The Handler April 6, 2008

So I really liked this story! But I didn’t at first. I was a little confused at first as to what was going on…and to tell you the truth I still sort of am. I mean I understand that this Pete guy did some sort of a show and it was supposedly deadly awesome…but I didn’t really see the significance of it. Maybe that is the point, maybe the reader isn’t supposed to focus on that part of the story…I don’t know!

Anyways what I thought made this story excellent was the little man who was Harry’s handler. I felt so bad for him. I don’t know if the reader is supposed to feel bad for Harry or not but I did! I thought that the people were so rude to him…I mean he was the real person behind Pete’s success but no one seemed to care or even think about that! All they seen was a little sweaty man who wasn’t like the rest of them! I don’t know maybe it’s my prego emotions getting to me but I really felt bad that no one took any notice of him…I couldn’t even focus on the ending of the story because I was so pissed at the ignorant people in the story.

I think that mayeb there was a deeper meaning in this story! This is actually one of the first stories I read this semester that I actually got some sort of meaning out of! I thought that maybe the author was trying to say something about the little guy, that no one ever takes notice of or give credit to, that is behind the big picture…I don’t know that’s just the message I pulled out of it…Maybe I am completely wrong but even if I am that’s the message that came out at me and thats the message I am going to take from this story! Anyways like I said I loved the story…and thats about all I have to say about it at the moment!  

 

Strange Wine April 3, 2008

So I guess my first question for this book is…why is it called “Strange Wine”? There is absolutely nothing in the story to even hit as to why it’s called this! I spent the entire time I was reading it looking for a clue as to why it might be called this…Anyways I came up with nothing!

That being said I actually kind of enjoyed this story, though I’m not sure why…I really felt bad for Kaw all through reading it…first I felt bad that he was stuck on this crappy earth, and then I felt bad cause he left this earth thinking he was going back to something better and it turns out he’s worse off! I mean talk about being screwed if you do and screwed if you don’t! I kind of related with Kaw on that level this week cause I have been facing a screwed if you do screwed if you don’t situation this week!

Anyways back to talking about the story…I kind of got the impression at first right up until the time that Kaw died that he maybe had multiple personalities or something…I thought maybe he really was a human but that he had another personality inside of him that was trying to come out! I know it’s a little farfetched but that’s how I seen it until he died and actually did go home to his alien planet!

All in all I liked the story…I just felt bad that Kaw got screwed over in the end!

Feather Tigers April 3, 2008

So I am not really sure if I like this story or not! I think I am a little confused about the whole thing…The first thing I thought was different and a little amusing was the fact that it was about fuzzy blue bunny things…I kind of pictured them as I pictured the Easter Bunny when I was a kid! These big blue fuzzy bunny’s with big white fluffy tails! Too cute!

Anyways, moving on from that…I found it really hard to read the story and take it seriously when it was fuzzy blue bunny’s talking! I don’t know maybe that’s just me! One thing I thought was really interesting about this story is that it’s about aliens studying humans. Normally it is humans studying extra terrestrial things. This was really about the only interesting thing I got out of this story! I just found it interesting to have the tables switched for once in a story…rather than being the examiners we are being examined…It kind of gave me an idea of what it might be like to be the one under the microscope.   

I also found it interesting that the rabbits studying civilization, as it was when humans were on the earth, didn’t really have two clues about what they were studying or even what they were looking for…This is kind of what it’s like in today’s society when we are studying things that are foreign to us…we really don’t have a clue about it! I don’t know that’s just my ramblings about what I got out of the story!

And The Angels Sing April 2, 2008

“And the Angels Sing” was one of my favorite reads so far this semester…Even though the semester is almost over. That being said it wouldn’t take much to make it one of my favorites. There weren’t a whole lot of short stories that I have overly enjoyed so far…maybe I am just not someone who can get into science fiction short stories…I mean I really enjoyed the two novels but anyways I don’t know! I just found that I couldn’t really pull out any deeper meanings from the short stories…I just read them for the seer fact of reading them and that was it! I read everyone else’s blog and you all have such intelligent things to say and I am thinking to myself “did I read the same thing?” Anyways oh well I will do my best to interpret them as I go!  

