Snow Crash Cyberpunk

The eleventh week comes to us with sounds wires, keyboards clicking, and electrical currents flowing. In this installation of our literature course we’re discussing the realm of ‘Cyberpunk’. Not to be confused with ‘Steampunk’, its early nineteenth century-retro-future-conflicted cousin, Cyberpunk deals with incorporating themes into the work that we have been witnessing become reality in the past few decades. Movies like Blade Runner, The Matrix, and anime hits like Akira and Ghost in the Shell, are the reasons why Cyberpunk was put on the map is one of the more popular types of science fiction out today.

This week, aside from the classic Blade Runner, we were assigned to check out the novel Snow Crash Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. After going through the story of Snow Crash I keep questioning why this hasn’t been turned into a movie yet. Inspired by Sumerian mythology, Stephenson brings the futuristic story of a main character named Hiro, a hacker and swordfighter who finds himself uncovering the truths about a mysterious virus called ‘snow crash’ which was not only affecting the metaverse cyber world, but also the real world he lived in. Being that Sumerian language is civilizations original dialect, Stephenson, puts forth in the story the idea that this ancient language is a building block of what we have now. And through the manipulation of this language, relating to how hackers created new viruses, people could be affected and controlled to do as the will of the person behind it all chose. That is why through the plot Hiro struggles to discover and put an end to Bob Rife’s work, which had involved the Sumerian language in order to create an epidemic both in the metaverse and the real world, giving Rife control over people.

Although it could be deemed a bit clichéd with the saturation of cyberpunk works in recent years, I think Snow Crash is a great candidate to base a movie on, or even at least a well made animated series or graphic novel. The whole idea of the metaverse and the theory of an eventual mixing of virtual and physical reality I think is a great theme, that through the exploration of our entrapment inside the future of what is technology we also become more enlightened and begin to appreciate our reality and learn that no matter how deeply connected humanity becomes to the virtual world, the spiritual self is the most important character of all.

Multiverse Babel 17

Our tenth reading assignment is based on the theme of the ‘Multi-Verse.’ The idea of the multi-verse, may have been older than the 20^th century, but it wasn’t after the boom of science fiction literature in the 40’s and 50’s that concepts like these were given much attention by the mainstream media or literary culture. In works that relate to the multi-verse, they create alternate worlds, that may mirror our own, or replicate other extraterrestrial worlds. In these, plots are changed so that they are similar, but different from the original existences. By the 1960’s authors of these sci-fi novels implemented aspects of serious studies into their works, such as anthropology, psychology, biology, sociology, and even real problems regarding physics and engineering. A more thoughtful and conscious approach was taken from the authors’ standpoint, straying from the clichéd high adventure works of the past.

This week we surveyed works such as Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and Babel 17 by Samuel R. Delany. Set in outer space, Babel 17 deals with the story of Rydra Wong, a starship captain, linguist, poet, and telepath. During the interstellar war the story revolves around, one side develops a language called Babel 17 which was used as a weapon. Whoever learned the language became traitors, and their perception and thoughts were altered, unbeknownst to them. As the story progressed Wong is recruited to infiltrate the enemy and see what was happening, but as she kept learning and getting deeper into Babel 17 she noticed herself becoming a betrayer of her government. She is then rescued by her crew and she is able to come to her senses. The book is strongly based on an actual scientific hypothesis of the time called the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, where in layman’s terms explains how it is a possibility that our differences in language give rise to differences in thought and behavior, because people who don’t think in the same ways can’t perceive the world in the same ways either.

I once heard that at some point in the last few centuries a tribe, somewhere North, that hadn’t had any contact with the outside world was discovered. Something particular about their language was that they didn’t have any word for ‘lying’. I bet once they came in contact with the outside they became aware of it, and unfortunately probably its misuse of it too.

