Word Coded: horror

Philip Athans' Interview

By Unknown 3:47 AM aliens, art, author, blog, fantasy, hobby, horror, interview, love, philip athans, quotes, sci-fi, science, science fiction, space, story, transformers, writing, zombies

Philip Athans is an American editor and author who had written mostly Fantasy Books. Annihilation, Realms of The Elves, Realms of War and The Water Course Trilogy are some of his popular books.

Below is an Interview with Philip Athans conducted by Writer's Digest:

Writer’s Digest: What are some of the things that an apprentice writer within the genres of science fiction and fantasy typically “gets wrong,” or at least gets under your skin? Or, to put a positive spin on the question, what should a padawan scribe focus on if he or she wants to “get it right” when it comes to speculative fiction?

Philip Athans: Your own rules you must follow, young Skywalker!

In terms of the SF and fantasy genres in particular, consistently applied internal logic is absolutely essential. Genre readers want to believe, and your readers are happy to suspend their disbelief while your characters travel through hyperspace or battle the twenty-headed liger, but where they’ll start to turn on you and begin to complain that your SF and fantasy is “unrealistic” is when your characters spend three days in hyperspace to travel eight light-years in chapter one then get home again in fifteen minutes in chapter nine. You’ve established that the trip takes three days, how can they suddenly go faster and why didn’t they do that before? Now our entirely created FTL drive is “totally unrealistic.”

And beyond the SF, fantasy, or horror genres, I continue to advise authors of ANY genre to spend real effort learning the CRAFT of writing. I’ve seen some manuscripts come across my desk that have interesting characters, unique settings, and creative original ideas, but the author obviously has no idea how to punctuate a sentence, the manuscript is riddled with run-on sentences and/or sentence fragments, and spelling and style rules are out the window. And honestly, there are very few (read: NO) editors and agents willing to wade through a sea of errors to discover the heart of your story. Read newer published books with an eye toward where the commas go, where the quotation marks come in and out, or better yet, find a good English class either at your current school or at your local college’s continuing education program. A lot of the rules of English grammar and usage are “made to be broken” but there’s a big difference between intentionally bending or even breaking a rule, and just not knowing the rule in the first place.

WD: If given the power to greenlight a summer blockbuster, what unrepresented or “unknown” (to the mainstream, at least) science fiction or fantasy book or series would you love to see on the big screen?

PA: In honor of the great Frederik Pohl, who just recently passed away, I’d love to see a $200 million dollar version of his classic novel Gateway, but that’s hardly “unknown.” In general I think that in the same way that special effects have finally caught up to the vision of the comic book writers and artists, there’s now a huge backlist of classic SF and fantasy novels just begging to be filmed. I could probably rattle off a hundred off the top of my head. But as for the more obscure or older titles, I’d love to see a TV series that mines the classic Ace SF Doubles for Twilight Zone-style episodes. Tonight’s episode… “Gunner Cade”!

Get goin’ Hollywood!

WD: Which speculative theme do you feel is the most played out at this point: zombies, vampires, or superheroes? Or do you think these still have a leg to stand on?

PA: To some degree, every trope is equally played out or fresh. I’ve been saying for almost twenty years that we need a ten-year moratorium on vampires, but then there’s 30 Days of Night and Let Me In, and I think, okay, THOSE were fantastic, but the rest are … whatever. Zombies had lost it for me, too, until The Walking Dead hit AMC. I’m starting to see an awful glut of minimally-creative post-apocalypse stories now, but again, it’s not the fault of the genre or the sub-genre but the author. If all you’re doing is assembling Teen Vampires vs. Zombie Apocalypse in a ‘one from column A, one from column B’ sort of way, then you’re going to end up with a lifeless blob of text. But if you have something original to say and use those archetypes in a fresh, creative way, nothing is ever entirely out of style or off limits.

WD: Who is the greatest science fiction or fantasy villain who has yet to become a household name in mainstream pop culture? Do you think this dog will have its day?

PA: The bigger mainstream audience has yet to be really effectively introduced to the drow of the Forgotten Realms world. With Hasbro now a force in the movie business post-Transformers, there’s more reason to hope for a Drizzt movie now more than ever, and I think that’ll be what it takes to make the drow, and in particular characters like Matron Baenre and Malice Do’Urden, into pop culture icons beyond the Salvatore/Forgotten Realms/D&D fan communities. These are smart, sexy, powerful, and Evil (with a capital E) women that, if portrayed correctly, will knock people’s socks off.

