I was quite literally stalking this main page of yours — I was so seriously committed to getting the new Bingo card you have NO IDEA!! The joy this gave me is beyond Jupiter’s moons!! Bless you! :)
And, guess what?! CA Gray’s Piercing the Veil series is not only Sci-Fantasy (a genrebender between science fiction & fantasy) but it will be marking off my FIRST square: parallel universe! Wicked awesome!
– Jorie commenting on the official posting of this year’s BINGO CARD!
This lovely card was created by Asti @ Oh! the Books
Let the Reading Challenge Commence!
B1 – Steampunk:
B2 – Superheroes: B3 – Teleportation: time travel via teleporation (A Stitch in Time)
B4 – Invisibility:
B5 – Shapeshifters:
I1 – Absent-Minded Professor:
I2 – Apocalypse or World Wide Disaster:
I3 – Colonization of Other Planets:
I4 – Drugs and Medication: I5 – Parallel Universe: modern England & Arthurian parallel world (Intangible)
N1 – Space Opera:
N2 – Mind Control:
N3 – Free!
N4 – Virtual Reality:
N5 – Domed City: G1 – Immortality: the Shadow Lord takes centerstage (Invincible)
G2 – Lost Civilizations: G3 – Human Zoo: Mutants living in captivity who were once human (King of the Mutants)
G4 – Mad Scientists:
G5 – Award Winning:
O1 – Floating City:
O2 – Sci-Fi Classic:
O3 – Alien Invasion:
O4 – Resizing:
O5 – Military Sci-Fi:
SFN Reading List: [combination of scheduled & alternates]
King of the Mutants by Samantha Vérant (review) MG Fantasy | the reason I selected this for the ‘Human Zoo’ category is because of the fact the mutant children are different species of animals as you might expect to find in a traditional zoo
A Stitch in Time by Amanda James (review) Time Travel Romance
It will be a wondrous mystery to me to see which elements of these books will enter into the formation of the Bingo card’s taken spaces! I am certain that if I can read the # of books I scheduled to read this month, it will be quite the feat in of itself! I am not curating a list ahead of time but rather will see where my reading journeys take me on the card this year!
Stay tuned!
Rock on, dear hearts!
This post is brought to you by:
{SOURCES: Asti at Oh! the Books made the SFN Bingo Card for SFN 2014 participants to take part in the joy of an undisciplined reading challenge! The Bingo card is used with permission. Sci-Fi November Badge created by Jorie in Canva.}
The Dreamosphere is one story that instantly grabbed my attention at ‘hallo’ as I have always had an active dream life! Part of the joy of nodding off is always to await the adventure that would occur once I headed into my own personal dreamscapes and the world which lived inside my imagination! When I saw this was being offered as a blog tour, I knew instantly that I not only wanted to read the story but I wanted to request an interview with Ms. Stoddard! I seriously knew at that particular instant that I wanted to get to know the writer behind the pen on this lovely addition to the fantasy literature for young readers! I grew up on a lot of fantasy within the realm of Children’s Literature as well as motion pictures for younger eyes. There is a such a blessing to be said for the encouragement of imagination and the imaginative eye our dreams allow us to process the world around us as much as inside us.
Before I share the conversation that evolved between the author and myself, I wanted to give you a bit of information on the novel, as I will be posting my book review within hours of this conversation going live on my bookish blog! I decided to stretch the two showcases out a bit, to give everyone a chance to appreciate them separately.
Book Synopsis:
What if dreams don’t disappear when we wake up? Haunted by her younger sister’s death, and her unwitting role in the incident, 11-year-old Gwenevere Stoker takes solace in the Dreamosphere—a dimension where all dreams still exist. But when someone begins destroying her dreams, Gwen must find the culprit—or risk losing all her happiness forever. Bask in the mystery and imagination of dreams in this touching, funny, mind-bending children’s tale that encompasses themes of grief, friendship, family, healing, and grand adventure!
