Potential Paper Topic?

Hey guys so I missed last week and I wanted to get ya'lls input on an idea I've had floating around.  I noticed in Windup Girl, that every character, no matter how they were aligned, had both admirable and almost horrifying character traits.

A few examples would be the female officer in the Environmental Ministry, and how she both betrayed her mentor and did what she thought was best for the people, the yellow carder who we all pretty much hated who saved a child at the risk of his own life,  and even the windup girl herself who I think we can all agree is the most innocent of wrong doing (or at least motive wise) killed several people (however much they deserved it).  I had thought to potentially compare this style of characters and the style of narrating from several character's viewpoints to other authors such as George R.R. Martin.

In any case, any feedback ya'll have would be appreciated.

The Hobbit

I don't know about y'all but I'm fairly excited about the Hobbit coming out in a few weeks.  A friend posted this on his facebook and I just thought it was pretty interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vqyzHwnEiY

Aldernia: Outcast

In continuing with my own fiction, this is the first part of a story I started working on a while ago. At that time I ran my own blog and was experimenting with serialization. As such, this story ends up divided into short segments with epic cliffhangers at the end of each one. Here is the first "episode" of "Outcast," a part of my larger fictional series "Aldernia."

            Mahtek Reyin peered out from the alley where he hid.  The street before him was mostly empty.  A few people, cloaked against the unaccustomed cold, drifted by.  Mahtek kept his hood low to hide his face and ducked into the street.  A couple walked by him, whispering and holding each other close for warmth.  They glanced at him but did not take notice.  He looked like just another hapless resident of usually mild Iandrid, unprepared for the cold winter.  His black cloak sheltered him as well – but he sought shelter from the eyes of those he walked past, not the cold.

            The building he was looking for lay at the end of the street.  Two guards stood watch over the door, and another patrolled the street.  Mahtek knew he couldn’t get past them unnoticed.  But this was Iandrid, his city, and he had been to this building before.  There were other ways in.  He fell in step with a passer-by between him and the guards, then slipped down another alley.

            Once out of site, he removed his cloak and reversed it.  The outside was now a grayish white, almost matching the stone of the buildings.  This cloak had originally been intended to hide him from the eyes of his country’s enemies.  But now it hid him from his fellow citizens just as well.  Former fellow citizens, he reflected. He extended his claws and found cracks in the stone, then began to climb, his target a certain window, above him.

As he crawled upward, the patrolling guard passed the mouth of the alley.  Mahtek froze.  Anyone closely inspecting the side of the building would have noticed him, but at a quick glance, his cloak blended in sufficiently not to warrant a second thought.

            Mahtek began his climb again.  Reaching the window, he peered inside carefully.  As he had expected, a lone guard sat in the room.  He did not appear very attentive, but he had a clear view of the window.  A small fire burned on the far side of the room.  Mahtek ducked below the window and hung there, still, considering his options.  His mission was imperative, and this was his best entrance.

He decided on a course of action.  He peered through the opening once again.  Gathering his focus, he stared intently at the guard.  He hadn’t done this in a long time.  The guard felt a slight chill, which began to grow worse.  His breath condensed in the air before him.  He shivered from the sudden discomfort, and, thinking it was simply a bad draft, pulled his chair closer to the fire, turned away from the window.  Mahtek shook his head at the guard’s lack of discipline, but allowed himself a little satisfaction at the success of his own meager power.  He slipped into the room unnoticed, landing quietly.

Awesome Radio Adaptation!

Hi everyone! I know we've mentioned Neil Gaiman a few times in class, and my mom just sent me this link, so I thought I'd share it with you. How can you not love an adaptation with the voices of Rupert Giles, Sherlock Holmes, and Saruman?

http://www.hypable.com/2012/11/28/neil-gaimans-neverwhere-recorded-for-radio-with-all-star-cast/

Zombie Christmas Gifts!

