Teaching Sci-Fi Stories in a College Lit Class

Another guest blogger joins us today, Maria Rainier, to talk about using sci-fi in the classroom.

Teaching Sci-Fi Stories in a College Lit Class

Until recently, I was a graduate student who taught English at a large public university in the American South (I won’t name it, because of what I’m about to write in the next sentence, and because I’m paranoid). After two years of teaching freshman composition (which is just about the most dry, boring, futile, and demoralizing job one could hope for), I had a chance to teach Introduction to Fiction. Yay! Fiction! My passion in life, my favorite avocation, the whole reason I went to grad school in the first place. Now I would finally be able to inculcate the younger generation in the love of fancy prose and made-up stories.

We had a big anthology for a textbook, the Norton Anthology of Short Fiction, with hundreds of short stories representing the whole world’s literary traditions (all translated into English, of course). I tried to organize my syllabus thematically, starting with classic “literary” workshop-style short stories by the likes of Carver, Cheever, Updike, then moving on to some older European and American stuff, and bridging into Halloween (it was a fall course) by means of Kafka and Poe. Finally, I did science fiction, and some experimental stories by Borges, Cortazar, and Nabokov.

The experimental stuff was a mixed bag, some of it too difficult for my sophomores...but the sci-fi ones went over like gangbusters, which pleased me to no end because this was the genre that had gotten me into literature to begin with. I don’t know if “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson counts as science fiction. I suppose it does. In any case, it’s eerie, an alternate-reality story with a lot to say about our real world, like all the best speculative work. The horror stuff went over big (who doesn’t like Poe, you know?) but here, as with Jackson, a problem I hadn’t considered was that they’d mostly read “Fall of the House of Usher” already in high school.

“The Enormous Radio” by John Cheever could technically be considered sci-fi, though to explain why might be a bit of a spoiler (hint: the title object). You should check it out yourselves for an example of very restrained, realistic fiction about technology.

The biggest reaction the class had to any story was to “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury, the famous and colorful sci-fi chiller about children doing unspeakable things with their virtual-reality simulator. The class immediately drew the connection with their own electronic upbringings and it was kind of amazing how much the story’s concerns hadn’t dated. We also watched two Bradbury-related YouTube videos on the projector screen: one a great documentary/interview on the (voluble, affable, charismatic) writer and his career, and one a fairly inappropriate music video by a fan entitled “F--- Me, Ray Bradbury,” which had them laughing uproariously and chattering all the way out the door.

It was the best class we’d had all semester. This year, when Bradbury died, I thought, what a testament to a writer and a human being that his work still had this kind of impact on kids and adults over half a century later. I felt the same way recently when they named Curiosity’s landing site on Mars after him. Bradbury may be dead, but the spirit of science fiction is alive and well. May it live on into the future and beyond the solar system.

Maria Rainier fell in love with blogging before it was cool, and now she's lucky enough to make a living out of it. She generally writes about subjects related to online education, including for onlinedegrees.org, where she expounds on universities that offer competitive online associate degrees and online bachelor's degrees for the 21st century college student. Please share your comments with her!

Five Classic Sci-Fi Novels Worth Rediscovering

We have a guest today, writer Aniya Wells, who stops by with some recomendations for scifi reading:

5 Sci-Fi Classics Worth Rediscovering

Though my reading has been concentrated in other genres lately, science fiction was truly my first love, and I retain the same affection for it today that I had when I was a teenager. I made my way through most of the attested classics of the medium, hungrily poring through lists of the most critically adored novels, and this process set me on a journey of mind expansion that taught me how to think, how to question, and how to wonder. Here are my five personal favorites within the speculative canon:

1. Ubik by Philip K. Dick

Naturally, I could as easily have chosen any number of other Dick masterworks. A Scanner Darkly and Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said are not far behind. And The Man in the High Castle may be an even better book, but I feel its alternate-history framework doesn’t fit as comfortably into the quintessential ‘sci-fi’ rubric. Ubik, on the other hand, best embodies all the queasy, paranoid, wildly imaginative glory of Dick while setting out from a recognizable sci-fi starting point. A mind-boggling and unsettling dissection of the unreality of reality, like all the master’s best, soaked with the particular kind of existential fear and sadness that made him more than a cerebral trickster.

