Anna Sibilia

David Steiling 

When the Road Forks

Which Path Will We Choose?

It’s hard to believe that I am a part of a world that reforms so much of itself within each passing year. There are so many resources and innovations that we take for granted and act as if they have been there for all time, yet they’ve only been around for the better part of six years: be it handheld gaming systems, hosting sites like YouTube, Facebook, or the sudden climb of Apple products, there have been countless new media and devices introduced over my lifespan. When  my parents were my age, everything was still being tested and many of the facilities we have today were not as popular. It has been a journey for many of both a social and personal level, as access to new things or people have opened up, and gradually been built upon each other we have reached the point now where most everything can be automated. Now the world has a global tie to keep everything together, to share news both devastating and joyful, to aid in reaching new audiences and perspective, to tell stories and share experiences, it is easier now to be part of the larger whole of humanity. 

With all of this support, it is safe to assume that people will keep inventing and toying around with the recycling of old ideas; people will keep wanting to explore, create, to leave a monolith among the sands of time that declares that they were alive and important enough to be remembered. For some, it drives them to exhaust themselves and slave over their work whereas others are simply happy to have a family legacy to share with newer generations. This constant momentum, however, has presented a lot of new challenges for the youth of the nations, and this is where a major dichotomy is found.

Although some demands were harder to meet a few decades ago, life on a whole wasn’t as impossible as it is today for those who struggle. Problems weren’t as dire and it was easier to find help without having a system full of loopholes in your way, but now, since this system has gotten too big, it presents a barrier between those suffering and those who should be able to ameliorate their situation. That is a huge influence as to why many people keep inventing newer and more affordable creations, to help solve a problem that a broken system can not (or in a few cases, will not). It does spell hope for the future, for the who can make a difference will keep trying, and progress compels the norm to change.

That’s where I stand on this issue: I have hope for the future. There is something in me that refuses to see just the snide or cynical nature in people, there must be good trapped underneath. Although I have encountered a few who’ve done their best to prove this wrong, I refuse to give up this notion. Perhaps that’s too wishful, but I don’t care. The last few decades have done everything from lowering the rate of mothers dying in childbirth to finding cures for cancer and significantly aiding the fight against disease and world hunger. The important things about innovations is that it must have some sort of humanitarian message in order to spread, and those that do have succeeded a thousand times over; without this odd pathos, there wouldn’t be too much glory in the world, now would there? There’s an infinite amount of way that humanity could cease, from rapture to epidemic, to a supernova that destroys our entire solar system, and yet we are all here. I am, you are (presumably, if you’re still reading this), and that’s amazing. 

That’s something worth sharing with others, don’t you think?

Anna Sibilia

David Steiling 

Future Fantasies

What Lies Beyond?

Technology is an obsessive interface in today’s society, everyone is plugged in and constantly checking their presence on the internet or other connective networks. Be it social connections between real and digital friends, an organization of professionals on a website to broadcast their talents, or a series of numbers that represent valid identity and monetary value, information and connection is everything. Some people use to to compare egos and others use it out of necessity, but for most individuals involved, the life we live is filled with the flow of data. Eras past without too much technological influence are now seen as antiquarian and ancient, almost barbaric in their ways -though some were, to be fair, and the very notion of living a life without some sort of crutch is completely impossible for those being reared in such a technological age. 

This dependence on such things is what makes the satire that focuses on the addictive nature of everything electronic so biting and accurate. It is the driving commentary behind movies like TiMER, where people are so addicted to technology that they will let it dictate their life partners and romantic compatibility. The movie even spares a disclaimer that the TiMER isn’t based on fate, but on chemicals and genetic makeup, which seems contradictory to an emotion that seems routed in intuition, personhood, and integrity as well as the physical factors and needs of the individuals involved. It is asinine to assume that just because two people share compatible genes that they should end up together, so it begs the question of whether people are so invested in the idea of the TiMER that they will blindly adhere to it, or whether they don’t see how something like a digital countdown watch will dictate their romantic future. 

Another notion is that anything less than connected is unusable or outdated; when everything becomes outmoded quickly, there is much to be desired for something that cannot keep up with the current updates. This goes back centuries though, as even the cultures from different parts of the world used to look on their neighbors as ‘uncivilized’ for not following the same constraints and societal patterns as them. Religious organizations used to think that anyone outside of their faith was barbaric and sacrificing children in the name of false gods, much like how the peoples of the past are portrayed in ‘I think We’re all Bozos on this Bus’ portrayed them to be. 

The common notion from these messages is that as humanity continues to invent, we become a slave to our creations; we keep innovating and updating them, so it is only natural to do the same to ourselves. This can be problematic though for not everyone has access to such wonderful things, and others simply do not wish to be part of the spiderweb of data lest it trap them in its strings. Yet we are taught to want this and that, and keep investing in these new ideations; it helps both the economy, as well as helping spread a better product. Though the closeness to the truth is still very real: we are so entangled in this part of our world that sometimes we forget to take part in the moment or focus on another task. I will not preach too much about a higher morality here though, I too am addicted to this facet of life: I checked my tumblr about eight times while writing this over the span of twenty minutes.

Anna Sibilia

David Steiling 

Journeys Far Beyond

Where Are We Going?