WD: What is the first book you read that made you think, “I have got to write something like this someday!”

PA: I had this great illustrated SF anthology when I was a kid and in it was a short story by Harlan Ellison called “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” that literally made my head spin. That single short story took me from a kid who loved space opera entertainment and wrote and drew his own comic books to someone absolutely obsessed with the full spectrum of the genre. Harlan Ellison didn’t just raise the bar for writers of speculative fiction, he stole the bar, used it to beat people up, then jammed it into the genre sideways to permanently prop it open.

WD: Are there any new books or authors in science fiction or fantasy (or both!) have you excited? What are you reading right now?

PA: I’m always reading multiple books, jumping back and forth from five or six, and one of them tends to be some classic, golden age SF novel like Edgar Rice Burroughs’s John Carter of Mars, which I’m reading, and loving all over again right now. On the other end of the spectrum, I think Paolo Bacigalupi might save science fiction. If you haven’t read The Windup Girl, consider this an assignment. On the fantasy side, I’m eagerly awaiting the third book in J.M. McDermott’s Dogsland Trilogy and I will read anything by Catherynne M. Valente.

WD: Any new projects of your own around the corner?

PA: I’m hard at work on The Guide to Writing Monster & Aliens, a follow-up to The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction that’ll concentrate on monsters (of course). I love monsters of all genres and media, and I’m having a ball putting this together. My other current work-in-progress is a dark high fantasy that I have high hopes for. It’ll be full of demons, and I plan to take all my own advice on creating great monsters, and get as much additional advice as I can from some friends and associates, too. Writing the novel and the monster guide at the same time should make both of them better!

Citation:

Writer's Digest. "Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction: An Interview with Philip Athans". Last Modified, September 11, 2013. http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/writing-fantasy-and-science-fiction-an-interview-with-philip-athans.html

I haven't know Philip Athans for so long and well yet and I have never read his books before. However, this Philip Athans' interview that I found not long ago in the Internet during my spare time amazed me. Perhaps, this is one of my favorite Sci-fi author's interview.

After some time reading this interview over and over again, I find it interesting. Probably, this is because I share the same habits of reading books as Philip and was attracted to sci-fi world in a similar way as him. As mentioned before in my previous post, my interest in Sci-fi began when I first read The Maze Runner. This is probably the point where I began thinking of writing sic-fi short stories or fanfics. Throughout my first experience in writing sci-fi story and planning sci-fi plots, Philip Athans' interview had helped me understand better of what a good sci-fi plot looked like. I really like his answer to the first question in this interview. It basically tells about the skeletal system of science fiction. Being logical and imaginative at the same time is quite complicated, esp. when you have to create your own rules, which probably might defy the world of logic. But, I find this as a simple element now after some practices and reading of science fiction books.

To sum it up, to become a good sci-fi writer might take some times, but its not a hard thing to do if you are really passionate about it. Practices in 2 years might feel short when you have already developed your skills in building your own little world with your laws. Reading sci-fi books and watching sci-fi movies serve as an accelerator if you want to be able to write inspirational sci-fi stories. Sometimes, spending a time alone by yourself while thinking about the world in another way and asking yourself the "what if" questions also help your ability in creating new imaginative worlds.

The Maze Runner

By Unknown 8:59 PM book, fantasy, Gally, gladers, horror, james dashner, love, Minho, movie, mystery, Newt, novel, quotes, runner, sci-fi, science fiction, The Maze Runner, Thomas, writing, young adults

Do you enjoy writing science fiction story, or perhaps reading sic-fi books? Because I, myself is a fan of sci-fi writings. One of my favorite sci-fi book is The Maze Runner, and I am sure that if you are a sci-fi fans, you have heard of this book. The Maze Runner - followed by "The Scorch Trials" - is a trilogy written by James Dashner. The movie had came out a two months ago in the cinema on September 19. In this post, I will be reviewing the The Maze Runner book.

Be careful for spoilers.