2. The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester

Again, I like this one about equally with The Stars My Destination, but The Demolished Man wins the tiebreaker with its virtuoso mystery ending. This tale of telepathy, conspiracy, and murder in an apparently crime-free society must have been dog-eared by Dick back in the 50s; it contains many of the seeds of the work discussed above.

3. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

The hype is all true. This one is simply the most fun book I’ve ever read. Stephenson employs a postmodern kitchen-sink approach, throwing in enough good, funny, crazy ideas for 10 sci-fi novels and somehow making it all work. Hiro Protagonist, hacker and pizza boy for the Mafia in a Balkanized America of corporate city-states, meets...oh, you’re just going to have to read it (or re-read it) yourself.

4. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

One of the most formally perfect novels ever written (minus the controversial and, in my opinion, regrettable final chapter). Many are scared off from reading this by the narrator’s use of an invented slang called Nadsat, but it’s all part of the total aesthetic package of the book and is music to my ears, as much as Alex’s beloved Ludwig Van is to his.

5. To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer

Unlike many sci-fi fans, I don’t go in much for series: I want a different thing every time and am always suspicious of the motivations behind stretching out a “franchise.” The point being, I haven’t read the rest of the Riverworld series but I hear they’re good. This first one certainly was. It portrays a strange kind of afterlife on another planet where people from different times on Earth wake up and try to figure out what is going on. Peculiar and intriguing...perhaps I ought to read the rest after all.

Aniya Wells is a freelance writer and blogger. In an age in which consumers have access to unprecedented amounts of information, Aniya hopes to help her readers decode this information to make better decisions about personal finance, parenting, health, and more. She can be reached at aniyawells@gmail.com.

An Interview with Resa Nelson, author of the Dragonslayer Series

Today I'm playing host again, this time for fantasy author Resa Nelson as she stops by for an interview as part of her Stone of Darkness Blog Tour.  Take it away Resa...

Interview with Resa Nelson

Why don’t you begin by sharing a little about yourself.

For me, writing is like air – I can’t imagine living without it.  When I’m writing, the characters and the book are very real to me, and it’s thrilling!  Otherwise, my life is probably pretty tame.  I’m a movie fanatic, I read whenever I can, I love animals and nature, and I’m dedicated to exercise (which I actually love – I know, I’m one of those weird people but I love chocolate, too!).  When I was in college I had to take a course in human anatomy and a dissection lab.  It was a night class, and the building looked like Dracula’s castle at night.  I had to walk up a rickety staircase to the top floor, and the cadavers were stored in these coffin-like metal cases.  The first night I was terrified!  But the course turned out to be fascinating.  Because I’ve seen what happens on the inside when you do and don’t take care of yourself, I exercise every day and plan to keep it up for the rest of my life.

Can you tell us about your Dragonslayer fantasy series?  How did it originate?

It began as a short story I wrote and that was published in a magazine.  I wrote a second story in that world that was published in the same magazine.  The reader response was so strong that I thought it would be a good idea to expand it into a novel – but only if I came up with an idea that I loved with my whole heart.  During the next 8 years I had a few ideas but rejected them.  Finally, I came up with an idea that I felt excited about, and I wrote Book 1 (The Dragonslayer’s Sword).  While writing it, I realized the world I’d created could support a lot more story, and one book turned into a 4-book series.  I like to give people a way to sample my work for free, so I have a free “mini” ebook of the two short stories I wrote in my Dragonslayer world.  There’s no obligation, and everyone is welcome to download it at http://www.resanelson.com/files

Your third book in the Dragonslayer series is now published.  Can you tell us a bit about it?

In Book 1, one character shares some information about an event that has happened in another country:  a warrior king is spreading a new religion and has destroyed a temple for people who worship tree spirits.  (This is based on a similar incident that happened in real life during the Middle Ages that I came across while researching this series.)  It’s just a sentence or two mentioned in passing.  But in Book 2, my main character Astrid gets caught up in a situation that takes her to that foreign country, and she sees the ruined temple, which changes her.  In Book 3, Astrid travels through foreign countries and ends up coming face to face with the warrior king.  She learns that his plans are far more serious and threatening than anyone has imagined.  She realizes that she and her country will be facing trouble, and she has to do something to warn the people she loves.