Author Biography:
Laura Stoddard was born in Idaho and spent her formative years running amok in the great outdoors. She received her bachelors degree in English Literature from Arizona State University. After being rejected from the masters program for creative writing she decided that she didn’t need a masters degree to tell her she could write, so she started really dedicating her time to finishing the story she’d started months earlier, with the goal of writing a complete novel, and getting it published. The result is her debut novel, The Dreamosphere, for which her own vivid, bizarre, and incomprehensible dreams provided the inspiration. Laura is an adrenaline junkie and will try anything once–or twice–or maybe three times. She can already check whitewater rafting, going down in a shark cage, and skydiving (three times) off of her list. Oh, and getting Lasik. It was five minutes of terror. She enjoys hiking, rowing, reading classic literature, embarking on new adventures and hobbies, volunteering regularly, and spending time with family. She currently resides in Phoenix, Ariz.
From the moment I first read the premise and title of “The Dreamosphere” part of me was inclined to believe that perhaps you have held a close attachment to your own dream world and life? You recently published a piece on your blog about how the dream journals of your youth were the basis of the novel. What first prompted you to keep a dream journal? And, how did you take your habit of journalling dreams into a new platform such as setting a story around dreams?
Stoddard responds: When I tell you that my dreams are out of control, there’s no way for me to truly impress upon you, without somehow putting you into my brain, how insane they are. Incredibly detailed, vivid, and emotion-packed, my dreams can be confusing, exciting, terrifying, inspiring, hilarious, heartbreaking, and sometimes prophetic. When I’m in them, everything feels as real as if I were awake. I usually wake up feeling the same emotions as in the dream. I have both laughed and cried myself awake. I also have the ability to go back into a dream, if I wake up in the midst of it, and if I choose to. I’ve been able to fall back into a dream at least three times in one night. I dream every night. I always have. And I remember them all. I started writing them down early, because they were too good not to document. I love talking about dreams with people. They’re a topic everyone can relate to. I finally had enough people say, “You’ve got to put these in a book,” that I took their advice and did just that!
I love how you described your active life within your dreamscapes — every emotional response is conveyed and every pulsing moment of clarity is being hinted at as well. I think its fantastic that your imagination is quite active and that your able to capture the pieces of what you dream through your auto-retention and memory! Yes, I can directly relate to what your saying about how you can re-enter your dreams at will and how you wake up feeling different emotions. I always felt my own dreams were very much a living presence in my life, as they feel daringly real and are always able to give me quite a heap to muse about whilst I am awake! I should have thought to keep a dream journal, but I would always replay over the dreams whilst I was younger as a bit of a catalogue of what I had dreamt.
Like you, I have the tendency to remember my dreams, and I oft find that a lot of people who have active dream lives do not always remember their dreams in colour. I know it is a most controversial topic for some, but for me, I never bought into the theory our dreams are in ‘black and white’ as I most assuredly see them in colour! What is your take on this interesting paradox? Do you dream in colour or in an absence of colour?
Stoddard responds: I dream in Technicolor! But…I wouldn’t be surprised if some people only dream in black and white. Every brain is different. I have had dreams that were more grey-scale, but that’s because it fit with the story line, i.e. I was part of an old gangster squad, so the B&W worked. Somehow my subconscious knew that.
Hmm,… I had not considered that previously, as I simply thought for sure this was one area that we were all synchronised! How clever to realise from this point of view that the colour of our dreams can be co-dependent on what we are dreaming and where the time of the dream is taking place as far as setting and locale of the dream’s story. This definitely clarifies a few things in my own mind about dreams & the differences we all have whilst we are having them.
I was keenly interested in the fact that you included Edgar Allan Poe (although at the time I requested the novel, I was unaware of his presence!) on the footheels of reading “Mrs. Poe” ahead of this novel, I started to understand Poe in a way I had not known about previously. Especially in regards to his true nature and sense of character, as he was misprojected throughout history as someone he wasn’t in reality. How did you originally become attached to his works as you have mentioned your attraction to his poetry and his canon of creativity? What do you hope the younger readers who read “The Dreamosphere” will takeaway from his presence in the story?
Stoddard responds: I discovered Poe in junior high. My dad had a big set of leather-bound classics, including Shakespeare, H.G. Wells, Dostoyevsky, etc. and I started reading them at a young age. I still much prefer classic literature to modern fiction, because those original stories laid the basis for the slew of spin-offs today (give me Bram Stoker’s Dracula over Twilight any day). Anyway! I opened The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe and was drawn in by the illustrations. They were grotesque, but intriguing. The Tell-Tale Heart was the first story of his I ever read. I can still remember how my heart pounded as I read that book, feeling myself put inside the mind of the tortured protagonist, feeling his desperation and horror. I was hooked. I’ve been a horror fan ever since. When I became older, I wanted to know about the man himself. I learned that Poe was a strange juxtaposition of darkness and hope. I want readers, especially young ones, to know that he got a bad wrap. He wasn’t a demented monster. He had a darker side, as we all do. He was just really good at tapping into that it and writing about it. All you have to do is read one of his hauntingly beautiful love sonnets to see the softer side of Poe. The thing I think we can all agree on is that the man, love him or hate him, was an incredibly gifted story teller.
