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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Top New Science Fiction Books in April 2021

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Science fiction has the power to take us away—to escape, to make us reflect back on our own world in challenging ways, to fill us with awe and wonder about the beauties of the universe. There are so many science fiction books out there worth your time, but we only have room to recommend a few. Here are some of the science fiction books we’re most looking forward to in April 2021…

Top New Science Fiction Books in April 2021

The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

Type: Novel Publisher: Harper Voyager Release date: April 20 Den of Geek says: Ever since her groundbreaking A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Chambers has been a powerful voice in science fiction. Colorful, creative aliens inhabit a galaxy sparkling with healing and love, “soft” science fiction in the online sense that is also bursting with ideas and thoughtful characterization.

Publisher’s summary: Return to the sprawling, Hugo Award-winning universe of the Galactic Commons to explore another corner of the cosmos—one often mentioned, but not yet explored—in this absorbing entry in the Wayfarers series, which blends heart-warming characters and imaginative adventure. With no water, no air, and no native life, the planet Gora is unremarkable. The only thing it has going for it is a chance proximity to more popular worlds, making it a decent stopover for ships traveling between the wormholes that keep the Galactic Commons connected. If deep space is a highway, Gora is just your average truck stop.

At the Five-Hop One-Stop, long-haul spacers can stretch their legs (if they have legs, that is), and get fuel, transit permits, and assorted supplies. The Five-Hop is run by an enterprising alien and her sometimes helpful child, who work hard to provide a little piece of home to everyone passing through.

When a freak technological failure halts all traffic to and from Gora, three strangers—all different species with different aims—are thrown together at the Five-Hop. Grounded, with nothing to do but wait, the trio—an exiled artist with an appointment to keep, a cargo runner at a personal crossroads, and a mysterious individual doing her best to help those on the fringes—are compelled to confront where they’ve been, where they might go, and what they are, or could be, to each other.

Buy The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers.

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

Type: Novella Publisher: Tordotcom Release date: April 27

Den of Geek says: Wells’ beloved Murderbot has become one of the most entertaining and must-see characters of today’s science fiction. The android with a reluctant heart is not to be missed. Wells rarely fails to be entertaining.

Publisher’s summary: Having captured the hearts of readers across the globe (Annalee Newitz says it’s “one of the most humane portraits of a nonhuman I’ve ever read”) Murderbot has also established Martha Wells as one of the great SF writers of today.

No, I didn’t kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn’t dump the body in the station mall.

When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people―who knew?)

Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans!

Again!

Buy Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells.

Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff Vandermeer

Type: Novel Publisher: MCD Release date: April 6

Den of Geek says: This eco-thriller from the author of Annihilation trades the weird setting for a more prosaic but just as mysterious chase.

Publisher’s summary: Security consultant “Jane Smith” receives an envelope with a key to a storage unit that holds a taxidermied hummingbird and clues leading her to a taxidermied salamander. Silvina, the dead woman who left the note, is a reputed ecoterrorist and the daughter of an Argentine industrialist. By taking the hummingbird from the storage unit, Jane sets in motion a series of events that quickly spin beyond her control. Soon, Jane and her family are in danger, with few allies to help her make sense of the true scope of the peril. Is the only way to safety to follow in Silvina’s footsteps? Is it too late to stop? As she desperately seeks answers about why Silvina contacted her, time is running out—for her and possibly for the world. Hummingbird Salamander is Jeff VanderMeer at his brilliant, cinematic best, wrapping profound questions about climate change, identity, and the world we live in into a tightly plotted thriller full of unexpected twists and elaborate conspiracy.

Buy Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff Vandermeer.

Top New Science Fiction Books in March 2021

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Type: Novel Publisher: Knopf Release date: March 2 Den of Geek says: Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro is known for his literary fiction like The Remains of the Day and high-brow science fiction like Never Let Me Go. His newest tackles robot sapience in a story sure to be as much about the human heart as about machines.

Publisher’s Summary: Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, tells the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her.

Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?

Buy Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.

We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep by Andrew Kelly Stewart

Type: Novel Publisher: Tor.com Release date: March 9 Den of Geek says: Any comparison to A Canticle for Leibowitz goes pretty far here. This claustrophobic thriller with post-apocalyptic cult elements sounds intense and inventive. Publisher’s Summary: A Canticle for Leibowitz meets The Hunt for Red October in We Shall Sing a Song into the Deep, a lyrical and page-turning coming-of-age exploration of duty, belief, and the post-apocalypse from breakout newcomer Andrew Kelly Stewart.

Remy is a Chorister, rescued from the surface world and raised to sing in a choir of young boys. Remy is part of a strange crew who control the Leviathan, an aging nuclear submarine, that bears a sacred mission: to trigger the Second Coming when the time is right.

But Remy has a secret too―she’s the submarine’s only girl. Gifted with the missile’s launch key by theLeviathan’s dying caplain, she swears to keep it safe. Safety, however, is not the priority of the new caplain, who has his own ideas about the mission. When a surface-dweller is captured during a raid, Remy’s faith becomes completely overturned. Now, her last judgement may transform the fate of everything.

Buy We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep by Andrew Kelly Stewart.

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

Type: Novel Publisher: Tor Books Release date: March 2 Den of Geek says: Martine’s previous novel brought us to a world of poetry, AI, body-sharing, and high-stakes politics. The nascent rebellion against the Teixcalaanli empire takes a back seat as alien invaders threaten the empire and its colonies in the sequel. Publisher’s Summary: A Desolation Called Peace is the spectacular space opera sequel to Arkady Martine’s genre-reinventing, Hugo Award-winning debut, A Memory Called Empire.

An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options.

In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass―still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire―face the impossible task of trying to communicate with a hostile entity.

Their failure will guarantee millions of deaths in an endless war. Their success might prevent Teixcalaan’s destruction―and allow the empire to continue its rapacious expansion.

Or it might create something far stranger . . .

Buy A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine.