Writing is an unfortunately under appreciated form of art. The amount of skill and technique that goes into eloquent works is a staggering contrast to what many may believe; authors are able to take raw elements of intelligent communication and use them to convey worlds unknown or those which hadn’t been fathomed before. It is a painstaking and deliberate course of planning, editing, suffering, self-defeat, and rapture at the end of a first draft, only to restart the process once the revised content is needed. In order to help the author focus their work, as well as help provide a narrower selection for potential audiences, genres were created as an organizational function; works with similar elements would be classified in the same categories, making everything simpler for an audience to navigate through as well as chose something that piques their respective interests. 

Yet this system also implemented a literary hazard: genre boxing, the act of summarizing innumerable works together into a lumped sum because of an archetype they might fall into. With all the diverse stories out there, it is unjust to state that one can only amount to the full extent of a single element, yet it is common practice today. For example, Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, George Lucas’ Star Wars, and Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz can all be summarized as ‘fiction’ though one is clearly fantasy, another is science fiction, and the last is realistic fiction. Since these movies are not based upon true events or practices, they cannot be identified as non-fiction or even historic fictionalizations, and when spoken of in this manner, it can lead one uneducated on the different types of sub-genres to believe that only the most popular elements of a genre are present (I myself didn’t read a book series that featured vampires because I thought that too many elements similar to another would be present). 

This does, however, make it all the more refreshing when authors dream up stories that are harder to define than the norm, especially short stories. With these shorter tales, one must accept that they are, most likely, dropped into the middle of a scenario and cannot go back to the beginning of everything; there isn’t a creation story, the world simply is whether the audience understands it or not and they must read along regardless of how the scenario began. That’s what makes the tale of Distance to the Moon so different, everything is simple and understandable without being boring. It is a tale that is wondrous without being too fantastic, and the characters are the real emblems and themes, not that the setting is a world where the moon visited the Earth. It made the impossible seem trivial, having the actors be the focus though they were interacting with paradoxes and unattainable desires. It is hard to classify this work as anything, for it is so grounded in the longings and hearts of its cast that it would be unfair to say the story is primarily anything. Is it a romance? Well there is unrequited love in it, but it does not focus solely on that topic. Is is a fantasy? The moon descends from the skies to dance across the surface of the Earth, but other than that it is a normal world. Is it science fiction? There isn’t much in the way of interplanetary travel since the people never technically leave Earth  (well, save one) and journey to the stars.

This story is and isn’t, a paradox in it’s own right, and I’m glad that such a cute tale can be so. 

Anna Sibilia

David Steiling

Invisibility in Numbers

Influences Overwriting Each other

Many governments and societal structures depend on the concept of the ‘majority rule’, a term defined as “a political system in which the group that has the most members has the power to make decisions” (Merriam-Webster) and operates on the belief that the larger percentage of people will have the better intentions and will pick a more practical solution that benefits the whole. This is not always the case for it is the balance in the information’s ethos, pathos, and logos that will sway either side of a conflict one way or another. The advertisement and media are professionals at this, selling half of a story in order to sway the outcome for it will benefit them, and most of the time the masses are none the wiser for it is difficult to find the logos in anything if pathos is the only source being exploited or reported on. 

This mindset ultimately carries into fiction as well, for in order to be applicable and relatable to a large audience, a work must have a level of generic or basic ideas, right? In I Live with You, the protagonist is more like a generic shadow that casts itself onto another person that was barely more tangible. Even though the mina character didn’t have the physical commodities of the other, they were able to pull the strings and orchestrate the other person like a puppet, controlling everything from their wardrobe to their tastes in food and eventually their romantic interest. They give the other no choice but to submissively follow the new pattern put in place for them, like how many people must follow a majority rule though they disagree with the implemented law or practice. It is unfair for the ones who did not get what they wanted often cannot turn the situation around or are put at a purposeful disadvantage, that way if discourse was to arise from the conflict, it would not matter and nothing too great could be done to fix the issue at hand. 

Likewise this story shows how a woman’s life, once turned upside down, has no situational power to clean up the mess. The main character preaches about how they do everything for the benefit of the other, how they ‘don’t steal’, when almost every action they take in the story is  because they want to watch a mess unfold for entertainment; that’s all their new company is to them: a thing to be toyed with, not an actual person with rights. While the unnamed woman was introverted, she was safe in her pattern and liked her ways; she was simply content in her life and didn’t feel the need to explore too much, yet then the unwelcome influence weasels into her life and she cannot help but comply. She struggles to keep her bearings, keep her life together, and though she might have some fleeting moments of happiness, they are few and far between and heavily outweighed by the strife put on her by a nosy sadist. 

 This disregard for another autonomy and well being is a theme that exists today but has little recognition in mass media -for obvious reasons. By trying to make sure that the largest majority is happy, the same groups are constantly unrepresented and taken advantage of; it is a vicious cycles that, thankfully, is being broken in recent works along wth the aid of social media, but it is still reinforced by the major outlets. However as more stories and new faces begin to come to light, it is more clear that there are far more voices and imaginations that should have attention given to them. What is safe is not innovative, and what is innovative is often not imagined by those whom have lived in comfort. 