You do not need to convince me on the differences between Dracula & Twilight — I was never an appreciator of the series, and until a few weeks ago, I had not even realised that I would be tempted to read Dracula anymore than I would have felt I would be inclined to read Edgar Allan Poe! (Ms. Stevens I am sure is nodding her head as I mention Dracula! – a bit of a s/o to #ChocLitSaturdays) I find myself betwixt modern and classical literature as much as I am between modern and classical motion pictures! Equally on both counts I can go absolute ages dissolving into the past releases without worrying about a contemporary one. I think part of that implies that we like to understand where we are coming from and what has come before we picked up the stories that encouraged our own imaginative worlds. I cannot claim to be an appreciator of ‘horror’ per se, but there are elements of the horror genre that I am inclined to reference as being attractive. Those who read my blog or interact with me on Twitter know that my penchant lies more in the ‘psychological suspense’ side of the ledger; gore & grisly is never an option. I will surely have to follow-up with you as I start to read Poe’s works myself. To hear you talk about him, I can tell he had a very strong influence on you and in part, perhaps by his inclusion a bit of homage to his inspiration is inside the novel?
Published By: Xchyler Publishing (@XchylerPublish) 11 February, 2014 Official Editor Websites: Site | Facebook | Twitter Converse via: #MomentsInMillennia Genres: Time Travel | Alternative History | Dystopian Available Formats: Trade Paperback and E-Book Page Count: 234
Acquired Book By:I contacted Xchyler Publishing about receiving books in exchange for honest reviews and was asked to pick the two books I’d like to request. Moments in Millennia was my second choice, as my first choice was A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk. The main reason I selected this anthology is due to my continued appreciation for being introduced to new authors through their short story contributions. I received a complimentary copy of Moments in Millennia in exchange for an honest review direct from the publisher Xchyler Publishing. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
I am hopeful I can continue to work with them in the future, as they are one of the Indie publishers who has a distinctive eye for creating books which give a reader a lift of spirits to read. The attention to detail in their books is quite bang-on from editing, copy-editing, cover-art design, and by giving some of their books a lovely book trailer presentation that borders on motion picture adaptation! I have enjoyed getting to learn a bit about their process as a publisher as much as learning key behind-the-scenes into the writing of the novels through one of their authors.
Editor Biography:
Author and editor, Penny brings to Xchyler thirty years of wordsmith experience, with emphasis on historical fiction, business writing, and journalism. She also serves as assistant public affairs director of a large organization, and has extensive experience in social media and Internet advertising. Literature, history, and storytelling are her great passions, although the technical aspects of the language arts satisfy her compulsion for order.
Anthology Synopsis:
Travel with seven talented authors as they glimpse through time into Humanity’s future. Will mankind blossom and flourish, conquering the stars and time itself? Or, with selfishness, greed, and just plain bad luck send us all to the brink of destruction?
The Cartographer by Samuel A. Mayo: Destined to chart the stars throughout the aeons, a team of novice map makers are thrust into a conspiracy to control the universe and time itself.
Fairykin by Ben Ireland: In a world where nature has ceased to exist, a tribe of fairies on the brink of extinction must fight for survival itself. But who will bear the ultimate cost?
Time out of Mind by Michael Cross: One young girl’s cosmic connection to her grandfather’s tragic past brings life and hope to the blackest days of the Holocaust.
The Hawkweed by Candace J. Thomas: Consumed with guilt, one girl fights to solve the riddle of her friend’s murder and the disappearance of his brother—unaware of the price on her own head.
Spaceman in Time by Fischer Willis: Victor seizes the chance to return to the past and right a terrible wrong. Will he have the strength to do what he must, or will history repeat itself?
Human Era by Neal Wooten: Two grad students hurl themselves into the past with their wormhole technology. Their modern skills make them heroes, but do they truly know where they are?
