Jackie Foss: Lit of Horror, Fantasy and Sci-Fi

  Sketch One: It is ten years from now, the holiday season of 2030.  You are thinking about a present you might be getting for the holidays.  What is it?  Talk about how you did your holiday shopping,  What is your job and how are you doing it?  What is your living situation and what are the major issues of the day?  Please make these questions relevant to any appropriate holidays you celebrate.     This is the year 2030 soon to be 2031. I must get some gifts for my family, though most of them I shouldn’t even call that anymore. Looking in the window of a grand modern building; I gazed upon the present I have so wished for this year, a new phone. Yes, I know a phone, however this one was the newest ones they came out with. I have had my own since college 2020. That was 10 years ago? The years can go by like trickling water if one does not pay attention to their lives. Have I not paid attention? I am a costume designer and model in London, I should believe that I am right? Looking

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Arthur Dent are the series I chose to read for this week. The reason I chose this series was due to the fact it gives a look from the ordinary man in sci-fi rather than something like Star Wars were the main character is the hero. Another use for the satire of the series is at the beginning of the book when Douglas talks about the blue green planet and ape descended life forms. While doing this he is making fun of humans and the earth being lower than what they actually view themselves as. Using his views and ideas in the perspective of sci-fi.             The main thing that really caught my attention in read this series was the tone. The tone is pretty much dry and dark humor. I really loved Monty Python growing up so this humor is something I really enjoy it’s not obnoxious and it’s just straight to the point and in your face. I love that about this series it really keeps your attention in the series, more so if you have similar humor. Making sa

    A Clockwork Orange by Antony Burgess is the novel I decided to read for this week. I watched the movie years ago, however reading the book I now know why people did like it. I really loved this book due to the fact it was so weird. The book was more of an abstract and quirky way of envisioning the violence that can come from free will. This book transcended (abstracted) the expectations of literature by the particular writing style and the actions of the boys in the book. The ideas that presented themselves in the book were interesting to say the least. First there is the inherent evil of the government in which talking about how the government is seeking to suppress the individual in favor to confine to the state. Another one I thought of was a quote from Alex himself, “Duality as the Ultimate Reality”. This statement shows how Alex sees society and the world, good versus evil, commitment versus neutrality, man versus machine, man versus government, youth versus maturity, and

1.     What is your reaction to the text you just read? Bloodchild was a very interesting read, I must say. You don’t really have much to go off of in the beginning on what the story is or who the characters are. However, once you continue it becomes more clear that this is a alien host story. Where humans are no longer the superior race and aliens roam. There still were questions I had however, after reading, who were the alien species? (all we really get are names a their physical appearance). What connections did you make with the story? Discuss what elements of the story with which you were able to connect? There weren’t many connections to other movies or books to connect this to, all I really thought of was the host, the 5 th wave, and Alien. However, the connections I made from the book about experiences in reality are far greater. The main thing I made a connection with were how the aliens are birthed vs. Bot flies. Another connection I made from that was the fear of

  Soulless by Gail Carriger is one of the novel I decided to read for this week. Its set in London, England in Victorian times. The world and society however consist of werewolves, vampires, ghosts, and natural humans. The title, Soulless , comes from a character that is a soulless person who can touch a supernatural person and neutralize them. On top of all this steampunk is intertwined in its inventions, society and the world. Both the werewolves and vampires have the market on these inventions. The villains are scientists, led by a powerful man, who hid their devious tricks and horrible experiments in London. This novel was something I enjoyed more than usual. I adore steampunk, however, this combined everything I love to read. Vampires especially, reading how well everything combines into a mystery based novel really entrances the reader. The themes embracing this novel is love and equality between men and women. Love is a center idea in the book due to the connection between Ma

     A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle is the novel I have chosen to read this week. The reason for this is that it grabs on the concept of mental psychology. The main character, Meg Murry; who with her, her brother Charles Wallace, and her friend Calvin O’Keefe, try and find her father that is stuck on another dimension/planet. Meg goes through a lot of trails mentally, and during the book that almost ruins her relationship with her brother. Due to the story capturing the idea of the psyche, the symbolism is very strong and hides itself in the adventure.             The symbolism of light and darkness provides a metaphor for good and evil as well as helping the book on a symbolic level with universal concepts of a moral compass. Children’s change of that moral compass when losing a loved one. Light is a symbol for good, knowledge, and clarity. Darkness is evil, ignorance, and obscurity. Another symbol would be the IT, the villain and corruptor of the mind, stands for conformity