This weeks narrative, "Snow Crash," by Neal Stephenson, tells of a cyberpunk world run almost entirely by massive internet based technologies and the corporations that make/upkeep them. National government has been made for the most part ineffectually, and many people of this universe have abandoned their own reality to pursue lives in the virtual reality known as "the Metaverse." Exploring themes of perceptions altering ones reality and connecting with the real world versus the viral ones.
The main character is a computer genius who lives in a world where computers make up much of society. You would think this is good luck, but over and over again it is displayed how his, (and his friends') fixation with digital technologies leads to disaster. In this world a MMO-esc experience known as the "Metaverse" has people living out their whole lives online in a fake collection of experiences and situations. None of this is real, and their real world bodies end up being out of shape, strewn with equipment to keep their addiction to the online world going; on top of the villainous groups in this novel exposing these internet based technologies to their own nefarious ends.
Neal Stephenson explores a world where fantastical technology can revolutionize the way that people interact and live with others in an exciting new light, but also foretells of a scenario where these technologies end up dominating the lives of those who use them. He tells a story not centered around massive flashy wars or interstellar travel, but of a society that has become so disgruntled with the way the real world is that they abandon reality to pursue virtual reality. It is, (in my opinion) a tale of caution laced behind the main plot of the story, to change and adapt with technological evolutions but not allow said advancements to permanently hold and define who you are. Without our base characteristics and interactions with our peers, society as a whole begins to lose our humanity and become the "gargoyles" displayed in this narrative; disfigured representations of what we once were.
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Dare To Be Different
"Aye and Gomorrah," by Samuel R. Delany, explores themes of perversion, transgender, sexual identity, and more. Throughout the narrative we see the story's protagonist, a genderless "Spacer," receive harsh or even perverse treatment simply due to his lack of sexuality. These genderless Spacers are the story's physical representation of gender neutral peoples, uncertain of their own sexual identity, something the author and his wife were both sympathetic with during the story's conceptualization. While the story is science fiction, its focus is on the ideals behind the flashy spaceships and futuristic environment.
The spacers are neutered prior to puberty so as to avoid dangerous spacial radiation and such, but the focus of the story is how this affects their public or even private relations. Similar to the tribulations faced by an unfortunate amount of homosexual or transgender populous, the spacers of this story are subject to constant derogatory slander by much of the public. Even on the streets people will point and whisper about the "genderless freaks," an offensive term that is often used to harshly describe transgender peoples as well. This story is meant to convey morals of not just equality, but establishing ones self above the petty rumors and quick-to-judge offenders of the world around us; and to not be ashamed of being who you are regardless of what people may assume about you. Only you deserve to tell you whether to, how to, or why to establish a sexual identity.
The spacers are neutered prior to puberty so as to avoid dangerous spacial radiation and such, but the focus of the story is how this affects their public or even private relations. Similar to the tribulations faced by an unfortunate amount of homosexual or transgender populous, the spacers of this story are subject to constant derogatory slander by much of the public. Even on the streets people will point and whisper about the "genderless freaks," an offensive term that is often used to harshly describe transgender peoples as well. This story is meant to convey morals of not just equality, but establishing ones self above the petty rumors and quick-to-judge offenders of the world around us; and to not be ashamed of being who you are regardless of what people may assume about you. Only you deserve to tell you whether to, how to, or why to establish a sexual identity.
Sunday, October 16, 2016
When Man Rules God
In N. K. Jemisin's "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms," our protagonist, Yeine, must constantly battle metaphorical, (and somewhat literal) demons from her and her mother's mysterious past while also contending against some of the most deviously plotting, conniving figures and deities of her world.
Throughout her perils, Yeine is forced to become just as cruel and ruthless as her competitors in order to learn more about her mother's past and simply to survive as she is pulled into the schemes of those around her. In this story, we see a girl with good intentions become enslaved to the whims and desires of beings much more powerful than her; possibly an analogy to the lowly position and lack of influence most civilians hold in society. Regardless of struggle, Yeine must compromise her beliefs and moral integrity in order to continue her quest; leaving behind chunks of her past self as a result. This story poses Yeine as an incredibly tragic hero, the Gods in this story, (along with many of its people) seem only to serve as hindrances or manipulators to use and throw her away once she is no longer useful.