Black Ice by S. P. Mount: Men have become mindless drones controlled by chip implants and a master satellite. Can one serial killer imprisoned for a thousand years give them the will to truly live?
{ am electing to highlight the stories within the anthology which piqued my interest the most out of the seven offered inside }
| Time Out of Mind by Michael Cross |
From the moment I entered this short, I felt a direct pull into the story-line as Cross singularly chose to focus on the aspect of love and how bound we can become through love where time disintegrates from view. Love is an unlimited gift where time and distance do not affect its full measure of containment. By arching the story into a military dialogue of a grandfather’s selfless acts towards gaining the freedoms of others, whilst the granddaughter struggles to understand how her heart can entwine, through time was a very enchanting pull at the very jump-start of a story!
I believe the main reason this particular story held such a heart tug for me, is due to the fact I come from a very close-knit family. I oft talk (on Jorie Loves A Story & regular blogs I visit) about my adventures in uncovering my ancestral past as Mum and I resume the search after a bit of a long hiatus to uncover the missing gaps and links on both sides of our family. And, of how through these historical adventures the connections we find become stitched into our family’s tapestry is a bit like the discovery of the coin inside Time Out of Mind. You find a tethering to one moment nestled into the past which brings the past forward and the present backwards. We create connections due to our distinctive nature of not only wanting to belong but to become understood. To understand not only where we originated ancestrally but to understand who we are and what our purpose is whilst we journey through life.
The nexus of the portal which opens through the coin brought me startling back to Somewhere in Time, which is one of my favourite all-time romantic motion pictures despite the gutting ending and the reprieve that is bittersweet. The bending and yield of the fissure points held within the mechanisms of how time is wielded and kept is always an interesting theory to pursue.
As I read this story with a thirst and appetite of anticipation, my heart willed me to press the pages apart and see what the author would reveal on the next page, the next paragraph, the next sentence. It held my attention longing to know as Chantel did the fullness of the story she was tipping herself into on behalf of her grandfather’s legacy. He gave her a unique gift at the turning point of his exit from life, and it’s how she’s meant to follow his guidance that gave my heart a pulse-jump.
Cross pursues the theory of history and time being of temporal constant travellers of each other, where in order for our present to be in our reality, the past which has already occurred is still on-going as it had once lived. The present therefore gives us a way into the future, but whilst in the present we can stumble into the past and the past into the present at junctions of arrival we might not be aware of crossing over. In this, he held my complete attention.
Shedding my own tears as I turnt the last pages on this lovely short story, I felt compelled to see if Cross has published other stories such as this one or on parallel themes. He is intuitive about a woman’s heart and mind, as much as he understands the fractures of our hearts when we are left without the connecting pieces to puzzles. Living histories and historical artifacts help us all engage in the conversation of our shared reality. We gain compassion and empathy simply through the acknowledgement of who traversed before us as much as giving proper honour to those who died for a cause greater than we can all fully contemplate in one sitting.
Michael Cross is a debut author getting his wings in the publishing world from what I can gather off his website! How splendidly wicked news is this?! To have alighted on his first published short story and its the very one within this anthology which held my breath and heart in equal eclipse!? I cannot wait to read more of his writings, and am hopeful he is in development of a novel or novella which will be released in print form so that I can partake of reading it! Dear hearts, if he continues to write on the breadth of what I’ve just completed reading in Moments in Millennia – I dare not emerge until the last page is consumed! He has a gentleness and soft grace in writing a story with this thematic and character point of view.
| Human Era by Neal Wooten |
When I was younger I was especially intrigued by the motion pictures “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “2010”. Stemming out of those initial stories of how futuristic reality and past reality can become altered or perceived differently given the chance to change the perception of how time is analysed and accepted. I garnished an interest in “Planet of the Apes” except to say I never had the proper chance to watch the Roddy McDowell editions opting inside for the Mark Wahlberg remake when it was available to see on the silver screen. Cautionary tales of how future societies and future living realities can become transformed by interference and by curiosity.
Within the short contributed by Wooten, I had a foreshadow knowledge that their adventure ‘through time’ would end in a shocking conclusion. Not the kind that would be overtly traumatic or psychological disruptive to their well-being, but the shock that comes from discovering the unexpected truth of their actions. And, how best to continue forward in their own ordinary lives after having lived through the experience. I was not disappointed as they jolted through their time machine crossing through their homemade wormhole straight into a medieval time period fraught with war and unimagined terror of epic scale.
