#like it would be a different story if the dystopia aspect of this book centered around how ai bolstered an environment where

[maxwell-grant]

So that ask about a Doc Savage/The Shadow crossover (which as an aside, I agree that Doc is probably the worst of the archetype he is functionally the Ur-Example of that isn’t an intentional deconstruction focusing on his worst eugenicist/borderline-fascist aspects to create a villain) has me thinking: what exactly would be the boundaries for a good, well-written crossover between the Shadow and different genres or eras of what we all collectively call pulp? Could someone do a crossover between the Shadow and Indiana Jones that didn’t rely on one or the other being little more than a glorified cameo in a small portion of what was essentially the other’s story, or reducing the former to his lamest two-dimensional “gun-toting homicidal maniac” interpretations? Could the Shadow ever functionally exist in a universe shared with a space opera setting like the Lensman series? It seems like one could theoretically do a crossover between the Shadow and a character of the same era like Nero Wolfe or Sam Spade, but would it strain credulity to attempt it with characters from an updated form of the private detective archetype like Thomas Magnum’s Hawaiian noir or Rick Deckard’s cyberpunk dystopia? Obviously not expecting answers to each of these hypotheticals specifically, just as examples of the kind of thing I’m wondering now.

I will be going through some of your hypotheticals though, you clearly gave a lot of thought to this and it's only fair I respond in turn. I am always eager to respond anyone who wants to ask specifics about writing The Shadow, because much of what I strive to do through this blog is to just inform people about the many, many things that made The Shadow great, the things that have been neglected, and to provide paths anyone who wishes to write the character may take. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to write The Shadow someday, but the least I can do is spread knowledge as I work my way there. I'd like to think I've done allright so far.

It's a fairly big question though so we're gonna through it by pieces...

...not THAT way

what exactly would be the boundaries for a good, well-written crossover between the Shadow and different genres or eras of what we all collectively call pulp?

Part of the reason why I did a post yesterday on The Shadow's influences is because looking at them, looking at a character's influences and history, I think are always essential to the prospect of tackling them. And in that regard, The Shadow doesn't actually have much, if any, boundaries stopping him from crossing over with just about anything. The most that's stopping the pulp heroes currently is, besides legal issues, their time periods and obscurity, but The Shadow is the most famous of them all, and a lot of stories have already worked with the idea that he's immortal (which I have my misgivings with, but for better or worse is clearly not going anywhere, and it's not a unworkable concept).

Right from the start, The Shadow was designed to be a long-running, versatile character that could partake in whatever adventures they felt like telling, and part of this is due not just to an incredibly strong personality not afforded to most pulp heroes or characters in general, even those who tried imitating him, but also the fact that he often takes a narrative backseat to the agents and proxy heroes, which means he doesn't have to carry a narrative by his own (and is in fact best suited not to), can blend in to just about anyone's story, and still stand out and be the center of sprawling mysteries. Actually, I'm gonna let Walter Gibson answer this one for you:

While his major missions were to stamp out mobs or smash spy rings, he often tabled such routines in order to find a missing heir, uncover buried treasure, banish a ghost from a haunted house or oust a dictator from a mythical republic.

There was no limitation to the story themes as long as they came within the standards of credibility--which proved easy, since The Shadow was such an incredible character in his own right that almost anything he encountered was accepted by his ardent followers.

Widespread surveys taken while the magazine was appearing monthly showed that a large majority of newsstands sold nearly all their copies within the first two weeks of issue. While other character magazines might show an early flurry, their sales were either spread evenly over the entire period or gained their impetus about the middle of the mouth and sometimes not until the third or even the fourth week.

From the writing standpoint, this made it advisable to adhere more closely to the Cranston guise and to emphasize the parts played by The Shadow's well-established agents, since regular readers evidently liked them. Also, it meant "keeping ahead" of those regulars, with new surprises, double twists in "whodunit" plots, and most exacting of all a succession of villains who necessarily grew mightier and more monstrous as The Shadow disposed of their predecessors.