Though the story is not totally without hope, allies arise in the form of Yeine's brother Relad and a few of the palace staff. Yeine's character and devotion pay off to these fellow minded people, who each contribute their own skills and knowledge to the situations she finds herself in. In general, the story presents a rapid advancement of conflict-reseloution scenarios, whereas Yeine is approached by a series of problems and must quickly find assistance or adapt herself in some way in order to overcome these issues; making her incredibly relatable. The problems she faces seem at first challenging, confusing, and sometimes unconquerable; much in the same light younger audiences may see their own problems to be.
I found the story to be enjoyable as a whole. Its fantasy elements tackling subjects as large scale and unknowable as enslaved gods and secret histories made for some intriguing storytelling. I'll admit that I did find some parts to not be explained in full, particularly the nature of the ruling family's absolute control over the gods; but perhaps that will be explained further in future iterations of the story. Never the less, the tale was memorable, giving some exciting twists while still having a base structure to hold the overarching plot towards. I look forward to future installments by N. K Jesmisin.
Throughout her perils, Yeine is forced to become just as cruel and ruthless as her competitors in order to learn more about her mother's past and simply to survive as she is pulled into the schemes of those around her. In this story, we see a girl with good intentions become enslaved to the whims and desires of beings much more powerful than her; possibly an analogy to the lowly position and lack of influence most civilians hold in society. Regardless of struggle, Yeine must compromise her beliefs and moral integrity in order to continue her quest; leaving behind chunks of her past self as a result. This story poses Yeine as an incredibly tragic hero, the Gods in this story, (along with many of its people) seem only to serve as hindrances or manipulators to use and throw her away once she is no longer useful.
Though the story is not totally without hope, allies arise in the form of Yeine's brother Relad and a few of the palace staff. Yeine's character and devotion pay off to these fellow minded people, who each contribute their own skills and knowledge to the situations she finds herself in. In general, the story presents a rapid advancement of conflict-reseloution scenarios, whereas Yeine is approached by a series of problems and must quickly find assistance or adapt herself in some way in order to overcome these issues; making her incredibly relatable. The problems she faces seem at first challenging, confusing, and sometimes unconquerable; much in the same light younger audiences may see their own problems to be.
I found the story to be enjoyable as a whole. Its fantasy elements tackling subjects as large scale and unknowable as enslaved gods and secret histories made for some intriguing storytelling. I'll admit that I did find some parts to not be explained in full, particularly the nature of the ruling family's absolute control over the gods; but perhaps that will be explained further in future iterations of the story. Never the less, the tale was memorable, giving some exciting twists while still having a base structure to hold the overarching plot towards. I look forward to future installments by N. K Jesmisin.
Saturday, October 8, 2016
The Million Faces of God
The novel, "American Gods," by Neil Gaiman, explores the idea of interpretation defining how a person, or in this case, mythological beings, can be remembered or become. One figure or action in history can be interpreted many different ways by different parts of the world or different mindsets of people. A law passed to provide extra security may be seen as saving lives by one group of people, but as destroying personal rights and liberties by another group. Through showing multiple physical incarnations of these gods, each both strange and familiar because of people's own vision of how they believe the entity should be, the book is able to deliver an amazing amount of contemplation and argument for different people who read the story.
Throughout this novel there are multiple versions of the various gods from different cultures, exploring the idea of interpretations; not just from different cultures but even as specific as different morality structures. For example, the Mr. Wednesday interpretation of Odin the All Father Norse God is a deceiving manipulator who teams up with the equally dastardly Loki, the god of lies and schemes. However, later in the book we are introduced to a more traditional, respectful version of Odin created by a separate group of believers. These two versions are both just as much the entity, "Odin" as the other, but their interpretation makes them figuratively, (and for our story literally) two different gods.
I found this to be a very enjoyable read with a multitude of different ways to interpret its story and morals. It was interesting how the story attacked the creation and continuation of gods, a sort of "living through memory" system that I found of particular interest. The overall plot itself was good, perhaps a little predictable in terms of "dramatic reveals," but it was still able to hold my interest while conveying messages of how one's interpretation defines how events are remembered. Being Armenian myself, this topic spoke to me personally, as my race has often battled against being forgotten by history after its tragic genocide many years ago. I am referring to the Armenian genii use from the Turkish military, with its two major interpretations, one being the truth: genocide. The other being the propaganda taught by the Turkish government to this day: that the "death marches" were merely attempts to relocate Armenians away from the front in wwi; all the while stealing their land, property, and their lives.
