The Apocalypse and Post-Apocalyptic Outrage (Blog 4)

I believe that stories such as the short story "The Star" by H.G. Wells, about asteroid's coming for Earth have a mass level of appeal and are commonly used because we, humanity, fear the unknown. Most people look up into the night sky and see stars and sometimes shooting ones. Our imaginations roam wild as we imagine what it's like out there in all that vast open space. Same goes with the ocean, that's why there are movies such as Lake Placid, Jaws etc. Just like space, we don't know much about what else is out there due to the fact that there's a certain point where we just can't travel anymore. I believe that creates an appeal from those of us who have an inkling for the thrill of being scared. The fact that we know so little, means that our creative perspectives on a possible outcome, are actually, in a sense, very possible.  Who's to say they're not?
There is no one person out there that could possibly know for certain what lies out in space, and there is no one person who could tell us what lies in the depths of the ocean; because there are just some places and creatures we cannot even exist within the same atmosphere of. There are some creatures that can only survive where we cannot. So, those circumstances and probabilities can become quite frightening and thrilling.

"A vast matter of it was bulky, heavy, rushing without warning out of the black mystery of the sky into the radiance of the sun." p.41

One thing I really like about this story especially, is the different perspectives he throws in. A lot of stories are based from the narrators' point of view, here he talks about all different places and the different impacts its having on people all over the world.

"And where science has not reached, men stared and feared, telling one another of the wars and pestilences that are foreshadowed by these fiery signs in the Heavens. Sturdy Boers, dusky Hottentots, Gold Coast Negroes, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Portuguese, stood in the warmth of the sunrise watching the setting of  this strange new star." p.41-42

"Everywhere men marveled at it, but of all those who saw it none could have marveled more than those sailors, habitual watchers of the stars, who far away at sea had heard nothing of its advent and saw it now rise like a pigmy moon and climb zenithward and hang overhead and sink westward with the passing of the night." p.42

I also believe another appeal to a story such as this one, is that most people wonder what they would do in their last few precious moments alive on Earth. If the whole planet were to be destroyed and not one person would survive, it makes us appreciate all the little things we never did before. It would make us all see things in a different light. Things like work or making money would have no precedence over someone's final moments here on Earth. I believe it's to help make us realize that though, there isn't an asteroid coming at us now, that anything could happen and no matter what, death comes, even for the best of us.  So appreciate what you have while you have it, because you never know when your last moments will be. In a way, it's almost as if the story is saying, that death fears no man.

"'It is nearer.' Men writing in offices, struck with a realization, flung down their pens, men talking in a thousand places suddenly came upon a grotesque possibility in those words, 'It is nearer.'"p.42

I, personally, thought this was an incredible perspective on what would happen if there would be a cataclysmic event such as an astray meteor that hits Neptune and comes barreling for Earth and then just barely skims by but still has made an impact that would affect and end the lives of so many. It makes me wonder just what would I do in an event like this? What would I do if there was literally nothing I could do to save everyone I love except wait, pray, and take as much shelter as possible?

******

I almost feel like Octavia Butler's short story, "Speech Sounds" foreshadows where we're at now. Obviously, it's very exaggerated. But in a sense, with social networking the way it's going, slang is used in common conversation nowadays. It almost seems like no one actually says what they really mean. For example, "what's up?" in the literal sense, the sky. Nowadays it's a common way to ask how someone's doing, if they're upset, if they're okay, what they're thinking about, etc. It's almost like outside of professional or scholar use, literal English doesn't get used anymore. There are so many abbreviations for any little thing you could possibly want to communicate with someone. There's even an abbreviation to tell someone that you laughed at what they're saying. There's buttons you press just to let someone know you like how they look or what they have to say. As a society, actual human to human interaction, the effects that it will have evolutionary-wise is unprecedented. 

"The illness was stroke-swift in the way it cut people down and stroke-like in some of its effects. But it was highly specific. Language was always lost or severely impaired." p.571

Also, the way people would kill someone else just because they could talk. It's ridiculous that someone would kill someone else out of jealousy. Because they can convey what they're thinking better than someone else, and yet even in today's society people get killed for much less. This story does a good job at reflecting how ridiculous some people can be. How harsh of a world this can be. What people don't realize is how good they have it, they don't appreciate what's already given to them because they're more focused on what they've lost or what someone else has been given. 

For example the main character, Rye, learns that Obsidian can read, but cannot speak like she can. Spoken language has left him, yet fortunately, he can still read. Whereas if she wanted to say something, to channel a thought into words and actually verbally communicate them, she could, she just could no longer read or write. As a writer and avid reader myself, I understand her frustration. Though, her rage when she learns that he has what she does not, I do not understand. I guess I cannot understand.