Anna Sibilia

David Steiling 

Synthesized

Improving the Imperfect

The plethora of sub-genres within science fiction are innumerable and can either transcend seamlessly into one another or be as stark a contrast as night and day. These little niches of the overarching whole provide areas of concentrated taste, but their purposeful focus can lead the audience to newer themes that may not have been relevant to the original whole. Cyberpunk executes this with a mindful irony; in the beginning of science fiction a common theme was man triumphing over machines. However this often gritty, stylish sub-genre blends the barriers between the organic and mechanical and gives rise to a bastardization of both -which can be crude or sublime depending on the mindset and desires of the author, though a healthy mix of both usually populates a story to show the evolution and ease of the techno-organic merge over periods of time. It is apparent that the nature of man doesn’t make the transition as easily though, for even when the advancements in technology are great, people are constantly seeking to abuse it for a greater evil. Dystopia is such a common construction within this frame that merely saying Cyberpunk will bring to mind the fluid, high technology and seamless synthesis of man and machine, with a dark and brutal underside to the highlighted chrome.  

Such is the conflict in William Gibson’s Johnny Mnemonic, a short story placed in a crime controlled society where people and information are the currency; certain individuals like Johnny are used as memory banks for illicit information -portable, living hard drives for data. Yet when the crime lord clients no longer have use for him,  Johnny finds himself in an entirely new situation: go underground, leave the advanced technology behind and never surface. 

This is a striking conflict for the protagonist as he cannot fully dissociate with the machinery, it is literally hardwired into him. Instead, he finds aid in the company of assassin Molly Millions, a cyborg built for executions who in turn introduces Johnny to the society of Lo Teks, a group of beast-like humans whom thrive without the high-grade technology and electricity that he was used to. 

This is an underlying theme in Cyberpunk literature: the less someone uses technology, the more brutish they are portrayed; it lies in keeping with how older generations will stick to the beliefs they were introduced to as they grew up and resist the changes that come with each passing era. ‘The old ways are old and ill-fitting for a reason, progress and society wants you to adapt and conform!’ eHowever this also presents the situation in which Johnny found himself in: once people are wired into the system, it is impossible for them to leave. Everything they do leaves traces and from those small trails, anyone can be found. In a society where information is power and everyone is linked to a single data stream, it can be assumed that those on top are those who can manipulate and regulate that stream with the most ease and influence -be it destructive or constructive. 

Cyberpunk often raises the message of how much technology we as humans will accept into our lives, be it in our own bodies, our society, to fulfill our more base needs or even just do menial tasks we do not want to deal with anymore. After a while the line between flesh, bone, blood, oil, and wires becomes too blurred to dictate what is what, and it is easier for anything to assume an identity. ‘What is human’ is a prevalent question that many authors leave open to speculation for their audience has to decide for themselves based upon the character’s actions and the repercussions of the world around them, much like how we function in the real world today. 

Anna Sibilia

David Steiling 

Diversity, Discrimination, and Demonization

Dictating Humanity

The human condition and philosophy is a convoluted mess on the best of days with so many ideas and perspectives clashing in an uproar and creating a somewhat childish clamor. It is hard to share a common ground in a mass since what one culture might uphold has normality might not align with another, and thus a discrepancy is born. The general consensus on such matters is not usually so terrible, however, this disconnect does make it harder for some people to connect with others; how can one expect to understand another if they have not felt or lived a moment akin to another being’s? It is this situational barrier that separates many people from one another, causing rifts based upon beliefs -religious, political, social, anything really, and from there it is easier to begin observing more disparities between individuals. It does not help that many societies also have a competitive mindset that helps cultivate this attitude of separating yourself from another; demonization is far easier than trying to connect with someone else. This tactic is also used in war propaganda: if your enemy is inhuman and you set out to kill them, then you’re a hero, but if they’re a person, what does that make you?

J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned Giant illustrates this point perfectly, communicating the nature of the situation and truth of the actions with far more accuracy than most would like to admit. When the giant is first discovered the townsfolk are first hesitant and trepidatious; here is a being that looks like something from the elder tales and legends of ancient mythos, and those present are not sure of how to interact or even comprehend the massive corpse. Yet after the first few brave souls start clambering on top of the fallen goliath, the masses soon follow suit. Curiosity is the motivator at this point, prompting the scientific community to investigate and glean as much as they can to better comprehend this strange creature. After the initial shock has worn off, the giant’s body is no longer treated with care, but just as another object to be exploited -even circus owners wondered if they could procure the specimen for their shows only to gawk at the size of the felled legend and realize that such a feat would be too great for them to accomplish in a cost-effective and practical manner. Once rejected by the showmen who’d wanted the giant for shock and awe, the body was gradually left to the public; people trampled all over it, had campfires on its flesh, and began carving and otherwise defiling it. Ultimately, the body was carved up and disposed of, save for a few bones or otherwise preservable novelties that were sold. 

This story portrays how when something new is suddenly thrust into the faces of the public, the people do not know what to make of it. The giant held no threat, it was just a corpse on a beach, and thus there was nothing to be too afraid of. After investigation had been done and the scholarly community had ran its own course, the body was gradually just another commodity used for bewilderment, and further fell into a state of disrepair as it naturally decayed and was removed piece by piece. One of the key moments in the tale is how the protagonist notes that once the first incisions were made and gotten rid of, the carving of profanities and swastikas soon began. The body was already dead, but it was not allowed to rest; it was inhuman in origin already, so who was to say that it wasn’t acceptable to disgrace it further? It was already being cut up anyways.