Top New Science Fiction Books in February 2021

Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters by Aimee Ogden

Type: Novel Publisher: Tor.com Release date: Feb. 23

Den of Geek says: Space mermaids make for an automatically charming concept, as do the twists and turns (an witchy romance?) on the classic story. Publisher’s summary: One woman will travel to the stars and beyond to save her beloved in this lyrical space opera that reimagines The Little Mermaid.

Gene-edited human clans have scattered throughout the galaxy, adapting themselves to environments as severe as the desert and the sea. Atuale, the daughter of a Sea-Clan lord, sparked a war by choosing her land-dwelling love and rejecting her place among her people. Now her husband and his clan are dying of a virulent plague, and Atuale’s sole hope for finding a cure is to travel off-planet. The one person she can turn to for help is the black-market mercenary known as the World Witch―and Atuale’s former lover. Time, politics, bureaucracy, and her own conflicted desires stand between Atuale and the hope for her adopted clan.

Buy Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters by Aimee Ogden.

The Loosening Skin by Aliya Whiteley

Type: Novel Publisher: Titan Books Release date: Feb. 23 Den of Geek says: Science fiction allows us to explore how biology effects culture. Like Early Riser by Jasper Fforde, an absurdist novel that explores a world where humans hibernate, The Loosening Skin takes one biological concept (humans who shed) and wraps a mystery around it. Publisher’s summary: Rose Allington is a bodyguard for celebrities, and she suffers from a rare disease. Her moults come quickly, changing everything about her life, who she is, who she loves, who she trusts.

In a world where people shed their skin, it’s a fact of life that we move on and cast off the attachments of our old life. But those memories of love can be touched – and bought – if you know the right people.

Rose’s former client, superstar actor Max Black, is hooked on Suscutin, a new wonderdrug that prevents the moult. Max knows his skins are priceless, and moulting could cost him his career.

When one of his skins is stolen, and the theft is an inside job, Max needs the best who ever worked for him – even if she’s not the same person.

The Loosening Skin by Aliya Whiteley.

A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel

Type: Novel Publisher: Tor.com Release date: Feb. 2 Den of Geek says: Sylvain Neuvel wowed with the Themis Files series, a fast-paced mech thriller with adventure, heart, and body horror. An alternate look at the space race turns into sharp science fiction in the first book in his new series.

Publisher’s summary: Showing that truth is stranger than fiction, Sylvain Neuvel weaves a sci-fi thriller reminiscent of Blake Crouch and Andy Weir, blending a fast moving, darkly satirical look at 1940s rocketry with an exploration of the amorality of progress and the nature of violence in A History of What Comes Next.

Always run, never fight. Preserve the knowledge. Survive at all costs. Take them to the stars.

Over 99 identical generations, Mia’s family has shaped human history to push them to the stars, making brutal, wrenching choices and sacrificing countless lives. Her turn comes at the dawn of the age of rocketry. Her mission: to lure Wernher Von Braun away from the Nazi party and into the American rocket program, and secure the future of the space race.

But Mia’s family is not the only group pushing the levers of history: an even more ruthless enemy lurks behind the scenes.

A darkly satirical first contact thriller, as seen through the eyes of the women who make progress possible and the men who are determined to stop them…

Buy A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel.

Top New Science Fiction Books in January 2021

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

Type: Novel Publisher: Tordotcom Release date: Jan. 19, 2021 Den of Geek says: Award-winning Nnedi Okorafor brings a mix of science fiction and fantasy with this unique take on the Grim Reaper. Publisher’s Summary: The day Fatima forgot her name, Death paid a visit. From hereon in she would be known as Sankofa—a name that meant nothing to anyone but her, the only tie to her family and her past.

Her touch is death, and with a glance a town can fall. And she walks—alone, except for her fox companion—searching for the object that came from the sky and gave itself to her when the meteors fell and when she was yet unchanged; searching for answers.

But is there a greater purpose for Sankofa, now that Death is her constant companion?

Buy Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor.

Star Wars: Light of the Jedi

Type: Novel Publisher: Del Rey Release date: Jan. 5, 2021

Den of Geek says: One of the first books in the The High Republic series, it introduces the new era with the story of Jedi 200 years before the fall of the Republic. You’ll find no Skywalkers, Solos, or Palpatines here, but rather an ensemble of fun new galactic warrior-monks.

Publisher’s summary: Long before the First Order, before the Empire, before even The Phantom Menace . . . Jedi lit the way for the galaxy in The High Republic It is a golden age. Intrepid hyperspace scouts expand the reach of the Republic to the furthest stars, worlds flourish under the benevolent leadership of the Senate, and peace reigns, enforced by the wisdom and strength of the renowned order of Force users known as the Jedi. With the Jedi at the height of their power, the free citizens of the galaxy are confident in their ability to weather any storm But the even brightest light can cast a shadow, and some storms defy any preparation.

When a shocking catastrophe in hyperspace tears a ship to pieces, the flurry of shrapnel emerging from the disaster threatens an entire system. No sooner does the call for help go out than the Jedi race to the scene. The scope of the emergence, however, is enough to push even Jedi to their limit. As the sky breaks open and destruction rains down upon the peaceful alliance they helped to build, the Jedi must trust in the Force to see them through a day in which a single mistake could cost billions of lives.

Even as the Jedi battle valiantly against calamity, something truly deadly grows beyond the boundary of the Republic. The hyperspace disaster is far more sinister than the Jedi could ever suspect. A threat hides in the darkness, far from the light of the age, and harbors a secret that could strike fear into even a Jedi’s heart. Buy Star Wars: Light of the Jedi.

Persephone Station by Stina Leicht

Type: Novel Publisher: Gallery / Saga Press Release date: Jan. 5, 2021 Den of Geek says: Roguish space opera serves up escapism with a side of criminal glam. Publisher’s Summary: Hugo award–nominated author Stina Leicht has created a take on space opera for fans of The Mandalorian and Cowboy Bebop in this high-stakes adventure.

Persephone Station, a seemingly backwater planet that has largely been ignored by the United Republic of Worlds becomes the focus for the Serrao-Orlov Corporation as the planet has a few secrets the corporation tenaciously wants to exploit.

