For my Oryx and Crake presentation, I focused on how I saw Oryx and Crake to be like an updated version of The Handmaid’s Tale, and I wanted to go further in depth on this topic for my reader response. Some of this is kind of rehashing what I said earlier, so I apologize for that.

As I was reading this novel, I kept thinking about how I do not like works of science fiction to be set in the reality of the time it was written in, as was done in Pattern Recognition. If a science fiction story is supposed to be set in reality, then the author will have to incorporate markers of the present reality into the story to give the readers a sense of when it is taking place - in the case of Pattern Recognition, one way in which this was accomplished was constantly dropping brand names and products.

If so, would it be okay if I turned my rough draft into you by Friday instead of Wednesday? I'm planning on probably using two grace days.

I found the Metaverse to be the most intriguing part of Snow Crash. It is astounding how much of the Metaverse is reflected in many current online entertainment programs, like World of Warcraft and Second Life as discussed in class. Stephenson has created an entirely believable future culture that is heavily rooted in technology because we are already seeing aspects of Snow Crash in today’s world, like the aforementioned online games.

Slow River was very much like a case study of a person, a comprehensive analysis of that person’s life and what happened to them that made them into the person that they currently are. Nicola Griffith, in my opinion, was able to make Lore a very interesting and complex character. She was able to accomplish this in part because of the differing narrative perspectives in the novel.

One of the things that stood out for me in Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand was the impact that sheer size in population can have on life (I saw one other blog post on this but I did not read it so hopefully there is not any overlap). One instance in which this is exemplified is the initial matching of Rat Korga and Marq Dyeth. When we first find out that Rat Korga and Marq Dyeth are supposedly fit for each other, the two men have been characterized in ways that made them radically different from each other. The entire prologue followed Rat Korga and described life on Rhyonon.

I really enjoyed The Left Hand of Darkness. It was a pretty entertaining novel for me - the journey across the Ice was a bit of a bummer because too much of it was devoted to purely describing them pulling the sledge across various areas, but other than that, it was good. I liked the political intrigue, the numerous backstabbings and the excitement that comes from following two characters who are running for their lives.

Out of all three of the novels we have read so far, I like The Handmaid’s Tale the best. Starship Troopers annoyed me because there were far too many soapbox moments for Heinlein and Neuromancer was difficult for me to follow because of the massive overload of descriptions of new technologies. The Handmaid’s Tale is elegant. There is a certain grace to the writing and I feel that the story flows very well as a result of it. The most noteworthy aspect of the novel, at least for me, was how effective of a cautionary tale against blind trust and inaction it was.

I did not really like Starship Troopers. It was a quick read and I thought the descriptions of the technology used and of the action were interesting, but ultimately the novel just felt like a piece of propaganda to me. The military is very glamorized and Heinlein’s own political views are beat into the reader throughout the story. Both of these aspects of the story brought down the novel for me, as Starship Troopers seems like a call to action for people to either support or join the military and perform the noblest action of all, which is to put one’s life at stake for one’s country.

My Minnesota Timberwolves just won their eighth game of the season, bringing their season record to an impressive 8 wins and 35 losses.