Literature of Horror, Fantasy, & Sci-Fi

This week I read Neil Gaiman's children's novel, Coraline.  I had previously seen and loved the movie but never sat down to read the book. The thing that struck me about this novel is the same thing that struck me in the film; not the fact that it's pretty scary for a children's book, something Gaiman is now known for, but the sadness of how ignored by her parents Coraline feels. It's incredibly relevant to many people and it just hits you in such a way that you can't shake it. The entire novel then turns into a form of escapism. Coraline uses this alternate world or dimension as a form of escapism from her seemingly uncaring parents. Why else would she just blindly accept another mother and father with buttons for eyes if not for the fact that they are everything she wishes her parents and world to be like? I certainly can't chalk it up to her being a child as Coraline seems to be pretty smart. Despite all of the adventure and horror in this novel, it's...

This week I both re-read J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and read for the first time the short Prequel snippet provided to us (which only increased my frustration out Rowling as a Prequel is the only thing I ever asked for out of her - I couldn't care less about any of the other spinoffs produced). I admit, I've been a fan of Harry Potter since I saw the first film when I was four years old with my father, so it would be easy for me to talk about many different things. However, I'm going to focus on the house system inside of Hogwarts. It's not something I thought very much about prior to it being brought up in class, which is why I find it so interesting now. It does indeed seem to be just an easy way to establish very base character traits within characters without actually having to state those character traits, which I find to be very smart, considering you still have a vast variety of characters amongst each house so it doesn't feel...

For this weeks reading I read J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit. I had previously seen the films but never actually read the book and throughout any changes that may have been made for the on-screen adaptation I feel that Bilbo Baggins' character stayed more or less the same. Bilbo is the perfect "unlikely" or "reluctant" hero and a character that is easy for most anyone to identify with. It's very easy to look at Bilbo and say "well, he's just an average guy, not some fantastical hero" but that is the key to the "unlikely" hero trope. Unlike other heroes who desperately want to prove themselves heroes and/or have prophecies foretold about them, Bilbo initially doesn't even want to be bothered out of his cozy little hobbit hole. Once he is coerced into this journey, he consistently voices his desire to be back home throughout most of the first part of it. It isn't until he rises to the challenges presented in unlikely ways that h...

For this weeks reading I chose to read James Robinsons' comic, Witch Craft . I find it incredibly fascinating how tales of witches and witchcraft have for the most part evolved into being stories of female empowerment and camaraderie. Historically, witchcraft was seen as this evil thing that, predominantly, evil and satanic women practiced. At least, this is the case for the western history that we are taught in schools about the Salem witch trials and what not. Now, there are many theories as to why there was a witchcraft craze back then, including the idea of drug-induced hallucinations, but a lot of people believe that the reason it was mostly women that were accused has to do with the sexism of the time and fear of powerful women, which isn't a totally outlandish assumption. In reality, the truth probably lies somewhere between that and some of the theories. Given that thought though, it makes sense to swap the power play in current stories about witchcraft and make a state...