The more they explored the less they understood, because everything they could observe, sense, and be aware of was telling them they hadn’t traversed very far at all. If anything, they appeared to have travelled to their own world yet a step out of time or place from any map which could guide them. I loved the layers Wooten added-in to the narrative and the heart of the character of Ash, who I wish could have been developed and explored further past this initial foray. Ash is the type of character you could rally behind and see grow in the role of a mentor for the young lads who recklessly pursued technology they had little understanding of past its conception.
What I appreciated the most is how thought-provoking the capsule of the tale is for generations who are pursuant towards science explorations and experimentation. There is always a nod towards knowing how to balance the joy of discovering a new ‘acting theory’ of science within the realms of what is plausible and safe to explore. When we tip the balance into pursuing elements of science which lead us down corridors of heightened danger – it’s best to pull back and reconsider what the consequences might incur for everyone rather than the few who are involved in the experiment. It would have served well to have an epilogue on this one to see what the lads had learnt from their wormhole trip through time and how effectively they forestalled the events yet lived.
Neal Wooten is a huge appreciator of The Walking Dead which I found unique on the level that it’s the very last television series I would even dare contemplate viewing! It is interesting then that it’s his short which drew my eye to mention in my review of Moments in Millennia as I drew a connection to both of these stories (his & Cross) moreso than the others! I would not have felt that possible had I known ahead of time he was into Zombies & Horror, as his short is such a far cry from both genre exploits! This story appears to run in a side vein of what he normally writes and for that I appreciate the chance to sample his writings! I wonder if he could expand on the theory he set forth in this short and encourage out a novel?
My closing thoughts are ones of gratitude to Xchyler Publishing for giving me the honour of reading two of their books and being in a position to ask for Interviews on behalf of those who create and/or oversee the creation of the stories they publish. I am going to seek out an Interview for the two writers who inspired me whilst I read “Moments in Millennia” and I hope to provide those for you to read in forthcoming weeks. I was swept away by the depth of the story Cross conceived as from the initial moment I started to read his contribution to the very closing paragraph I dare not lift my eyes for fear of not returning to the narrative and the journey in which Chantel embarked on to find the truth etched in the past.
Stories which stir our imaginations and our hearts yield the best reading pleasure and joy; hence why my reader’s heart is full of gratitude at having been given such an extraordinary introduction to the works in which Xchyler Publishing produces and gives to readers everywhere. Again, I hope that I will be able to work with them again, and I do hope you will re-visit me this Thursday as I give my thoughts and observations on behalf of Scott E. Tarbet’s Shakespearean Steampunk debut!
Moments in Millennia : A Fantasy Anthology Book Trailer byXchyler Publishing
Dear hearts, I extend the conversation now to you,… what do you appreciate about anthologies which feature upcoming OR established fantasy writers? Which thematic do you find yourself attracted to the most out of: time travel, alternative history, and dystopian? The two I featured fall under the first two categories! Have you stumbled across a new-to-you author by reading a fantasy anthology and then longed for new material by them to read next? What elements make a short story endear you the most? And, what do you think is the hardest part on behalf of a writer of a short story to convey to their readers!?
{NOTE: I am enjoying the “Just Write” edition of writing blog posts in WP! This is my first post to be completely written inside this new format of ‘white board’ free writing – where you can focus on composing your thoughts without the interference of the menus & columns of the regular view inside of a browser. Quite a bit more enjoyable for me!}
{SOURCES: Moments in Millennia Book Cover, synopsis, Editor photograph & biography were provided by Xchyler Publishing and were used by permission. Book Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. The book trailer by Xchyler Publishing had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it. Tweets are embedded due to codes provided by Twitter.}
(“Strength and Honor” by Stephan Martiniere, used with the artist’s permission)
Finding a renewed joy in reading science fiction stories during SFN, and having my hours to enjoy the stories grow a bit limited as November shifted into December, I was most delighted to find: the Sci-Fi Experience! (Review Site of the Experience!) As 2014 continues to move forward, science fiction & fantasy will both play a larger role on my blog as I am a member of The Classics Club, whereupon one of my focuses is specifically on: classic science fiction, classic fantasy, and classic/modern Magical Realism. (I tend to include the latter under this umbrella due to the elements which attach the sub-genre to the creativity of the former!)