Rosie—owner of Monk’s Bar, in the corporate town of West Brynner, caters to wannabe criminals and rich Earther tourists, of a sort, at the front bar. However, exactly two types of people drank at Monk’s back bar: members of a rather exclusive criminal class and those who sought to employ them.

Angel—ex-marine and head of a semi-organized band of beneficent criminals, wayward assassins, and washed up mercenaries with a penchant for doing the honorable thing is asked to perform a job for Rosie. What this job reveals will effect Persephone and put Angel and her squad up against an army. Despite the odds, they are rearing for a fight with the Serrao-Orlov Corporation. For Angel, she knows that once honor is lost, there is no regaining it. That doesn’t mean she can’t damned well try.

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Buy Persephone Station by Stina Leicht.

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recommendedlisten · 5 years

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We’re officially headed into the final stretch of 2019, and looking at the releases that have yet to come out, the dam hasn’t even started to crack with the most anticipated albums that this year has to offer within a year that has already give us so much that’s good. Summertime was just the beginning of that deluge, and as you probably know the drill by now, this year’s Recommended Autumn Listening is taking a moment to shout out a few of the last few month’s best releases that this one-person operation of a site didn’t have the brain power, time or bandwidth to devote adequate coverage to upon initial release, so its sharing retroactive praise now (because great music doesn’t have an expiration date.) Fall be kind to you with these lucky 13 recommended listens...

Bethlehem Steel - Bethlehem Steel [Exploding In Sound Records]

Repping indie rock isn’t such an easy task to burden in the year 2019 when so much of what’s out there simply sounds like the ‘90s underground revived, but Brooklynites Bethlehem Steel are thinking outside the box with their guitars on their self-titled sophomore effort. The project spawned by guitarist and vocalist Rebecca Ryskalczyk has now evolved to include another voice up front in fellow guitarist Christina Puerto alongside bassist Patrick Ronayne and drummer Jonathan Gernhart, and with the added body, the depth in the details turns their delicate nature of their collective human experiences into a sinewy, rip-roaring collection of tracks that combat the ordinary lies within modern social structures, and turn them inside out. There’s as much quiet observation at play here as there is a loud anger at culture’s ills. Bethlehem Steel’s metal structure twists formation throughout in amalgamizing grungy guitar rock, avant folk and post-hardcore into one foundation, and for that, it’s a solidly authentic listen.

Blanck Mass - Animated Violence Mild [Sacred Bones Records]

If this is the apocalypse, then Animated Violence Mild is the dance party on our way out of existence and into oblivion. The third studio effort from Fuck Buttons’ Benjamin John Power and his experimental electronic moniker Blanck Mass exits the grizzly decay of its predecessor World Eater and opts for celebrating the destruction of humankind by way of its ignorance in gross capitalist agendas, toxic consumer culture, and climate threats with bright, movement-based compositions that usher the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight with anticipation. From Powers’ vantage point, the countdown is akin to a New Year’s ball drop, as stardust confetti and a fully edged energy build their way towards this climax. Perhaps the album was intended for the Earth alone, because it gets rid of us once and for all, it’ll surely have reason to rejoice in our defeat...

Channel Tres - Black Moses EP [Godmode Music]

Channel Tres has had quite the year since his breakthrough eponymous EP landed him at the #1 spot of the year among extended listens. His cool-smooth energy that pulls in influences of house lights, R&B futurism and hip-hop bravado instantaneously gave him a recognizably singular sound that’s still going unrivaled a year later, and that the likes of sonic visionaries Vince Staples and Robyn dubbed him the honors of being their opening acts on their recent tours says a lot about where his lane is. With his Black Moses EP, Channel Tres glides into his fame and celebrity with cruise control, and that isn’t a bad thing. The beats here aren’t concerned with sizzling the floor with Tres’ charismatic fire, as this collection of five tracks is intended for when the lights go down and the temperatures drop. Even when Tres is driving in the slow lane, he’s still that stealth energy.

Charli XCX - Charli [Asylyum / Atlantic Records]

For Charli XCX, the future is now, and it’s beaming even in discovering that what is glittered in stardust also includes a little darkness to life. After years of being dubbed the pop star of tomorrow, Charli sees the many sides to the perpetually underrated influencer of this decade’s pop fashions come together in solo and collaborative form for what is her most cohesive representation of her vision yet. You could almost argue that half of the record – the part focused solely on her shape-shifting spotlight alone – is the one she wanted to make, where as the latter half, which is brimming with well-defined team-ups between other pop outsiders like Sky Ferreira, Yaeji, HAIM, Cupcakke, and Troye Sivan, are her way of appeasing a mass sound while smuggling faces underrepresented into the fold. Regardless, the Charli here is showing signs of outgrowing her late night revelries and tempering her star power inward while boosting others, aided by production from fellow sonic futurist A.G. Cook. This synth beat’s got her biggest pulse yet.

Chelsea Wolfe - Birth of Violence [Sargent House]

We’ve long known Chelsea Wolfe as one of the best songwriters in the dark, heavier realms of music. Birth of Violence, her mostly-acoustic sixth studio effort, introduces us to a different side of Wolfe, however, in that being one of the best American songwriters of our times, period. Strip away the droning heaviness and metallic sheaths of her other work, and there’s more space for Wolfe to adorn her fret board with ornate finger-picking and a quiet rumble of percussive bones that compliment her voice, collectively a haunt of beauty, strength, and somber emotion, as she surveys the landscape of these dark days like one of nature’s caretakers.In retreating to her gothic roots, Wolfe finds a new version of herself born out of violence, and stepping back into the world with healing powers for every tragic soul.

