I just finished McGregor today. This is so far my favorite story.
for one, we have primarily been following the humanoids for quite a few stories, with Kat being the big, bad splice. with Kat being the overall "enemy", I was getting an overall negative vibe about splices. They were the enemy. They were a problem.
This story was a huge change of pace. The splices were the good guys. And not just good guys - they are these oppressed and helpless things, complete with free will but forced into servitude. In fact, their only real purpose in life is to serve, and be property. to be denied any "human" rights.
I don't know about you, but reading this story certainly made me side a little with some of these splices. It sort of makes me wonder though, with the author now having now given both sides our emotional backing, how is it all going to play out? Are they going to forever conflict? Will the splices gain their freedom and live with humankind in relative peace?
Or maybe they'll kill each other. Ribofunk has been a bit unpredictable at times. We'll see how it all goes, yeah?
Monday, February 9, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Ribofunky
I'm really digging Ribofunk right now. Seriously, I have not enjoyed short stories this much since I read through some Tolstoy works.
It's all so... funky. This future world with these futuristic things. No concrete explanation of why things are the way they are, why we got weird animal-human mixes running around, no real explanation about the way the countries are now governed and put together... very odd, but I like it.
I also love the slang that goes on with the characters. It all seems so natural. I had never read it before, but I feel like i understand exactly what they mean when somebody says "Yeah, I latch". [I like Television City the most so far] I don't know where the author got this stuff, but it is freaking great.
I wonder if we'll have some kind of strange world like this in the future? Animal splicing is the biggest thing that comes to mind. We've already got a lot of capability to modify genetic codes of animals. Will we ever get as extreme as the funky stuff in these stories though? Will we ever have a human/dog/wolverine hybrid that talks to us? That'd be pretty boss.
Then again... what kind of effects would that have on humanity? I'm sure life would go on, but surely there would be consequences for messing with genetic codes of so many creatures. Maybe these new creatures would wipe out some existing creature [lets say some kind of hawk that primarilly feeds on field mice]. The hawks are killed off [for whatever reason, say the genetico-freak ate 'em all.] Suddenly there are tons of field mice. Maybe these mice get so out of control that they enroach on human civilication too much, and with them comes some diseases. Maaaayyybe we suffer a severe epidemic.
Far-fetched, yeah? It's more likely some Animal folks would ahve such a big problem with the splicing that it'd never happen anyway.
It's all so... funky. This future world with these futuristic things. No concrete explanation of why things are the way they are, why we got weird animal-human mixes running around, no real explanation about the way the countries are now governed and put together... very odd, but I like it.
I also love the slang that goes on with the characters. It all seems so natural. I had never read it before, but I feel like i understand exactly what they mean when somebody says "Yeah, I latch". [I like Television City the most so far] I don't know where the author got this stuff, but it is freaking great.
I wonder if we'll have some kind of strange world like this in the future? Animal splicing is the biggest thing that comes to mind. We've already got a lot of capability to modify genetic codes of animals. Will we ever get as extreme as the funky stuff in these stories though? Will we ever have a human/dog/wolverine hybrid that talks to us? That'd be pretty boss.
Then again... what kind of effects would that have on humanity? I'm sure life would go on, but surely there would be consequences for messing with genetic codes of so many creatures. Maybe these new creatures would wipe out some existing creature [lets say some kind of hawk that primarilly feeds on field mice]. The hawks are killed off [for whatever reason, say the genetico-freak ate 'em all.] Suddenly there are tons of field mice. Maybe these mice get so out of control that they enroach on human civilication too much, and with them comes some diseases. Maaaayyybe we suffer a severe epidemic.
Far-fetched, yeah? It's more likely some Animal folks would ahve such a big problem with the splicing that it'd never happen anyway.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Reading The Invention of Morel
This story seriously reminds me of The Voyeur. You're not entirely sure what exactly is going on. You got a main character who is a little off, and doesn't accurately understand what is going on. It's not bad. I just wish I understood it all.
I've only read about 50 pages in, and have two theories.
One: Our man is hallucinating. This can be supported with the many tales of people getting sick on the island, and all the various diseases and poisons present on the island.
Two: He's a ghost. One of the ladies in the story [can't for the life of me remember her name] mentions that "there is no time for ghost stories". That might not be coincidental. The main character is never noticed. He can stand right in front of people and they don't see him. He can squeeze right past them and they don't even notice. Weird, yeah?
Unfortunately, I think neither are true. For one, books like these are always so devilishly tricky. The real answer is probably something I've never caught. For two, the book will probably never explicitly tell us what exactly is going on. It's the nature of such stories to leave us wondering. That's what makes it good. That's what makes it fun to dig through... to uncover the metaphors, and understand the writing.
I've only read about 50 pages in, and have two theories.
One: Our man is hallucinating. This can be supported with the many tales of people getting sick on the island, and all the various diseases and poisons present on the island.
Two: He's a ghost. One of the ladies in the story [can't for the life of me remember her name] mentions that "there is no time for ghost stories". That might not be coincidental. The main character is never noticed. He can stand right in front of people and they don't see him. He can squeeze right past them and they don't even notice. Weird, yeah?
Unfortunately, I think neither are true. For one, books like these are always so devilishly tricky. The real answer is probably something I've never caught. For two, the book will probably never explicitly tell us what exactly is going on. It's the nature of such stories to leave us wondering. That's what makes it good. That's what makes it fun to dig through... to uncover the metaphors, and understand the writing.
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