Horror and Sci Fi Musings

I listened to an audio book for Good Omens and wow, what a funny book. I love the concept of an angel and demon that have been enemies for so long that they’re basically friends. The demon, for one, is the serpent responsible for giving the apple to Adam and Eve and prods fun at the angel that he may have done a good deed in the long run.  Even without fully understanding all Christian references, this story is very clever and most readers should be able to pick up on most of the jokes. One of my favorite jokes in the beginning is that God made the dinosaur fossils just to fuck with paleontologists. I love the satyrical approach to everything biblical. As Americans, I’d say even those of us non-Christians have been exposed to plenty of biblical themes and stories, all of which take themselves very seriously, so this is one of the most refreshing tales I’ve seen in a very long time.

The idea of using language as a weapon is incredibly bizarre and I wouldn’t have thought a book would try to tackle the concept, but hey, Babel 17 does just that. Now, I have heard of the concept before but only in the video game Metal Gear V: The Phantom Pain where the story was, well, bad. The idea was that a disease of some sort was spread by an underground military group and this disease would respond to a certain language spoken by killing the host. Not a bad idea, but it wasn’t explored to its full potential. At least now I know where Metal Gear potentially got the idea. Babel-17 approaches the “weaponized language” concept in a different direction as it’s more of a boon to the user than a bane. Someone who learns the language Babel-17 has their brain rewired to think in the language, which is so precise that the user can think a mile-a-minute and describe intricate scenes in mere moments. Babel-17 tackles the concept of the self and whether we as people can ever truly un

This is a weird topic for me because I love cyberpunk but I’m not a fan of steam punk. Very few things have pulled off steam punk for me, most of which are video games and some books. Movies never seem to do it quite right. In terms of reading, the Edge Chronicles was my favorite book series growing up, with crazy monster designs and lovely illustrations to accompany the writing thanks to Chris Riddel. The steam punk attributes to the Edge Chronicles universe actually blended quite nicely, with imaginative airships powered by float stones instead of balloons and unique steam-punky outfits the crews would wear. My favorite example of cyberpunk is Blade Runner, Ridley Scott’s film adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Everything about it is the definition of cyberpunk—it is so beautifully realized. 

I remember reading Harry Potter as a kid and not really enjoying it. I found it to be a chore but I finished it because my friends seemed to enjoy it a lot. I ended up very disappointed and watched the movies to see if I’d missed something. Though the films were good, I was still not a fan. I’ve since rewatched the movies and I’ve warmed up to Harry Potter a little bit. My main issue then was the world building. I didn’t understand the limits of what existed in the Harry Potter universe. I had many questions, such as: how are there trolls and goblins yet none of the normal people know about them? I didn’t quite understand the border between reality and fantasy within the Harry Potter universe and frankly, I still don’t.  I like certain aspects of Harry Potter, the films in particular capture some good magical moments. A famous example of capturing the magic would be the scene where Harry departs from platform 9 3/4 and enters the train to Hogwarts. 

I’ve read some of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and listened to the original radio show. I have to say, what an entertaining story. Something about it is so clever and cheeky. The humor constantly gives me Monty Python vibes and I could easily see the Monty Python troupe acting in a sort of Hitchhiker’s Guide film, which sadly can’t happen and instead we have a shitty 2005 movie in it’s place.  I’ve found lighthearted and imaginative space stories to be the most entertaining. With space, there are infinite possibilities for story telling and the imagination can go wild. With that said, I’m a little bothered when space stories take themselves too seriously or try to be realistic. Hitchhiker’s Guide is incredibly refreshing after growing up watching space films that try so hard to out-perform each other with bigger “better” stories and visual effects.  An admittedly strange thing to bring up would be the Marvel Universe, in particular Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor Ragnaro

I read some of the Stars my Destination by Alfred Bester. Fascinatingly, the main character is completely unrelatable and nearly unlikable. His only purpose after being stranded in space for a very long time is to get revenge on the ship that wouldn’t save him. A very fascinating ability exist in this universe, where people can “jaunt” or teleport hundreds of miles as long as they know a location.  The most famous example of the Space Opera that everyone knows (everyone that matters, anyway) is of course, Star Wars. Star Wars is the definition of space opera.  Though I did grow up with star wars, I’m not a die-hard fan. Star Wars is full of inconsistencies and bad writing, especially the prequels.