Jay Som - Anok Ko [Polyvinyl Records]

Melina Duterte has been exploring herself through her music since the very beginning of her career in self-releasing homespun bedroom pop that made its way into the Topshelf and Polyvinyl Records offices, who then introduced her to the independent scene’s masses to warm reception. In 2017, Everybody Works showcased many facets that could shine out of Duterte’s hands in her band Jay Som, ranging on the sonic spectrum from icy dream-pop, firmly constructed indie rock, and celestial shoegaze. With its followup Anok Ko, Duterte continues doing so while inviting more friendly faces into the room in collaboration to toil with her music’s energy. The listen evolves past the self-constrictions of Jay Som’s past defined lines and in turn leaves room for more possibility/ There’s looser ideas to play with, as Duterte and company let the music lead them to wander further out into her expanding canvas, and leaves you content in getting far out with them.

Knocked Loose - A Different Shade of Blue [Pure Noise Records]

In short, a landmark album that will define the modern metalcore scene for years to come in the same way Converge’s Jane Doe did nearly two decades ago. With an insatiable hunger to destroy and reconstruct the scene in their own shattered mirror, Knocked Loose’s sophomore breakout A Different Shade of Blue aspires to bring a new kind of intensity as well as raw emotion to the forefront of the latest wave of thrashers such as Code Orange and Jesus Piece who are fully feeling the futility of these times in their heaviness. More noticeably is how the Kentucky five-piece are not only refining their rage, but controlling it without coarsing down its razor edges either, with every breakdown and growl exorcising from Bryan Garris’ throat being laid down with purpose.

Octo Octa - Resonant Body [T4T LUV NRG]

You may not initially view electronic and house music as a means for meditation, but Resonant Body, the third studio album by Octo Octa will change your mind, and may even become your go-to soundtrack as you soak in those autumn drives. Following a year of non-stop touring, project mastermind Maya Bouldry-Morrison ventured to her New Hampshire cabin, surrounding by forest, water and a connection to the purified nature around her to decompress and process a self-professed “magical year of change” within. What came out of those sessions are Octo Octa’s most accessible and linear production of surreal, electronic energy that melds together the synthetic world with the elements around us. It’s truly connected to all that life is, physically and spiritually.

Queen of Jeans - If you’re not afraid, I’m not afraid [Topshelf Records]

Inside Philly’s indie punk hotbed, Queen of Jeans resist cliché while also embracing their surroundings loudly on their sophomore album If you’re not afraid, I’m not afraid. The three-piece, led by Miriam Devora, ventures away from the doo-wop and girl group kitsch of their promising debut album. and instead finds them entering the studio with scene favorite Will Yip who pronounces the rockisms in their sound subtly while allowing the band’s pop baseline to express itself to the fullest. That it does especially with toppled by Devora’s songwriting, an articulation of queer identifying breakup songs does the emotional baggage of processing the death of relationships and loved ones with an inward specificity that comes through with universal reach. Queen of Jeans take a lot of brave steps forward here, both creatively and personally, and it proves there’s really nothing to be scared about.

Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won’t Hold [Mom + Pop Records]

The strong contender for the year’s most polarizing album will undoubtedly be Sleater-Kinney’s The Center Won’t Hold. Truthfully, Recommended Listen isn’t even so sure how it explicitly feels about it, but the mere fact that it is a creative anomaly in the revered feminist indie rock hero stalwarts’ discography and comes with it bearing the departure of drummer Janet Weiss is something that makes it stand out in itself. St. Vincent’s future-pop-rock production weighs pours itself over the final incarnation of the band as a trio like liquid neon as Carrie Brownstein and Corinne Tucker aim for the stadium seats in arena-sizing their once-woolly rock aerodynamics into radical choruses. The plights that the band has always sought to address in their music with a sociopolitical agenda are still prevalent here, meaning it’s still the same Sleater-Kinney beneath all the gloss. In retrospect, this one will go down as good in hindsight as Liz Phair’s self-titled or Rilo Kiley’s Under the Blacklights.

Thom Yorke - AMINA [XL Recordings]

Outside of his work with Radiohead, Thom Yorke has presented his solo work in various formations over the years, be it under his own guise, extended in collaboration as Atoms for Peace, or scoring films with longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. AMINA circles back to being a Thom Yorke solo effort (his third proper overall) and with an understated futurism to its electronic chemistry, it’s his best material beyond that which exists within the Radiohead universe. The sum all of Yorke’s solo exploration predecessors meet their peaks here, with Yorke refining the cosmic deliverance of them into dream sequence ruminations on technological claustrophobia and existential inquiry. The alien beats, wriggling synth outlines, white noise hums, and Yorke’s faint vocals falling into the abyss come through here visibly, and with ANIMA, there is no mistaking where this static is coming from.

Uniform & The Body - Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back [Sacred Bones Records]

Brooklyn industrial complex Uniform and noise scene outliers the Body got together to great effect on last year’s Mental Wounds Not Healing with the clash of heavy and sludgy carnage was a relentless burial of weight. On the bands’ second collaboration Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back, they each remain fixated on loudly projecting their collective avant chaos into the soundboard. This time around, however, Uniform’s brutal static burn is filtered through the experimental electronic currents of the Body through blown-out bass beats and cinematic samples that deliver both an enveloping rhythm and ominous guiding hand further into their darkness from start to finish. As Uniform frontman Michael Berdan’s screams are pursued in close proximity by Chip King of the Body’s skinned-alive screams, Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back plays out like a horror film where death is an unstoppable force, and Uniform and the Body put their faces on it.

Vivian Girls - Memory [Polyvinyl Records]

Eight years apart, and the seminal, swirling rush of noise-pop rush from Vivian Girls has not come back sounding just as on the surface level as it did prior to their hiatus, but has cemented the trio of Cassie Ramone, Katy Goodman and Aly Koehler’s space in the modern indie rock canon as being a truly unique force ahead of their time that maybe we as a collective music community didn’t appreciate enough when their shooting stardust passed by us the first time. Memory isn’t just concerned with reclaiming a spot for their own through the band’s crudely produced, sometimes-sinister, and always darkening bleeds of romance at its best and worst, though. The world which Vivian Girls exists in now needs them more than ever, and they use these fleeting moment to regroup in top fashion not just for themselves, but for all women who may have seen their ingenuity taken for granted in a past life.