Space Opera, The Stars My Destination Alfred Bester

In a way, stories transform and evolve into different versions from time to time. The setting is often what changes. From old westerns, to deep sea adventures, the realm of science fiction suddenly turned its eye towards the sky in the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s, giving rise to the ‘Space Opera’. Since this was the beginning of the exploration of a whole new and infinitely large territory, it makes sense that the plots for these works were set in times way far into the future, where galactic empires and new groups and colonies were all over the place. You could look at it as a new immeasurable canvas that was begun to be painted back in the twenties and thirties by the pioneers of what we now know as the science fiction of today. Through establishing settings that contained groups of beings and hierarchies that continued to sub-divide themselves, these authors created an atmosphere where the blank space was filled limited only by our imagination.

This week’s reading The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, published in 1956, brought a cool plot and twist of things to what is a sort of epic story inspired by the 19^th century novel The Count of Monte Cristo. Gully Foyle, the main character in the novel, is the only survivor of in the Nomad, a spaceship that was attacked, due to a war going on between the ‘Inner Planets’ and ‘Outer Satellites’, and left for the dead floating through space. After being refused help by a passing ship called the Vorga, Foyle becomes enraged and spends the rest of the story journeying on a struggle to find revenge. Through the course of the book we become fully aware we’re not dealing with our regular hero. Foyle is about one of the most anti-hero main characters you could find. After hitting rock bottom, Foyle finds a treasure in his old wreckage which permits him to go under the radar for a while and reemerge with a new identity and crew. Later, Foyle finds himself in a position where he had to decide whether to doom mankind by not alerting them to the nuclear explosive PyrE, or give up his space jaunting secrets in order for humanity to follow him into deep space exploration.

In a sort of enlightening way, the anti-hero character of Gully Foyle, is later transformed into an almost enlightened being, who sees the error of his ways and chooses to redeem himself. This is similar to other stories that are a part of the ‘Space Opera’ theme, like Star Wars, when the villain Darth Vader sees the error of his ways and attempts to come back to the side of good in the end.

Gaming and Fantasy Warbreaker

Our eighth week brought with it the novel Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson, and the exploration of how gaming has been affected by and is affecting the genre of fantasy. Gaming in the recent decade or so has risen to become one of the leading industries worldwide. A lot of new games coming out have, in one way or another, been influenced by the genre.

In the novel Warbreaker, we find the story of princess Vivenna and princess Siri. One of them, Vivenna, was arranged to marry the king of a rival nation called Hallendren. After princess Siri is sent as her substitute, Vivenna goes on a journey towards Hallendren in order to save her, and through the novel they become involved in the development of events that pointed towards a war between Hallendren and their home kingdom Idris in a near future. An interesting, and innovative game-like aspect of the novel was a magical system created by the author dubbed “Bio-Chromatic Breath” where sorcerers breathed life into objects, depending on their colors. Being that color was such a fundamental part of the story, having characters even express aspects of their mood through changes in their hair colors, it created a very visual experience for the reader. This is something that could easily be translated into a gaming platform where current technologies could expand on the imaginative idea created by Sanderson. In the time of Tolkien for example, they wouldn’t have imagined the capabilities of modern technology nowadays. What used to only be viewed in the individual reader’s mind is now something that can be brought to life through artists working with computer generated images. The fantasy genre’s niche for inspiring the creation of new worlds has spread through all kinds of media, not only in console gaming, but also music, art, and modern creative writing.

I guess a big reason that the intertwining of games and fantasy is something that has been long in the making. From the first fan of The Hobbit, to Narnia, to Warbreaker, who hasn’t been wanting to explore those worlds. Part of the whole mystique of fantasy is exploring something never before seen. That’s why there will be, as long as it doesn’t become repetitive, a bright future for games that introduce aspects of fantasy into their experience.

Urban Fantasy Anansi Boys

The topic of our seventh week of reading was the urban fantasy. The urban fantasy is the category where a lot of post-Tolkien era works fall into. These are not the easily repetitive epics set in Middle-Earth-like worlds, with wizards, archers, and sorcerers. With influences that seem to come from myths and legends handed down orally through generations in cultures such as Latin America, these are stories that merge every day situations with fantastic characters and plot lines.

