Space Opera

After reading The Martian by Andy Weir, I was fascinated by the elements Weir
portrayed in the novel such as isolation, sacrifice, and man vs the world. The main character,
Mark Watney, gets stuck on Mars for almost two years. Two years. Over the course of that time,
Mark becomes acquainted with the red planet on a level that no one ever has before.

In The Martian, Mark is stranded on Mars, separated from everyone and everything he holds dear.
It's a life filled with danger, disaster, and panic, yet the thing that stings the most are his feelings of
loneliness. Sometimes they make him feel a little crazy. Sometimes they just make him feel hopeless.
As we see him adapt and fight back against these dark feelings, however, we learn a lot about the
powerful effects isolation can have on even the strongest minds.

The novel is filled with instances of people sacrificing something important to them for the sake of others, whether we're talking about NASA's massive budgetary sacrifices or the very personal ones of the Hermes crew. There might be some parallel universe out there where Mark gets stuck on Mars and everyone is too occupied to notice, but we can guarantee that's not happening here. If anything, the novel shows us that the desire to give up our well-being for the sake of others is hard-wired into our DNA.

Mythic Fiction and Contemporary Urban Fantasy

Charles de Lint  Memory and Dream Uses the colorful, mythical North American
city of Newford as an artistic background. de Lint illustrates rich tapestry of myth and
magic by using painting on a deeper level, creation-as a metaphor throughout the book. Following
the life of artist Isabelle Copley, de Lint confronts head on the harsh realities of denial, abusive
relationships, suicide and ultimately, responsibility for one's own actions.

    This novel reminded me of the film Night at the Museum, where the arework came to life.
The mythical structure of alive artwork brings a strong concept by portraying the artist as a form of
God, or mother by creating a form of life that will have impact on society.  de Lint’s  multi-voiced,
time-shifting narrative, which story spans 20 years, beautifully evokes a sense of creative community,
making it almost possible to believe that the rarified aesthetic atmosphere might well be capable of
conjuring up a spirit or two. The theme goes even deeper, as we can consider the strange connections
between reality and fantasy, and the importance of the stories we tell. The idea of the relationship
between Izzy and her numena can be understood in many ways. One of the most basic is as a
commentary about family, and the way that parents create children, and the accompanying
obligations. Another version of this theme is de Lint himself as creator; de Lint has become
more concerned with social justice over the years, as we read about the underdog, the importance
of community, and how the marginalized voices are generally given preference in Newford. Most
of these concerns grow organically from a well-told and interesting narrative.

The Novel of Spiritual Education

In Erin Morgenstern’s Night Circus Moregenstern's  creates a fantasy world
into a novel with romance woven throughout it. It is a nonlinear narrative with
a story that jumps back and forth between time periods, characters, and places.
One character lives in Massachusetts, which is where Morgenstern grew up and
still lives. Some would infer that these characters and the novel itself is about
experiences from his life.

The story comes with many literary themes such as magic, love and rivalry.
The theme of magic occupies a leading position in the story. Although the biggest
part of

it is dedicated to a competition between Celia and Marco, it also depicts people’s

attitude to magic and mysteries. The most interesting thing is that almost all
human beings are equally fascinated by it and scared of it. Rather than believe
in magic is the element of “ people see what they wish to see ”. Mostly people
are so terrified of a mere idea that there is something in the world that could never
be explained logically that they see “ what they are told they see ”. It is no wonder
that people behave like that; all in all, mankind has always had a difficult relationship
with magic and witchcraft. At the same time, a life without magic is too predictable
and the majority of people don’t mind to enjoy it from time to time. That is the reason
why people still buy tickets to a circus and use cards to read the future. Whereas ones

argue over love’s role, both Marco and Celia knows that it is the most valuable
thing in their lives. It doesn’t only help them to feel alive but helps them to solve a
problem which used to be insoluble. The story depicts different kinds of love which
are for friends, for work, and for competitions.

The Heroic Journey

For this week I read The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I didn’t know that this book even existed until now. The novel is narrated by King Arthur's half sister, Morgan Le Fay, who is one of the witches of Avalon. She tells all of the other witches side of the story and explains the reasoning and decisions that Arthur made in the women’s perspective. The novel is told by the four women instrumental to the story who are Gwenhwyfar, his wife; Igraine, his mother; Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, High Priestess of Avalon; and his sister and lover, Morgaine tells her side of the story as the narrator. The stories are told by what they saw and how the situations happened. The struggle between Christianity and the religion of Avalon is a central part of the story, and Arthur’s loyalty to and betrayal of Avalon another part. I found it fascinating of how the main King Arthur novels show the women as either submissive or evil, but this novel portrays the women as powerful and shows how they rebelled against King Arthur if they were portrayed as evil in the previous novels.