This work points a finger at how society will react in a manner towards new and foreign ideas: first with fear, then academically, but then an exploited or apathetic view takes over as the novelty wears off. it doesn’t take long for these ‘new’ ideas to be lost in current day-to-day life without too much relevance and more often than not the public does not fully understand just what they are glossing over.

Anna Sibilia

David Steiling

Science and Faith

Unraveling the Mystics

The sense of a greater destiny has always been a prevalent theme throughout the literary spectrum, but it is mostly exploited in fantasy and science fiction. Be it from a poor farm boy finding out he will rectify the balance of the universe or from a man journeying to another planet and becoming a part of its people, science fiction loves remodeling the biblical calling that audiences are drawn to. While some authors prefer to explain and debunk the spiritual calling based upon researched or scientific principles, others love to blend the two into a singularity; what defines God, and can you really quantify a spiritual calling or reduce it to deluded thinking or actions of one who rejects the hard reality of life and nature?

Yet there must be a balance between the fact and faith, as too much of either side begins to make a story sound either humorless or preachy; the prophecies used by many a story are often vague and compelling for it gives the authors freedom without being too specific or aligned with one side over the other. The shorts stories The Nine Billion Names of God and The Star explore a different twist on this matter, presenting an unusual connection between the scientific discoveries of man and the sublime nature of a higher existence: what happens when man finds God through science, but He is not what we were led to believe He was? The characters in these stories are skeptical, always questioning the greater presence until they are confronted by it with overwhelming proof. 

The stories implement the high-minded attitude of man only to render it feeble and riddled with doubt, thereby deconstructing the worldview of the characters involved -something more popular in fiction- and leaving their now insignificant conscious to the mercy of the higher powers. Using this format has led to many a new creation story throughout the fantasy genre, spawning how humans turn into heroes at the compelling of a deity in need of a champion, but here it is left to speculation. These gods do not ask anything of or even acknowledge the mortals who’ve witnessed their power; they simply are in the same space -or evidence of them exists in that space- which leads the confused humans to make their own judgement. Yet how do we dream God? Evidently we cannot, or at least, we should not, for the gods shown in the stories do not appear to take kindly to the likes of man’s musings. 

This is not the archetype of a deity interested in redemption or salvation so much as it a force that acts as it pleases and does not want interference. It is an enigma that wishes to remain hidden away, or at the very least, not a subject of science. If you were to find out the mysteries of a godly being, what would stop you from usurping their power? No wonder the destruction of life happened in both stories (though we are left to speculate on why the events of The Star unfolded as they did), for the creations were learning too much about their creators. In these examples, prophecies are not always interpreted to redeem the world of man, but destroy it; sometimes the learned knowledge was better left unknown. 

Anna Sibilia

David Steiling

Reinventing Genesis

Remaking The Gods That Made All

Within the realm of the fantastic, where mortals manipulate fate and can conquer death, there exists a strange fascination with the beginning. Every world must have a start (and thus many also have an end, either from thinning resources, war, a primordial evil doctrine rising from the depths of hell, or another great apocalypse that must be averted by the hero’s influence) which is either wrought by the will of the gods, an ancient mystery that has long since been forgotten in the recesses of time, or a pseudo-scientific account of how the elements of the universe coincided to create a new planet which would eventually yield life. Yet it is when authors reinvent the gods of our own world that piques my interest the most; there are so many pre-existing legends that many do not dare to learn, so sharing them with a more broad audience and introducing them to those uneducated in the stories of cultures outside of their native sphere is usually as fantastic and immersive (if not even more so) than weaving a new tale.

Neil Gaiman does this expertly in his novels American Gods and Anansi Boys, which fuze a representation of our own modern and evolving world with the laws and traditions of the ancient minds. This setting exploits the ways that past and future constantly collide and often quarrel with each other, and in the case of the latter, it is revealed in the way of a dysfunctional family -something many in a modern audience relate to, especially when it comes to the practice of archaic traditions or a more current outlook on life. As readers delve deeper into the mess that once was Charles Nancy’s (‘Fat Charlie Nancy’) mundane life, we experience a tale of misunderstanding, chaos, and convoluted perspectives: how do the two sons of the trickster god Anansi interact in a world that rejects magic but tramples those without the ability to see and feel wonder? Charles was too unassuming and bland, yet his twin half ‘Spider’ was too far invested in the mystical to properly understand the ways of men. Their plight is caused by their lack of mutual comprehension and they must learn to understand the ways of the other to save themselves in the end. 

