Invaders - John Kessel

Okay so I get that this is a three part story dealing with the conquest of the Inca, a 21st century alien invasion and the author's writing of the story. 'What I don't get, however, is the point. I don't know .. it just didn't really do it for me.

So, I decided to read about the author instead of focusing on this particular story. It turns out he wrote a great number of short science fiction stories and was inspired by H.G. Wells who, interestingly enough I am talking about in my paper.

Here is a link to John Kessel's homepage:

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~tenshi/index2.html

He seems to be a pretty interesting guy who made quite a great deal of input to the science fiction genre. He didn't start publishing until 1985 and was first at American Literature and science fiction professor at North Carolina State University, where, interestingly enough my dad recently went for a conference!

Hm .. seems kind of funny that the first time that I decide to focus on an author in my blog, I find all of these coincidences. It makes me wonder what I've been missing out on ...

Aunt Parnetta's Electric Blisters - Diane Glancy

This one made me chuckle at times. I love this: "We bought that ferge back twenty yars. And it nerked since then." Poor Parnetta feels out of place in the world because she is an Indian. The story emphasizes everything that is white, even the "ferge".

The story put an interesting spin on racial issues. Not my favorite read of the week, though ..

We See Things Differently - Bruce Sterling

This is a story written from the perspective of an Arab visitor to a future run-down America. Sayyid comes to America to report on what's going on and presents a pretty bleak looking story.

While this is not a pick me up kind of story, it does represent today's reality. We really do send reporters around the world to sites of misfortune so that we can have the juicy details reported back to us. The second that there is word of a murder, a horrible accident, war or any other sort of catastrophe - we have someone on the scene. Then, we all run to our televisions and eat dinner while listening to someone's horror story. I guess I'm a little off topic now, but it's something I've always thought about. Yes it's important to keep up on world issues, but is it important to know the details of the murder of a 5 year old girl in Florida? Is it necessary to see live video streams of war zones? I don't think it is .. and I think we are all a little bit too caught up in everyone else's business.

But that's just me!!

Kirinyaga - Mike Resnick

I didn't mind this story .. but it certainly didn't interest me as much as the previous two readings of the week. The Kirinyaga, placed on an artificial habitat, are trying to maintain their cultural norms. Koriba yearns for a time before the European invaded Kenya and went to extreme measures to fight for their inherent way of life.

The story seems to be talking about a loss of cultural identity. The Kirinyaga are trying to hang onto whatever is left of their origins; origins that are becoming increasingly obliterated.

I suppose it is reminiscent of present-day world issues in the sense that several cultures are fighting for recognition and survival under the powerful wing of the more powerful.

America - Orson Scott Card

This story made me think about how people can become blind to the very thing that they are waiting for. Anamari, who provides medical care to the sick, has become hardened to the fact that she has not received help or support in the past. The people of Brazil have never shown compassion for what she does. So when Sam Monson comes along, who truly wants to help her, she can't see it. She actually says to him, "Lady hands. You'd scrape your knuckles on the wash-board and bleed all over the sheet". Ridiculous comments such as this are common coming from somebody who has become so rigid. She is truly incapable of recognizing a genuine offer of help .. the very thing that she has been longing for.

The story doesn't seem entirely sci-fi-ish to me .. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed it. It came at a funny time, as I have recently dealt with a similar problem of somebody becoming so bitter that they have rendered themselves unable to see what's right in front of them. This was a good read!!

The New Atlantis - Ursula K. Le Guin

Belle and Simon, an illegally married couple, are reunited after his year and a half long stay at a rehabilitation camp. With the illegality of their marriage stemming from the fact that they are both rebels in their own respects, their chance for a "normal" life is dismal. Belle, an artist, and Simon, a mathematician are far from your typical couple of the day.

During the twelve days that the two were reunited, they spent time trying to devise a way of preserving the sun's energy. The thing that really grabbed me from the beginning of this story is its preoccupation with earth preservation. As someone who is very environmentally conscious, the mere mention of the rising polar melt was enough to interest me. I have never considered the possibility of a science fiction story from the 70's incorporating something like this into its core. For me, it represents hope. Even today, with the vast amounts of information that are available at the touch of a button, we see sky-high pollution rates, littering and fast depletion of resources. It's encouraging to know that at least somebody, ie. Ursula Leguin recognized this early on.

Anyway, great story. Unfortunately Simon gets taken away again and Ursula gives up on life. It seems that she decided that a life without her husband wasn't a life at all. Although it is dismal, at least it paints a picture of true love!

Tauf Aleph - Phyllis Gotlieb

This story seems to be a little more in depth than the last, but still enjoyable! Although it has to do with the Jewish religion and uses quite a few words that I am unfamiliar with, I got the feeling that the story pointed back to the origins of language. It talks often about assigning names and there is much deliberation in choosing them appropriately. I would assume that this goes back to early times, before we had language as we know it today. At some point in time, someone had to look up and decide to call those white things in the sky "clouds" and someone else even decided to call our planet "Earth". If we didn't have these words of reference, communication would be near impossible!