Hunger for Blood Redux

Vampires. They are the tyrannical terror of the undead world, the horror that cannot always be detected for they often hide behind a mask of beauty and charm. But how did they become this way? How has literature evolved them into these seductive creatures?

That is where our reading came in. Though Dracula introduced the vampire as a charming count, Anne Rice took her stories further. Not only do her books bring forth the beauty and majestic quality that vampires have developed but they make them people. Not only that but vampires become personable in Interview with the Vampire. Louis tells his horrifying and yet mystifying story to Daniel who becomes entranced by it. Louis does not seem evil... but rather the victim of a curse as he sees it... while it is also described as a gift. He tells of how he feeds and how Lestat taught him how to feed.

Louis does not seem like the monster that vampires are described as. Even Lestat whom Louis comes to despise is not a truly nefarious character. We come to see that there is something hidden in Lestat's past as to why he is the way he is. If you read more in The Vampire Lestat, you come to find that that is true. His maker forced vampirism on him but instead of hating himself and what he had become, he cherished the gift and sought to enjoy the life that had been given to him.

So why is it that people like me have such a fascination with these beings? These creatures of the night? Do they live some sort of morbid fantasy that we all have? Is it that by putting a name on a monster that looks so like ourselves that we can feel more human? I saw vampires as a higher evolution of humans. They are immortal and strong, a predator that can keep humankind in check. That is a point I believe Lestat made in the Vampire Chronicles- trying to teach Louis that "God kills indiscriminately and so shall we. For no creature under God is as we are, none so like Him as ourselves." I think that truly lies in the point of view that I think of them as. An evolution, an adaptation and the closest to immortality that humans could ever get.

But is immortality really worth that weight of your soul? I guess it would depend on how it was that you saw your kills. Marius taught Lestat (who then teaches Louis) that you are to kill only evil doers. Use your mind powers to find those who commit wrong and kill only them. They are not human so is it really murder to kill humans for food? That would be like saying that a wolf is a murderer for killing an elk to survive.

It is an interesting moral dilemma.

Immortality, to Louis, is a curse and not a gift. It is a way for him to spend the ages mourning Claudia and the life he could have had if Lestat had not found him. He will always remember that he was made not out of love but of need- not even of him but for his wealth and property. But unlike Lestat, he doesn’t accept his fate and learn to be as he is. Instead, he mourns for a life he will not have and people he will never see again.

"The world changes, we do not, there in lies the irony that finally kills us."

Reality... or is it?

I really like strange fiction. I like fiction that makes me sit back and wonder what exactly the story was about... and even if there was no point, it was still very good.

Oryx and Crake is a superb example of that. I still wonder what exactly the story was about and what the point of the controversy put in it has. The main character, whom is called Snowman and I will refer to him as such, goes through his story as to how he came to be- one of the only humans left in a world of genetically altered ones called Crakers. They are called that because Crake, an old friend of Snowman's, created them. He goes through the odd and yet normal story of how two boys are good friends and yet their lives begin to part. Crake is the genius who enjoys the tinkering of life and Snowman seems always disappointed in his life.

The most disturbing aspect of it was Oryx. There comes a point where Crake and Snowman are on the computer looking at pornography (I think they were fourteen at the time) and they see Oryx who was just a child at the time. Now, even though I am not disturbed by many things (I found the whole story of Bloodchild fascinating and not repulsive), the idea of two fourteen year olds looking at child pornography and saving it because they enjoyed it bothered me. It didn't bias me against the characters but it did make me always see them in this horrified light. No matter what they did after that point, I was off put by them.

It was like that in Existenz too... being disturbed regularly and yet continuing to read or watch even though you knew it was only going to get worse. Existenz got me when he was eating the weird reptile thing and it made me want to vomit (that was The Special- I bought the movie so I could see The Special). Of course it was how to plug yourself in the game and using the strange controller that unnerved me the most. I am a gamer; I like MMOs, but sticking it straight into my spine is a little intense. I don't know if I would be able to stomach that. I wonder how far into reality the actual game got. Just the set storyline? Or did the horrors of the real world actually come into play?