"He could read, she realized belatedly. He could probably write, too. Abruptly, she hated him-deep, bitter, hatred. What did literacy mean to him-a grown man who played cops and robbers? But he was literate and she was not. She never would be. She felt sick to her stomach with hatred, frustration, and jealousy. And only a few inches from her hand was a loaded gun." p.573

What I feel like she neglects to realize is that's precisely the point, he has no use for literacy skills. He probably yearns for his vocals just as much as she yearns to regain her literacy. The grass is always greener on the other side.

Twists and Turns (Blog 3)

"That Only A Mother Could Love" by Judith Merril is a typical science fiction story in that it starts off with confusion. The reader isn't fully aware of everything that has happened in the story. As you, the reader, start to understand the time frame and the main character Maggie says things such as,

 "Apparently, there was some degree of free radiation from atomic explosions causing the trouble. My baby's fine. Precocious, but normal."

This short story I felt was very good, I'm a big fan of a good twist ending. The title now makes a lot more sense to me than it did before. Although the setting for this story is domestic, the situation is not. I believe that's what makes it more like the genre than anything else. It has the reader under this preconceived notion that yes, there has been radiation and mutation, what's described sounds like a scene from "The Hills Have Eyes" minus the cannibalism, but other than babies being born mutated everything else is normal. Especially in the main character's mind.

The main character starts off as mundane as any typical army housewife story. The letters she writes to her husband all make everything sound completely normal. It had me believing the only thing wrong with the child was the extremely fast-paced intelligence. 

The main character is just relieved to know that her daughter has only one nose and a beautiful mind, she doesn't even go into detail on the letters to her husband that their daughter has no limbs. A part of me believes that she isn't even aware of it because of her unawareness in her thoughts. As the reader, you get to see into what she's thinking and feeling and not once did she mention anything about her daughter being deformed but I believe that's why the story has the name that it does. Although, everyone else sees her daughter as deformed, she still sees a smart bright-eyed beautiful soul.

*****

"We See Things Differently" by Bruce Sterling is a short story about what America is like in the future after catastrophic events have taken place and instead of being on the top of the Earth's political food chain, America's now on the bottom. Americans are ignorant and have a scarce amount of religious belief. There are many different examples in the text that proves the degradation of America's social and economic standings.

This quote is an example of the decrease of Americans that have faith in religion at this time;

"It is not just the poverty; they were always like this, even when they were rich. It is the effect of spiritual emptiness. A terrible grinding emptiness in the very guts of the West, which no amount of Coca-Cola seems to be able to fill."

 This quote shows just one example of the economical standings of America in the story's present time;

"We rolled down gloomy streets toward the hotel. Miami's streetlights were subsidized by commercial enterprises. It was another way of, as they say, shrugging the burden of essential services from the exhausted backs of the taxpayers. And onto the far sturdier shoulders of peddlers of aspirin, sticky sweet drinks, and cosmetics."

Another example of the economic decline is the inflation of money in America at the time of the story. It becomes apparent early on in the story when the narrator reaches into his pocket to pay for cab fare,

"The lining of my coat was stuffed with crisp Reagan $1,000 bills. I also had several hundred in pocket change,"

If that's not enough proof check out how much it costs for a newspaper,

"It was a newspaper vending machine. She set it beside three other machines at the hotel's entrance. It was the Boston organization's propaganda paper, Poor Richard's.

I drew near. 'Ah the latest issue, ' I said. 'May I have one?'

'It will cost five dollars,' she said in painstaking English. To my surprise I recognized her as Boston's wife. 'Valya Plisetskaya,' I said with pleasure and handed her a five-dollar nickel."

I was honestly a little confused as to what exactly caused the decline in America's economy, until I read this next paragraph, it's a bit of a long quote but  I really feel it helps explain the Americans side of things to understand how, in the story, America got to be where it is. The main character is an undercover terrorist, playing the facade of a reporter, and he's interviewing one of the biggest rock-n-roll political symbols in America, at the time. In this quote, Boston, (the rock-n-roll symbol) is getting interviewed by the so-called reporter,

"'Why are you afraid of multinationalists?' I said. 'That was the American preference, wasn't it? Global trade, global economics?' 

'We screwed up,' Boston said. 'Things got out of hand.'

'Out of American hands, you mean?'