Always, his traits and purposes were defined through the observations and reactions of persons with whom he came in contact, which meant that the reader formed his opinion from theirs.

This gave The Shadow a marked advantage over mystery characters forced to maintain fixed patterns and made it easy to write about him. There was never need for lengthy debate regarding what The Shadow should do next, or what course he should follow to keep in character. He could meet any exigency on the spur of the moment, and if he suddenly acted in a manner opposed to his usual custom, it could always be explained later.

The Shadow’s very versatility opened a vast vista of story prospects from the start of the series onward. In the earlier stories, he was described as a “phantom,” an “avenger,”, and a “superman,” so he could play any such parts and still be quite in character. In fact, all three of those terms were borrowed by other writers to serve as titles for other characters.

Almost any situation involving crime could be adapted to The Shadow’s purposes

The final rule was this: put The Shadow anywhere, in any locale, among friends or associates, even in a place of absolute security, and almost immediately crime, menace or mystery would begin to swirl about him, either threatening him personally or gathering him in its vortex to carry him off to fields where antagonists awaited.

That was his forte throughout all his adventures. Always, his escapes were worked out beforehand, so that they would never exceed the bounds of plausibility when detailed in narrative form. And that was the great secret of The Shadow.”

In some regards, The Shadow is a mirror. He presents himself to people the way that's best suited to them, the way they'd like him to be, the way he needs to be to affect them. They want money, he has it. They want honor, glory and purpose, he gives them that. They want to fight and turn around social systems for the better, he funds their dreams. Gangsters want the underworld's greatest hitman on their side, he becomes that and lets it be their doom. The story calls for a rich aristocrat who can rub elbows with politicians and kings and presidents, he can do that as long as it suits him. Kent Allard can be a world famous celebrity in one story and a disfigured, broke and faceless nobody in the next. You want a kind janitor with unexpected fighting skill to spy on police and assist the homeless, he has a little someone named Fritz for the occasion. You want an evil monster to be defeated, bring out Ying Ko. Hell, James Patterson's upcoming Shadow novel, which by all reviews seems to be pretty lousy, apparently features The Shadow transforming into a cat. Why? Screw you, that's why! But you'd never see James Bond or Batman spontaneously transforming into a cat without outside interference. He's The Shadow, he's got a face for everything.

(Okay to be clear I don't actually want the Shadow to literally transform into animals, at least not without a good explanation which the book clearly doesn't provide, but I do think it illustrates my point about how generally weird he is)

He is a shapeshifter who can be just about any character in any given narrative who only reveals himself when it's time to materialize into a cloaked terror or a familiar face (whether it's Cranston or Allard or Arnaud and so on). War stories, romance stories, sci-fi stories, globetrotting stories, parody stories, he's done all of them and then some. He doesn't need to be the protagonist of a story, he doesn't need to be invincible, and he doesn't really have any set rules regarding powerset. Gibson stressed credibility a lot, but for over 70 years now, that's clearly gone by the window of the character's writing. By design, he was always meant to be able to smoothly integrate into any existing narrative. Frankly, the only thing that's really holding him back (or saving him, depending on how you look at it) is the fact that he's not public domain (yet).

I think for a start, it's not so much boundaries, because in make believe land boundaries are just things to be overcome on the way to telling a story, so much as it's a good working knowledge of the character and of how far you are willing to stretch your storytelling limitations to include him, because he can account for just about all of them. Now, obviously there's stuff that works for the character better than others, a lot of Shadow fans don't like it when they take the character too much into fantasy, there's debates on how superpowered should he be if at all, and so forth. I have my own preferences, but one of the bigger tests of long-running characters is how can they succeed and thrive when placed outside of their element, and The Shadow can do that.

Could someone do a crossover between the Shadow and Indiana Jones that didn’t rely on one or the other being little more than a glorified cameo in a small portion of what was essentially the other’s story, or reducing the former to his lamest two-dimensional “gun-toting homicidal maniac” interpretations?

would it strain credulity to attempt it with characters from an updated form of the private detective archetype like Thomas Magnum’s Hawaiian noir

Well regarding the first question, the latter portion I think is very easy to do. Just, don't write him like that. Just be aware of why that's a mischaracterization, why the character doesn't need that to work, why he works better without it, and so on. It shouldn't be that hard.