This message is Charlie’s entire quest, and because of it we (as an audience that is most likely not too well versed in the beliefs of African gods) are exposed to a tale that is far from familiar; we see a pantheon of spirits unlike the Olympian champions and their mighty heroes, more foreign than the Nordic Aesir and their viking kin, but something that simply exists at the Beginning of the World. These gods are all treacherous, as they have been witness to more millennia than most others and know how to influence the minds of men, so it is not challenging for them to throw Charlie into a tailspin. Once they can influence the modern children of their old adversary, these gods wreak havoc on the pair and it is only when Charlie comprehends his birthright and Spider his brother’s world that the pair can finally coexist and set things right. The balance that the two end up reaching at the end is one that speaks volumes: though we may move forward, we should not forget the past; traditions survive throughout the ages and there is much to be learned from generations before, yet it is how we embody those traditions today in a modern realm that properly defines our nature. Beliefs are constructs of their times, but there will always be a bit of truth inside the story -often hidden in the beginning. 

Anna Sibilia

David Steiling

November 9, 2015

Bloodchild responses

Are there any prominent symbols the story? If so, what are they and how are they used?

Within the story, there is a cyclical symbolism concerning eggs. We are first shown the Humans consuming the eggs of the Tlic for nutrients and strength. They are a meant to be a life-giving and fortifying food to help with the aging and growth of the Humans that consume them, yet towards the end of the story, we are shown why this food is the main nourishment for Humans underneath the care of the Tlic. Humans are host organisms for implanted eggs as the Tlic cannot carry their incubating young. Once hatched, the grubs then eat their way out of their shell and will start attacking its host for its own nourishment. It is a slightly ironic element to the story that Humans are brought up eating something that will eventually be implanted inside them and consume them.

2) What connections (if any) did you make with the story? Discuss the elements with which you were able to connect? 

Personally, my helminthophobia and parasitophobia kicked in while reading this story. I have a longstanding fear of of some of the more graphic content that was within the story due to some unfortunate observations in my early childhood (namely finding roadkill absolutely riddled with maggots on the side of the street and accidentally coming across this kind of stuff on televised documentaries). It’s a subject I tend to avoid for it makes me anything from lightheaded to nauseated and sick, so while I didn’t enjoy reading it, I will admit that the underlying tones were interesting.

3) What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you choose? What changes would you make?

If I was to adapt this short story into another medium, I would most likely choose to make this into an RPG with a huge emphasis on story and a system to takes the player’s actions into account to change elements of the narrative. I feel like this would make a unique experience as an interactive story, one where the main character cannot actually fight back if they are threatened and must weigh the consequences of each action carefully; sometimes playing along with the Tlic would be beneficial, other times it could be more of a trap or burden. I’d hesitate to give this adventure a combat system outside of a health gauge, for I fear it’d become a horror-FPS whereas its narrative lends itself far more to a psychological and survivalist tone. Besides, the imagery used in the story would create a visual interest from how the Humans under care of the Tlic look, how the Tlic themselves would move and weave within their environment, as well as the differences between the variations of the aliens themselves. 

Anna Sibilia

David Steiling

October 4, 2015

Magic and Morality

Betwixt Balance and Chaos

Magic has always been a gray area of fantasy, both alluring and terrifying. Mysticism and spell craft often blur the edges of reality and imagination for the characters within the stories, so it is only appropriate that they contort the fabric of morality as well. Depending on the author’s intention, magic itself can either be a corrupting force in it’s own right, slowly consuming and sinking into the human flaws of a character’s nature or a slightly sentient force tied to its host that responds and reacts with a minds of its own -be it for better or worse. 

A recurring tool in fantasy has often been whether or not magic should be used by its characters to tempt the fates, be it by undoing the laws of nature or acting out a plan that gambles with the lives of others caught between the words of their spells. Yet even the most genuine and true magical masters can have their spells go awry and distort beyond what their original intentions were. It’s no wonder that the arcane crafts are considered heinous  when the potential for disaster is so high, especially when those whom make the deals with the powers that be are not always the pinnacle of charity or honor.

Night Circus exploits this in an unusual way, pitting a pair of young magicians and illusionists up against each other for the pride of their teachers. Celia Bowen, a girl burdened unto her father Hector Bowen -known primarily under the guise of Prospero the Enchanter, competes against Marco Alisdair, a student brought up under the tutelage of Mr. Alexander H. The intent of this duel was to prove the superiority of the two masters’ teaching methods, proving either the Enchanter or Alexander the winner through the success of their students. The practices of the old learning, being able to create beauty in the eyes of those who want to see it, and the new teachings of tangible illusions clash when the student start their shows within the black and white curtains of the circus tents.

Yet as the plot moves on and the grand spectacles of the magician’s showcases within the enigmatic circus start having more effects and impacts than just creating new attractions for the show. The workers of the circus begin to become bound to the show ring, unable to age much or leave their station among the performers. The dueling students slowly fall in love, complicating the plans of their teachers and only adding more chaos to the precarious situation. It isn’t long until personalities snap, people are killed, and the laws of nature are shattered in a final act of desperation to save one’s love. 

The issue of the novel is exposed in the harsh treatment of the Celia from her father, as he constantly uses abusive methods in order to push her into furthering her skills, which are to be used in a contest for his own pride and not her benefit. This kind of malicious intent in the beginning is something that goes against the cardinal rules of modern magic in our world. Many current Pagan and Wiccan practitioners emphasize that ‘intent and belief is everything; if you start out with a negative thought in mind, then that is the crop you shall reap.’ As much as her father’s patronizing and (literal) bone-breaking teaching methods cause her to stiffen and become resilient in character, they stem from a place of loathing towards her not-so-lovable paternal figure. Ultimately this lends itself to the climax of the story, when Celia unbinds herself and Marco from the physical realm. She is a tragic hero, losing most everything save her true love, and all because of the cyclical nature of magic. 