Seeing as how there wasn't a post yet about our task of coming up with ideas for zombie-related gifts, I figured I would go ahead and lead the way! Rather than taking it as a literal approach, I found this nifty idea....HERE!! It seems like a pretty creative idea, to me at least. You could even buy an small energy drink and put a "Zombie Vaccine" label on it. Anyway, that's just to get an idea out there!

Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century Series has been my first thorough introduction into the Steampunk sun-genre of science fiction. Of course, we've read some short stories and novels that displayed elements of steampunk, but I never quite understood what it was until reading these novels. I must say, I think I'm a big fan of steampunk. History has always been one of my favorite subjects. I find it so fascinating because there are certain events in history that have occurred, but you can learn about them in so many different perspectives until it becomes almost like storytelling. For example, when I was in Vietnam this summer, we went to the Vietnam War Museum in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly, Saigon). To view the depiction of the war from the perspective of the North Vietnamese was so very different from the way we learn about it in our country. As it would be. I think the reason I liked Priest's novels so much is because they were set in an alternate civil war era which appealed to the history lover in me while allowing me to imagine a completely different series of events and outcomes than what actually happened which, in my opinion, makes it all the more entertaining.

Tanglefoot

Tanglefoot was the creepiest story I think I've ever read. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the story, and liked getting to read one of Priest's short stories. I loved that the short story was present in the Clockwork Century universe. Actually, I read that it was the first story from the clockwork universe, but I'm not sure if that is true or not. Priest's writing style is so easy for me to read. The way she sucks you into the story right from the first sentence is one of the best things about her writing style. I also like the details she gives when explaining events that are occurring. The way she described the machine that  Edwin made named Ted made him sound fascinating. I particularly liked this story because of its mix of horror and steam punk, which are two of my favorite things. I thought it was interesting that something came to poses Ted because he had no soul. Overall, I love the clockwork century universe and will continue to read the new ones that become released!

Back to School

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving break. I can't believe the semester is almost over! I'm still working on the reading. (It seems like every class is trying to get in that last assignment before finals.) I don't really have anything to say about what I've read so far. Instead, here's an amusing steampunk drawing I saw:

Neal Stephenson Swordfighting game

Here is a link to the Kickstarter website for Neal Stephenson's still-in-development sword fighting game that was mentioned in class last week. I can't believe that someone is actually doing what my cousin and I have talked about since we were in elementary school. He used Kickstarter to gather the funds to hire nerds and develop a more realistic motion controlled sword fighting game. The site has several humorous videos in which Neal explains the goal of the project. I don't know how successful this project will be, but if anyone could make it happen I think it would be this guy.
<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/260688528/clang>

Cherie Priest's character names

Does anyone else find the names of Cherie Priest's characters as interesting as I do?

Jeremiah Swakhammer, Mercy Lynch, Briar Blue, Lucy O'Gunning, Captain Croggard Beuregaurd Hainey (personally my favorite), and Horatio Korman just to name a few.

Every times she uses an interesting name like that, I'm always trying to match their personality to their name and it works out pretty well. I also think it's fun that the name of each book is a piece of machinery, be it a dirigible, train, or a piece of equipment that destroys a whole city.

Battlestar Galactica

For those that like Battlestar Galactica and think that Bill Adama is the most awesome dude ever, you should check out this video.  It's part of a mini-series type thing that's depicting the first Cylon war.  Eventually the different parts will be put together and released as a single movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT79x4qM4FE

For those interested in Tom Bombadil

I know we mentioned in class the theory that Tom Bombadil is actually evil.  Here is a link to one of the many sites that explores this theory.

http://km-515.livejournal.com/1042.html

The Inexplicables

So we mentioned it in class, but the newest book in the Clockwork Century series came out on Tuesday! It's called The Inexplicables, and apparently it takes place in Seattle again, and is all about Zeke's friend Rector (the one Briar interrogated in chapter 5 of Boneshaker to find out how Zeke got over the wall). There's ghosts, more rotters, and some kind of monster known as The Inexplicable. I'll definitely have to read this one!