A good cinematographic example of the urban fantasy is the film Pan’s Labyrinth. Set in the time of Spain’s civil war, the story explores the life of a little girl who’s the stepdaughter of a malevolent anti-rebel general. Through out the story she comes into contact with a magical, yet mysterious, beast called Pan who has her go about certain tasks in order to prove her worthiness of being a princess back in his mystical realm. At the same time she carries her tasks out, she also has to deal with the ongoing wartime situations at the base camp she lives in. In this week’s reading Anansi Boys, we see a good model of an urban fantasy. The novel tells the story of a modern day English accountant called Charlie who discovers that his recently deceased father Mr. Nancy was actually not human at all, but the incarnation of a West African spider-god spirit called Anansi. After he finds out about this, Charlie also learns that he has a brother he never knew about. He eventually meets this brother of his called Spider, a very mischievous character, who had inherited the mystical powers of their father. Charlie soon regrets bringing Spider into his world and they go about dealing with different conflicts through out the novel. It was very interesting to see how the author Neil Gaiman brought together the two worlds of both our everyday cities and the deep mythical plane from where Anansi and other god spirits like the Tiger and Bird came from.

Out of all genres of fantasy, the urban fantasy is the one that I believe makes a deeper connection with the audience. Yes, middle-earth is cool, and space or extra-terrestrial worlds are amazing, but what we live and experience everyday is our Earth. So whenever an author successfully creates a story that incorporates both realms, it makes a much stronger connection with the reader.

Spiritual Education "The Magicians"

Our sixth week brought us to the theme of spiritual education in novels. The genre of Fantasy is one that is filled with possibilities. Although many fantasy stories concentrate on descriptions of epic battles between mythical creatures and beasts, there are other stories that, not only provide entertainment, but also make it their purpose to educate their audience. Mostly directed at children or teenagers, these novels bring teachings of morality, human relationships, and daily life.

This was especially true in the world renowned series of “Harry Potter” books, and also in this week’s reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman. The novel The Magicians takes a very interesting twist on the genre, because it sets the story in our contemporary modern time. The author takes elements from classic fantasies such as Narnia, The Golden Compass, and the “Harry Potter” series. He relates the story of Quentin a young man who still daydreams of an enchanted far away land called “Fillroy” that was described in his favorite series of books (shades of “Don Quixote”). But also, the world in The Magicians includes magic…kind of obvious looking at the title. It even included a college where students could pursue studies in the magical arts/sciences. Similar to Hogwarts in the “Harry Potter” world, but more like a modern day college campus, rather than an old, ancient castle on a cliff’s edge. Through his time in and after the university, Quentin goes through trials and tribulations similar to what most college students go through nowadays. Girls, drinking, drugs, depression, not caring much for classes, trying to find answers…the epic journey of adolescence. After moving to New York, and partying his magical brains off, Quentin hits rock bottom, but not long before he discovers that “Fillroy” did exist all along. From there on he makes it his mission to defend Fillroy from the evil that looms over it.

Making an entertaining fantasy novel, which also includes educational aspects is a great tool to begin to plant the seeds of moral fiber into young minds across the world. But also, I firmly believe we must be careful with some of these stories that grow into immense popularity, because with the banner of education they also create a front to advertise, and push their products towards children.

The Hobbit

This week we introduced the genre of Fantasy with J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Tolkien’s interest in linguistics, and his time in World War I were great contributors to his works of literature. Also, the clash between his calm rural childhood and the industrialization of the area he lived in gave him great inspiration.

The Hobbit, the precursor to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is the story of an adventure that Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, undertook. Set in “Middle-Earth”, The Hobbit includes creatures and environments made up by Tolkien, but heavily influenced by Norse mythology. Hobbits, a race of small people who enjoyed a simple lifestyle, and weren’t known for going on epic journeys. In the story, a wizard named Gandalf invites Bilbo to go with him on an adventure to take back an ancient treasure that was now in the possession of Smaug the dragon. Bilbo, Gandalf, and a group of dwarves go on this quest which takes them through mountains, forests, and caves. They faced rough landscapes, hunger, bad weather, and attacks by all sorts of creatures like huge spiders. After they were able to kill Smaug, a huge war over the treasure ensues between humans, elves, dwarves, goblins, and wargs. In the end Bilbo goes back to the hobbit lands, and kept on living the chill lifestyle of a hobbit.