Magic is a strange and fussy thing, and often it reels that what one asks for is never really what they are deserving of or necessary. It has an important role of acting as a placebo for enabling characters to think they are the masters of themselves and of others, only to end up with everything taken or ruined in the end. It is a shame that the consequence of all the hideous deeds committed and schemed had bear down on Marco and Celia, but even if their end was tragic, they were allowed to escape beyond the confines of the circus -even if only to stand in it’s eternal shadow, finally freed of the ploys that trapped them there.

Anna Sibilia

David Steiling

The One Adventure to Rule them All

As far as fantasy goes, there has yet to be an author to outshine J.R.R. Tolkien in depth, fame, and overall influence of a genre. Throughout the course of his life, he redefined and hand-crafted many new tropes and that would soon lay down the new foundation for almost every author to come after him in the fantasy genre. His understanding of narrative, balancing of character tone and action, as well as creating a tremendous world that was so meticulously detailed it was almost tangible, created a platform that raised him high above many and designated him a permanent seat among many other famed authors and playwrights. 

The Lord of the Rings is the quintessential journey of the hero, sending a band of characters onto a quest that controls the very balance of the world and the fates of all of those whom live there. What’s more is that each character has their own journey to be completed and their own epiphany at the end of it. For instance, the four main hobbits all start in the Shire, though all of them from different backgrounds: Frodo had already become aware that the ring was evil and that he must find a way to be rid of it: Samwise had wanted to accompany his friend and employer, for he has a loyal (if not timid) heart; and Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry) and Peregrin Took (Pippin) were perfect examples of childish innocence that the sheltered world of the Shire allowed them to be (it is possible to go further and explain the trials of the rest of the party, but let’s stick to these four).

As they leave the Shire and venture into the wilds, the naive state of their unexposed minds is slowly chipped away by the new surroundings and people. Frodo starts experiencing the weight of the Ring around his neck, and though it is subtle in the beginning, the power of the infernal creation slowly starts to seed his mind with doubt. Sam starts having his whole view deconstructed, no longer seeing the world full of rosy hues and glorious tales, but a new reality in which he and his companions might not survive. Merry and Pippin also portray the loss of innocence in that war has ways of turning children into adults whether they are ready for it to or not, though they still maintain their ability to create trouble and mischief. 

The characters also represent dualities of each other, as Frodo and Sam are representational halves of people torn between staying virtuous or giving into temptation, and this becomes so much more apparent once Gollum is introduced. He embodies Frodo’s corruption and personifies the twisting nature of the Ring, a prophetic tool meant to warn the hobbit lest he give into the dark forces that tempt him. Sam is the opposite, being reliable and caring even though he is afraid and ignorant of the troubles around him. even when he becomes aware of the perilous danger surrounding he and Frodo, he still refuses to leave and uses this as a reason to fight harder until the end. Though the is evil all around, he shall not fall though he may waver. 

This series is truly an epic, written in emulation of many classic biblical tales, and as such it carries almost as much symbolic force and righteousness.

Anna Sibilia

David Steiling

Women and Witchcraft 

There is a disparity within literature in the way gender is portrayed. More often than not, a male hero is sent on a quest with a group of sidekicks meant to appeal to other dynamics and groups of people than the norm of the protagonist. Consequently this created an archetype of female characters whom are ‘only strong for boys’ being that they near constantly could be written as a male and have no dramatic change to their character to push views of toxic masculinity onto the audience in subtle, snide ways. 

In the case of Aunt Maria authored by Dianne Wynne Jones, we see a cast of women higher on the proverbial mountain of power with no qualms in wielding such abilities over the heads of their male counterparts. Aunt Maria herself is a nagging, fickle woman who starts out as an annoying force that harasses the family. Usually, this isn’t the place of a lady in media, for in most worlds -fantastic or otherwise- women are not antagonists who brutalize or harass others, they work in more subdued ways to either undermine or usurp power from others. Therefore Maria’s actions are quite unexpected, and her bullying role only increases until it seems her targeted family is nearly rent asunder. 

Maria does exemplify the trope of being both woman and filled with ill intentions (another evil witch-queen, as she’d surely be in the Disney fashion), however, that is not the point of Jones’ writing. Her blatant reversal of the world’s power distribution only highlights how much of our society is so reliant on the typical distribution of power and the way things are delegated to each gender. 

There is a strange dichotomy of men and women in literature and media that spawns back from the beginnings of story telling. It is a belief that men are more representative of the physical world: they are the embodiment of what we can understand and interact with, the pinnacle of power, whilst women are symbolic of the mystical and ethereal part of life. This is largely caused by the fact that women can carry and give birth to children, something men could not do, so therefore women were tied to the spiritual side of creation when men were tasked with handling other physical labors. Women are also more empathetic and emotionally understanding in the written word, and therefore can better understand and interpret the minds of others -something many typical heroic figures rarely do. 