I think that is the greatest literary achievement of all. Writing a novel or perhaps making a game that involves a world that we actually live in even if it isn't the same type of realm. Sticking the most disruptive and off setting events in a work effect us on a level that it wouldn't if it didn't happen.

Parasites

I like aliens and otherworldly creatures. I will readily admit it. Science fiction has no hold on me unless there are strange races and people who are not quite like us.

The moment that I started to read Bloodchild, I knew that I wish I had been able to find Dawn by Octavia Butler. The story Bloodchild was provocative and tantalizing, wrong and yet captivating at the same time. I found that though the main character seemed to have a fear of their otherworldly family member, he also loved her as did the entire family. What would it be like to have such a parasite in your family and loving, or being forced to love that creature or person? The answer is not simple. However, it is answerable. I live in my own home with a parasitic family member except that, unlike in the story, I hold no love and no longer care for the person. It's a day to day fear about what will happen next or if you will be their next victim.

So why is it in the story that they love their alien guest? I think it is because even though she has to harbor her offspring within the humans, she cares and loves them and tries to be gentle. In modern society, the most parasitic of people are that way because of choice and seem to enjoy sapping the joy from those around them. They enjoy watching and getting satisfaction in pushing those who disobey them out of their world and demonizing them. In Bloodchild, she has no want to hurt those she lives with.

It seems to be a pattern among female science fiction authors to use the parasites of people... and make them not such a threat. In C.S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy, the main character allows Tarrant, a dark immortal figure in the world, to feed off his fear to keep him alive to continue their quest. As the story progresses, even with his lack of want to understand why it is that Tarrant has done things, grows to care enough for him to protect him when he is weak. He knows, that in light of the events, Tarrant's power is greater than his and will protect him the rest of the time.

You see, people in our day and age don't look at things like that. Our parasites are just that. There is no logic or change to make them better people. You have to treat them the way you treat a dog for fleas- abolishing them. There is no give and receive, only take.

A Gritty Future

The world of hacking, corporation take over and street heroes is one that is not only popular fiction, but a closer reality than I believe most people would rather admit.

I think that is the point of cyberpunk actually. It exposes a dark, gritty future that doesn't end up being flying cars, mystical robots and other fashionable things of the future. Instead, people are living in storage units, walking the streets to the beat of whatever corporation they stand for and using alternate realities to escape the one they are in. That is what Hiro in Snow Crash does. In real life, he's just a hacker that lives in a storage unit with a friend. In the game he "plays", he's a sword swinging hero with more battles to his name than any other. Drugs aren't the choice way to mess people up but rather viruses. Computer viruses. Of course, I guess if you are in a bar in a game and somebody tries to give you some special in game item, you probably shouldn't take it. Unless it's from the game developers themselves (and even worse when one of the game developers takes it).

I didn't get through Snow Crash, I just couldn't spend more time on a novel that I had no idea what was going on in (another book like that is The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton- I couldn't get through that either because of my confusion). I guess Cyberpunk is like that but I have a short attention span and if I am not caught quick, I am never caught at all.

We watched part of Bladerunner in class but a movie that I watched instead and found it to be very reminisce of cyberpunk was Repo the Genetic Opera. At first, it seems like a dark, gothic tale but it is in reality a post apolcalyptic film that has many of the tropes of cyberpunk. For example, the main character is a female and a very strong one at that. The film is dark and gritty, a mix of classic gothic and then more futuristic things. After all, organ transplant has become a fashion statement in that world and Geneco, the company that gives them, rules the world. If you screw over Geneco, the Repo Man will come and get you. Like in Snow Crash, there is a "drug" that is popular called Zydrate, a blue fluid that is injected into you through a gun for pain (it was originally given to patients for surgery) which is now a black market item.

I find the entire genre of cyberpunk fascinating but far too much forces you into a world that you don't understand and they don't really help you along. Some people can find their way... but I am not truly one of them. I will stick with the films in the genre rather than the fiction.

To Infinite and Beyond.

More science fiction.

Before I talk about Babel 17, I am going to talk about A Scanner Darkly which is one of the most bizarre movies I have ever seen. When we watched it in class, I knew I had to finish watching it. A week later, it arrived.