Regarding Indiana Jones and Thomas Magnum, I think these two actually lend themselves very easily to crossovers with The Shadow. On Indy's case, he already is a Pulp Hero operating in the same time period, who's got a heavily contrasting niche and personality to build a fun dynamic around. Indy is more story-driven, in the sense that the Indiana Jones moves are all centered around his experiences and point of view and growth as a person, compared to The Shadow's stories, which are not really about "his" story as much as they are about the stories of the people he comes in contact with. Indy is a blockbuster superstar while The Shadow lurks and slithers through the edges and cracks of a story until it's time to strike. But if anything that just makes even more of a case as to why they could team up without issue, since there's a further built-in complimentary contrast to work with.

I have never watched Magnum P.I so there's definitely stuff I might be missing, but looking him up, past the necessary explanation as to why The Shadow's hanging around the 80s, it wouldn't strain credulity at all for the two to team up. The Shadow has had Caribbean/beach-themed adventures and one unrecorded adventure in Honolulu, he has a beach bum secret identity called Portuguese Joe that he could use for this occasion, and Magnum seems like exactly the kind of character who could star as the proxy hero of a Shadow novel. He's lively and friendly and can look after himself, he has a job that leads him to trouble and puts him on contact with criminals as well as victims, he's got secrets and a dark past and a laundry list of character flaws, he's perfectly capable of carrying a story by himself but can be out of his depth in the schemes that he gets caught up in.

Could the Shadow ever functionally exist in a universe shared with a space opera setting like the Lensman series? Or Rick Deckard’s cyberpunk dystopia?

I'm going to tackle parts of this question more throughly when I answer one in my query that's asking me "How would you do The Shadow in modern day?", which I still haven't gotten around to answering because it's a tricky one. I won't go into the specifics for the two examples you listed because I've never read the Lensman books and googling about them hasn't helped much very much, and Deckard's a fairly standard P.I character mostly elevated by the movie he's in, there's not really much to discuss regarding him specifically interacting with The Shadow. The question you're asking me here seems to generally be: Could The Shadow functionally exist in settings so radically apart from the 30s Depression era he was made for?

My answer for this is a maybe leaning towards yes. Starting with the fact that the concept of The Shadow is more suited for allegorical fantasy along the lines of space operas and cyberpunk, than the gritty realism he's been saddled with for decades, which I'll get into another time. For some reason, a lot of people seem to harp on about how the Shadow's costume is impractical and unworkable for modern times, and said James Patterson novel mentioned above ditched it all together, which as you can guess was a massively unpopular decision. Matt Wagner talked once about how cities don't have shadows and men wearing hats anymore and that's part of why you can't have The Shadow in modern times (as if The Shadow was always supposed to be dressing like an average guy, and not cowboy Dracula). But nobody seems to have a problem with characters dressing up exactly like The Shadow showing up all the time in dystopian future cities with fashion senses where they stick out like a sore thumb (and really, they should stick out, otherwise what's the point of being all weird and dark and mysterious?)

Although The Shadow is specifically suited for urban settings, is conceptually rooted in 1930s America, and there are important facets of his characterization related to history like the Great War, there are not the be-all end-all of The Shadow. It's part of the character. Other parts integral to the character are, as mentioned above, the versatility and metamorphous nature he was always intended to have. His nature as a character who exists to thrive in narratives not about him and not centered around him. His roots on Dracula and King Arthur and Oz and Lupin which are concepts that have had so, so many drastical revisions and turnabouts that still stuck to the basic principles of the icon.

Besides, The Shadow's already been there. He's already been to space, he's already been in alternate dimensions, he's already reawakened in modern/future times several times now (when he doesn't just live to them unchanged). He's been a cyborg twice, and between those, El Sombra, Vendata, X-9, the Shadow-referencing robot henchmen from Bob Morane and Yu-Gi-Oh's Jinzo referencing the movie's bridge scene, it's enough to constitute a weird pattern of The Shadow and Shadow-adjacent characters turning into robots. Perhaps one positive side effect of The Shadow's decades-long submersion in fantasy is that it's opened the character for just about anything, and I think this could be a good thing if it was married to an adherence to the things that made him such a juggernaut of an icon in the 30s and 40s.