By turning things on their head in this novel, Jones wanted the audience to understand that this dichotomy should be deconstructed and done away with. Men and women play equal parts in society, however there is this notion to demonize or oppress one half in favor of the other. Misandry and misogyny create an unhealthy atmosphere where it is hard for the masses to communicate with another and the ruling party is able keep the stigma alive.

Anna Sibilia

David Steiling

Weird, Inventive, and Horrifying

It is not surprise that the horror genre has an ever changing dynamic in relation to the public’s taste; with each new trend, hundreds of new scary stories and films bombard the silver screen and other media whilst clamoring for attention. During the beginning stage of each new wave is a small group, something that sets the example for the rest of the genre. The ‘Weird’ is a slightly alien part of the encompassing genre, as the outliers that linger there are usually thinking and morphing their ideas at a faster pace, evolving and bringing new elements into the horror genre. 

For instance, the newest exploitation of these trend setters is the revitalization of the Zombie sub genre, bringing the undead back to the forefront of horror and the public’s view. One of the most popular forces in this was the Walking Dead series, originally a series of novels written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Tony Moore that introduced the audience to an Earth where all notions of zombies had never existed and therefore everyone was ill-prepared for the shambling rise of the Walkers. AMC had discovered this Weird installment and translated it into prime-time television, which only spread the influence of the genre further. The gritty, realistic take on the zombie horror sub-culture exposes more than just rotting flesh in its writing, often pitting up morality and practicality; the conflict of individual survival versus sacrifice for the whole; this series began ripping apart humanity (literally) and displaying the notion that maybe man is as monstrous as the very things people are trying to protect themselves from. 

As time passes, I’m sure the Weird will reinvent the horror genre countless times again,  yet I’m not too sure where it will go. As of late, there has been quite a recurring theme of demonic horror movies hitting the mainstream cinema screen, mostly in part of works like Sinister, Paranormal Activity (the first one anyways), and Insidious, though I cannot think of where the next focus may be. My guess lends itself to the more psychological side of horror, wherein writers have their stories blend hellish imagery and nightmarish themes in with the daily decomposition of the mind as madness starts setting in. Yet this is already a prevailing theme in modern horror and I am unsure of whether or not it will be considered ‘old enough’ to be reworked into a ‘new’ facet of popularized culture.

Anna Sibilia

David Steiling

August 30, 2015

East VS West

The Monsters in the Mirror

Personally, I do not have the stomach for most of the modern horror genre. It wars against too many of my moral centers and exploits my unease in ways far more severe than what would be necessary to send a message. I cannot sit still through these absurd and appalling stories; I often get sick and nauseated when I bear witness to these grotesque tales, as the sight or sound of torture imbeds itself firmly into my nightmares. As such, I’d like to note: if I have any night visions plagued by unnameable peril and demonic distortions, I blame this class. As it’s painfully apparent, I’m quite a horror virgin, though I do know the vast differentiation between the thematic goals of Western and Eastern horror. 

The East has this tendency to isolate and intertwine, to weave narratives out of stray threads and then bring them together in a knot at the end. These varying characters have  their own sins and hellion thoughts, and it is the power of an individual’s thoughts that make the Eastern depiction of horror thrive. 

The emphasis is placed upon the psyche, a fragile, malleable thing that can be trained to imagine nightmares into glory, or comfort into chaos. If a person has been subjected to evil repeatedly, they intern begin to see it in everything; soon you have sadists and serial killers from haunting pasts that now inflict their agony and sorrow unto others. There is the prevalent notion of taking a single person and tainting them with trauma, disconnecting them from all the good in the world. Soon, the individual festers and destroys that which thrives around them, spreading evil like a disease. 

Here in the West, most horror comes back from a more traditional point of view: the Highest Good vs the Darkest Evils. We focus more on the individuals in a conflict scenario more so than a war of minds. Manipulation is used, yes, but it is mostly a duel of wills to survive and conquer one another. In most cases, it is a Man VS Man story where the audience watches as one side (more soften than not some average people thrown into a situation far worse than they imagined) is pitted against their oppressor whom uses mind-bending games or brutal scare tactics to corner their quarry. This is not so much a test of whose mind is stronger as much as it is a metaphor for the battle between good and evil latent within man with a side being a champion for the virtues and the other a representation of terrors. 

Anna Sibilia

David Steiling

August 23, 2015

Fangs and Fascination

Why These Parasites Are Perfect

Throughout history, vampires have a consistent record of dominating the fictional world, for better or for worse. These leeches have latched onto minds innumerable and thus have been passed on as a tradition from generation to generation. They are one of the most popularized form of demons to exist in mainstream horror, fiction, and other genres of media. Often aloof and sultry, vampires are commonly portrayed as masters of seduction and temptation; they lure in both the audience and their victim with mysterious charms, working into the cracks of the human facade with a practiced grace and smooth precision. Vampires are the royalty of the underworld as they have the uncanny ability to control and manipulate seemingly anyone and anything, and the characters in Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice are no different.

