Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction

It may be a little hard to get into the concept of “The Aquatic Uncle” by Italo Calvino, as one rarely reads stories about the social lives of the prehistoric reptiles/amphibians who evolved from ocean life. Though, while the concept is strange, the topics Calvino discusses in this short story are almost domestic with how much we read about them, especially today: the progress of society and how one progresses with it. Like in our world, the characters live in a world where society progresses at an exponential rate. Their ancestors began as near fish, but their society has been moving onto land more and more, with very few still staying within the water. Our protagonist’s uncle is one of these few. Although his family begs him to return to land with them, he doesn’t budge an inch and stays within the water. Some are already evolved almost fully for land, such as the protagonist’s fiancée, who hasn’t seen a water-dweller before meeting the uncle. Then there are those in between, suc...

The short story Bloodchild by Octavia Butler perfectly combines disgust and intrigue, as well as a big heap of detachment. My first thought after reading was it’s an interesting take on the parasitic alien trope; more domestic, more normalized, just as traumatizing. It’s obvious the race of the Tlic is based on insects, which of most organisms looks the most alien to humans as well as having members that are parasitic in nature, so the connection makes sense. As in certain insect species as well, it seems as though the Tlic are matriarchal - which adds to the interesting role reversal to the men who bear Tlic children. The Terrans in this short story are implied to be minorities, as T'Gatoi mentions them leaving the planet due to subjugation. Terrans are thought to be given an equivalent exchange, as they have access to shelter as well as nonfertilized eggs, which make the Terrans live longer lives. Of course, objectively, being put on a preserve like they are and having to b...

Once again, our science fiction is set within the future. Unlike the space opera, it’s a horrible future where no one is happy, except for the evil ruling class of corporations or corrupt governments. Unlike our Speculative fiction, though, it’s less about being within the collapse of sane civilization and being beyond it. The environment is completely decimated - there’s nothing green in these stories except for the occasional neon light. Almost always robots of some kind exist, running amuck or assisting the end of humankind, whether their intention or not. Everything humans aren’t aware of—everything that should be God's knowledge alone—is common knowledge in Cyberpunk genre. While originally supposed to be a throwing of the set ways and gurus of the 80’s science fiction trends, eventually it grew its own and is supposedly a “dead” genre. Cyberpunk tech in is usually extremely advanced. It’s farther in our future than most scoff stories, which either takes place in the curre...

Of science fiction genres, I first threw myself into speculative fiction. I loved speculative fiction for the fact that—rather than cheesy sci-fi movies I’d seen depicted in media—these stories detail a world very similar to ours, only changed in a single, major way. These stories allow their authors to, as the name of the subgenre implies, speculate. Speculate either on how society could develop in the far future, or a completely different universe. These stories twist your brain. A large chunk of this subgenre focuses on our culture’s social issues and how we deal with them. Samuel R. Delaney’s Aye, and Gomorrah dealt with several layers of LGBT+ identity, a couple years before the Stonewall riots. Our main character is not only nonbinary but assigned by the government as neither male nor female at a certain age, thereby deeply exploring the concept of gender. The main protagonist is portrayed as asexual, and those attracted to them are deemed freaks, examining sexuality at an odd ...

I’ve always loved the genre of science fiction, how it could be so personal and yet so distant. I especially loved the exploration aspect of it; how the audience could sit and be awed by the atmosphere every once and awhile. I’d never touched on early science-fiction and the space opera, though. Reading a few short stories by both Arthur Clarke and CL Moore was a brand new experience for me. These futuristic settings and technologies could be the basis of real tech fascinated me as a connection to today. Satellites, touchscreens, even the modern space program wouldn’t be here if not for these fantastic first goes at what laid beyond our stratosphere. While that influence is truly awe-inspiring, the most interesting part of this genre is the very human aspects as well. Science was only part of the show, as Hugo Gernsback's description of 75% literature and 25% science stated. The idea of a space opera is they’re horse operas set in space: more about adventure, more about action, mor...

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman is, overall, a novel about family. A really dysfunctional, not super healthy family, but about family nonetheless. The novel follows two brothers through their adventure of meeting each other for the first time after many, many years, and the frustration behind both their clashing personalities and the death of their father. Anansi Boys also shows the importance of family, with how Fat Charlie and Spider (the respective brothers) save each other in different ways, as well as the influence of their father, the god Anansi, on their lives. This novel also explores the unpredictability of life. The boys’ lives don’t quite work out the way both they think they should - defying both their and the audience’s expectations. Anansi dying unexpectedly, which hits both boys hard (in Charlie’s case, harder than it should) is extremely unexpected to everyone in the novel, though it’s revealed he’ll come back in a few years. Rosie, Fat Charlie’s fiancée, at the be...