Getting back to the story “And the Angels Sing.” What I think I enjoyed most about this story is that it doesn’t differ from what we see as earth…I mean I realize that the story is about an alien, but the alien is on the present day earth. I found it really easy to imagine everything that was going on in the story, and that made it enjoyable for me! It was pretty much like reading a typical story about a man and his life, but with the added feature of having an alien in it… 

Something else I found intriguing about this story is the genderless alien. I found myself trying to find clues throughout the whole story as to what this things gender is…I found it even more interesting that Eddie calls it a woman but that Mary doesn’t see it as a woman. I thought that maybe Eddie wanted it to be a female because, first off I think he might have been a little attracted to it, and second off he seen it as a women because of the compromised health conditions he took it to be in. He thought of it as being needy, and in some of the science fiction we read this was characteristic of the female characters.

A little About Posting April 2, 2008

Hey guys I am finally starting to get things done this semester! I am so sorry that I haven’t posted but I am going to start posting a new post pretty much every day! It’s been a pretty crazy semester/year for me so I have lost track of things!! I realize the term is pretty much over and no one will probably check this thing again but I thought I would still put my two sense worth into talking about some of the stories from this semester…just incase someone ever get bored and wants to see what got posted!  

PS if the posts seem out of order I am sorry! I am going to post as a get stories read!

Brown Girl in the Ring/Presentation to Follow April 2, 2008

This is my power point presentation for tomorrow class! Don’t look at it until after tomorrows class…I just want to get it posted so that it was here!! destiny-ward.ppt

This week’s story was Brown Girl in the Ring, and it happens to be the story that I am doing my presentation on in tomorrow’s class. I found when I first started reading the book that I had a hard time getting into it. I found it particularly hard to get into because of the language that Nalo Hopkins uses for some of her main characters. That being said once I got past the language I couldn’t put the book down.

The one thing I did have trouble with in the book was trying to figure out why this book is considered to be a science fiction book. Even with all of the research I found there was nothing the came up as this book being science fiction. When I was doing my research the one thing that constantly came up for this book was “Magic Realism” which is defined as an artistic genre in which magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or even “normal” setting (Wikipedia). I will go into what “Magic Realism” is more tomorrow. Nalo Hopkins herself said in an interview with Gavin Grant from “Booksense” that Brown Girl in the Ring was magical realism (Grant).

Something else I found interesting about this book was that it took place in Toronto, Ontario. I found this to be interesting because when I was looking up information about Hopkins I found out that she moved with her family at a young age to Toronto. I found it interesting that she could take the place that she grew up in and imagine it in the desolate conditions that it was in, in the book. From reading some of the other blogs from the class, I also seen that some other people found it disturbing to read about something so close to be described in such a way. I felt that by Hopkins writing about the place she grew up in made the book that much better because she was able to describe it in such an exact way that it would make someone familiar with the downtown Toronto area shiver to think of it in those kinds of conditions.

I also liked how Nalo Hopkins incorporated some of her childhood memories and traditions in the book. The most apparent way she did this was through the use of dialect in the book, but upon further research I also found that the children’s game that introduced some of the paragraphs was actually a very common ring game played by young children of the Caribbean’s when they are transitioning into adulthood.

Altogether I thought this book was a must read! I absolutely loved it and like I said I couldn’t put it down! For tomorrows class I have some questions in my presentation that some of you that are reading this might want to ponder over before coming to class…Not that they are overly difficult but I thought it might make for a better discussion if you all can think over you answers! Anyways here they are!

1. Why is this book considered to be Science Fiction? What elements make it a science fiction book?

2. Would you say this book was like the other science fiction stories we read this term? Why or Why not?

3. What is this book really about? Is there a deeper meaning?

4. What feelings were you left with after reading this book?

5. Does Hopkins use of language help develop the book and its characters?

6. Who do you think was the hero of this story? Why?

7. Do you think this story has a feminist message? Why?

Anyways like I said they are not overly hard questions but they are something to think about!