However, needless to say, the book contained enough interesting ideas in it to arise many questions out of me even without direct prompt from the text, and I look forward to further readings from this author.
Throughout this novel there are multiple versions of the various gods from different cultures, exploring the idea of interpretations; not just from different cultures but even as specific as different morality structures. For example, the Mr. Wednesday interpretation of Odin the All Father Norse God is a deceiving manipulator who teams up with the equally dastardly Loki, the god of lies and schemes. However, later in the book we are introduced to a more traditional, respectful version of Odin created by a separate group of believers. These two versions are both just as much the entity, "Odin" as the other, but their interpretation makes them figuratively, (and for our story literally) two different gods.
I found this to be a very enjoyable read with a multitude of different ways to interpret its story and morals. It was interesting how the story attacked the creation and continuation of gods, a sort of "living through memory" system that I found of particular interest. The overall plot itself was good, perhaps a little predictable in terms of "dramatic reveals," but it was still able to hold my interest while conveying messages of how one's interpretation defines how events are remembered. Being Armenian myself, this topic spoke to me personally, as my race has often battled against being forgotten by history after its tragic genocide many years ago. I am referring to the Armenian genii use from the Turkish military, with its two major interpretations, one being the truth: genocide. The other being the propaganda taught by the Turkish government to this day: that the "death marches" were merely attempts to relocate Armenians away from the front in wwi; all the while stealing their land, property, and their lives.
However, needless to say, the book contained enough interesting ideas in it to arise many questions out of me even without direct prompt from the text, and I look forward to further readings from this author.
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Dreamers
"The Night Circus," is a cunningly crafted blend of many famous and successful works of past fiction with a new spin on them; borrowing from all kinds of fantasy and romance novels, and even Shakespeare. While I thought that this was a fairly decent novel, I would not agree with some critical reviews online in saying that it rivals the likes of "Harry Potter," but I can easily see it catching on with the general public consciousness. "The Night Circus" promises truly imaginative scenes of magic as many of the meta scenes in this story revolve around illusionary spells that literally fuel imagination, coupled with a wondrous circus appeal and its a truly interesting blend of ideology and scenarios.
This novel contains aspects of lovers overcoming and bringing together rivals similar to the famous Shakespearean tale of "Romeo and Juliet," and this plot is one of the major things driving the two main characters Celia Bowen and Marco Alistair towards conflict. The two meet each other in the circus, each wondering the other with their illusionary magical talent as they perform for the general "reveurs," or "dreamer" audiences. It isn't long into the tale before the two fall strongly in love, however, just like in "Romeo and Juliet," the two are forbidden to be romantically involved as a rivalry between their masters forbids any public/direct relationship between them; save performing in the circus. While this plot had been done thousands of times in the past and I frankly believe modern culture has an over saturation with "love stories," I did find the circus background and magical undertones made the "enchanting" language and actions between the two lovers much more appropriate, they were in a scenario where such passion and extreme emotion made sense to display.
The novel also contains within it many aspects about personal pride and allusions to grandeous leaders forgetting about the perils of the common people. Although the book only takes place in a (albeit magical) circus, two of the books main characters Prospero and Mr. A.H, have much of the circus crew and performers unwillingly tethered to their own rivalry. The unwavering foolish pride that each of these characters has dooms the circus performers along with the main love duo, Celia Bowen and Marco Alistair, to be eternally anchored to the circus; even in death. The idea of leaders using those beneath them to advance their own goals, especially in a potentially senseless fashion is a fear that much of modern society shares; looking upon past wars and conflicts as overall meaningless or being solved via much simpler means.
While the novel is not necessarily the most original in terms of conceptions or even story and characters, the new scenarios and ways that they explore the impacts of conflicting ideology in the story makes for an compelling read. There are many ways that people can interpret the actions of characters in this book and, based on their own upbringings, can easily read the events with different opinions than others reading the same text. The open ended-ness of this tale is what I believe helps make it so popular, allowing all who read it their own version of this fantastical circus world.
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