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Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Laughter was the first emotion that came over me after reading Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. In the begening of this story we meet a man named Arthur who is saved by an alien named Ford who warned him about Earth’s Destruction. As soon as they fled, Earth was destroyed. As brutal as planetary destruction sounds especially Earths, I could tell this story wasn’t messing around at all and I even chuckled a little bit after reading that part. Most alien invasion stories are about how aliens come down to attack earth and there’s usually a war that takes place. However, the creatures named Vogons wiped Earth out of existence with ease not having to go through any confrontation. This story centers around exploration and complete randomness. I did get a kick out of the parts during the end where Arthur and Ford end up in a planet called Magrathae where they discover the reason why Earth was created. It was created in order to find the meaning of life. This story reminded me of how small Ea
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The Handmaids Tale

Ive read the Handmaids Tale in the past and was pretty thrilled to read it again for this week. Slavery has been a recurring topic and issue that has plagued our world for ages. The Handmaid’s Tale focuses on slavery taking place in the near future. This form of enslavement involves women having to give up their livelihood in order to become handmaids. Even though the topic of slavery is a hash one the dynamics of it have been a fascinating idea to me. It’s a sad state to have to give up yourself in order to serve another for the rest of your life especially when your life is on the line if you refuse to obey. These women could have chosen to rebel at any time and a few of them did in fact choose to go their own path. The main character Ofglen was a neutral character. She didn’t enjoy her new life but did put up with it even though it was hard.  Moira who was a friend of Ofglen is a feminist and a lesbian which meant that she was totally against the idea of the new order of things. Mo
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Dawn Novel Xenogenesis Vol. 1

Dawn Novel Xenogenesis Vol. 1 was what I read for this week. There are certain ideas that are in this story that may seem off at first but make some sense after reading the story. The main character is named Lilith Iyapo who is an African American female. She awoke up 250 years in a spaceship after a nuclear war on earth nearly caused the extinction of mankind. The inhabitants of this spaceship are called the Onkali. They have three different sexes which are male, female and ooloi. The Onkali’s goal is to mate with the humans and stay on their planet since they helped made it habitable again. Some might think that it would be a weird idea to breed humans with aliens but I’m all for it. It’s almost like human evolution that is taking place in the future. Stories like these make me appreciate the sci fi genre even more. This story goes beyond blaster and lightsaber fights and discovers the biology of a specific species and how they tie into the human condition. I do enjoy Star Wars with
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The Difference Engine

Ive been familiar with steampunk for quite some time but I haven’t read any particular stories involving a steampunk setting. This week I read the Difference Engine. The difference engine is a computing system which is the first of its kind created by Charles Babbage. Charles Babbage was a real-life figure who was in the process of creating this machine but didn’t succeed. However, in this story he did. There are multiple stories that are centered around the results of the invention of this machine. My favorite was the story about the paleontologist Edward Mallory. This story reads at a great pace as Edward discovers some cards from the machine after rescuing a young lady. The overall world of steampunk has an old fashioned yet futuristic approach to it. Mostly everything runs of off steam and there is a also a Brittish influence to the world. Whenever I think of steampunk I emagine a man with a top hat and goggles on it and steam powered blimps. However this story stretched my imagin
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Aye and Gomorrah

Odd and bizarre describes this weeks reading for me. This week I read Aye and Gomorrah. This is a story set in outer space centered around a group of characters called spacers. When the spacers are about to hit puberty, they are neutered. The spacers are attracted to the frelks who are another group in this book. Sadly, the spacers do don’t really have a place to call home. There are also told to leave places where they are not welcome. Personally, this story was a bit odd for me and a little out of my zone of interest. I do respect the variety of space stories that are created, however this one wasn’t really for me. I will say that the worldbuilding was neat and the character dynamics were unique as well. 
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The stars my destination

Without question, Sci Fi is my favorite genre. There’s so much to discover such as aliens, robots, spaceships and planets. This week I read The Stars My Destination. In this book teleportation is now possible and there are planets at war. The main hero is a guy by the name of Gully Foyle. He is your classic “Han Solo” kind of character who’s always on the move and always up for action. He’s also a mechanic in this story. Ive watched all sorts of sci fi films growing up like Star Wars and Star Trek, but I can’t remember the last time Ive read a sci fi novel. I’m glad I picked up this story for this week. Seeing how teleportation worked in this story gave me some ideas as to how and when we might start seeing the possibilities of teleportation in our own world. I do believe it’s possible and I would love to be around once the word spreads about the first teleportation machine. 
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Neverwhere

Neverwhere was a deep, dark and spooky read for this week. This story is based in London and the world bellow it called London Below. The inhabitants of London Below are invisible to the surface dwellers like us. What I enjoyed about this book was how it focused on the aspect of a hidden world within a world. I grew up watching all sorts of movies like that such as Narnia and the Spider wick Chronicles. Before this week’s class I hadn’t seen the movie Coraline. However, after watching a part it I was intrigued. After my day of classes I rushed to my room and finished watching Coraline. The entire film took me away mentally. The stop motion animation was very trippy and the way the story was told was spot on. It reminded me of Neverwhere as it showed the viewer how deep they can go into this alternate world. As humans there are things that frighten us but then there are frightening things that interest us. That’s the way Coraline saw this mysterious world through the small living room
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