Really, The Shadow partially works on Predator rules. And by that I mean, the big secret of the Predator that filmmakers don't seem to get is that the best way to make a Predator film is to just put the Predator somewhere he's not supposed to be, and let that play out. Because the Predator is, by design, a trespasser who invades narratives and turns the power dynamics around, and that works for any narrative you put it into.

The first movie is all about setting you up for a jungle action movie with Schwarzenegger's Sexual Tyrannosaurus Crew as the biggest baddest death squad around, only for the Predator to appear, turn the tables on these shitheads and pick them off one by one until Arnie scrapes a victory by beating it at it's own game. The 2nd movie is about a drug war between cops and gangs in L.A, until the Predator shows up and suddenly he's the big problem again that's gotta be put down. All the other movies fail because they try to be "about" the Predator, but the Predator doesn't work that way. He's a ugly motherfucker who's here to fight and kill things in cool ways for the sake of it's warrior game, who already has a specific structure to how his story's meant to play out, and that's all he needs to be. What you do is just take that character, take the structure he carries around, and throw it somewhere that works by different rules, and let the contrast play out the story.

Obviously there's a lot more to The Shadow than this, I write a billion essays on the guy after all, but much of what makes The Shadow work, much of what made The Shadow such an icon at the decade of his debut and such an interesting character to revolve any kinds of stories around, was because of the great contrast he posed to everything surrounding him, and the ways he can both be at the forefront as well as the backseat of any story.

Going back to what Gibson said:

Almost any situation involving crime could be adapted to The Shadow’s purposes. He could meet any exigency on the spur of the moment, and if he suddenly acted in a manner opposed to his usual custom, it could always be explained later.

The Shadow was such an incredible character in his own right that almost anything he encountered was accepted by his ardent followers.

advisable to emphasize the parts played by The Shadow's well-established agents, since regular readers evidently liked them.

The keyword here isn't that the Shadow should be realistic, frankly that's always been a lost cause. He was never really that realistic, and it's unfair to expect writers to keep pace with Gibson who had lifelong experience with the in and outs of magic and daring escapes and whatnot. The keywords I want to stress here is "accepted by his ardent followers".

Make a good explanation, an explanation that fits the character, an explanation that works, and the rest will follow. And if you can't, make us like the character. Make us accept that he can do and be all these things. Give us something to be invested in. And if that can't be The Shadow himself because he has to stay at arms length constantly to be mysterious, Gibson cracked the code almost a century ago through the agents. Make us invested in them, and through them, we will become invested in The Shadow.

The pulp Shadow would get tired, get injured, need rescuing, need to stop and rest and catch his breath, would need to think and plan and make split decisions on the spot and sometimes would make the wrong ones only to reverse them in the nick of time, and it made the fact that he was achieving all these things all the more impressive. The pulp Shadow was a creature of fantasy grounded in the history of the world he was a part of.

If you can make people care about The Shadow, be truly, genuinely invested in him and his world and the people he comes in contact with, be as invested in those as audiences were back then, you can and maybe should put him anywhere, doing anything, as long as you know what you're doing. As long as you understand what makes The Shadow tick, what makes him work and what doesn't, and whatnot.