I read 'The Maze Runner' book two years ago when I was in my early senior high year. This is one of the books that I enjoyed reading. The Maze Runner is under the genre of "sci-fi", dystopia and young-adults fiction. The story tells about the life in a world where diseases had come to kill many people on earth and some of the people who survives were put into trial by a department called WICKED. The trials basically involve the survivals to be put in a big maze where they have to find ways to survive and answers regarding the maze.

The book began with a male teenager named Thomas who lost his memories and found himself in a big box that brought him to a place called 'The Glade' located in the middle of a giant maze populated by young male teenagers. Thomas met new friend there, including Alby - the first person who lived there, Newt - the person in command after Alby, Minho - a runner, 12 years old Chuck - the youngest boy who lived there, Gally - a Glader who didn't trust Thomas, etc. Everyone in the glade has a role/work. The roles there range from being a runner to a cook. (Runners are basically people who explore around the maze.)

As the day continued, Thomas learnt about the Maze and how things work there. The box will come once a month to deliver new kid and once a week to bring the Glader supplies such as clothes and foods. In the next morning, Thomas also learnt about the "Grievers
" - how their stings would sometimes help in bringing back memories during the process of the "Changing". So, everything was fine and great, until the next afternoon (after Thomas came) when the box came up, delivering another newbie. A girl.

Everyone was confused the moment the girl arrived. In that moment, she as well called "Thomas" although Thomas didn't remember anything about her at all (after his memories are erased.)

It was since Teresa (the girl) came that everything changed. Teresa had been saying that she knew Thomas and that They were the one who did all this, did all the cruel things to the Gladers, that they were once part of WICKED.

As days passed by, Thomas was able to achieved his goal in becoming a runner. This happened after the case when Alby and Minho are left outside in the maze for the whole night with Thomas - who actually violated the Glade's rules. During the days when Thomas run, he was able to learn lots of things about the maze. One day, Minho and him as well found a way into a Griever's hole after seeing some dead griever going not hat direction and never coming back.

On the other side, days after Teresa came, the box stopped sending supplies. The maze's wall stopped closing and one night, grievers were all over the Glade - the night when Alby got stung. It was also around these days when Thomas found out about his telepathy skills/power that allowed him to talk to Teresa in his mind.

As Alby went through the "changing", he had been developing a bit of hatred for Thomas through the some bit of memories that he could have back. By this, the next night when the griever are back to the Maze, Thomas purposely stung himself to one of the griever so that he could as well have some of his memories back.

During the Changing, Thomas was able to grab some of his lost memories back although, still not much were there in his mind. Using his memories and Minho's findings from what he did everyday (exploring around the maze), Minho, Newt and Thomas led half of the gladers out of the Glade while half - who is in Gally's side, stayed in the Glade. Thomas believed that their exits lied on the Griever's hole.

Along the journey, some of the gladers didn't survive when fighting with the griever and less than half made it throughout the deadly beginning. As the gladers went deeper into the Griever's hole, they finally found a machine that allowed them to input a code into a screen, which turns out to be useless as they could just press on a button that allows them to stop the maze (if I am not mistaken).

After pressing the button, the griever's hole opened them an exit that leads to a quite large room filled with people. As the gladers stood silently, a woman and a man then walked towards them, which later the gladers found out to be Gally. Under the control of the creators (as what Gally said), Gally aimed to shoot Thomas but Chuck was the one hit instead as he moved in front of Thomas, protecting him from the deadly bullet.

Soon after Chuck's death, a group of rescuers came to bring the Gladers to another place where the world seemed to be more colorful. There, everything seemed fine almost perfect.

The Maze Runner is a book I read two years ago. I would recommend this book to people who loved Science-fiction, dystopia and mystery. Along the story, tension are in most part of the plots and the story made you wonder a lot about the ending. When reading the book, it took me quite long to finish the first half of it as the book's opening and introductions are not that catchy to me (perhaps because the introduction is too long and not much actions took place).

My favorite characters in the story are Minho and Newt. I find Minho really cool since the first time he was introduced. Among all the many reasons I liked Minho, the most distinct one would be his straightforward nature and the aloof (but in a friendly way) behavior he possessed, which impressed me the most. Personally, I really don't like Thomas the first time he was introduced because he reminds a bit of a "whiner".