#lists #bethlehem steele #blanck mass #chelsea wolfe #channel tres #jay som #knocked loose #octa octa #queen of jeans #sleater-kinney #thom yorke #uniform #the body #vivian girls #features

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bellamygateoldblog · 5 years

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Blog Summary Tag Game

Find your fandom kru and help them find you. Answer the following and include the tag #the100blog in your answer, then tag some of the blogs you follow.

created by @johnmurphysreddit tagged by @blodreina-noumou !

1. What are your primary topics?

My blog is pretty much divided 70/30 between t100 & skam italia (i do tend to follow more t100 blogs!) Sometimes there’s the odd post of other shows I watch/have watched.

Most of my posts are spacekru, but i reblog lots of pretty gifs/edits of anything from the show because they are beautiful and creators put lots of work into them! I’ll probably also be posting about Octavia, too, throughout s6 because i’m particularly interested in her arc.

I’m not the most eloquent writer, but i do write & reblog a fair amount of meta, some of which are very lengthy, and i understand it could be frustrating if this doesn’t interest you, so I always try to tag them as “#meta<3″ so you can filter them if you wish. (note: my blog is disorganised atm, i’m still pretty new & only just getting the hang of it lol but my newer posts are tagged properly).

2. What tags should a visitor check?

#meta<3 is where i store meta about the show, it isn’t necessarily all my own, but i do comment on quite a bit!

#anti clarke griffin is where all of my Clarke posts go, even ones that I don’t necessarily class as negative, because i think my general feelings about her character give off a negative impression regardless.

I tag with full names (e.g, #bellamy blake) and i do this with any other show besides t100 that i spontaneously reblog, too (such as #deadly class).

3. What do you love about The 100?

I love the dynamics between a lot of the characters, and i tend to focus on them a lot! There are plenty of instances where there are personality clashes, and where they’re forced to challenge one another. The dynamics also give pretty good indications of who are best suited as units or teams, and who can be percieved as being outliers to the rest.

I like that pretty much every character is presented as grey, it makes it more enjoyable to analyse them, their motivations, and their strengths and weaknesses. It’s possible to view a scene from multiple different perspectives and understand where each of the characters stand during that point in time, even when we don’t necessarily agree with them. I love the redemption arcs of both Bellamy and Murphy, I was always taken with their journey’s of seeking atonement, reflecting on their morals and place in the world, and growing as people as a direct result of their actions and the consiquences of them.

I like to be surprised; I can be a fan of major character death if it’s executed properly (no pun intended), and if this end point is consistent with the rest of their arc. I like when the trajectory of a character’s story changes suddenly, such as when Murphy went along with Jaha to the city of light, and then later regrouped with the rest of the mains, but as a member, rather than an outsider. Another example of this, just to be clearer, was Luna’s refusal to take the flame despite all the suspence and mystery surrounding her character, and i like that they didn’t result to compromising who she was in order to drive the plot!

I’m drawn to post-apocalypse/dystopian future style shows and movies for the new and exciting challenges they pose compared to the here-and-now. These types of shows are a great way of exploring ideas that wouldn’t otherwise be appropriate, such as corrupted morals, the difficulty of survival, and taking extreme measures in the face of danger. LOVE fight scenes, especially involving combat weapons, and the thrill the comes with them; they’re much more entertaining than guns.

I love some superficial drama in the midst of all the chaos, usually relationship and friendship conflicts. I feel it just brings so many more layers to the narrative, and makes the world it exists in seem bigger and deeper, while also serving to make the show more engaging by giving us something we can relate to better, no matter how silly it seems within the context of the show. This way, it doesn’t feel too plot-orientated and gives the viewer a breather from the darker aspects of the show. I think t100 did this better in the earlier seasons, especially with Octavia and Bellamy, as the dynamic conflicts that came later on all seem to be plot-related in one way or another.

I love the whole idea of finding your place in a world that works hard to suppress you.

My favourite characters are spacekru + Octavia & Diyoza (both bad bitches which i truely cannot resist). Deceased favourites: Luna, Jasper + Finn (I like the peaceful damaged ones okay)

I don’t focus too much on ships, but i have a strong preference for Becho!

4. What do you hate/what frustrates you about The 100?

Hypocrisy and double standards that exist within the narrative, and especially within the fandom. A lot of the time this is concerning Clarke.

The fandom climate in general! explicit and implicit hostility directed towards people who disagree with popular opinion, people unable to distinguish between actor and character, people opting to attack rather than discuss, people viewing the entire show through ‘shipper goggles’ and ignoring key elements of the narrative in favour of creating their own canon (people who ignore and twist past the point of it just being individual interpretation).

The wasted potential of Jasper & Finn as insights into the harmful affects and futility of war, and the puncture it makes on a person’s psyche. As much as these deaths had me shaken to my core, I could never quite get past the blatant killing-off of two of the more explictly mentally ill characters. Rather than a recovery storyline, the only solution to their struggles was death, and i’ve always felt like the writers had so much potential to address PTSD and depression more directly, through them. I think it could’ve made for an interesting storyline, and it would’ve given the writers more personalities, dynamics, and challenges to play with.

The belittlement/mocking of peaceful characters, which in a way expressed that hating violence and war made you weak and not to be taken seriously (Lincoln & Luna specifically, but also s5 Monty and s1 Finn).

Additionally, the lack of world-building. We were only given minor glimpses into the past of some characters, we didn’t get to see details on how the ark evolved, or how the present culture was formed from it’s history. We see the same approach with the grounders; we learn that every clan is different, but then we barely see how they are different. The small appearance of mutated animals and then no future mentions is another confusing point. I know most of this is simply due to time restraints, but there came a point where we didn’t learn any more than was necessary to advance the plot, and it just made the world and conflicts in it seem smaller.

Characters I dislike include Clarke, Kane & Abby (both equally as frustrating and eye-roll inducing).

5. Is this exclusively a The 100 blog?

No, but i usually only use one other main tag (skam italia) which can be filtered!

6. What else should people know?

I love engagement with my posts! You don’t need to be reluctant to add your own thoughts. Conversation is welcome as long as it is kind and respectful!

