The Final Chapter

13th Blog Post / Revisit of earlier post


I decided to revisit a post from the first weeks reading about the Frankenstein Monster. Besides horror being my favorite genre, the Frankenstein Monster is probably my favorite character in the vast world of creatures goblins and ghouls. The adversity he faces, the misunderstand aspect of his intentions when trying to find Dr. Frankenstein, and the life he was forced to live because of his apparence all lend to this sympethatic approach I get when reading this novel.

As the reader I can find so many things that I can relate to in this novel. The Frankenstein Monster didn't choose to the life he was born into, none of us do. So when he is abandoned by his master Dr. Frankenstein he throws a tantrum just like a new born and then we start to see what he is capitable of. His destructive force that turns into a killing machine, though he doesn't know what its wrong at first but to us, he is this un-human nightmare sent here to kill us which isn't his intentions. He was just scared, but then he starts to learn on his own since he was abandoned.

His ability to learn is the reason he becomes so dangerous. The Frankenstein Monster his forced to teach himself throughout the story. One important thing is speech, with this tool he is able to communicate with Dr. Frankenstein and with every human that he comes across. I found this to be extremely interesting because the Frankenstein Monster is one of the few intelligent creatures of the night. Which brings him up to a human level, I can get inside his mind so to speak because he can voice his thoughts, I start to understand his reasoning towards the end of the book when he kills Dr. Frankensteins wife out of revenge. Most of the time the monsters tend to be mindless animals in a sense, running off their natural instincts. Creatures like zombies, some ghost, werewolves, king kong etc. But at this point in the story, the Frankenstein Monster is actually plotting is revenge for being left alone and is strategically planning who to kill, who is closest to Dr. Frankenstein.

The thought of having something with that mindset and the ability to carry it out is pretty scary because now there is reason. Moral of the story, don't give a monster a reason to want to kill you, especially if he can come up with a reason.

Liliths Brood

Lilith’s Brood 

This weeks reading was one of the better ones out of the past few. I love how it talks about responsibility which is something I think everyone should take more pride into. This is another good story about humans interacting with another intelligent species, aliens. Of course in this novel the humans are weaker, making the reader feel vulnerable. Then we are introduced into the role genders play in this story. The aliens have this third category of gender called ooloi, which is described as a mixture of both male and female. Another little tid bit about the ooloi is the ability to change other genders and they can make hybrids with other species ( we find out this becomes problematic later on in the story for Lilith ). So if they went to a new planet they would have no problem blending in with whatever species that was on that planet. Hopefully there intent would be good and not malicious.

There aren't that many humans left so having any sort of connections with humans becomes very important. Can you imagine a universe full of life and being alone? Lilith and the ooloi have combined their genetics, heres the problem. She's isolated from the human race because she isn't a pure human being anymore ( figuratively ). Lilith feels like an outcast to the human race and now has to choose which humans to start over with. I can only image how difficult this must be when everyone sees you as an outsider and you have to cast that thought out of your head when making a decision. All that pressure is put on Lilith to make those choices, and to make the right one at that.

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas 

by Ursula Le Guin.

This novel is very well rounded short story. In this short story, they talk about a nice town called Omelas ( The Utopia, every story seems to have one ). Everything is going good except the situation with a deformed child. The people of Omelas are thinking " hey if we let this child be free we can't be perfect " selfish of them right? I know, I guess this is the price they pay for wanting perfection or this is what happens when a society is brought up on perfection. The standards that outline "perfect" cloud the fine line between what's right and wrong. Obviously this is a clear case to the reader, we know this is wrong and now after reading that I have this animosity towards the perfect town, kind of ironic if you think about it. The town that has everything going right for it and yet I have a problem with them already.

This really reminds me of things that go on in today's world. Giving someone else freedom doesn't take away from your own freedom, not like there is this limited pool of freedom and there isn't enough to go around. Anyways back to the story.

 In the town of Omelas, there are people who see the captive child and walk away from the town. They know what's going on but choose not to help, we see that all the time in today's world, everyone is guilty of it at some point. Its like a social standard thing were we keep on with our daily routine and the outside world doesn't influence us. When really it does, I bet if one person did do something then others would join in and support that individual. All it takes it one.

So I went from reading about this nice town and thinking the best about them, to uncovering the truth about the towns true nature. The figurative mask the town wears while this child is in a room suffering really talks to me about the type of society they are.

The Stars

Reach for the Stars! 