Overall, The Maze Runner is a great book to read. There are lots of scientific imaginations that will draw your interest further to the science-fiction world. Elements of sci-fi are also used well throughout the story. This was probably the book that draws me first to the science fiction world before The Hunger Games series. I like how the author includes lots of imaginative ideas esp. about the maze and grievers.

Below is a map of the Glade.

These are words discovered by Minho and Thomas after seeing the patterning changes that the Maze walls made.

“Just see for yourself in a minute. The Runners’ll be back soon; then those big walls are going to move until the gaps are closed.”

“You’re jacked in the head,” Thomas muttered.

He couldn’t see how the mammoth walls could possibly be mobile—felt so sure of it he relaxed, thinking Chuck was just playing a trick on him.

They reached the huge split that led outside to more stone pathways. Thomas gaped, his mind emptying of thought as he saw it all firsthand.

“This is called the East Door,” Chuck said, as if proudly revealing a piece of art he’d created.

Thomas barely heard him, shocked by how much bigger it was up close. At least twenty feet across, the break in the wall went all the way to the top, far above. The edges that bordered the vast opening were smooth, except for one odd, repeating pattern on both sides. On the left side of the East Door, deep holes several inches in diameter and spaced a foot apart were bored into the rock, beginning near the ground and continuing all the way up.

On the right side of the Door, foot-long rods jutted out from the wall edge, also several inches in diameter, in the same pattern as the holes facing them on the other side. The purpose was obvious.

“Are you kidding?” Thomas asked, the dread slamming back into his gut. “You weren’t playing with me? The walls really move?”

“What else would I have meant?”

Thomas had a hard time wrapping his mind around the possibility. “I don’t know. I figured there was a door that swung shut or a little mini-wall that slid out of the big one. How could these walls move? They’re huge, and they look like they’ve been standing here for a thousand years.” And the idea of those walls closing and trapping him inside this place they called the Glade was downright terrifying.

Chuck threw his arms up, clearly frustrated. “I don’t know, they just move. Makes one heck of a grinding noise. Same thing happens out in the Maze—those walls shift every night, too.” Thomas, his attention suddenly snapped up by a new detail, turned to face the younger boy.

“What did you just say?”

“Huh?”

You just called it a maze—you said, ‘same thing happens out in the maze.’” Chuck’s face reddened. “I’m done with you.

I’m done.” He walked back toward the tree they’d just left.

Thomas ignored him, more interested than ever in the outside of the Glade. A maze? In front of him, through the East Door, he could make out passages leading to the left, to the 36

right, and straight ahead. And the walls of the corridors were similar to those that surrounded the Glade, the ground made of the same massive stone blocks as in the courtyard. The ivy seemed even thicker out there. In the distance, more breaks in the walls led to other paths, and farther down, maybe a hundred yards or so away, the straight passage came to a dead end.

“Looks like a maze,” Thomas whispered, almost laughing to himself. As if things couldn’t have gotten any stranger. They’d wiped his memory and put him inside a gigantic maze. It was all so crazy it really did seem funny.

“His heart skipped a beat when a boy unexpectedly appeared around a corner up ahead, entering the main passage from one of the offshoots to the right, running toward him and the Glade. Covered in sweat, his face red, clothes sticking to his body, the boy didn’t slow, hardly glancing at Thomas as he went past. He headed straight for the squat concrete building located near the Box.

Thomas turned as he passed, his eyes riveted to the exhausted runner, unsure why this new development surprised him so much. Why wouldn’t people go out and search the maze?

Then he realized others were entering through the remaining three Glade openings, all of them running and looking as ragged as the 37

guy who’d just whisked by him. There couldn’t be much good about the maze if these guys came back looking so weary and worn.

He watched, curious, as they met at the big iron door of the small building; one of the boys turned the rusty wheel handle, grunting with the effort. Chuck had said something about runners earlier. What had they been doing out there?"

Excerpt From: James Dashner. “The Maze Runner.” iBooks.

Dissociation

By Unknown 8:42 PM aliens, dissociation, elements, fantasy, frankenstein, future, horror, love, mystery, robots, sci-fi, science, science fiction, space, story, writing

Science fiction stories maybe hard to understand when read for the first time. However, when read over and over again, they mostly sparks the readers' interest at the end. Just like any other genres, science fictions created stories with its own unique outline and scenarios. But, its not about the writing that makes a story science fiction. It's not about the words used nor the imageries or atmosphere created. What makes a writing a Science Fiction is if that writing possessed a natural characteristic of SF, which is Dissociation.