I usually don’t speak too openly about this, but I have depression, which means I sometimes go M.I.A and sometimes i’m here most of my time to keep myself busy. It varies! so if I fail to reply to anything, it may be because i don’t have the energy to just yet, but it isn’t personal!

I talk a lot in my tags, sometimes commenting on the post when i’m trying to avoid hijacking, and sometimes talking bs and tagging Bellamy “big sexy”

I have a lot of unpopular opinions in this fandom, i’m well aware of it lol but i don’t appreciate hateful anons (which i have had in the past, and they aren’t pleasant!) I prefer to keep anon turned on because some people are just more comfortable interacting that way, and that’s fine! but don’t take it being turned on as an invitation to attack me.

I don’t follow many people, but here are some people who’s blogs I love, who i tag to do this if they want to (though i know this kind of thing isn’t for everyone!)

@bound-by-stardust @fleimkepakosskairipa @awkwardnarwhall93 @fleimkepajohnmurphy @ringabellamy @spacekru-defense @skaiengineers @alrightsnaps @bunker-boyfriends

Sorry if you were already tagged!!

#the100blog #thank you for tagging me!!#finally found time to write this #and it was fun

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mjbookreviews · 7 years

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Reviews for the End of the World

I wrote this piece for a practicum I was a part of in college. Still pretty recent, still pretty relevant.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the end of the world. Maybe it’s because in multiple classes I’m in this semester we have been discussing zombie novels and climate change. Maybe it’s because I’ll be going to Los Angeles soon and I’m pretty sure that North Korea is going to nuke it. Maybe it’s because I’m graduating from college in a month and have no idea what I’m doing next. Whatever it is, I’ve found that the best way to feed my fears is to read dystopian literature, and these have been great for reminding me that there is very little hope for the future. According to my literary research, the world is going to end in one of three ways (or through a combination of the three): widespread plague (zombie kind included), environmental destruction, and/or total political collapse. So I guess the thing here is, pick your poison. Humans seem to be to blame for the end of the world any way you slice it.

I have to say, I love zombie stories. Yes, it got really annoying when a few years ago literally everything had to do with zombies (which is the context for when this first novel was published), but that trend has kind of died down now, and I can get behind it again. There’s something comfortingly ridiculous about zombies, like they’re scary, but completely unrealistic. No way the world is going to end in a zombie apocalypse. Plus, all that talk of plague kind of makes it feel like it’s not the fault of humans; it’s “nature… correcting an imbalance… comeuppance for a flatlined culture,” as the Lieutenant says in Colson Whitehead’s Zone One. And in a way this is true, but Whitehead’s novel does not shy away from the idea that humans are getting what’s coming to them; after all, it is their dead, sleepy culture, transfixed by technology, that has lulled them into a false sense of security. Whitehead also makes an effort to point out the environmental damage that was occurring in the world before the zombie apocalypse broke out. Clearly, something (many things) should have been done to prevent this. Yet if the zombie apocalypse had not occurred, our protagonist, Mark Spitz, would not be the main character of anyone’s story. Mark Spitz is the most average man on the planet, according to even himself. He does nothing out of the ordinary, never pushes himself to excel or lets himself completely fail; he is, as he says, a solid B in everything. But his ability to adjust to his environment, to allow himself to blend in and do what must be done, is what allows him to survive among the undead, and frankly, it is in this environment that he thrives, never seeming to be anything special but always able to survive.

First he survives the Last Night, when the virus that turns humans to zombies broke out for real. He then makes his way to New York City, the place he’d always wanted to live before the outbreak, and it is here that he finds some semblance of civilization. Mark Spitz, along with his unit, is assigned the task of clearing out Zone One (Manhattan) of remaining zombies (“skels”) that were not killed by an initial sweep conducted by the military, as well as stragglers, zombies that are fixed to certain spots that were important to them in their lives before—unmoving, unresponsive, slowly decaying corpses. Whitehead’s version of zombies is uniquely compelling, in the way the disorienting timeline, shifting fluidly from past to present, is presented and in its provoking portrayal of the human condition after the world has experienced such trauma, such as the exploration of “Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder” (PASD) and whether or not racism will exist if the world ever reconstructs itself (hint: it’s suggested that it unfortunately probably will). I have no delusion that I would make it very far in a zombie apocalypse, but Whitehead’s vision of the future world is interesting and thrilling enough that I would almost want to live in it for a moment. Almost, but not really.

In a slightly more realist vein, Octavia Butler’s classic Parable of the Sower looks at Los Angeles in the 2020s, when America has fallen to environmental and economic disaster. Lauren Olamina, a preacher’s daughter, lives just outside of Los Angeles in a small, gated community that is not wealthy but provides adequate protection. Predicting that the world she knows in her gated community will soon come crashing down, Lauren prepares herself for when she might need to flee north, where it is rumored there are still jobs and plentiful water. Described in crazy close detail through Lauren’s journal entries, her vigilance proves to be warranted as pyromaniac drug addicts storm her community and kill her family and friends. Lauren then journeys north with little more than the baggage of her loss and grief and the company of two friends from her old life, growing into a group of survivors she picks up along the way. Butler’s tale seems to weave in a little of everything: religion, politics, race, gender, class. Through Lauren’s honest and straightforward narrative voice, Butler creates an America that is entirely new yet somehow all too familiar, and Lauren’s ultimate goal in creating a community around a religion she has shaped, Earthseed, in incredibly inventive. To start each chapter, Butler includes a quote from the parables Lauren has created for Earthseed:

“God is Power—

Infinite,

Irresistible,

Inexorable,

Indifferent,

And yet, God is Pliable—

Trickster,

Teacher,

Chaos,

Clay.

God exists to be shaped.

God is Change.”

Heavy stuff from a girl who is only fifteen when the novel starts. Lauren is the kind of person you want on your side during the apocalypse, and she also knows how to write a good parable for her audience of ragtag survivalists. Butler’s skill at placing herself in this future where “God is Change” is truly astonishing.