The novel told Most Medieval Romance differently from those of the realistic novel. The plots,
like those of the romance, divide into sharply separate episodes that often do not seem joined in
in any obvious order and generally take the form of tests that they must pass to attain some
goal. Frequently, the generally male protagonist fails tests, which often involve acts of moral and
spiritual perception, until such point that he finally follows advice.

Witches and Women in Genre

This week I read the novel Aunt Maria. Even Though the beginning and pace of the novel came
off a little slow, I appreciated the premise of overcoming life obstacles and taking on
hard situations. Aunt Maria’s archetype not only signified as a hero, but also as a caregiver.
Her character treats difficult relationships and abuses of power. The main character, Mig,

and her older brother Chris face a parental breakup, then their mother's total subjection to their

great-aunt. The stresses of life given with Aunt Maria are developed in a suspenseful story which

includes a ghostly apparition and other paranormal phenomena. Although the happenings are

often improbable, Mig and Chris are believable characters who face real life situations that most

people can relate to such as heartbreak, abandonment, or living through a divorce.

Aunt Maria is characterized as the "Great Dictator," the "Queen of Cranbury," and the
"Female Pope." Even though she gives the impression of being lonely, helpless, and
kind, she rules with an iron hand through provocation of guilt, disapproving suggestion,
and her magical powers. The most unique part of the story was that If Anyone does not
obey her every command, they may be transformed into an animal or even an object. This
concept shows power in women, and control over society. A reference to Aunt Maria would be the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella story, where she is the magical force that pushes the main

character to move forward and guide them away from life obstacles.  

Old Weird and New Weird

From reading the novel Swan Song, the reader could infer that the concept of this story is only weird in a artistic
way. The story has strong value of fear being populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth’s last
survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity. I was basically
getting end of the world vibes in a unusual way to wear the monsters are the good guys, and the beautiful creatures are
the bad guys, which is why many would find the novel weird or unusual. As an horror story, this element is completely
normal, due to the origin of grotesque characters in storytelling throughout centuries.

The main element that intrigued me the most would be the theory of Beauty on the Inside Versus Beauty
on the Outside. The main character Swan does not understand why beautiful people would be mean and vice
versa, and Leona says that God had not figured out how to show people's souls on the outside. This element is
symbolic to the society that we live in today. Believe it or not, there are people out there who thinks that a
pretty face and body comes with a beautiful personality, and from experience most of the worst people
I have met were attractive or well put together, but their personality did not make up for it. In contrast, some
of the most attractive broken people i’ve met has had the most sincere, loving, and caring hearts on this earth.

Japanese horror

A Wild Sheep Chase explores themes of separation and isolation, anti-authoritarianism, and
animist spirituality through the surreal tale of a man trying to track a mysterious sheep. This
novel ties in with the nature of good and evil in how we as humans transforms, or the
stimulation of rebirth that develops the transition from good to evil or vise versa. There is also
that there of What is good? What is evil? The main character goes through situations where he has
to beat all odds against himself and that drives the story. As the novel goes on, the viewpoint
of the main character changes, and the first person point of view allows the reader to see
such changes clearly.The novel gives subtext of a man and the lack of societal values and
links between the man and his own world.

Wild sheep chase reflects more in the originated gothic theme, more than horror. When reading this, I did not feel a sense of fear of alertness, but more of the sense of grieving. Isolation, which is a gothic element, ties to this novel. Throughout the novel, isolation and self alienation are primary themes. The main character has, throughout his entire life, chosen a path of self isolation to avoid true emotional connections to the outside world. His existence has been completely self centered. Because of his obsession with the sheep, the Sheep Professor also chose isolation as opposed to existing within the world. The Rat chose isolation from others due to a desire for others not to see him give in to weakness. The Boss chose isolation because of a need to run his empire in the shadows. The Anui guide became isolated after giving up on humanity and their warlike nature. The sheep caretaker isolated himself, to a point, because he preferred the simplicity of sheep over the complexity of social interactions. It is clear from these characters that isolation of self is used in the novel as a means.