Vegetable Wife March 19, 2008

So again I am late posting my comments! I swear I don’t know where the time is going! Anyways here is my post on “The Vegetable Wife” I wrote it awhile back and forgot to post it so if it is saying anything funky about it being last weeks reading or something forgive me! Like I said I forgot to publish it…But hey at least I am posting now rather than never!

So this story as I said in class when we went over it  bothered me a little. Not because I didn’t like the story but just all the abuse that this poor woman had to under go! Now I know the story said she couldn’t feel pain but when I was reading it I didn’t get that feeling! I mean if she didn’t feel pain she wouldn’t have cried when he was abusing her!

There is just so much to say about this story that I can’t even write it all down…When we talked about it in class there were some heated debates on the definition of a human, and whether or not she killed the pig of a man out of hate, or just because she was copying what he was doing to her…My thoughts on the matter were she killed him to free herself…but either way all that matters is the ass is dead! As to whether I thought she was a human…As I was reading the story I related her with being more of a human than the man! I just didn’t see him as a man I saw him as a monster in human form! I would not define him as a human! I definitely saw things in the same light as Holly did…I envisioned her to be a human even though she is without a doubt not supposed to be viewed this way in the story…Anyways sorry for posting this so late! I am in the process of getting the rest of my post done! Hopefully they will be done by this weekend!

High Weir February 5, 2008

Hey guys! Well I didn’t get around to commenting last week on the readings because I was feeling a little under the weather…Also besides feeling a little under the weather my readings seemed to have gotten away on my last week and I only managed to get High Weir read for last weeks class! Not so good L Anyways I thought I would maybe respond to a few peoples blogs and also add some input to the short story High Weir!

First I’ll start by maybe responding to some people’s blogs…I agree with “At Home In My Mind” when they say that they found the story to be about self discovery. Rimkin is about as close to someone who has lost his sense of self as anyone I know! I didn’t really catch the drift of what the story was all about when I was reading it, it took me to sit back after reading it and ponder the deeper meaning before I understood it…At first I didn’t get at all what the crazy man had to do with anything J  

Also I was reading Holly’s blog and she mentioned the singificance of the “eye” in the story. The way I see it is that they say that the eye is the window to the human soul. The eye is way to get a glimpse at the true self, which is what this story is all about, trying to find oneself.  

Also I am with Jessie when she said that she at one point was convinced that Rimkin was an alien! I totally thought towards the end that he was actually an alien in disguise or something! I thought that he was there to eventually reveal the nature of the aliens that once lived there because he was one of the ones that survived…I don’t know I know it sounds crazy, but like I said I missed the deeper meaning of the story until after I pondered it for awhile! 

Anyways my final impression of the story was that it was just okay…It was nothing spectacular…So far the only spectacular reading was The Chrystalids! Hopefully the stories are going to get better! But as for now I must be going because I have a lot of reading to catch up on before Thursday’s class! Hopefully I will have time to respond to the other readings from last week J Again sorry I am so late posting this…Like I said time, and my readings, have gotten away on me!   

The Winter Flies January 22, 2008

So this short story by Leiber has to be one of the weirdest short stories (or maybe even story in general) that I have ever read! I was reading some of the other posts and I totally agree with Holly when she said that it took her mind to a whole other level. When I was reading it I was trying to figure out what I thought about the whole thing…I still haven’t really come to a conclusion other then that fact that just about everyone (even the little boy) is a but off…I also found that in some places I was completely lost…Like in the part where the little boy in freaking out cause he lost his way home and the dad gets all hyper over it…I didn’t really get that scene! I was wondering… “was this just something they were both doing for fun, or where they both really hyper over this incident?” I don’t know maybe it’s just me but I just found the story all together messed up! Especially the part with the dirty girl!!! I mean what was that all about? Can anyone explain to me the significance of that whole part? Cause I totally missed it! Actually I missed the meaning altogether for the whole story! 