Maybe, Tolkien gave the role of hero to a hobbit, because when he was a child and saw the fast pace industrialization of his country, he yearned to go back to relaxing in his country pasture home. The life-style of a hobbit is peaceful, ideal. Middle-Earth isn’t any more savage than our daily world. I think the world we live in now could be considered even more dangerous and evil, for that reason, even though Bilbo isn’t a great warrior he still has mental qualities and morality of an epic hero.

J-Horror Kwaidan

Our fourth week of class has brought us the genre of j-horror. Its essentially the name for the modern Japanese horror film derivatives, but it originates in the traditional Japanese ghost stories. Contrary to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre type of “slasher” movies, j-horror deals more with creating an overwhelming mood of despair or emptiness.

I decided to read the alternative Kwaidan collection of traditional Japanese ghost stories, because it’s the source of what j-horror has evolved into today. In Lafcadio Hearn’s recollection we find beautifully narrated stories, almost with a far east poem feel to them, existential. For example, in the story of “Oshidori” we are told about a hunter, Sonjo, who wasn’t able to find any game to shoot and eat. Then he came across a pair of a male and a female oshidori ducks. Even though he knew killing oshidori brought misfortune, his hunger took the best of him, and so he shot and killed the male duck with his arrow. Later that night, after having the duck for dinner, he dreamt of a beautiful woman who sat by his pillow weeping, so sorrowfully that it caused him a great deal of sadness. She cried out, “Why did you kill him…do you know what you have done?”, “Me too you have killed—for I will not live without my husband!” Before leaving she told him that the following day he should go back to the pond where he shot him. Wanting to find out the meaning, if any, of his dream, Sonjo went back the next day and found the female oshidori in the water. It swam up to him, and with its beak it tore open its body and died before Sonjo’s eyes. After that he shaved his head, and became a priest.

I think that would’ve made any skeptic turn priest. Reading through Kwaidan I noticed the very strong Buddhist concepts of karma and reincarnation. The narrations are very intertwined with that aspect of Japanese and Asian culture. I read a book once called Graceful Exits by Sushila Blackman. It was a compilation of passed-down stories of how great Buddhists and Zen Buddhist teachers have passed away. It relates extraordinary events, beautiful spiritual moments, that most people would never believe, and I feel these type of accounts, deeply rooted in Buddhist culture, might be part of the influences of the Japanese ghost stories.

Vampires

Last week’s reading sucked…literally. Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire brought a completely new reading experience to the vampire genre. Long gone were the days of Nosferatu’s leg-sliding walk and ugly mug, as Rice took a more romantic and humanly connected take on the matter. Not a bad move on her part considering the fact that most readers of such stories are mainly female, and merging romance with steamy neck blood sucking narrations would almost guarantee her book great success.

In Interview with the Vampire tells the story of Louis, a vampire who through an off-the-record meeting with a journalist, recounts the events in his life as an immortal. Louis tells us of his life in rural New Orleans, and how he eventually came to encounter Lestat, a powerful vampire, who turns him into one and schools him on the vampire way of life. He continues to relate how he encountered the little girl Claudia, and how he regretted to convert her because he inevitably imprisoned her body into the young state it was, yet her mind would continue to develop her vampire behavior. Through out the story, Louis struggles with his desires to drink blood and his human conscience which prevents him from willingly causing harm to others. On the other hand we are also presented with the antagonist Lestat, who is clearly in command of his train of thought and his actions, and couldn’t care less about the pain his survival caused to humans.

Anne Rice clearly, among other themes in her novel, presents us with a good and evil clash. Even though the story is about vampires, most of us non-blood-sipping humans can relate to the fact that we have two sides of our brain that are conflicted when we might want to do certain things that our other side of our conscience doesn’t approve of. Anne Rice had some tragic events in her life pertaining to her child, similar to Mary Shelley, and this story filled with tragedy and mental conflict was probably a reflection of her feelings and her coping with her own conscience.

