Toni's Blog for Lit. of Horror

Italo Calvino's The Distance of the Moon was a very charming short story, but also a little bittersweet. I have to say, while reading this, I immediately began to imagine this story as a Studio Ghibli film, specifically Ponyo due to the amount of sea life floating about near the end. Something I really like about this film was who magical the imagery was. Thinking of these people jumping to and from the moon feels like a fantastic experience and a lot of fun. While this story was nice to read, something I didn't really resonate with was the narrator's personality. He seems to be a little desperate, jealous, and perverted toward the Captain's wife, Mrs. Vhd. I honestly did not feel that bad for him when he lost her to the moon near the end. I even felt bad for the woman cause she was alone on the moon with this guy she didn't care about for months. The idea of this sad woman gently playing the harp on the moon brings such amazing imagery though. Calvino's oth...

Carol Emshwiller's story, I Live With You, was kind of creepy but I found it to be a fun little read for this week. The mysterious being that lives with the woman in the story reminded me a lot about the folklore of tontu, or gnomes, that are magical creatures that are able to live within people's houses and being barely noticeable. So while many find this story creepy, I found it a little fun. I probably wouldn't mind having this thing living in my house, since it's not really causing any arm to the woman. All it does is wear her clothes and buys stuff for her. Not to mention, it tries to get her a boyfriend. That thing is the ultimate wingman! Something I found odd was how this thing living with the woman brings her someone to get with, but then starts trying to seduce him as well. Ironic because it claims multiple times that it doesn't steal, which it sticks to its word in the end, but it still made an attempt. It makes me wonder, what is its purpose and why ...

Johnny Mnemonic by William Gibson definitely carried a strong cyberpunk aesthetic. While I personally like cyberpunk themes in media, I have to admit, this was a little difficult to read. It took me a long time to realize the main character's purpose and one thing was happening after another that he just suddenly joined this place called the Killing Floor and became some kind of rebel with this cool and edgy girl with body modifications. Something I did find interesting though was how the whole story was a long chase scene, which makes sense sine everyone is after this guy with valuable information stored in his head. That aspect of it was cool, but I feel like it doesn't fit very well as an individual story, even if it was part of a series of them. The presence of such action made it readable though. I'm curious as to how the film adaption approached this story. Another thing I did like about this story was Molly. To me, her character seemed infinitely more interesting...

Harlan Ellison's short story, I Have No Mouth and Much Scream, might probably be one of my favourite science fiction readings so far. I found this story haunting and gruesome, and the concept of AM torturing these five people and somehow keeping them alive forever was horribly interesting. The way each character was described so well, that I could almost feel their pain and you can tell that AM really destroyed these people in ever aspect possible. Something that really caught me off-guard though was the ending. I was really searching for some ray of home that Ted would be able to free himself from AM, but I was horribly wrong seeing that he was turned into an eldritch horror. While I was looking into the story, I noticed there was a point and click adventure game based off this story and was worked on by Ellison as well. I watched some people play the whole game and how it was done was actually really cool. The game kind of poses as an extension of the short story, because you...

This week I read C.L. Moore's short story, No Woman Born. While I was reading this, it was very prominent that this was a space opera sort of story. I felt this whole love triangle thing going on between Harris, Maltzer, and Dierdre, especially at how Harris describes Maltzer and Dierdre's interactions with each other as if he's somewhat jealous of their relationship. I noticed the themes of female empowerment in this story. Dierdre constantly tries put herself out there despite the amount of times Maltzer tried to keep her away from human eyes. Saying that everyone out there wasn't ready for her because she's a one of a kind robot. Of course eventually doesn't listen and follows her feelings, despite that she's aware of what she is. In addition to that, she's also incredible strong and flexible, being that she's a robot. I just thought it was interesting that Moore decided to write this into a female robotic character, since robots are typically m...

Neil Gaiman's short novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane was very reminiscent of stories of fairies. To be honest, I began reading this novel without knowing it was by Gaiman, and I noticed a lot of parallels to his other story, Coraline, so once I found out this was by him, it made a lot of sense. Gaiman's stories seem to show interest in the concept of fairy tales and old folklore revolving around fairies, and it shows a lot in this novel. In the beginning of the story, I found a very nostalgic appeal to its tone. The protagonist was living a calm childhood in his hometown, which I imagined being somewhat rural. He had his own little clubhouse and he would visit his friend Lettie, and everything seemed to have that childhood appeal to it. The fantasy aspect of the story picked up once Lettie and the protagonist headed out into that forest. By then, there were already signs of fairy tale themes, like when Lettie uses a hazel wand to find stuff, which seems to be used...

This week I took time to read Madeleine L'Engle's novel, A Wrinkle In Time. I remember reading this young adult novel way back in elementary school, so I decided to revisit it with a more experienced mind. Needless to say, it made slightly more sense as an adult than it did to me a long time ago. Something that stuck out to me reading this was the mix of science and fantasy elements mixed into this story, which makes sense why some people classify this book as a science fiction novel. Meg's parents are both incredible scientists that have influenced her way of thinking. There are multiple references to mathematics and scientific equations, as well as examples of characters conducting logical thinking in the story. One specific excerpt from the story stuck out to me through a conversation between Meg and her mother, Mrs. Murry: "Do you think things always have an explanation?" "Yes, I believe that they do. But I think that with our human limitations w...

1.      What is your reaction to the text you just read? ·       My first reaction while reading Bloodchild was confusion, as there wasn’t much explanation to what T’Gatoi was. Eventually it became somewhat clear further into the story that she is this alien creature that reproduces through parasitic-like birth through male Terrans. I found this story very creepy and gross, but despite that, the concept is interesting. I personally have a horrible phobia of parasites, so reading this was not very pleasant. I understand Butler wrote this story to play with the concept of male impregnation, but the idea of it being done through these bloodworms that eat people from the inside out is messed up. 2.      What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect. ·       The first thing I thought of while reading this was...