  The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester is really different from stories I'm used to. Our main character Foyle isn’t the best until he wants revenge and to destroy all people on Vorga for not helping him. It’s funny how much trouble the teleportation or "jaunting" caused to the everyone on all the planets.  Really quick on a side note, people in this novel can only teleport on each planet or to places they have already been to, unlike in most science fiction stories were its a free range of teleportation. Basically it causes wars and dangers to the common people because of the amount of problems that arise from them. This in turn is the downfall, funny how advancement in technology that was supposed to be for the better, ends up being the downfall. This was a very interesting take, I have seen it done before where the teleportation is used to get to some important destination for the heroes, but I never thought of what a teleportar could do if they weren’t a hero like stealing items, unless I think of the cartoon Futurama were Bender the robot would steal riches from all over the galaxy in all different time periods. Otherwise teleportation is usually just a means of escape, with some instances of quick travel. 

  *Another side note, there was another instance of teleportation in Dragon Ball Z ( yes the cartoon ) were Goku teleported himself and Cell ( the antagonist ) to save planet Earth, only for Cell to survive and return to Earth. I bring this up because the teleportation was used to not only as a means of travel, but also to save a planet. Thought that would be an interesting little piece of info.*

  It’s also interesting how it spread sickness but now that I think about it, its literally the fastest way for it to spread. And I like how it has the science atmosphere with people getting sick when they first starting trying out teleportation, but it also has the fantasy aspect of the story. Mixing things we understand like spreading diseases with components that we know aren't fictional yet like teleporting. Our brain puts two and two together and it makes sense somehow. The story continues on with the end being Foyle making a last ditch effort to escape from his past and have a fresh start. Very interesting stories overall and I would recommend it to someone who's interested in this genre.

Anansi Boys

A man named Spider...?

I didn't get to read the entire novel but it started off normal and now I'm at a part were nothing is making sense to me. A pretty quick recap, there is a guy who had his father die, the guys name is "Fat Charlie", not his real name but thats his nickname. Turns out this "Fat Charlie" is some reincarnation of a spider god but doesn't have any powers because his brother has them. Well that must suck to be a god and have no powers, and not even that "good" of a god. I'm not sure what powers a spider god might have except powers that are similar to Spiderman. Which actually now that I think about it might be pretty awesome. 

Anyways Fat Charlie ends up whispering to a spider and ask for his brother to show up and then the next morning he does. This is were things started to get weird because they get super drunk and then Fat Charlies brother who's name is "Spider" ( shocking ) ends up finding out all these things like embezzlement at the company he works at and sleeps with his brothers fiance. Not all in the same night but over the course of what I was reading. And thats were I left off. 

I didn't know what to expect when I started this novel, and then it started off somewhat normal and my first impression was" oh well that sucks that this guys father died singing to some girl in a karaoke bar ". Then he's really depressed and BAM, you're a spider god. First off thats an odd choice of a god to be, as the author I don't know if I would've picked a "Spider God", maybe this lead to the creepiness because most people hate spiders. I found myself wondering how the Fat Charlie took that news the first time he heard it. I know I would've called someone crazy but still would've been tempted to try it out. It's not everyday you get the powers of a god, even if it is a spider; maybe I'm like Spiderman now which is awesome because spiders have amazing strength.

C.S Lewis

For this week I decided to re-read one of the novels from the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe written by C.S Lewis. I read this book when I was in 8th grade so it has been a while, and re-reading it after I've seen the movie was a little different. The movie was no were near as good as the book was and I don't usually say that even though most people do. So now that I know the plot of the book, the characters, all setting and what to expect, I could look out for certain things that I might have no caught onto the first time, digging deeper into the book I guess you could say.

One thing I noticed was key traits by the main characters, and what I took away from the novel. Like how loyalty was a big part in this book, the main characters were brothers and sisters and they needed to bond. And what I mean by that is they couldn't abandon each other because they were all they had. So what happens, one of the brothers is tempted by the witch with a piece of turkish delight ( which is like a sweet treat ). Typical kid right? Oh hey little boy I have some candy, come with me, and then he falls for the trick. Pretty much thats what happened to sum that up.

But in all fairness he wasn't the oldest so he felt like he was in the shadow of his brother. And that always happens, no one wants to be under someone else, especially if it has to do with family. Thats usually the case with family betrayal, one feels lesser and they want the power or right or claim to what they think they deserve. We see this a lot with the brothers that are coming into the right of power as they become of age, not as much with the sisters in the family.

Overall this is a really good book and a really good series that I think everyone should go read.