When I first stumbled across this particular reading challenge, I was elated on the one level I wasn’t able to complete all of my SFN posts as scheduled originally! I wanted to take December & January during the Experience to stitch everything back together, and complete the journey I had taken during Rinn Reads most excellent month of sci-fi loveliness! This is prior to realising that my December 2013 would be blissfully full of holiday events, concerts, and the mirth of joy which surrounds the Christmas Season! My local community opened up their doors to such a beautiful celebration of joy this year, I was overtook by the festivities to where I lost hours to enjoy all the lovely reading adventures I had scheduled to partake in at the very same time! Therefore, January is my month of redemption, to where I can go back through my SFN Posts, tweak them, post them, and be confident in knowing that even if your original plans get a bit delayed from their original intentions, its okay to complete our goals at a later date which works better for us! Not only as book bloggers, but as readers! Our reading lives should never be stressful nor taxing, and in this way, I am always thankful the bookish community online is such a warm, engaging and adaptable group of people!
I wanted to select a few titles to read during the Experience, specific to this Challenge, which is why whilst engaged in a lovely conversation with an author (Kate Elliott) I have been keen to read since I was seventeen (i.e. when I was first introduced to “King’s Dragon”, part of the “Crown of Stars” series), via our serendipitously lovely Twitter chats, I was encouraged to seek out the following authors & their stories:
@JLovesAStory I would rec CJ Cherryh’s early sf but it is pretty dense. My own Highroad Trilogy or Jaran. Writers James Corey & Rachel Bach
Gate of Ivrel (Book One: Morgaine series) by CJ Cherryh {ILL REQ}
Jaran (Book One: Jaran series) by Kate Elliott {intrigued to read for eons!} {ILL REQ} UPDATE: The book came in by ILL late January
Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey {keep reading about it; the suspense of what’s inside is over!} {ILL REQ} UPDATE: The book came in by ILL late January
The Boy With the Cuckoo-Heart by Mathias Malzieu {I found this via Roof Beam Reader originally, grabbed it off a library display (featuring clocks & clockpunk titles) w/o realising my library had it in their catalogue!}
*NOTE: ILL REQ = inter-library loan request
You see, I took option #2 because originally she had made this suggestion:
@JLovesAStory Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie is pretty cool. Recent space opera/sf.
{SOURCES: The 2014 Sci-Fi Experience was granted permission to use the artwork by Stephen Martiniere in their official badge for all participants to show their solidarity during the event! Sci-Fi November Badge and Event Badge were provided by Rinn Reads for participants to advert the month-long event and to encourage people to follow along with those of us who are contributing! Tweets between Kate Elliott and Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story were made possible by embed codes via Twitter.}
| A Book Showcase: Dystopian from a Skeptics POV |
I must confess, I have been avoiding reading books that fall under this sub-heading across all genres for such a long time because I still have issues with certain books I read whilst in school! Writers like Steinbeck and Orwell did not paint my future well for appreciating dystopian stories! Nor did I feel very inclined to read them on my own inclination due to the heavy amount of violence and dark undertones that seemed to be all the rage inside the stories that were being produced for the genre overall. Which is why I decided to undertake this challenge during SFN! To approach the genre as a skeptic, but perhaps emerge after a month of readings as an appreciator?
Sounds pretty straight-forward doesn’t it!? OR, is it really!? To walk through a genre where you have already set your mind partially against with only a sliver of a door ajar to entertain the smallest of margins that there could be a book out there that could interest you of Dystopian origins? I knew prior to Sci-Fi November taking wing and shape that I would have to avoid all the typical books under this umbrella that I knew would not tempt me nor dissuade me of my pre-set and pre-determined opinion! Novels such as The Hunger Games for instance! I understand its a world-renowned phenom but I am simply not the girl for that kind of story, sorry! Its a champion amongst my friends’ which I fully respect, but as for me!? Sorry. No! I’d rather see Harry Potter IIX!
After making my choice to embark down a road of the unknown, I found myself a bit intrigued by what I was finding as apparently this branch of the genre is a bit more wide encompassing than I previously gave it credit for bearing! So much so, I was quite happy by find the following selection of books:
Prized by Caragh M. O’Brien
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi*
The Postman by David Brin
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Divergent by Veronica Roth
*replaced: All Our Yesterdays as Rinn kindly pointed out I had mistaken this for Dystopian rather than Time Travel!