Which is a lot of words for "do whatever you want, just don't fuck it up"

#replies tag #pulp heroes #pulp fiction #the shadow #lamont cranston #kent allard #the predator #indiana jones #thomas magnum

[readingaccountability]

the queen of attolia - megan whalen turner

my playlist

final thoughts:

so unfortunately instead of following my initial plan of writing these before starting the next book, im basically uhhh 3/4 the way through book three and only NOW recording my thoughts on book two. best laid plans, i suppose!

anyways, book two i somehow enjoyed even more than book one, which i adored. the queen of attolia is much more political, and even more surprising, than the thief was. i think that its biggest risk is also its biggest strength- widening the scope beyond eugenides and becoming more intricate. the shift from first person perspective in book one to using third person in subsequent books helped with that a lot. though honestly i adore eugenides so much that i did miss being inside his head quite a bit. those rare moments of clarity where we understand whats going on up there are made ever more wonderful when there are fewer of them. that little bastard is just so great. his arc in this book was insanely incredible?

from here we are going to get more spoiler heavy!

utterly heartwrenching start to the novel. him losing his hand felt visceral, so well written, and his recovery was very well done i thought. not only because hes so petulant as a person already, but because the author shows the full transition as he learns how to navigate the world. later on when hes more sure of himself, it never feels unearned, because that always echoes all those moments where hes still adjusting and frustrated and tired. honestly the most emotionally satisfying aspect of this to me was when eddis and he are talking about how he is still the queen's thief, even if he might have different limitations on what exactly he can steal. it never felt like he was limited, just that they reimagined what the scope of plans were. though he would no longer be able to pull off the plot of the first book, due to the international nature of the second book, honestly he straight up graduates into a whole new realm. it was really thrilling to watch unfold!!

at first the narrative transition/revealing of his plans regarding attolia were surprising. i thought that he might be veering in the direction of planning to become king (despite really not wanting to) at a few different points, as the author is really good at leaving clues that dont feel overly obvious, or that just begin to pique your interest/attention. however i would not have guessed that he loved attolia. it was pretty clear that attolia loved him (all those little asides to what she was thinking about and it was always her checking up on him, etc? PEAK enemies to lovers plot thread) and i thought it would end up being reciprocated but not right out of the gate. at first i was a little uncertain but hoooo boy i love their dynamic (particularly now that im into book three pretty solidly- heart eyes) and i think that book two did a great job setting the stage for the next.

the setting feels much expanded upon, i particularly loved the time spent in eddis proper. eddis herself is such an incredible queen, and her dynamic with eugenides is sublime. her keeping the war from him, and by extension the audience, was great, because it also showed how he was keeping it from himself- eugenides totally could have figured out what was going on if he had bothered to. one thing i love about third person pov is that you might still be centered on one character, but since it isnt absolute, the reader can pretty easily forget that the info theyre taking in is still, on many levels, skewed towards the understandings of that character. those moments where that gets pointed out are always really revealing, i felt. absolutely amazing writing throughout.

another setting thing that i liked was the usage of the dystopia, and the plan that they came up with for traversing it. it was such a goddamn cool way of bringing back a really striking aspect of the landscape and then expanding upon it, 10/10 shit.

have i mentioned how much i love eugenides. he just DOES SHIT and i go insane! like yes, pretend to be holed up in your room and then take out sounis' whole navy and kidnap the magus in one fell swoop. i was hooting and hollering. also what a great way of bringing back the magus, i adore him.

the myth in the middle of this novel was also really great. i loved those interludes in the first book, and was glad to see the author bring back that motif in the second. im a big sucker for parables and in particular when you cant see how it ties to the theme until later on. i also loved how stunned the magus was to discover how personal tellings could shape the contours of the story. it emphasized how much of an academic he is, but was also so melancholy because of him having lost his family. the characters just feel so real, even the side characters.

attolia is absolutely amazing. i loved how every layer of her shell felt so realistic and needed as we learned more about her past... and as how ruthless she has had to be made more and more sense. killer queen indeed. and by god the contrasts between her and eddis were always so bittersweet. the fact that the ultimate, big difference, was in level of support? heartbreaking. eddis having that big family, advisers she could trust, people who loved her more than they feared her- aagh! the book so effectively shows us the comfortable setting of eddis and then contrasts in each glimpse we see of attolia. it also really effectively sets up the next book, which primarily takes place in attolia, but gotta save that for the next post. a good hint that i should sign off, i guess XD

#bookblr #the queen of attolia #megan whalen turner #queen's thief series #book review #reading progress update #book tag #favorites tag #young adult #fantasy #playlist series #admittedly im less certain about this playlist. just wanted to transition between killer queen --> queen of peace for the Themesss