Hobbits.....Not Little People

Obviously this story is more popular now since the movie just recently came out and was a massive hit. It's been a while since I've read the book but I did recently see the movie, though the movie only touched on part of the book because its being spilt into a trilogy. Can't wait to see the other two which I hope will be even more amazing than the first one.

Anyways, I love them both. This is probably my favorite type genres outside of horror because I feel "freedom" or like a sense of adventure that engulfs me. The quest they go on (I love to travel) so its not hard to get my imagination going when they begun the quest. Also from reading Lord of the Rings and seeing the movies, saw and read them both before I saw the Hobbit sadly. Kind of backwards since the Hobbit to place 80 yrs before the quest in the Lord of the Rings happened.

Bilbos journey with his companions captivated me from the get go, not hard to get stuck reading this when theres danger around every corner knowing that you have little friends and even more enemies. The fantasy landscape in another world, the magical civilizations (elfs) and the battles, everyone loves a good fight scene. But the main thing that keeps me reading is the ability to overcome struggle. You always have this sense of entrapment, like well they aren't going to escape from that. Or they can't win that battle, or they aren't going to find their way out of that with all those enemies. Yet time after time they do the impossible, even if I already know they are going to make it there is still the unexpected element of someone might die off. Which character could it be? How would the loss of that character affect the rest of the group and their journey? These are the things I ask myself while I'm reading.


It's just one epic story that I think everyone should go read before they go and watch it in theaters.

Maria

You Witch!....What'd you call me?!

At first I wasn't sure what to think about this novel, from the moment I saw the cover. It kind of caught me off guard because I'm thinking about witches, like the old school witches. And what I mean by that is the ugly ones with warts and nasty black cat. Then I see the cover and its like a kids illustration, which isn't wrong; just didn't expect to see that. There is the supernatural world of ghosts and witches. All the characters in this story are very "characterized" to say the least; and what I mean by that is their personalities. What makes them, them. I really think we all know someone like Aunt Maria, she has personality that probably resembles someone we know, out of all the characters in the story.

The story takes place in Megs journal but takes steps out of it every now and then because of the interruptions from the outside world like friends. It seemed as if there was like this build of suspense in the story but then it would go do a different road because you would get some information with the suspense, pretty much like a typical mystery story. Well not exactly like your run of the mill mystery story, I find myself more immersed in anything that has to do with ghost and spirits and pretty much anything of the supernatural. The element of "not-knowing" captures my attention, now we have a mystery novel mixed with the already mysterious subject matter of witches and ghost. 

Then the cat, theres always a cat when we talk about witches. It's like a staple in witch-folk-lor, there needs to be a black cat that helps the witch in some way. The cat serves as a identification marker for a witch, when you see a black cat with the character in the story you know thats the witch, or can assume that. Well same thing happens in this novel with her black cat that helps her find her book, the cat serves as the helper to Meg. I think if the cat wasn't in this novel then I might have not been as connected to the characters persona of being a witch, because black cats and witches go hand in hand. It makes it more believable for me as the reader.

J-Horror

A Dead Secret

I read a few of the short stories from this weeks alternative assignment. "A Dead Secret" was one that stuck out, this was indeed a short story, and I mean about 6 pages of reading. The story of a woman, who got married, died after four years of marriage and had one son. After she passes, her spirit is seen in the house because of something left in the house, a secret. The family doesn't know what to do after they removed all her belongings to her temple, so they get this guy to help out and find what her spirit wants. The man finds a letter, goes to the temple and burns it, no one reads it and her spirit is never seen again.

What I took away from this story was the connection we have with the material world even after death. Something that has been around in every culture since the beginning of civilization. We hope we can have our physical possessions in the afterlife like clothes, pets, jewelry etc., all these material things we owned when we were alive we now want in our afterlife to make it better, or to continue our existence. The element that drove me crazy was not knowing the secret on the letter. All the movies or stories I know we always find out the secret, or have some sort of hint at least. I think this is apart of western stories, we find the secret or the meaning to be the most important part. But this being a Japanese story it also comes with different morals. I believe that’s the word I'm looking for; anyways the secret itself is not important. The respect to the spirit and to our family is more important.

Vampires.......here we go again

A theatre of vampires pretending to be mortals pretending to be vampires

  Well, vampires; what more can I say besides everyone knows or should know who and what they are by now since they have become more popular than celebrities. But this book/movie is actually one of the few vampire stories I really enjoy. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of vampires, just not todays version of immortal high schoolers walking around dealing with drama. 

