosigan. He proposes to her again, and she again rejects him because she sees what Barrayaran society does to people.  Vorkosigan negotiates an exchange of prisoners, one of whom is Cordelia, and deals with a delivery of uterine replicators - artificial wombs, each containing a fetus from a woman raped by a Barrayaran soldier, one of which is Bothari's.On her way back to Beta Colony after the prisoner exchange, the Betan psychiatrist assigned to Cordelian becomes convinced that her injuries are the result of being tortured by Vorkosigan, and the fact that she denies it means that she has been psychologically tampered with as well. She is assumed to be suffering from a form of Stockholm Syndrome. Desperate to keep the secret of the Barrayaran plot, Cordelia refuses to let herself sleep, developing insomnia, a stutter, and a nervous tic, which further leads the authorities to conclude that she has been brainwashed and may even be a spy. Fending off attempts to "cure" her, she disables one of her minders, and flees to Barrayar, where she finds and marries Vorkosigan.

This example shows what obstacles for Cordeli to go through in finding a love with Vorkosigan. Overall I somewhat recommend this book but you really have to like space and romantic drama.

Week Eight: Mythic Fiction and Contemporary Urban Fantasy

            

         The main genres for this weeks reading were mythic fiction and contemporary urban fantasy. This week the main reading selection was Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

To start off I did not know what made the reading an urban fantasy and or mythic fiction. I ended up looking up the definitions. Urban fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy defined by place, which is set in an entirely not real or true world in an urban setting. Mythic fiction is literature that is rooted in, inspired by, or that in some way draws from the tropes, themes and symbolism of myth, folklore, and fairy tales. The two terms overlap with each other and are sometimes used interchangeably, but mythic fiction also includes contemporary works in non-urban settings.

This weeks reading I found it to be very odd and confusing with some pretty elaborate scenarios. All the weird events and obstacles that the main narrator has to go through starts off with someone dying and becoming a ghost that tries to kill people. I found that part of the book to be interesting. It made the story feel like its was going to be more normal fantasy and nothing too weird will happen.

The story kind of turns weird at this point when the narrator and his helper Lettie go to find the spirit and bind it. Randomly a worm gets stuck in the narrator’s foot and he pulls it out, but apiece is left inside him. Then later on you discover that the worm is an actual person named Ursula Monkton. She used the narrator to get out of the spirit dimension that him and Lettie where at. Ursula becomes the nanny of the narrator and his sister. She quickly ingratiates herself with his family, winning over his sister and seducing his father, while the narrator is alienated from his family and is almost drowned in the bath by his father as Ursula watches.

In reading this passage I found it to be really disturbing and shocking. Even though it is a story it still strikes you in horrifying way. The story gets worse as it goes along and if you like really weird stories then I recommend reading this book, but if you don’t then it is not for you.