[dillydedalus]

october reading

i finished my masters thesis this month (yay!) so while i still read quite a lot for escapism i was also operating on no more than 2 braincells at any time, and one of those braincells was just. continuously screaming. so any incoherence or whatever here is. because of that.

i am sovereign, nicola barker a fantastically weird & enjoyable novella about a house-viewing gone wrong that eventually blows up the novella form. i don’t want to give away the meta aspect too much, even tho it’s not entirely unpredictable, but it is so very entertaining and delightful to read. had such a fun time with this. also has a great cover. 4/5

the lifted veil, george eliot i’ve only read middlemarch by eliot, so a 75-page novella about the supernatural sure was... different. it’s fine, but nothing special imo. i enjoyed the first chapter, which sets up latimer, a soft young man with the gift of foresight/telepathy and his fascination with his brother’s fiancee, whose mind remains opaque to him (....twilight???), but the second half is pretty meh. 2/5

the notebooks of malte laurids brigge, rainer maria rilke (read the german obvi) loved the beginning of this, where morbid, too-intense, death-obsessed author-insert malte laurids brigge walks around paris, seeing everyone carry their death with them, which then makes him think of the deaths he has witnessed in his childhood. the parts about his childhood in a danish noble family were also good, but it really lost me with the overtly poetic, weird historical/religious stuff?? feel like this might have been a victim of termin master’s thesis like maybe that’s not the time for poetic, fragmentary, modernist-ish novels. 3/5

wie der soldat das grammofon repariert, saša stanišić (read in german, english translation by anthea bell) i really enjoyed stanišić‘s memoir herkunft last year so i went back to his 2006 classic, about a kid called aleksandar growing up in yugoslavia and eventually fleeing to germany as a refugee during the war. it’s very similar to herkunft in story, although the presentation is very different. honestly overall i found it a bit Too Much, too long & too stylised in its structure. but like, i can see why it’s so popular. 2.5/5

i capture the castle, dodie smith i really liked this! cassandra mortmain is a very strong narrator, the atmosphere of the dilapidated castle and the dysfunctional family are great, & i was surprised by the crushing poverty of the family in the beginning - cassandra obviously attempts to cover this up both in her own head & in her journal, but for much of the first half or so i was genuinely really worried for the kids - and this makes rose so much more sympathetic in her resolution to escape poverty. i was less convinced by the whole love quadrangle this book got going on, but on the whole this was very charming, but often very melancholy in a far deeper way than i expected. 4/5 

the death of vivek oji, akwaeke emezi my second emezi this year, altho sadly neither of them have lived up to the glory of freshwater. this one is about (gender) identity, grief, trauma, love, and solidarity/community based on otherness, which are similar thematically to freshwater, but in a novel that is, i would say, both more stylistically conventional and more hopeful/uplifting (altho it is still very depressing in parts). i enjoyed this on the whole, but it just doesn’t grab you by the throat the way freshwater does, and the reveal/central mystery just feels a bit lacking. 3/5

gott wohnt im wedding, regina scheer listen, this book is probably more competent & historically interesting than literarily great BUT it’s literally (literally) set around the corner from where i live, i know pretty much every single place & business mentioned in it & the house troubles are extremely relatable, if a lot worse than what i am currently experiencing. anyway. this novel is centered around a house in berlin-wedding & the people who live in it & it's about the holocaust & the porajmos, current discrimination against sinti&roma, the history of the wedding, gentrification, familial trauma & all that. it’s very interesting historically, slow but still very readable, and like.... i just really love the wedding! it’s kinda shitty & depressing but i love it!!! 4/5 the only good indians, stephen graham jones note: the elk in this book is not what you, a european, think of as an elk. that’s a moose. anyway, this is a horror novel about four native american men who hunt for elk when, where and how they shouldn’t have and ten years later find themselves pursued by a vengeful elk spirit. i enjoyed this! the scenes where shit goes down were certainly very horrible & gruesome & very sad as well. 3.5/5