To go along with something else Holly said, I was also wondering why the appliances and furniture were talking to Jane and why that was important. Nothing really happened that she needed to be warned about did it? Or did I miss that part? I think that this family has some psychological issues…One has multiple personalities that he can conjure up and with the snap of a finger make them go away and then the wife hears inanimate objects talking to her! If I were to analyze this family I think I would remove the son from the home! Maybe that’s just me…but let me know if you feel the same way! PLEASE! 

I also was reading Lisa’s blog and seen the comment, “I’ve finished Leiber’s Winter Flies, which kind of left me feeling like I just took a bad hit of LSD.” This comment made me laugh because although I have never done LSD, after reading the story and seeing Lisa’s comment, I thought to myself that if it would make something like this story appear before your eyes…I am glade I never did it! It honestly reminded me now that I think of it of someone recollection of a hallucination someone had while on drugs!! 

Anyways, although the story was confusing and in some spots frustrating…it wasn’t an altogether horrible read! Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t something I would of chose to read like last weeks The Chrystalids, but I guess it could have been worse. Hopefully the presentation and the class discussion will clear up some of the unclear issues that I am dealing with as of right now, and let us in on what Leiber was actually thinking about when he write this story…What the message was that we were supposed to get out of it…because I totally missed whatever message it was that he was trying to put across to his readers!

As far as the Introduction goes…I don’t really have to say much about it that the others in the class haven’t said. I mean I guess it’s pretty straight forward in explaining how their selection process went when they were choosing the stories that they wanted to include in the anthology…but other than that I am not finding it overly interesting! Hopefully that’s okay to say…but hey I guess it’s too late! But no seriously it’s not to bad…I guess it could be worse! 

One thing I did get a kick out of in the introduction, (and please don’t be mad or upset if this goes against what you believe, because I believe we are all entitled to our own opinion, and hey if you want to talk to me about it then please do, I always love talking to and hearing other peoples opinions), is the comment made on page 23 “Science disproves and replaces religion.” I really got a kick out of this, (and maybe I am reading it wrong and if I am someone please explain to me how this is supposed to be read, because maybe I missed something important leading up to this that was supposed to explain why this statement was here), because as far as I can tell just from being interested in the study of religion and science…as far as any of the research I have found, any reliable scientist who has done their homework would never make such a profound statement because through all reliable scientific studies the basis of religion (i.e. God in most cases) cannot be disproved…Anyways like I said if anyone can offer me further assistance on what the author meant by this please let me know because I cant figure out what the statement is implying…

More on The Chrystalids January 16, 2008

Hey! A lot of this post may sound like a repeat because I posted some of it in a response to another persons blog, but I figured I would also post it on my blog because not everyone is interested at looking at the comments people made on other peoples blogs, but I think that some of the stuff that was brought up in the discussions that I have had with other people is worthy to be posted on a blog all of its own….So here it is!

Before I had read some of the others peoples blog I overlooked over the Sealander’s role as the hero. I never really thought about how the supposed rescuers/heroes of the book were only really rescuing David, Rosalind, and Petra because they want Petra and her amazing abilities to help them get ahead…I was just excited that they were being rescued but now I see that they were only doing it for means for their own ends!

On the using people for your own ends note, I also realized when reading another comment how this using people for your own sake and not for theirs is really how life now a days is in a sense. Most people are looking at the situation in a way of, “What will this do for me” rather then, “What can I do for this person/situation”

This book in some ways speaks volumes of truth in how society is today…Obviously the author takes it to the extreme, but society in most cases abandons the misfits, bringing them down instead of trying to help them like we should!

I also wished there was more at the end of the book! I kind of ended abrutly and left you hanging, wondering what happened to them in this new world! That kind of disappointed me a little! I mean don’t get me wrong I loved the book and couldn’t put it down…but at the end I was kind of like… “That’s it! We don’t get to find out what their new life is going to be like?!” I guess we are left to figure that out for ourselves.

Altogether this book was amazing! I hope all the readings in the class are this good! I hope everyone in the class enjoyed it as much as I did…and if you didn’t read it yet… “Get to err, cause you’ll love it as a read not just a class requirement!” I actually would of read this book before if I had known it was going to be this good.