You’ve also written another book, Our Lady of the Absolute.  What is it about? 

It’s about a modern-day society based on ancient Egypt.  So the story takes place right now in the real world, but the fantasy element is that there’s a place in the world where people live like they did in ancient Egypt.  They worship the gods of ancient Egypt, and the goddesses Isis and Sekhmet play a huge role in the story.  These people deal with outsiders, but they don’t like them.  They keep the rest of the world at arm’s length.  The hero is Meres, a woman who loves her husband but feels like an outsider in her culture because she has no children.  She’s devoted to her country and her people.  But there’s a serial killer on the loose, and Meres doesn’t know that she’s the killer’s next target.  This book is a bit more like a mystery/thriller, but what is has in common with all my novels is that the main character is a woman who is strong, smart, and courageous.

You’ve been a columnist and contributor to various sci-fi and fantasy magazines, before becoming an author.  What drew you to these genres?

Long before I wrote novels, I started out as a short story writer.  I always wanted to try my hand at journalism and had taken courses in journalism in college.  When a friend took over the editorship of a magazine, he felt unhappy with the quality of the nonfiction because he had a different vision.  He decided to recruit some of the science fiction and fantasy writers he knew to take a crack at writing nonfiction, and I was lucky to be included in that group.  It’s like the old saying about being in the right place at the right time.  But I already had some experience as a copywriter, and I knew the basics of putting an article together so it wasn’t too much of a leap.  Once I got started, I ended up selling articles to 16 magazines.  Best of all, most of the articles I wrote were about upcoming movies and TV series.  I’ve been a huge movie fan all my life, so it was a perfect fit.

What is the hardest part of writing fantasy fiction?

That’s a really good question.  For me, I think the hardest part is striving to keep my work as fresh and unique as possible.  I’m always pushing myself to figure out the best and most unexpected ways to put twists and turns into my books.  I also want my work to grow organically out of my own life and experiences and world view.  So it boils down to resisting the temptation to use clichés or get anywhere near stories that other people have already written.

What type of research have you done for your books?

Lots!  In my Dragonslayer series my main character Astrid is a female blacksmith who makes swords for dragonslayers.  I took a course in blacksmithing.  I also took courses to learn historically accurate techniques of using swords and other weapons from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.  I ended up joining a sword guild and was a weapons demonstrator at a museum for several years.  I’ve also traveled and read a lot of books that I borrowed through interlibrary loan.  In a nutshell, I’ll do whatever kind of research I think I need to write a good novel.

What advice would you give beginning writers?

Work at your craft constantly.  There’s so much to learn, and then you have to figure out how to do it all at the same time.  I learn by doing, and I’ll bet I wrote at least 100 short stories before I made my first professional sale.  I’m always learning about the nuts and bolts of my craft and working at becoming a better writer.  My goal is for each book I write to be better than the last.

What’s next for you?

In early summer I finished Book 4 (which is the final book in my Dragonslayer series), delivered it to my publisher, and it’s scheduled for publication in November.  My next novel is going to be near-future science fiction blended with mystery, and I plan to start writing it in September.  I’m in the phase of thinking through the big story of the book and doing research.


You can find Resa's books at her website and a list of her blog tour stops here: http://www.resanelson.com/stone-of-darkness-blog-tour/

Bio:

Resa Nelson has been selling fiction professionally since 1988. She is a longtime member of SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) and is a graduate of the Clarion SF Workshop.
Resa was also the TV/Movie Columnist for Realms of Fantasy magazine for 13 years and was a contributor to SCI FI magazine. She has sold over 200 articles to magazines in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Her first novel, The Dragonslayer’s Sword, was nominated for the Nebula Award and was also a Finalist for the EPPIE Award. This medieval fantasy novel is based on a short story first published in the premiere issue of Science Fiction Age magazine and ranked 2nd in that magazine's first Readers Top Ten Poll. The Dragonslayer's Sword is Book 1 in her 4-book Dragonslayer series. Book 2, The Iron Maiden, was published last December, Book 3 was published in May, and the final book in the series is scheduled for publication in November.
Resa's standalone novel, Our Lady of the Absolute, is a fantasy/mystery/thriller about a modern-day society based on ancient Egypt. Midwest Book Review gave this book a 5-star review, calling it "a riveting fantasy, very highly recommended."
Resa lives in Massachusetts.