Here is the kind of novel that scares me the most in its horrifically exact detail. Though I somewhat doubt that America will end up in the state that this novel describes within the next ten years, fifty years from now does not seem unrealistic, especially considering that this book was published in 1993, looking thirty years into the future. The environmental disaster described in Parable of the Sower is all too frightening for someone who lives in Los Angeles and recognizes the accuracy of the problems in the novel relating to fire and lack of water. I find the end of this book to be somewhat more hopeful than other dystopian novels I’ve read (no spoilers), and I think that a lot of this has to do with Lauren’s insistence on building a community; this is a somewhat strange community based on Earthseed, but the book does seem to point to the idea that even when the world is ending, there will be people who will try to keep human warmth and contact a priority. I found Parable of the Sower interesting also in its depiction of the government and corporations. The government here hasn’t completely fallen, but corporations have basically been given free reign, and Lauren and her band of followers ponder on the idea that these corporations seem to be bringing back a new form of slavery, one not totally based on race like in America’s early history but still closely linked, an idea that seriously occupies the mind of Lauren, who is black.

A great predecessor of the previous two books, Margaret Atwood’s 1985 book, The Handmaid’s Tale, also deals with religion, gender, and class, though in many different ways and on the opposite coast. If race is the dominant issue for Butler (which I’m not necessarily saying it is), gender will be the main concern in the future according to Atwood. In The Handmaid’s Tale, we have finally arrived at a dystopia where the government has truly fallen, and it is women who suffer under a new regime. Environmental destruction plays out in the background of this novel; because of pollution and toxic waste, fertility rates have dropped drastically in the world, and women who have been arrested or declared sterile can be shipped off to the ecological wastelands of the Colonies for the rest of their lives. However, it is in the continental United States that the action is occurring. After years of sexual liberation and feminist movements, men feel as if they have no purpose in life anymore, as they have no one to protect or take care of—there was a pandemic “inability to feel” for men in the old days. A governmental coup is arranged, and the Republic of Gilead is born. In this society, women are not allowed to read or to go out on their own except on specified occasions, such as shopping trips. The novel’s protagonist is Offred, who becomes a Handmaid, women who are basically concubines for high-ranking officials in the government. Once a month, Offred must have sex with the Commander that she lives with while his wife, Serena Joy, is in the bed with them. Offred’s sole job is to produce an heir for the Commander, but in this age of drastically decreased fertility, it is a risky job to hold.

In Atwood’s rendering, this future totalitarian state is icky and repressive and deservedly a rallying cry in feminist literature. I read an interview by Atwood once that said that everything that happens in The Handmaid’s Tale was taken from stories around the world of events that have already happened before (i.e. Puritans, Communist Romania, etc.), and this presents another terrifying way that the world as we know it could fall. Everything that we thought could never happen in a country like the United States (in its technologically advanced, democratic civilization or whatever) could very well happen. And if it’s a world where women are completely subjugated and not even allowed to read, this is the world of my nightmares. Atwood’s book again gives at least a somewhat hopeful ending, firstly by including an epilogue and secondly just in Offred’s act of recording her story, or, more precisely, in that she “would like to believe this is a story [she’s] telling” because “if it’s a story [she’s] telling, then [she has] control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it.” I think that this novel then offers the greatest hope of the three for possible human redemption, seeing as there could be an “after,” but how well humans can redeem themselves is still questionable.

Whitehead is clearly working under the lineage of Butler and Atwood, building his own vision from the legacies they left. Nearly thirty years separates The Handmaid’s Tale and Zone One, but writers are obviously still not done thinking that the end of life as we know it is fairly eminent. And as someone who has just spent the last eight months writing my own dystopian-esque thesis/novella, the questions and themes relevant to these works have been on my mind a lot, adding to the list of reasons why I’ve recently been so interested in apocalyptic literature. Honestly, I basically wrote a dystopian piece in response to the astonishment and horror I felt at the 2016 US Presidential election of Donald Trump. And arguably, Spitz, Butler, and Atwood are not just fantastically writing about the future either; we respond to our current situation by predicting how contemporary events will play out into the future, and sometimes, as especially is the case of Atwood and Butler, we look to the past to find patterns for what lies ahead. This presents a pretty disheartening view of writers’ outlooks on the present state of the world; if we use the present and the past as our models of zombie- and authoritarian-filled futures, there seems little hope that humans will magically change their ways anytime soon. But I guess that’s what makes these books so powerful and so gripping in our imaginations; at first glance they may seem far-fetched, even absurd, but by following the stories of these individuals who have survived and are sharing their intimate secrets with us, we pick up on little details that seem all too familiar to our lives and our current world, and suddenly we are face to face with the idea that, oh god, we kind of believe this could happen to us, too.

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crapfutures · 7 years

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I ain’t seen the sunshine

... since I don’t know when

- Johnny Cash, Folsom Prison Blues

We don’t normally write about our travels at Crap Futures, but last week’s trip to Longyearbyen, Svalbard seems worth a mention. The archipelago lies between Norway and the North Pole, far above Iceland, and at 78 degrees north Longyearbyen is the world’s northernmost settlement. There are 30% more polar bears than humans. There are northern lights, apparently. We did not see the northern lights, or any other natural light, during the six days we were there. The conference we attended was called, in all caps, REMOTE.

If you ever get a chance to visit Svalbard, even in January, take it. Despite the 24-hour darkness of polar night, drawn like a heavy curtain over Longyearbyen from October to February, the people we met there were lively and happy, even slightly giddy, drunk on the melting together of night and day. School children wearing reflective vests built snow forts under stark electric lights. People rode past on bicycles even in -20 degree temperatures, or on snowmobiles with rifle mounts. Huskies were tied up outside shops, and you had to check your gun at the door. It all had a Wild West feel about it.

The day after we arrived a mother polar bear and her two cubs wandered into town and were gently escorted out again in the most Scandinavian way, only to return the following day. The three bears also showed up at our dogsledding camp outside Longyearbyen, news that was conveyed to us by a man with a gun as we warmed ourselves with coffee and brandy in the lodge. (By law you can only leave the city limits with a high-powered rifle, or a guide who carries one.) The exchange between the man with the gun and our guide, who also had a rifle but carried it discreetly and put it in a locker at the camp, went as follows:

‘These people have all signed the waiver.’