Louis de Pointe du Lac was a man born into a plantation owning family in New Orleans who’d become a broken man after the death of his brother, Paul, whom had passed after fight between them. Having been left with self-loathing and guilt, Louis had made it his personal mission to find death as quickly as he could to be freed from this miserable existence. Enter Lestat de Lioncourt, a suave vampire hailing from the Auvergne region of France. Noticing Louis’s misery, he decided to trick the many into becoming his immortal company. From then on, Louis has to struggle with keeping his humanity untainted from the corruptive influence of Lestat, while his new natural urges compel him to act in a similar, bloodthirsty manner. 

As a story-telling tool, these men demonstrate the concept of temptation and virtue extremely well, which is a common theme of vampiric works. The undead immortals are constantly used to display how fragile man is, be it in a moral, physical, or mental sense. Lestat uses a mind games and his knowledge of predatory instincts in order to guide Louis down a darker, more destructive path that fits his new, supernatural role more appropriately. Louis is meant to champion the strength of men and his devotion to all that is right and pure, a telling theme from Gothic Literature as it implements the grace of the divine as a way of helping the characters fend off the other who has ‘fallen from grace’. 

Vampires have always been representative of the devil, and there reaches a point in Interview with the Vampire in which this is painful apparent: the taking of Claudia. During this scene the audience is witness to the quarreling thoughts and savage desires within Louis’s mind; we see him rent over his wants of nothing want to kill and save the sickly child whom he’d almost killed before. His ‘tainted’ side wants to devour her, to drink her dry so that he might live longer:

“…I couldn't bear it, looking at her, wanting her not to die and wanting her; and the more I 

looked at her, the more I could taste her skin, feel my arm sliding under her back and pulling her up to me, feeling her soft neck. Soft, soft, that's what she was, so soft…”

And all the while his moral conscience is revolting and demanding that he spare her, to not commit such an evil act, yet he give in to his urges, only to let another, worse fate overcome the girl. With her wrenched away from him, Lestat ensures that the girl is turned into a vampire instead of killed, now cursed and used as a tool of extortion for Louis. 

With this type of personification and attitude, it is no wonder that the myth of these man-eaters has survived for so long; they are a perfect parallel for the devil in terms coercion and lies. While this particular story does evoke sympathy for the crumbling of Louis’s humanity, it also exemplifies man’s resilience when brought to the gates of hell; though he make break and falter through the fiery maze, he will succeed and triumph when his mettle is tested. Vampires are a cruel, oppressing monster, though they are one of the best ways to highlight the inner strength of the very thing they aim to destroy and consume.

Anna Sibilia

David Steiling

August 16, 2015

What Lurks in Nightmares

The Beginning of Gothic Literature

When Mary Shelley first wrote Frankenstein, she’d little idea that her frightening and epic work had unleashed something far more powerful from the unspoken Pandora’s Box of literature: men could now play God in their stories, craft monsters and demons with pen, paper, ink, and words. There was this trepidation and hesitance that authors possessed before, only giving characters the idea to look for divine inspiration or hellish temptation. Yet now, after this woman had fearlessly taken the plunge into the forbidden unknown and made a human on par with the highest heavens, men could now wonder and write what it was like to be both mortal and omnipotent caught in a purgatory of sin, suffering, damnation, and redemption.

However, bearing the ability to make flesh into something new did not make Frankenstein above his human nature; when the consequences of his mad actions gripped his shoulders with a righteous hand of punishment, he fled like a coward. Make no mistake, the Gothic genre is filled with specters of guilt, grace, and feverish madness that lead to many creative and baleful tales, but this story had started them all by exposing the flawed nature of man.

Though as interesting as this Frankenstein’s tale might be, it is not on the same level of today’s modernized Gothic genre. One of the most prominent examples of this comes in the form of a beloved hero known as Batman. Arguably the most easily recognizable Gothic hero, Batman is a story rife with tragic events and dark undertones. The hero himself is a brooding figure meant to embody mystery and the eerie quality of the dramatic tone of the story. Everything from the comic’s art to the plot champions the necessary elements of the Gothic genre: the modernized yet haunting city of Gotham (which is, admittedly, aptly named) filled with towering buildings that loom and suffocate the light; the bizarre and monstrous villains that are superhuman and sometimes even supernatural in their origin, all of whom would like nothing more than to spread chaos or their sphere of power and consume the city -much like how evil incarnate is often portrayed as an all-devouring force in it’s purest form; countless heroines and damsels populate this world, each one acting as either an alluring temptress or a devoted love interest whom wishes to break past the hero’s hardened heart; and the story itself is centered on the emotions and kaleidoscope conscience of the main hero.

The prevailing composition of the world is founded on the dreary and sublime, and the turning point of Batman’s whole development (the murder of his parents) is set upon him like a curse. It plagues him and haunts his dreams, eventually giving him the drive to become the caped crusader that is needed by the city. Each night he searches out and pursues the many faces of corruption and crime, but ends up being sent after horrors that masquerade as men. 

This is one of the most integral parts of both Frankenstein and the Batman series. There may be evil lurking in the shadows of our nightmares, but it is nothing compared to what we can create with our own hands. The protagonist of this novel had chosen to play with the natural order, and thus, could not fathom the outcome. At the moment of his greatest triumph, he had also given birth to his ultimate undoing. Likewise Batman had chosen to find and eliminate evil, only to bring even more destructive forces to light, most of which started out as lost souls searching for a way to correct or justify their situations.