Here's Cherie Priest's blog post about it: http://theclockworkcentury.com/?p=694 . The cover looks pretty cool.

Dr. Minnericht

So, while reading Boneshaker, and after every time someone described Dr. Minnericht's appearance, I thought I came to a pretty good conclusion of who/what he was. He was always seen wearing a mask, never taking it off. And there seemed to be blue lights where his pupils should be. So, the conclusion was clear...he will totally turn out to be a cyborg (maybe even a robotic clone of Briar's husband). I held that belief up to the moment his throat was slit. But apparently, my idea was just too ahead of its time and that was not the case at all, so I was somewhat disappointed.

Did anyone else think anything remotely similar to this? Or rather, did anyone else think he'd be anything other than who he actually turned out to be?

Steampunk

So after reading this week's blog posts, it seems that everyone enjoyed both Boneshaker and Dreadnought more than some of the past assigned books. I think there must be something about the steampunk genre that has a universal appeal. Whenever I see something on the internet about steampunk, it is usually highly praised whether it is  a story, game, or cosplay photo. Is it because this is how people wish the late 1800s were or something? It seems like such a specific niche of science fiction wouldn't have that big of a following, but everyone I know who is into any sort of fantasy or sci-fi is also a fan of steampunk.
     So what is it about the steampunk world that you guys enjoy the most? Is it the brass machinery and goggles and clothing styles or the alternate 1800s setting? I enjoy steampunk too, but I am just trying to figure out why this genre appeals to such a broad audience.

Real Invisibility Cloak?

There seems to be a lot of discussion about this week's books already, so I'll take a break and share some science related news. I read this article the other day and thought it was interesting. Obviously there's still some things to work out, but I found it really cool. I'm sure we could do some speculating and come up with potential implications as well.

Dreadnought

Cherie Priest is one of those authors who I've been debating over whether or not I wanted to read for year, and now that I've read two of her books, I'm really mad at myself for not reading them sooner. Boneshaker and Dreadnought are both great reads, but I definitely preferred the latter. Boneshaker is at a disadvantage because it has to establish Priest's alternate nineteenth century as well as tell Briar and Zeke's story, and it felt like it was weighed down because of that. Dreadnought, on the other hand, started with the assumption that the reader already knew about the world it was set in, and was able to plunge into the main story much more quickly. I also liked the setting(s) of Dreadnought much more, mainly because we got to see a lot more of the country and learn firsthand about the social and political atmospheres through Mercy's journey. Also, I liked the character of Mercy much more than Briar, although I liked the supporting cast of Boneshaker more than that of Dreadnought (and was quite happy to see them pop up at the end of the book!). I can't wait to read the rest of the series!

Kids these days...

I don't know about you guys, but if confronted with the unique opportunity to come face to face with a zombie or run like hell, I would choose the latter. In Boneshaker, one of the main characters, Zeke Wilkes, is obviously not overly familiar with the expression "curiosity killed the cat." I almost laughed out loud at some of his thoughts in the story, being so different from what I myself would have contemplated. One such instance can be found in chapter twenty-four. Zeke has found his way up to the floor where the fighting between Minnericht's men and the "doornails" is taking place. He stands behind a door that opens to the combat zone while he considers his next move.

     "He hadn't yet seen a rotter up close. Not a real one, not a hungry one--and certainly not a pack of them.
       An irrational burst of curiosity sent him seeking the handle again."

Another example of Zeke's bold curiosity is seen in chapter twenty-five.

     "...but a new noise snagged his attention--and this new noise was less threatening. One part moan and one part gasp, the faint cry was coming from somewhere close, from behind a door that was not quite closed and not quite an open invitation to investigate.
       He investigated anyway."