A Scanner Darkly is one of those movies that screws with your mind as much as the characters screw with one another's minds. You have to just roll with it. I think the major theme in the movie is not just paranoia but justified paranoia. You are always being watched, you are always being listened to. The world is a lot like the internet in which someday someone will find something you have done no matter how you try to hide it. Privacy is an invented concept in the modern world, everything is public domain whether you wish to believe it or not. It reminds me of how on deviantart, somebody will steal another person's piece of work, post it on an obscure site and still a hundred people note the artist saying they found it.

The most interesting thing perhaps is how the characters in the movie have no idea that the ring leader of them is actually an agent in disguise. Even worse, the actual government doesn't know that the guy they are looking for is actually their own agent. My favorite part, and most well done, is when they walk into the house and think that they are about to be raided. They go over the possibilities of what might happen, because the door was unlocked, and then they find out it was just the girlfriend. They almost shoot her. You would think with that level of paranoia one of them would have serious health problems beyond the drug issues.

But now onto Babel 17 even though it seems to have little connection to A Scanner Darkly.

It is not a long story but the theme of language and communication is a strong one. When the main character finds what they believe is a code, she realizes it is not a code but actually an alien language that can be used as a weapon. Eventually she is seen as a perhaps traitor and is rescued from danger. Language is often a theme in games as well as books. In many of the modules I have played in Neverwinter Nights, the puzzles consist of deciphering languages that turn to be these ancient powerful civilizations. Many times, like in Shadows of Undrentide, you end up in the wake of that civilization because of your discovery. That is much what happened in Babel 17.

Stars the Limit?

I will be the first to say that when it comes to science fiction, especially hardcore science fiction, I am not expert. Actually, I avoid it at all costs most of the time. However, I think that after spending half a semester on the different types of science fiction, I may change my mind.

I couldn't read The Stars My Destination because I couldn't find it in stores and reading on the computer hurts my eyes, but I have seen Serenity and I can share what science fiction experience I do have from my own readings.

Serenity is one of those movies my friends used to drag me to their houses to see after exams ended in high school. One of those movies that sat me down in and I had to ask a million questions during and give lots of commentary because though the effects and story seemed nice, I seemed determined to not like it. Fortunately, I came around and I really enjoyed the movie. I always like movies that have a lot of eye candy to offer. I think what got me the most was the set of neutral characters and how they, to me, seemed like a ragtag party that would be put together in a role playing game. Even though it was scifi, I was captured by that. I can't dislike a party of adventurers.

The stories we read in class, however, I found were interesting. Shorter, more concise stories in a genre I am not familiar or comfortable in tend to work better than longer works for me.

Dime Store Magic

Witches.

More than vampires, werewolves and monsters witches have been a fear of people for ages. You only have to look back at our fairy tales and most of the time, the villain is a witch- generally an old crone who lures people so that she can use them for her dark purposes. They are a popular theme for Halloween and even in more modern literature. I think, however, like vampires and werewolves, they have taken a more gray meaning. If a vampire or a werewolf can be a monster that can be understood and even liked, why can't a witch? Why can't a witch use magic that benefits others instead of magic that is meant to curse and harm?

I think, though, it can be agreed that witches are a form of fear for female power. In the stories, the witch is always a woman. They are almost always ugly (or have used power to make themselves beautiful). Back in the Middle Ages, and even more current, women were burned who were simply suspected of witchcraft. These are the tales that are handed down to us and our children. It is, in a way, disturbing.

But the more current stories begin to call into the fictional world helpful witches. For example, in C.S. Friedman's Feast of Souls, her witches use a part of their life force to help their fellow villagers. The first witch introduced sacrifices the last part of her life force to save a young child for a woman. It is grim, yes, but it is power they use to help those around them rather than harm (which is a wonderful comparison to the mages in the book who are male and feed their infinite magic off of other people!). Of course, compared to the magi, they are considered lesser being they are not only women but that they fade with use of their magic.

Another example is in Kelley Armstrong's world where her main witch, Paige Winterborne, is one that doesn't have any offensive spells. She can call into being defensive shields but her powers cannot be used to harm. She is one of the only otherworld races in the series that doesn't get anything to use offensively against the bad guys that often end up in her path (but that is probably why she is married to a sorcerer).