Literature of Horror, Fantasy, & Sci-Fi

For this weeks' reading I read Octavia Butler's short story, Bloodchild . It was a very interesting read, though, it made me quite uncomfortable by the end. As I progressed further and further into this story it became increasingly apparent that while Gan and his family had what they viewed to be a positive and healthy relationship with T'Gatoi, the relationship between the Terran and the Tlic was anything but. While most of the Terran in this world had come to terms with and rationalized the relationship it was clear to me that this was because of the normalized oppression of them. The Tlic claim that the Terran are as free as they are and manipulate them into believing this by making as simple a change as not referring to them as "host animals" even though they still are, even if it is to a lesser extent of abuse as in the past. They even try to guilt the Terran by claiming that they are their saviors and are being so kind as to let them live in the Preserve. Th

What stuck with me most about William Gibson's short story,  Fragments of a Hologram Rose, is the method of coping one is able to use within a world where sense-recordings exist. It is not particularly healthy to say the least. When the main character, Parker, has been broken up with by his girlfriend he immediately goes to his sense-recordings to cope with this. Sense-recordings are effectively allowing people in this world to dwell on their past even more so than they previously would or were able to and this makes it significantly harder for one to move on or grow. One could even become obsessive over this sort of thing and just live within their old memories and senses. This story actually reminded me a bit of the Black Mirror episode, "The Entire History of You" . It is of course not exactly the same in it's premise but the technology in each is similar enough and the negative affect that these sorts of things could have on people is evident in both, though perh

So, what will the future look like in 15 years? Bleak. When I look to the future it is bleak. If we keep going the way we are going with climate change, giant corporate conglomerates, social tensions, etc. then the future is not bright. I think that this is something common amongst people my age. It has been discussed time and time again how if you look to science fiction from the 50s it is generally much more hopeful whereas science fiction from the 80s or later tends to be more dark and post-apocalyptic in it's nature. I think, given what the human race has gone through and continues to go through it is not hard to understand why. Though, while I do think the future looks bleak. I think that not a ton will change in the next 15 years. The environment will continue on it's decline, social tensions will not be resolved, technology will advance even further but at what cost, there will be little to no privacy, and people will still be slaving away at jobs that they don't car

1.What is your reaction to the text that you just read? I actually read this story for this weeks reading so I will be elaborating on my feelings of it in a separate more in-depth blog post but long story short, it made me uncomfortable. It was good, but unsettling. The normalized oppression of the Tlic to the Terran becomes more and more obvious as the story goes on and it is upsetting to see our main character, Gan, go through a major realization of this and then yet still accept and even welcome his fate. The impression of love between these two characters when their unbalanced power dynamic is so evident is just uncomfortable for me as an audience member to read. It is even more uncomfortable given that T'Gatoi is much older than Gan by an undisclosed amount of years. 2. What connections did you make with this story that you just read? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect. I couldn't personally connect with the story very much as it was

So for this week I read Harlan Ellison's I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream , and I must admit, I picked it solely for that title alone as it is just so darn relatable. I have no idea what I expected, or if I even had any expectations, but what I ready certainly wasn't it. It took me a second read through to completely comprehend the story, especially given that you start placed right within it without any context, and even then I'm not sure if I've grasped everything. At first I was not a huge fan of the story but rereading it and understanding the complexity of it all has made me appreciate it much more. It truly is a very dark and horrifying story when you get down to it. The idea of AI's taking over, set on destroying and/or enslaving the human race, isn't new by any mean but the way this story handles it - I'm not sure I've seen anything like it before. Almost any other time you see humans manipulated by technology in this way, it is generally at th

For this sections' reading I chose to read The Star by Arthur C. Clarke. What fascinated me the most about this story is that it was in fact science fiction. Sure, there is the very fancy technical science jargon that comes with a lot of science fiction, but in this story it takes a back seat to a very common theme in many stories; personal theological and moral musing. At first it really seems as if there is no need for this story to take place in outer-space. It makes you wonder why the author choose to set this story in the genre of science fiction. It isn't until the end, where you understand what it is that this narrator has seen that you understand why that is. The narrator and their team have come across a planet similar to their own, with very human-like buildings and history, and it has essentially undergone a mass extinction. Whatever organisms were there before are gone. They've been wiped out by a star, their sun, exploding. Given this, I think it is very smart