And be sure to check out my other blog In the Spotlight on September 11th when I feature Resa's Dragonslayer series.
 

When Fantasy Melds With Sci-Fi: A Review of The Darkness by Crystal Connor

My Book Review of The Darkness:

The Darkness by Crystal Connor is an intriguing and entertaining book that mixes fantasy and science fiction by juxtaposing the concept of black magic against mad science.  It melds corporate power against dark arcane might, each side led by a strong female protagonist.

The book chronicles the lives of two women, Artemisia, an influential businesswoman and scientist and Inanna, a powerful and dangerous witch.  Their lives intersect through a child they both claim as their son.  Eventually it is his choices and anger that touches off a chain of events that lead to the book’s tense climax.

There is a lot to like about this book, strong characters, compelling plot, tension, exotic settings and a nice undercurrent of philosophical and ethical ambiguity towards science and witchcraft.  I loved how the author sets up the contrasting lifestyles of the two main female characters, both so wildly dissimilar, yet oddly matching.  Also, even with the often controversial subject matter, the author draws the reader into caring about the characters, despite their actions.

I did, however, find the structure of the flashback sequences that pepper the beginning of the book rather jarring at times and this gave the flow of the narrative a disjointed feel.  This may be a matter of taste, but I felt a few of the scenes could have used a bit more in the way of introduction.  But not a large problem in the overall read of the book, so I give The Darkness a recommend.

The Darkness is the first book in the author's The Spectrum Trilogy

It's available on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback formats.

Real-Life Inspiration for Science Fiction

A guest blogger stops by today, Samantha Gray, with some thoughts on sience fiction turning into reality...

Real-Life Inspiration for Science Fiction

“Write what you know.” The phrase seems to be the mantra of every creative writing instructor of my college years. In a classroom environment that rejected any genre fiction, I very rarely injected any level of surrealism or fantasy into my stories. Instead, I learned how to craft realistic human drama with clarity and precision.

My true passion has always been speculative fiction. Stephen King, Ray Bradbury and H.G. Wells were the lights of my youth. Today, I can use my instructors’ advice in two different ways. I write what I know of human drama; and I pair my imagination with advancing technologies that point to the future progress and demise of our species.

Age Reversal

Two years ago, Harvard scientists released information on a study that reversed aging in mice. The mice were genetically modified to lack certain rejuvenating features. After being treated, the signs of aging began to reverse. The downside is that this approach could serve as a catalyst for cancer. Also, the study says that these effects in mice may not be mirrored in humans.

Mind Controlled Technology

Three years ago, Pierpaolo Petruzziello became the first person in the world to make complex movements using a biomechanical hand. After losing his hand and forearm in a car accident, the young man participated in an experiment that proved mentally controlled robotic prosthetics to be a realized technology.

Electrodes that were implanted in two nerves of his remaining arm served as neural interfaces between Petruzziello’s body and a robotic arm. Using intense focus, Petruzziello was able to manipulate the robotic arm with his mind.

This year, a woman who was paralyzed for 15 years was able to mentally control a bionic arm to serve herself a drink of coffee. This technology involves a chip that is implanted into the brain. Currently, patients are required to be plugged into a series of wires and electronics; but scientists say that future technology will be wireless. 

Enceladus

Who cares about ol’ lifeless Mars? Some scientists are pushing for exploration of Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn and potential haven for life. Compared to Earth, Enceladus is teeny tiny. It could fit inside the Gulf of Mexico with room to spare.

However, the moon has an atmosphere and water geysers that erupt from the surface and into space. (This is how Saturn’s icy rings are formed.) Organic compounds, a subterranean ocean and geothermal energy sources all suggest the tiny moon could be a breeding ground for living things. 

Submarine and Ocean Technology

Some of the most futuristic projects in development are those that involve submarine and deep ocean technology. The Water Discus underwater hotel is a project slated for construction in Dubai. Guests will be able to sleep underwater, and there are number of interesting safety components that will accompany the project.

Also in conception is a solar-powered floating resort that will comfortably fit six people. It is a combination of luxury yacht and hotel; but the design echoes space craft designs of science fiction films.

Samantha Gray is an expert in online education and a freelance writer.  She wants to hear your feedback and ideas, too, at samanthagray024@gmail.com