Okay. If I hear any noise that can be described as a moan, particularly in a town that happens to be ransacked with zombies, I'm heading for the hills. Instead, Zeke decides to scout out the source of the sound which turns out to be his former guide, Rudy, slowly dying and possibly zombifying from drinking some sort of Blight-containing poison.

Obviously, this kid has more guts than I do. I really enjoyed his character, full of bravery and teenage spunk. Whenever I read stories that include these situations, in which the character must choose to act or hide, I wonder what I would do. In the comfort and safety of my home, and in the complete absence of zombies (let's hope), I can hardly imagine doing anything courageous that involves the risk of potentially being eaten, or as Priest so splendidly describes, becoming "rotter shit." But I do like to think that if the circumstances changed--if I found myself on the wrong side of wall--I would be able to think and act as bravely as Briar, Zeke, Lucy, or any other of the other admirable characters that Priest has created in this story.

Technology in Dreadnought

So it makes sense that, had the civil war gone on longer, both sides would have continued to make technological advances. I mean, in real life, they were already heavily making use of trains and even deploying the occasional submarine. So the Dreadnought and Shenandoah engine make sense. But Gundams? Walkers really just aren't practical from a military perspective. I guess I have to remind myself that, despite how realistic the story can be at some points, yes, it really is steampunk, and yes, there really are zombies.

Boneshaker vs. Dreadnougt

I don't know how everybody else feels about these two stories, but I definitely prefer Boneshaker.

I read Dreadnought a while back. It had a ton of elements to make a great story, adventure, some pseudo science, zombies, Civil War era touches, and a kick ass female lead. The plot fell short for me. Once it turned into a zombie train battle, I began to lose interest. I will give Cherie Priest credit for making it feel like a Hollywood production though. I had no problem imagining it visually. The best part of the book was Mercy, I just wished she had a better relationship at the end with Mr. Korman.

I still haven't finished Boneshaker, but I already feel like the storyline is richer and more involved. I can't wait to see what happens with Briar and Zeke.

Boneshaker

So, I just finished Boneshaker last night, and I must say that I really enjoyed the change of pace from The Windup Girl. This one was much easier to read and get into. Plus, the ending really got me! I didn't  really know what to expect when starting to read, but I became a fan fairly quickly. One thing I enjoyed was just the overall diversity with the plot throughout the book. For instance, there were zombies, but the book wasn't really a zombie apocalypse story...they just happened to be there too. I really liked how she managed to utilize all these different aspects and create a cohesive journey from start to finish. Now for the next one!

Speaking of zombies, did anyone watch The Walking Dead last night?

Validity of The Windup Girl

I hate that I couldn't make it to class this week. I started reading this book over the summer, and I'm glad I started early. Like I've said before, I am very much a fan of the short story format and more whimsical plots so this story took me a good long while.

The reason I couldn't make it to class is because I am attending the Society of Women Engineers national conference in Houston, TX. Essentially, it's 3 days full of sessions that cover topics like personal and professional development, section management, and (my favorite) new technologies in a range of fields. There's also a huge career fair that's a ton of fun!

I didn't forget about you all in class though! In fact, I have been thinking a lot about The Windup Girl today. Unfortunately, I didn't care so much for the story as I did the premise and bio-punk setting. I was glad I started so early because the characters were tough to keep up with at times and the use of what I'm assuming is Thai language kept throwing me off. For some reason I kept confusing Hok Seng and Anderson the first 1/4 of the book! Once I got the hang of it, I found that Emiko was the only character I had any real feelings toward and everyone else was just a pawn in some larger game that never quite worked out for the best.