‘Ah good, they’ve signed the waiver.’ (The waiver stipulated that if we were eaten by a bear it was not the company’s fault.)

‘Look – they’re in Philip’s camp, near his tent.’

‘Is Philip there?’

‘Ja, I think so.’

‘Yesterday they scared them away and said everything was okay, but they came right back.’

‘Ja, they must be hungry. They came up here maybe because of the meat.’

Then they turned to us and said: ‘So stay with the boss, okay?’

The scary thing about bears wandering into settlements – aside from the obvious menace of a large white bear hiding in a blizzard during the polar night – is the suggestion that something is going seriously wrong with nature; that hungry bears are a visible sign of climate change. Rising temperatures in the Arctic mean melting sea ice, which in turn makes it harder to find food (in the form of seals), and the whole sea ice ecosystem starts to collapse. The desperate mother bear – for what bear in its right mind would go near a place full of dozens of barking dogs, shouting humans, and vehicles – was likely trying to find enough food to feed her cubs.

The Arctic weather was generally cold and clear, with soft, drifting snow, but again, dark. The surrounding mountains and fjord could be glimpsed only in dim outline. The effect of day after day of total darkness is hard to describe. It wasn’t far to reach the end of the road in any direction, and the end of the streetlights – after which there was only an abyss, like falling off the map. Gale force winds whipped up unexpectedly, turning a walk to the pub into a blind life-or-death journey in which your colleagues suddenly disappeared and you were walking down an endless icy road, alone. This made one pub on the edge of town feel a bit locked in, like Minnie’s Haberdashery in The Hateful Eight. On the other hand there was the hygge factor: everywhere indoors, for example, in restaurants and pubs and shops, people padded around in woolly socks; we even presented in socks, which certainly gave the conference room a cosy vibe.

At the conference itself we met Owe Ronström, ethnologist and musician, a warm and generous soul from the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, who gave the keynote (and showed us Don Martin cartoons of desert islands). We sat drinking wine from the Nordpolet late into the night with colleagues like our subversive friend Kirsten Marie Raahauge, from the Design school at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. We talked about anticipation and wish fulfilment, needs and desires, the late Zygmunt Bauman and our own beloved Borgmann, as well as more topical questions: What is the best (peaceful) defense against polar bears? What are you supposed to do with brown cheese? How long can a human survive without sunlight? Is it healthy to jump into the snow after a jacuzzi? Credit must go to the organisers, Adam Grydehøj and Yaso Nadarajah, for keeping things running smoothly and losing not a single delegate.

We’ve been to larger events in the past year, but none so remote or intimate. Bringing together an eclectic mix of Island Studies researchers, the presentation topics ranged from medieval Norse-Sámi relations to intercorporeality and islandness to cultural identity and animal husbandry on the Estonian island of Ruhnu (pop. 97). For our part, we spoke about designing energy solutions for Madeira, ending with a video of our first prototype that James cut together on the plane. (We’ll post the video along with the latest project news in the next week or so.)

The theme of our panel was ‘Remote Island Sustainability’, and our talk was about ‘Promise in the Periphery’ – so how did Madeira fit in? In many ways Madeira is not remote or peripheral at all: it is the second wealthiest region in Portugal, it has decent air links to the rest of Europe, a centuries old tourism industry, and historically it was a major stopping point on transatlantic journeys. Nevertheless, it is peripheral in the sense of dependence; that – for example – much of its energy is still imported, along with much of its food and other goods – more than need be the case, given its natural attributes. Why is this? The constraints of infrastructure make it easier and cheaper to buy into the larger grid than to find local solutions. But is it easier and cheaper? What are the real costs of ignoring the local?

Judith Schalansky has a useful description of islands as ‘footnotes to the mainland’: ‘expendable to an extent, but also disproportionately more interesting’. Similarly, after her recent trip to Svalbard, Rebecca Solnit wrote: ‘More than anyplace I’ve ever been, [Svalbard] imposes a dependency…. Which is also an independency, from the rest of the world.’ Being peripheral should not be viewed as an obstacle, but as an advantage and an opportunity.

We’re exploring ideas of dependency and independency in relation to energy – taking the shape of a speculative design approach to energy generation, infrastructure and behaviour in Madeira. In our work we’re seeking to exploit remoteness and peripherality as drivers of creativity, possibility, resilience. In particular we aim to challenge the traditional radial model of centrally generated electricity, with the aim of allowing communities to reclaim ownership of energy generation and storage. We want to create new ecologies of energy relationships among islanders.

Darwin called the Galapagos Islands ‘a little world within itself’. The insulated species he found there – the tortoises and finches – give us an analogy for tailoring solutions to island-specific challenges. Bespoke innovation requires you to see the island as a whole, as a unique, self-contained site. Unlike the finches of the Galapagos, however, we intend that our bespoke energy solutions for Madeira will fly abroad, to be adapted to other Macaronesian Islands – in the case of one of our projects – and places further afield, as in the case of another project we’re developing.

The first line of the Madeiran anthem – Do vale à montanha e do mar à serra (‘From the valley to the mountain and from the sea to the highlands’) – gives a sense of how extreme this landscape is. The highest point, Pico Ruivo, is almost 2km above sea level, and it gets snow in the winter when it is still 20 degrees at the coast (and in the sea).

As a recent BBC documentary on Svalbard states: ‘This is not a place for normal.’ We found this to be true – certainly after a week in the dark – but we also found the potential for experimentation, both in the case of Svalbard and our own remote island. We saw the sun again at last as we flew back to Oslo via Tromsø. That night we re-entered the world just in time to watch Trump’s ‘American carnage’ inauguration speech on CNN. Suddenly the remote expanse of Svalbard looked far less like a hostile and frozen wasteland, far more like an oasis in the midst of a greater apocalypse.

#Svalbard #remote #periphery #speculative design #islands

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