solutions & other problems, allie brosh this book really is out there & exists. anyway hyperbole & a half was like, one of my formative internet things and i still love it a lot. this book is second only to the winds of winter in eternally getting pushed back and back and back, so this even getting published was def a pleasant surprise. it’s still really funny, and the weird ugly drawings are still amazingly effective, but this one is. very sad. some really bad shit happened to brosh inbetween and it’s kinda a downer (i mean the first one had the depression saga but this one... is darker). 3.5/5

a supposedly fun thing i’ll never do again, david foster wallace .....i might have to stan dfw, just a little bit. like, i read infinite jest when i was way too young to appreciate it (still traumatised by the uh. creative use of brooms tho) & i have NO intentions of ever rereading it BUT this essay collection was so good that i may just have to read a lot of his other stuff. particular highlights are the title essay, about a cruise journey, and an essay about the illinois state fair, two things that feel particularly fascinating and offputting in equal measure in this year of plague, where even the idea of being in enclosed spaces with many people freaks you out. but i also really appreciated his essays on david lynch & television & fiction, even if i don’t agree with all of his takes. he just has such a good voice! funny, smart, precisely observed but always with a strange spin. 4/5, minus points for too much tennis, but oh well

gruppenbild mit dame, heinrich böll (group portrait with lady) marcel reich-ranicki criticised this book for being, essentially, a sloppy mess and that’s kind of accurate - it’s definitely too long & a bit draggy & böll (and the narrator/“author”) go on tangents and into details with indulgence & abandon, but it’s also... kind of brilliant? the way the “author” collects material and testimony on leni (the lady), her family, coming-of-age and the love affair with a soviet forced labourer that made her an outcast, constructing a documented history of her while leni herself remains ever elusive, the focus on structure, architecture, construction, the endless loops of self-justification (pelzer’s insistance that he is not inhuman, the real estate tycoon’s insistence that they just want what’s best for leni & that her resistance to profit-logic is abnormal)... there’s so much in here, and a lot of it doesn’t need to be there, but a lot of it does. 3.5/5 

sweet fruit, sour land, rebecca ley very lyrical, quiet, feminist climate dystopia. it’s good, well-written, very evocative of hunger and loss, a dystopia but really more about grief and identity, and i read it during the last few days of my master’s thesis and thus have absolutely nothing to say about it. 3.5/5

i also & this will be a shock, dnf’d burning down the haus: punk rock, revolution & the fall of the berlin wall, a book about the east-berlin/german punk subculture. it just felt like a longform essay artificially extended into a 400-page book & the writing was pretty basic in a music bro tries to be deep and like, subversive and shit kinda way. 

#the books i read #long post

[wondereads]

Recommendation of the Week (2/16/20)

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Why am I recommending/reviewing this book?

I read this book recently for my book club, and we all really liked it (well, most of us), so I thought it would be fitting for my first recommendation.

A Brief Summary

Scythe is set far into the future on Earth. It centers around a girl named Citra and a boy named Rowan. The Earth they live on is a perfect utopia; people can be healed in hours, wars and bloody conflict are things of the past, and poverty has been eliminated. However, in order to keep an ever-growing, never-dying population down, certain people are chosen to be scythes, who are tasked with the job of randomly ‘gleaning’ people in a form of population control. Citra and Rowan are both chosen as Scythe Faraday’s apprentices, and whoever passes the test will become a new scythe.

Plot 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

To be honest, the plot is very predictable. There were moments that took me by surprise, but other than that it is a very dependably predictable YA book. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t good. Even if it’s predictable, the story is by no means boring. The premise is unlike anything I’ve read before, and it’s one of the first dystopian YA novels I’ve read that isn’t about destroying the system, but instead taking a good, hard look at it and seeing how to fix it. Besides, the predictability is a little comforting, especially in a book that is throwing out ideas that make you question yourself at every turn.