Monster Island

The second week of class dealt with the theme of zombies. Originally derived from ancient African and Haitian voodoo beliefs, zombies were reanimated corpses, brought back to life by way of witchcraft and sorcery. Nowadays, perhaps because of the times we live in, zombie stories tend to go for a more epidemic or virus type of explanation.

At least that was the case in this week’s 2004 blog novel by David Wellington titled Monster Island. In this story set in a modern post-apocalyptic Earth, the world’s big economic powers have all crumbled, and some viral disaster in the recent months has created a global population of zombies who fiend insatiably for satisfying their hunger for flesh…specifically live human flesh. The main character Dekalb, is an American and ex United Nations weapon inspector who was stuck in a Somali refugee camp with his seven year old daughter Sarah, with a number of other survivors. At the time, Somalia is controlled by Mama Halima a woman commander in chief with a national army comprised of mostly girl child soldiers. Due to his knowledge of New York City, Dekalb is forced to leave his daughter in the care of the Somali army, and mission out to New York by boat with a team of girl soldiers to find some medicine for Halima who apparently had been infected with aids. Because of the scarce supply of aids medication in Africa, Dekalb’s knowledge of New York City was there best and fastest option. After arriving in the city, Wellington describes, in an almost graphic novel type of way, the visuals of street battles, gore, blood, a.k-47 rifles and zombie body parts, as the group made their way through the city to complete their mission. The novel also goes back and forth between the simultaneous storyline of Gary, an ex med student living in New York who had recently made himself into a zombie because of his fear of being the only one around who wasn’t. This was a very interesting and particular aspect of Wellington’s work which was nice because it gives a perspective from a zombie who has kept his conscience and is dealing with the struggle of his new undead existence.

I’m not a particular fan of the zombie theme, but as a way of understanding the rise in popularity, maybe it’s an attempt at speculations of possible futures for humanity where the field of science, which in reality is advancing incredibly fast every day and has been used for horrible experiments, gave way to the rise of mindless flesh eating freaks. I just think a lot of people have a thing for fantasizing about being in dangerous situations, but its not the same to tell a story than to live it, I bet it wouldn’t be so fun if tomorrow’s news told you about the arrival of real live zombies in a city near you…or real dead I mean.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Our first book for Prof. David Steiling’s literature of horror, fantasy, and science fiction class was Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Set in nineteenth century Europe it tells the story of the young Dr. Viktor Frankenstein and his monstrous creation. When the book first came out it was a unique masterpiece which set a standard for later horror stories, and has still inspired authors even now and probably through the 21^st century. Many scholars agree, even though the genre of science fiction didn’t come about until much later after Frankenstein was first published, that it is the first work of science fiction to be written.

Without Mary Shelley’s back story and writing style Frankenstein would not be the book that it is. The extensive descriptions and minor, yet enriching, stories that she includes add very much to the atmosphere she creates in the book. As we follow Viktor through his trials and tribulations he becomes a sort of antihero. Even though not all of us can relate to him in his lifestyle or field of study, we can all see his humanness, and how he loses himself in his proud search for greatness. In a time where there was no television or radio, Shelley is successful in creating a gloomy and frightening mood through the book that must have come as quite a shock for the readers of her day. It is a masterful work that aside from the main character’s conflict with his creation, also includes themes such as social acceptance, love, hate and pride. Also in the time of the nineteenth century you found a European society that was already beginning to turn their attention more towards the sciences and greatly defying the religious establishments, so we can see how the story of a scientist trying to play God with bringing creatures back to life relates to the times when it was written.

Searching for purpose and greatness is something almost every human being has dealt with. Being a student in the field of the arts there is an almost unique emphasis on this subject. A very competitive field almost sports-like. So we must all tread carefully, and not get ahead of ourselves, or else we might be destroyed by our own monstrous creation we have made out of selfishness and pride trying to fight our way to the top.

Horror Genre Elements

horror genre elements:
darkness, dungeons, chamber music, spider webs, thunder, rain, skulls, skeletons, death, blood, monsters, graveyards, antique settings, candles, dark clothing