Previously, when I had seen the film previews for “Cloud Atlas” I all but shrugged my shoulders and rolled my eyes over the insanity of that premise! It wasn’t until I was curating a short list of books to seek out and attempt to read this month for SFN, that I started to approach Cloud Atlas from a reader’s point of view rather than a girl simply turned off by a motion picture trailer! I’ll freely admit that there are occasions where I surprise myself, there are times where I don’t feel keen on a subject or a story at the first look-see, and there are other times where my first impression of a story or character were jolly justified. It all depends. I always strive to keep an open mind, but there are certain elements that tend to turn me off more than allow me to enter into a setting that at first might appear to be the complete opposite of something I’d been keen to get to know on a deeper level. I still might pick up Cloud Atlas and wonder why I even bothered, or perhaps just as plausible I will pick up the book and wonder why I hadn’t read it sooner!?
I hadn’t even felt that The Postman, the beloved film of mine from yesterday’s past would even be considered part of a genre I always have been outspoken against! Talk about a proper wake-up call! I would suppose this would be akin to saying that despite the fact I am not a particular fan of horror, there are elements of my interests that run parallel to the horror genre, yet I do not watch, read, or listen to horror itself! Wells, except for the odd classic motion picture that is considered ‘classic horror’ but for me is more psychologically suspenseful! I am starting to wonder if there was a sub-path inside Dystopian that I have simply overlooked all these years, if I could find seven potential novels to read, whose to say I could not uncover others!?
I’ll admit I have read so many lists by other readers who are recommending their favourite Dsytopian novel that I nearly felt it was going to be a hopeless pursuit! You see, I suppose I wanted to seek out stories that had a bit of hope left inside them, where the dark undertones were not completely overtaking the plot, and where the level of violence would not supercede my tolerance for its inclusion! I was looking for stories that would stand out to me rather than disinterest me merely by plot premise! A daunting task but I like to challenge myself to step out of my comfort zone more times than naught, and this felt like a good challenge to me!
What I am keenly interested in is having this post serve as a conversation opener as I would love to hear from other SFN participants who are more well-versed in this genre than I am, put in their thoughts about the type of story that I am seeking and if they have found any that they think I might appreciate reading myself!? This is merely the start of a quest to seek out books and authors who write Dystopian stories that are gentle enough and engaging enough to draw my interest!
I suppose the Skeptic POV is simply this:
I do not think I’ll become over the moon excited about a Dystopian novel simply because I have had bad experiences with similar authors and books in the past.
I do not think we need to consume books with such darkly lit story-lines in order to learn something of the story.
I do not find it necessary to always walk down such a dark road of disillusionment to step back into the light.
I’m on the fence about whether or not I am going to enjoy the stories or if I’m going to find what I always felt I might if I read Dystopian stories: seriously serious plots in a world that feels like its holding me down with negativity.
Are there any happy endings in a Dystopian novel?
And, there you have it! A literary experiment to unearth if I can find a semblance of enjoyment from a genre I have positively avoided in the past! To see if there are a few authors and stories out there that fall close enough to what I generally find myself fond of reading, to where I can carve out a bit of a niche instead Dsytopian literature! More than even that, to use this post to serve as a stepping stone of conversation to help me further educate myself on the genre I know so little about! Let the reading begin!
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{SOURCE: Sci-Fi November Badge provided by Rinn Reads for participants to advert the month long event and to encourage people to follow along with those of us who are contributing}
Book Synopsis:
years running amok in the great outdoors. She received her bachelors degree in English Literature from Arizona State University. After being rejected from the masters program for creative writing she decided that she didn’t need a masters degree to tell her she could write, so she started really dedicating her time to finishing the story she’d started months earlier, with the goal of writing a complete novel, and getting it published. The result is her debut novel, The Dreamosphere, for which her own vivid, bizarre, and incomprehensible dreams provided the inspiration. Laura is an adrenaline junkie and will try anything once–or twice–or maybe three times. She can already check whitewater rafting, going down in a shark cage, and skydiving (three times) off of her list. Oh, and getting Lasik. It was five minutes of terror. She enjoys hiking, rowing, reading classic literature, embarking on new adventures and hobbies, volunteering regularly, and spending time with family. She currently resides in Phoenix, Ariz.