I saw the movie before I read the book, which is always interesting because usually its the other way around, book and then the movie. In the end I really enjoyed both.

This novel has elements that most other vampire stories don't really touch on, like once Louis is turned into a vampire, he isn't this blood sucking machine that needs to feed! Which isn't really a bad characteristic of a vampire, but it just gets old after you see it five times a year in every movie that comes out. But Louis keeps his morals and decides to feed on animals, a vampire with dignity. After all when I think of a vampire I think of the two sides he should have, the human side which he uses to fool everyone and walk amongst the living. Usually really classy and elegant, a person with a higher standing is what we see them as. And then the monsterous side, a creature in its true form. So Louis eventually gives in and starts feeding on humans. Even has a vampire, with all his power he is still unable to escape the pressures of Lestat and bends under the will of him, which is the guy who turned him into a vampire.

Story goes on and I find the main characters in search of other vampires, being immortal must get lonely which seems to be a constant in all vampire stories. Vampires are always over emotional. So this whole time he is being interviewed by "the boy" who by the end of the novel wants the power of being a vampire and not having listened to Louis about his struggles and pain, really pisses off Louis. Showing us that once again humans just want the power in our mortal lives fearing that we can't control or escape death, and that a vampire, after all his years of traveling and experiences, he know's it has been filled with pain and wants to end it. Funny how when we are mortal we want to live forever, and when we are immortal we find out that death is better because of all the pain through the years ( or at least it is in Louis's case ).

Monster Island

Give me your life, your warmth, your flesh

This novel was very very interesting, of course I'm talking about "Monster Island" by David Wellington. I myself love zombie movies, novels, T.V shows and comics. They seem to be everywhere these days, now authors and directors are trying to push new concepts so its not just "run from the massive hoard of zombies as they try to eat you" concept. 

What I really loved about this novel was the different points of view as a reader and how much I could get "into" the characters head (without trying to eat their brains). I especially loved the half human/half undead perspective of stumbling out of the ice tub, pulling out the tubes confused, cold and no pulse. Busting out into the sun as if it was my first time seeing the light of day, my legs weak beneath me as I grasp to keep my lungs from bursting, then I collapse. Staring up at the blue sky, with the thought of being hungry. That little hint of being hungry was a perfect touch. Its like this primal instinct that takes over, but at the same time its not BRAINS BRAINS BRAINS! The author made it seem somewhat peaceful by letting us see it from our human side, and its something we can connect with and what I mean by that is waking up and having that natural instinct of hunger. Its a normal everyday thing, but of course he wasn't talking about breakfast of course.

I don't think I've read or seen anything that dealt with the undead that still had some human traits remaining, which got me hooked right away. I wouldn't say its a ground breaking concept but it was a breath of fresh air ( which is funny when the subject matter is the undead ). This novel is cut away from the dry and rotted zombie genre and gave me a nice refreshing look into what it would be like trying to survive in a world of the dead with humans trying to kill you .

Frankenstein Monster!

Is he human.....well he's actually parts of several

   I've read Frankenstein a couple of times before by different authors, I love this story. Its not just about a mad scientist and his creation the Frankenstein monster all the while chaos follows the doctor where ever he goes. I think this story is about point of view, understanding and not to read a book by its cover (no pun intended). 

  There's two main perspectives in this story, Dr. Frankenstein and the Frankenstein monster. The most misunderstood of the two would have to be the Frankenstein monster, so I would like to focus on him more. People just saw him as this creature, this abomination walking the earth who would if given the chance, rip you limb from limb. But he was 

essentially a new born from the moment he was created, did Victor know this? Highly doubt he did because he abandoned the monster, which only confused the monster more who just wanted the attention and affection from his creator. So its safe to say that this got under the monsters skin, along with the fact that he tried to become apart of human culture and was cast out, then he realizes his grotesque appearance. Now I don't know this for a fact but if Victor wouldn't have abandoned him, this probably could've been avoided. The monster begins to take his anger out on Victor by killing those close to him because this was the only person he had a connection with in this world and now his creator death is the only thing that will bring him satisfaction. The overview of the Frankenstein monster, he was misunderstood and came off as a frightening creature, which wasn't his fault. He didn't know any better, his creator and society had turned his compassion into remorseful revenge.

This is more than just a horror story, and like all good stories, I felt like I could connect with some of the characters at different points throughout my readings. Which is what a good book should be able to do, it adds another level of connectivity between the writing and reader. 

So it begins...

This will be my crypt where I keep all my stories for Literature of Horror, Fantasy and Sci-Fi.