The main reason the story has been on my mind concerns the bio-punk semi-post apocalyptic world setting. Agriculture has always been a fascination of mine from growing up on a farm and I have some strong opinions on the American food system and global food supply. In fact, I don't eat any animal products. It is my hope that by doing my small part I can lessen the environmental strain being caused by large factory farms and by eating less meat, more land can be used for vegetation that can feed more people and produce more energy. Obviously my contribution doesn't do much, so when I tell people I always encourage them to try going without meat for just one day :) Anyway, all of that is to say that I can very much imagine this universe in which (from the back of the book) "... calories become currency... when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits..." I was actually in a meeting today with a large pharmaceutical company at the conference when they mentioned that a large part of their business is based in animal science. They develop new strains of bacteria, medicine, and food for animals so that they become more disease resistant and develop more nutrition, for our consumption, per animal. It amazed me that corporations already think this way and are attempting to alter nature instead of learning to work with it. It seems to me that gene-hacks and U-Tex are in the near future!

The Wind Up Girl

Although The Wind-Up Girl was a slow starting book, I came to enjoy it the longer I read. One thing I particularly liked was the use of biology references throughout the story. One thing I found interesting was that I could actually see this happening in our world. It doesn't seem that far fetched to me that the global climate change would cause these food monopolies that basically rule the world. I liked that I could put myself in story because it didn't seem that far-fetched to happen in the future. Also, I thought the GMO's were very interesting since people spends millions of dollars on research of genetically altered plants to improve crops and their ability to withstand stress. Overall, I thought the book was very interesting with many interesting characters making up the story. I would definitely recommend it to my biology friends!

The Wind-up Girl

After finishing The Wind-up Girl I must say that it is one of my favorite books. I loved the dystopian post-fossil fuel world which uses animal labor rather than combustion engines and the idea of a world controlled by food monopolies. I felt that the story had excellent pacing, and sometimes I had to force myself to put it down. I also enjoyed how each chapter switched to different character's perspectives and showed how each big event affected each character before bringing them all together at the end.  I know no character in this story can really be considered "the good guy", but I couldn't help but root for Anderson Lake. He reminded me so much of Aaron Eckhart's character in Thank You for Smoking that I couldn't help but like him. The only part of the book I had a problem with was the epilogue. It was a little too open-ended for my taste and I was hoping for something a little happier.

The Windup Girl and Boneshaker

So, I can't wait to hear everyone's opinion on The Windup Girl. It was a very interesting book. I'm still not sure what I think about it. It was a slow read at first. I had trouble getting into the story in the beginning. There was a lot going on, and I think I had a hard time until I could sort out the characters. But then I finished the second half in a day because I wanted to know what happened. Wow, I did not see that ending coming. I especially liked the last few pages and her conversation with (I'm assuming) Gibbons.

Since we have two books to read for next week, I went ahead and started reading Boneshaker. Luckily I became interested in this one a lot quicker. I'm loving it right now. It's also a faster read than The Windup Girl. I knew about this book before, but it actually didn't sound interesting. I'm glad I had to read it.

It's great to be reading science fiction books as homework. I don't get to read much during the semester because I feel guilty and usually don't have the time anyway. Lately every time I want to put something off, I start reading for this class. It's great because I can read something interesting and justify it because it's technically schoolwork.

Epic Rap Battles

I don't know if any of y'all have heard of Epic Rap Battles of History but this is the new one from last week and I actually thought it was pretty funny... It's about Doctor Who!

Cory Doctorow on "The Internet of the Dead"

Doctorow's latest column for Locus Online is a fascinating account of his attempt to do right by a dead friend, by preserving the friend's computer records -- a more complicated task than you might think, and one with societal implications.

Friday Fiction - Upon the Pages

So, Friday Fiction is something I used to do on my blog (back when I ran a blog).  I tried to post a story or part of an ongoing serial every Friday.  Here's one that I wrote since then that was actually for an NPR short story contest.  Don't worry, NPR's exclusive rights to the story expired quite some time ago.  It had a prompt, which was that it had to start with the sentence you'll see that it starts with and be no longer than 300 words.  Feel free to leave any comments on it.