A lot of recent fantasy novels in the YA genre focus on coming of age. They’re filled to the brim with values and finding one’s place in the world. (I’ve mentioned this before in an earlier post, “The Witchcraft of Coming of Age”, if you’re interested.) While not exactly YA like Akata Witch , The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern definitely fits into these patterns. Though the novel generally teaches through nonexamples, rather than pointing clearly at which values it champions, it’s still a story about strong moral compasses. From a young age, our two main characters are given expectations that they never fully understand. Throughout their trials and tribulations, they’re never sure if they’re properly living up to their parents' expectations. One main character’s father constantly reminds her that she’ll never be good enough unless she keeps training. The other main character begs for feedback and never gets more than a vague answer - if he ever hears from his father figure. Ev...

Hell-bent on escapism! That’s what you must be when your favorite genre is Fantasy. So some people think. If you love fantasy, then you must hate dealing with the real world. At first glance, this can certainly be the case; fantasy is all about creating an entirely new set of rules for our universe and throwing out the old ones. Upon closer inspection, though, the fault in this thinking is evident. With every fantasy novel written, deep parallels to our own lives come to light, and these can’t be ignored for the sake of comfort. Lud in The Mist , for example, is an excellent commentary on substance abuse. The effects of fairy fruit, which has become a widespread addiction in the novel, are not completely known, but enough clues show that it’s a mind-altering substance. At the novel’s first publication, the prohibition in America probably inspired the work. While the author, Hope Mirrlees, was in England at the time (which never had a full-out ban on alcohol), it is still very possib...

Unlike the witch tales of yonder years, most magic-centered novels (especially YA) are now centered on the theme of “coming of age”. There’s something appealing about how “magic” can represent adulthood and all the maturity that comes with it. Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor is no exception to this. It is unique, however, in how it executes this concept. Like most coming of age stories, Akata Witch is centered on a twelve-year-old who is trying to find her place in the world. Sunny, though, has a lot of places to find: a place for herself as an American in Nigeria; as an albino in an intolerant society; and as a newly discovered Leopard Person (or, magic user). In most ways, she’s an isolated individual who wants to fit into a community. Throughout the novel, she finds a small circle of friends who accept her and she discovers her own autonomy. Her individuality is emphasized by the reveal of her spirit face, which is a spiritual reflection of her own self. Culture shock is a big...

Jeff VanderMeer’s world in Borne is vast and complex, yet its theme is almost exceedingly simple: don’t be an idiot of a parent. This seems to be a deep-rooted theme in science fiction; and, if you really think, shouldn’t be a surprise. The very first science-fiction novel was about the world’s worst parent: Victor Frankenstein. That being said, VanderMeer’s ways of telling his version of this theme is much different than Mary Shelley’s. First, we’re in a post-apocalyptic setting where parenting is practically impossible. In a flying-bear-eat-human world, there is no time for child rearing. Rachel, our main character, frequently flashes back to her own parents and how life was before, during, and after the apocalypse. She laments she never got to hear their true thoughts and that they put up a front to shield her from the realities of the world affecting her. Rachel eventually finds and “raises” an amorphous creature named Borne, who is a pretty big handful. While definitely not ...

I’m not one for short stories about things that go bump in the night, but the ones I do indulge in are from Western authors simply due to accessibility - being raised in America (and briefly Europe) does that to you. Reading Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things was an experience, to say the least. An anthology of traditional Japanese ghost stories was a bit out of my wheelhouse. I found myself enjoying it much more than I thought I would, though. That’s likely due to the differences between Kwaidonand my expectation of usual Euro-American ghost stories, and even further, the inherent differences between Eastern and Western culture. The most interesting difference between ghost stories in the west and those I read in Kwaidon was the art of their conclusions. In western media, we have a penchant for going after concrete endings. The supernatural being perishes and the heroes live, or vice versa. Solid. We can put down the book now and go on with our lives without having to thi...

One of the many revisited tropes in media is immortality. The idea of seeing and personally experiencing all the world’s disasters in history captivates us, I guess. Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire establishes immortality as an integral plot point (the only reason the interview can take place). The narrative, therefore, advances some heavy opinions about the topic, as well as those who seek it. Rice’s novel leaves no doubt about it: being and becoming an immortal is gross. A freak bites your neck, you drink said freak’s blood, and your body slowly shuts down. What remains is your consciousness and blood flow, which you have to supplement in order to survive (which kind of takes away the meaning of immortality). The blood-sucking itself is graphically sensual in Interview With The Vampire, revealing their killing as the last real joy that vampires have - there’s a pun on ‘flirting with death’ somewhere in there. Oh, and you can never see the sun again, so get some spray tan. The...

If one needs a guide on how to be the most oblivious of deadbeat parents, they need only to look to the actions of Victor Frankenstein of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein . There’s nothing that says “World’s Worst Dad” like running out of the house, screaming after finding your eight-foot-something child looming over your sleeping form. Shelley’s entire novel, in essence, is about parenting and the relationships between fathers and their children - with the added element of being the first work of science fiction. Before getting into the analysis of the various facts, which point this towards being a parental “how-to”, it’s important to briefly mention Shelley’s own upbringing and how it relates to said analysis. Shelly was born to William Godwin, a philosopher, and novelist, and Mary Wollstonecraft, a well-known English suffragette who penned “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”, in 1797. Two weeks after Shelley’s birth, Wollstonecraft died due to postpartum infections. Shelley’s rigor...