'We used our companies as tools for development,' Boston said, with the patience of a man instructing a child. 'But then our lovely friends in South America refused to pay their debts. And our staunch allies in Europe and Japan signed the Geneva Economic Agreement and decided to crash the dollar. And our friends in the Arab countries decided not to be countries anymore, but one almighty Caliphate, and, just for good measure, they pulled all their oil money out of our banks and into Islamic ones. How could we compete? They were holy banks, and our banks pay interest, which is a sin, I understand.' He paused, his eyes glittering, and fluffed curls form his neck. 'And all that time, we were already in hock to our fucking ears to pay for being the world's policeman.'

'So the world betrayed your country,' I said. 'Why?'

He shook his head. 'Isn't it obvious? Who needs St George when the dragon is dead? Some Afghani fanatics scraped together enough plutonium for a Big One, and they blew the dragon's fucking head off.  And the rest of the body is still convulsing ten years later. We bled ourselves white competing against Russia, which was stupid, but we'd won. With two giants, the world trembles. One giant, and the midgets can drag it down. So that's what happened. They took us out, that's all. They own us.' "

Although I practically fell asleep through the beginning of this short story, the end of it really caught my attention. Both short stories are similar in the aspect that the endings are twists I never would've expected.


Update:

After the discussions in class based on these two stories I have a better understanding of Sterling's "We See Things Differently". I also didn't pick up on a lot of the hints that Merril dropped in "That Only A Mother". The discussions made me notice those little hints and also helped me see that she was writing an alternate history, whereas in Sterling's short story it's almost as if he predicted the problems we would face with the middle east.

My Interpretations of an Alien Encounter (Blog 2)

Reading science fiction work is like escaping to another universe. Another time and place, some writers call it Earth, while others create their own planets.

A certain specific genre of science fiction that I believe really makes you, as the reader, think outside the four-sided walls of that reality box are alien encounters.

Unlike other genres of science fiction alien encounters are probably the most relatable and yet most unusual. It would mean that not only are there other life forms out there but they also have the capability to make ground onto our home planet. It can instill a lot of different emotions in the reader and the author could take the story a multitude of different ways. How many different types of other species of living beings could there be out in space? Just look up at the stars at night and count them. Then, see how many of those gasses of light have planets surrounding them in their own universe's,  existing from their gravitational pull. How many of those planets might possibly have life on it? 

I recently read two pieces of science fiction and I believe they contrast in various manners. The piece, Out Of All Them Bright Stars (1985) by Nancy Kress reflects on what happens when alien beings have made contact, though they're a rare sight; until one walks right into Sally Gourley's job. It seems as though almost everyone around Sally is scared and disparaging toward the different species just because he's blue and has weird hands. With the initial horror Sally claims to be on all of the faces of the people in the diner that she works at, you would think that these creatures would be monstrous, mean and malicious.

"Just goes on staring with her mouth open like she's thinking of screaming but forgot how. And the old couple in the corner booth, the only ones left from the crowd after the movie got out, stop chewing and stare, too. Kathy closes her mouth and opens it again," -Kress', Out of All Them Bright Stars(p. 581)

 As the narrator discovers by later taking the customers' order, he was a perfect gentleman. In fact, he turned out to be more kind than the wife-beating pig of a boss she works for.

"Maybe Kathy's husband is right. Maybe they do want to blow us all to smithereens. I don't think so, but what the hell difference does it ever make what I think? And all at once I'm furious at John(the alien), furiously mad, as furious as I've ever been in my life. Why does he have to come here, with his birdcalls and his politeness? Why can't they all go somewhere else besides here? There must be lots of other places they can go, out of all them bright stars up there behind the clouds. They don't need to come here, here where I need this job and that means I need Charlie(her boss). He's a bully," -Kress', Out of All Them Bright Stars(p. 586)

 I believe Nancy Kress is trying to portray the hardships people face because of a difference in appearance. Though, her message was loud and clear, not everyone believes an alien encounter will be quite so amiable. 

Robert Silverberg's, Passengers (1968), is set in the future, 1987, and is about what it will be like when aliens take over. Though you can't see them, they can take over a humans body and mind for hours, days, or weeks at a time. Most humans don't have much recollection of what occurred in the time they were "ridden" as the main character, Charles Roth, calls it. The story is a brilliant joint of two concepts, possession and otherworldly experiences. This piece differs in Nancy Kress' in various ways. For one, instead of the aliens being physical beings, they're more like evil entities that cause chaos and result in a lot of premarital, casual sex. I believe it represents the fear in how the future will become, even without the evil entities. Another example of how the pieces differ is the outlook on humans versus aliens. Kress' piece takes an equality stance on how to treat the aliens, whereas in Silverberg's piece the humans are the ones in need of some equality change; seeing as how they're all thrown in the passenger seat of their own bodies and used as pawns for sex slave adventures. 