           She closed the book, placed it on the table, and finally, decided to walk through the door.  She still felt giddy sometimes about being famous.  She was used to it, but not over it.  The book was about her, of course.  A sort of living biography in hardback.  She loved reading it, and had to force herself to put it down.  She had almost heard her own scream of excitement at the flattering words.  She stepped out of her house and started up the steep slope leading away from it.  The house was just down a small cliff, and she had to climb almost vertically to leave.  It served to give her a good workout every day, as well as keep away unwanted visitors.  She crested the slope and began the much shallower descent down to her flat yard. 

            Would she go so far as to say she loved herself?  Yes, that sounded right.  She lived alone, keeping old tabloid clippings of paparazzi following her exploits.  And of course, her own biography.  She loved reading too.  With a deep inhalation, she imagined she could smell the crisp aroma of a new book. 

            Was she wrong to isolate herself so?  She turned back to the slope she had now descended and could not see her house over the hill.  She stood there a moment before turning back to walk further along.  If not wrong, then at least odd.  What a strange place to build a house.  She could not remember what her thought process had been when she bought it.  In fact, she could barely remember buying it at all.  Had it been that long?  Her old life as an ordinary person seemed unreal, almost another existence. 

            She looked around her and noticed something odd.  Her yard was covered in strange black lines and circles.  Was this some kind of exotic prank?  She was used to that sort of thing, but most pranks people attempted on her involved an effort to get her to say something stupid on camera.  This was, well, different.  Would she need to get police protection for her property?  Maybe she should just move even farther down the cliff, if people were going to do things like this.  It barely surprised her to see such stupidity from the unwashed masses.  She smiled, hoping that that thought didn’t represent how she really felt about her fellow humans. 

            She walked up to some of the black lines to get a closer look.  Here was a large circle, to its right another.  To the left: most of a circle with a vertical line extending from one end.  Farther right: a vertical line with two diagonal lines leaving it at 45 degrees from the same point.  On either side of all that: large empty space and more lines.  She blinked and straightened rapidly.  Realization dawned on her face as she recognized the lines for what they were. 

            Suddenly, the ground shook beneath her.  She fell into the middle of a black circle.  The letter “o”.  Turning upward, she saw a giant but familiar face.  Her own.  Another flat space, covered in words as well, came closing down.  As darkness descended on the pages, she loosed a scream of terror.  She fell silent as she remembered the sound she thought she had heard just moments before upon closing the book, but now knew that it had not been a scream of excitement.  She feared for herself, and for the fate of her larger self, as she closed the book, placed it on the table, and finally, decided to walk through the door.

Martian Spacesuits

I read a lot of popular science, so when I read "Goodnight Moons" I instantly thought of these 2 space suits. They are both still in development and testing, but one is particularly neat because it is designed to exert the force of gravity in an otherwise weightless environment. I couldn't help but think that Poddy might have been allowed to return to earth if she had a suit similar to this. The other suit isn't anything too fancy, I just thought it was neat how they tested it in Antarctica. This was just how I pictured all of the characters in the story.

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-10/superhero-style-skin-tight-spacesuit-provides-healthy-compression-astronauts

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-03/nasas-prototype-mars-space-suit-gets-frosty-antarctic-performance-test

The Last Ride of the Glory Girls

Besides the writing style the author used to convey Adelaide's speak, I really enjoyed this story. I thought it had many aspects throughout the whole story that made it interesting. It is a love story, western, religious, and of course, it is a science fiction story with many aspects included throughout the entire story. One thing we did not really touch on in class was her vision she had when she was in her drug induced state under the tar in the river. I thought it was interesting that all she saw in her vision was darkness. I was wondering if the darkness was meant to represent the time travel she would be encountering in her future. She had not mastered the time device yet and so she had no idea where she would end up. I thought maybe the darkness was meant to represent that uncertainty of where she would eventually end up in time. I'm not sure if I'm interpreting this right, but it is just a thought.