Dissociation is a term which describe alienation. Science fiction writers always use this to create a plot which is partly unreal to the world their readers are in. The focus or goal of this is to build up the effects of once again, "Alienation" - making things different from the audience's realistic view/world.

Dissociation can be classified to many more specific categories. It could be technological, fantastical, mystical, horrific, etc. Technological include spaceship, nano-techs, robots, etc. Fantastical would be like dragons, magic, supernatural power, etc. As for mystical, relating to believe and some mystery, Airbender, demons, etc are some good examples from them. Lastly, dragons, flying horse and gryphons are part of the fantastical elements.

The element that is closely attached to "Dissociation" in SF is the "setting". The fact that most SF stories are set in the future creates a deeper effects of alienation and strange unfamiliarities with the realistic world that we are living now. Example, a story set 50 years in the future would have a different situations and living standards compared to our generation. For sure, technology would be more advance and people might have invented laptop that is the size of an iPhone now. However, it is not a restriction for SF stories to be set in the past, although this case is rare but does exist (e.g. 1984 by George Orwell). SF books set in the past focus more on our history scientifically.

In building a strong "dissociation", one must consider the questions "What happens at that current period?" and "What's the purpose of building that particular effects. Knowing what currently happens during the period a person write help him/her to make contrasting/unfamiliar ideas to achieve the dissociated effects he/she is trying to achieve. As for "the purpose", always remember that sci-fi readers love reading a story that contains a great unfamiliarities with the world they are in. Therefore, thinking of the purpose of the dissociation you are trying to make is very important. Example, the creation of the character "Spock", a pointy eared vulcan, in the series of Star Wars is done to purposely build an alienation effects in the character.

Dissociation sure is an important element in SF stories, but it doesn't contribute wholly to the elements of SF. A story that has "dissociation" but no other elements would not make it a SF story. Note also, although SF is about alienation, its characters doesn't always means someone who is fictional. It might be us, human, who experience the 'dissociation'. It is also possible to create unrealistic characters and objects in a sci-fi stories as long as they follow the theory of Science.

This is an example of a six paragraphs sci-fi story titled "Reflection". Try reading it.

The door opened to reveal a giant, circular room. Floors black, walls black. In the center there was a pulsing light that illuminated the tiles of the floor. He stepped inside the threshold.

"Chris Arlen." He calmly directed his voice at the floor.

The tiles on the floor flickered until their glow was consistent and growing. In front of him the three-dimensional image of a young man materialized. He was all there, digitally.

As he stared at the hologram of Chris, slowly turning with animated chest movements, he saw that the re-creation hadn’t missed a thing. His brown hair slightly too long for his face, the sneakers he should have thrown out, the hole in his neck below the ear that put him here.

He paused a moment, looking at that hole, and suddenly felt the weight of the gun in his holster. Guilt and shame rushed from his finger tips to his temples. It smoldered there. “I’m done in here,” he shouted to the attendant outside the room.

"You have another thirty minutes before this reflection period is over, officer," a synthesized voice returned.

Tumblr. Sci-fi In Six: Reflection. Last modified: October 30, 2013. http://scifiinsix.tumblr.com/post/65576117142/reflection

As you can see, this short plot possessed some dissociation effects in the mentions of 'Hologram'. People might know what hologram is, but because we never seen it live and never experience it, it becomes something unusual to us. Again, the character here is not dissociated because he is a human, someone like us who experience the alienation effects. The 'hole in his neck' in the same way is also intensifying the effects of dissociation further as normal human beings do not have any holes on our neck. Also if you think it logically, it is unrealistic for this to happen.

Consequently, it is important to remember "Dissociation" as one of the affecting elements of a SF writing. It is also used to purposely create the effects of unrealism or alienation to the readers and his/her realistic world. SF writing without dissociation will never be classified as one.

This is a quotes I took from the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, which have a distinct "dissociation" element in it. Try reading it briefly and you will know what I mean.

I saw—with shut eyes, but acute mental vision—I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be, for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world.

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

Quotes Analysis

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