"But Passengers, I am told, take wry amusement in controverting our skills. So would it have given my rider a kind of delight to find me a woman and force me to fail repeatedly with her?" -Silverberg's, Passengers(p. 433)

Unfortunately for Silverberg, his nightmares of the future have sadly become a reality. At least in America, where casual sex and random hookup apps are the norm. Whereas Kress' piece of her stance against inequality has become more of a reality over the past thirty years. 

"sf(science fiction) is constantly reinventing itself, responding to contemporary scientific and cultural concerns and adapting or challenging prevailing narrative conventions. Polish Stanislaw Lem's Solaris (1961; trans. 1970), for instance, gains much of its impact from how it revises the assumptions of earlier first-contact stories," -The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction (p. xiii)

In addition, I believe there are many differences in these two pieces. What the alien beings looked like, something as preternatural as aliens hiding in the clouds, swooping down to take over humans bodies and minds (Robert Silverberg's 1968 Passengers), and then twenty years later something as mundane and repetitive as a blue guy in a suit (Nancy Kress' Out of All Them Bright Stars 1985). Although I like Kress' writing, ideas behind the piece, and perspective I can't help but notice that it's just like every other alien story I've heard of. I think this point relates to the sf megatext which I've learned about through the Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction

"Like all complex cultural forms, sf is rooted in past practices and shared protocols, tropes, and traditions-all of which contribute to what is often called the sf megatext. A fictive universe that includes all the sf stories that have ever been told, the sf megatext is a place of shared images, situations, plots, characters, settings, and themes generated across a multiplicity of media, including centuries of diverse literary fictions and, more recently, video and computer games, graphic novels, big-budget films, and even advertising. Readers and viewers apply their own prior experience of science fiction-their own of knowledge of the sf megatext-to each new story or film they encounter." -The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction (p. xiii)

In conclusion, I believe that both pieces represented great, although very different interpretations of what could possibly happen if an alien race were to somehow make contact with us.


UPDATE:
Not too much has changed on my outlook of both stories. I feel as though most of the class was in agreement on a lot of things. Though, for Kress' short story "Out of All Them Bright Stars", the group I was in had to come up with some other explanation for the theme or besides racism. I believe that having to do things you aren't necessarily morally okay with for the better of your survival was another message hidden in text. A lot of people, myself included, get almost angry when they hear of a story or see something where someone is getting bullied and people around that person do nothing. It was interesting and insightful to read a story from a perspective where the girl couldn't do anything. As much as I would like to think I would stand up for someone against bullying as well, I wouldn't risk my own survival to do so.

Also, in Silverberg's "Passengers", I was able to think of another way it is unique in its' own story by a way of critical thinking and I've come to the conclusion that where most alien encounter stories, the country(humanity) is fighting back (a particular that comes to my mind is the 1996 movie Mars Attacks!), whereas in "Passengers" it seems as though everyone is willing to roll over and accept their fate.

My journey into the horror genre (Blog 1)

My name's Nicole. I've grown up loving horror movies. Breathing the thrill of a good scary story as if it were air.

                My real journey into the horror/sci-fi genre started when I was young. The very first scary movie I ever watched was Child's Play when I was two or three. Although my fascination started with evil driven dummies from Goosebumps, it soon veered toward psychological thrillers and horrors where the bad guy is just a regular man. Movies that could actually take place in real life. The Scream trilogy(the fourth one doesn't count) for example; My mom and I were a little obsessed with those movies, and we'd laugh and mock the dumb blonde running up the stairs when she should have been running out the front door.
               But that phase not so much ended as more as expanded into all kinds of horrors. More specifically, vampires. Oh, vampires. Something about eternal life and damnation and lurking around in the shadows of the night that I find unequivocally sexy. What started this fang-driven craze was an old, scary soap opera from the late 60's. Dark Shadows(no, not the cheesy, Johnny Depp version)
              My dad and I finished nine seasons and never completed the series together but watching that show opened my perspective from Disney fairy-tales to this whole other underworld.
Then, as my home life faltered and my social life was non-existent; I picked up a few different books one Summer that changed my life.

Seance- Joan Lowery Nixon
    And if you're into murder mystery, fantasy novels, with a little bit of romance and a lot of NC17 you have to check out the series below,
Anita Blake series- Laurell K. Hamilton

Thanks,

 (you can call me,) Niki