Lit of Horror Fantasy and ScFI

In week two we ventured into the world of vampires. The novel we had to read was An Interview with a Vampire  by Anne Rice. To say the least the story was very good. It starts by immediately introducing our protagonist as the vampire, which is different than some vampire stories. The typical vampire story has the vampire as the antagonist. The difference between this story and the others is that we can sympathize with the vampire. Outside of the Twilight series, there are not many vampire stories like this. Something else that I found interesting was the idea that the vampires were homosexual. It is an idea that for time of publication is rare. It made the story even more compelling because it added another dimension to the characters. This one detail, as small as it is, makes the story that much better. What's even more interesting is that the relationship is driven not by sexuality, but by sensuality. The two vampires do not seem to be driven by sexual attraction, but instead b...

This week we took a look at the story of Frankenstein . The story was written in 1818 by Mary Shelley. It tells about a young scientist who builds and animates a dead corpse. The classic tale is intriguing because it has many different side paths that it could take. The story is starts off with these book framing letters that are written by someone who has nothing to do with the original story. This sort of device can be read multiple different ways. The protagonist, Dr. Frankenstein, is the one telling the story. This could or could not be a good thing. I say this because he could be an untrustworthy narrator. It is interesting how the story evolves from being about the horrors that the monster causes but more about the monster's place in society. Throughout the story it seems that the doctor and his family are more focused on trying to make it work with the monster rather than actually dealing with the monster. I feel like this is some sort of subtle hint into the life of that ti...