Maria Caraballo: literature of horror, fantasy and sci fi.

15 years: Honestly I am an irresponsible optimist. For me things are great now, but I come from one of the worst places on Earth, so whats great for me could be bad for a first world person. I hope everything will be great. I believe in humanity and the power of technology, and hey, maybe we could fix things. Most of the people I know are environmentally responsible, so I have hope things will be better. I hope the entertainment industry changes, that women are more represented. I still think we are far away from the classic cyber-human adjustments.. Stuff like Neuralink does freak me out... No thank you.  I hope by that point in time dictators will be gone, they just ruin everything. I really hope  we find a way to make dogs live longer. Electric cars will be the norm at this point, it won't be a luxury anymore. 50 years I hope my constant use of sunscreen pays off when I am 70!. I wonder how architecture would look like at this point....Phones, animals, laptops w...

The unusual bond between humans and Tlic is very strange. It seems like the Tlic are using the Terrans for their own purposes in exchange for not. They're not allowed to have any weapons and depend on the Tlic for protection as long as they need them. The protagonist, a young boy named Gan, seems to take the role as a reproductive slave in this alien society. Women are usually the ones being sexually exploited, but its not the case for this one. Humans seem to be bred for hosting purposes, they live in a specific place and have a  Tlic assigned to each family.  The Tlic have also eased the humans into actually believing this is their purpose, they don't hide what happens when the humans "give birth". In the end we have a human who questions the system, but ends up giving up to the system. Or does he? Gan says he wanted to keep T Gatoi for himself.  1- What is your reaction to the text you just read? Mainly disgust, the Tlic C section was really hard to read....

I remember when I first heard about this piece was through one of my old high school friend. She told me this was her favorite book because of Erin Morgensterns way of describing things immersed her into the world. I see how her style of writing and detail shine through,  Le Cirque de Rêves feels like a real place and it drags you in, the way the environments are described, it feels as if everything is essential and beautiful. Her writing style is very lyrical, intricate and elegant. The themes of children suffering the consequences of the corrupt older generations is very present. Marco and Celia could be considered victims of a broken corrupted, system of rivalry. They don't understand what the system and how they're going to be put up against each other. I see how this piece can be similar to Harry Potter, how  some of the main conflicts come from mudbloods vs purebred wizards and how that defines your role in society, imposed by the wizards that came before them....

My oh my do I love reading Tolkien, his writing has a sense of whimsy and wonder I don't really find in other fantasy works. We talk a lot about the hero's journey, but not enough about what happens before. The Hobbit speaks about conformity in our homes, but the home is never demonized or berated. It is described with love and beauty, Bilbo cares about his home because conformity is part of his identity. Before we embark on our own journey through life we are the same way. We want to stay at home and live with our family forever. That's not how life works. However, The Hobbit never demonizes the home, it is a part of life, a nest, our childhood home. The home has many memories attached to it, and its not something bad. Bilbo's conformity, also ties into his refusal to let new people into his life. Some of us have loud family members who every time they come over they rock our routine. At first, we find them annoying but later we enjoy ourselves, let go and be free ...

This book was quite a fun read. I was immersed in the magical, colorful Nigerian culture presented. I was more familiar with it because my own Latin American culture has African influences in it. So I did recognize a few parallels there. Like the masks and knives. There's no cloaks wands and house elves, it's a Truer "raw" witchcraft we can totally find in the world today.  A really cool element of this novel is how Sunny's power resides within her, we discussed it in class, but after finishing up the novel I noticed how present it was. Her name, her personality, her physical appearance, and her leopard self are all interconnected with who she is. Sunny, a being who's meant to shine bright, glow. Another reflection of culture is how the characters act. They are headstrong and mature, well all of them are leopard people, but this also is affected by the fact that the culture they grew up in is harsher. Sunny's father hits her, he's harsher on her than...

For this  I couldn't really decide which one to pick. We had some movies, graphic novels and I just couldn't decide which one to pick. So I tried watching two of the movies. An overall theme I saw within these pieces is the parallel between lust and vampires needing blood. In Andy Warhol's Dracula we see it, with the Di Fiore girls and Mario, in contrast to the count's obsessive need for blood, who in the presence of blood reacts like Mario does when he's with the girls. The Fearless vampire killers had more stereotypes than Andy Warhol's Dracula. There was a bunch of garlic present for a good chunk of the movie.Everyone's aware theres a vampire in town.  Andy Warhol's Dracula was different. Dracula was whiny and all he did was complain for a good chunk of the movie. Anton was doing the dirty work for him. It was also a strange class commentary disguised as a vampire movie... Dracula somehow represented the ultimate power in the household, since he ha...

When thinking about balance in nature, and life Shunkin and Sasuke's story reflects this concept the best. We start by getting background information of Shunkin's social class. The narrator lets us know they aren't normal by previous standards. They're pale, skinny and shut inside their homes, when supposedly they should be outside.  There's no stereotypical happy endings in these stories. Shunkin and Sasuke both die, they are never formally recognized as a couple. They never feel remorse for their children. It isn't up until both of them are blind, and one of them disfigured, that they find a sort of balance. When both of them make a sacrifice, mainly, a sacrifice that lowers them in the societal hierarchy. Shunkin only shows slivers of good temperament, she has complete control over a man. She is older, he is submissive.  Both of the characters break our western expectations, Shunkin is the complete opposite of the gothic heroine. It defied my expectation...