Characters 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

I really liked the characters, even the not-so-likable ones, because they truly are well written. Citra and Rowan both have some extreme character development throughout the novel, and it does a good job of showing how different environments can shape personality. The prominent scythes, Scythe Faraday, Scythe Curie, and Scythe Goddard are all wonderfully fleshed out and it’s easy to understand their motivations and ideals. The characterizations of scythes as a whole are truly well done as well. It is made plain from the start that scythes are not the bad guys, but there’s enough there to rub you the wrong way.

Writing Style 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

I’ve always liked Neal Shusterman’s writing style; it’s descriptive but still straight to the point. This particular book was okay. It would be hard to differentiate between the alternating points of view if their names weren’t mentioned. However, I’m not sure if this counts as writing style, but there was a certain aspect of the book I adored. Every scythe is required to keep a journal that is publicly accessible. In between each chapter, there is an entry from a scythe’s journal that is some way relative to the chapter. I loved it, and it was a wonderful way to world build without pages of exposition.

Meaning 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

This book is, like I said before, a typical YA novel. However, it really does make you think, and it is, dare I say, philosophical. Are scythes really the best option? What makes their job any different from murder? Should they be allowed to operate without supervision from an outside source? Are scythes morally better than other humans? What do we lose once we rid ourselves of death? These are all prevalent questions in Scythe, questions to which I still don’t know the answer.

Representation

There is very little representation in the book, but mostly because that’s not the focus. It takes place in a world where discrimination is almost extinct after all. There are no LGBTQ+ characters, but there is a relatively equal balance when it comes to gender. In the world they live in, different races are so blended together people can hardly tell, but it is implied that if you had to assign a race, Citra would be African American and Rowan would be Caucasian. There are very few religions in the book; the only one is a cult known as the Tonists who essentially worship a toning fork. It’s weird. But it does show discrimination against them and a couple characters get to interact with them and learn more about their beliefs. Finally, no one with a disability or mental illness is shown since those sorts of things have been all but eliminated. Unless you count Scythe Goddard’s delusions of grandeur.

Overall Rating 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

It was an incredibly interesting book, and I’m probably going to read the next one. Like I said, it’s predictable, but the originality of the setting and the thorough characterization more than make up for it. I would suggest this to anyone who liked Unwind, another of Neal Shusterman’s books, or anybody who likes dystopia with a hint of existential crisis.

#books #review #recommendations #scythe #thunderhead #the toll #neal shusterman #dystopia #unwind #book club

[nerdfighterwhatevernumbers]

okay below the cut brief psuedo-review of A Wrinkle In Time

Things I wasn’t huge on:

There was almost no explanation to what was going on most of the time, to the point where they don’t even explain what a wrinkle in time is supposed to mean. This might have been to make up for the book, seeing how as I was listening to it on audio I kept wondering how they’d adapt so many talking scenes for a visual medium. Apparently the answer was throw in a couple of flashbacks that don’t actually explain very much. 

I kept getting the feeling that if I hadn’t read the book I would be extremely confused, and the book is a little surreal to begin with. 

I feel like this was one of it’s biggest problems, there’s a limit to how much you can expect people to just accept even in a fairy tale ‘child logic’ kind of way because it becomes disorienting or hard to get invested if you don’t know what’s happening or why.

Mrs. Whatsit semi-dating the happy medium didn’t affect the story very much so it was just kind of a question mark as to why that was there other than to maybe make us care more about him when he gave Meg a pep talk or give us comic relief

Some scenes I also felt went on longer than they could have because they wanted to add more action even though they had little to do with the story and again weren’t really explained (specifically the log storm scene)

There were also things I’m not sure I would talk about differently if I hadn’t read the book, but I did so here they are-

Meg has the same arc about learning to love herself, but my favorite aspect of the book and her arc was removed- the fact that she had to learn her father wouldn’t fix everything. A huge part of growing up is having to realize that your parents, a teacher, a specific life goal, it won’t fix all your problems. You have to fix your problems or at least learn how to deal with them. Meg’s complete and utter belief that simply finding her dad would make everything bad in her life disappear was such a big part of the book, and her dealing with the fact that no, he did not know exactly what to do to make everything right and he was not able to even if he did know- that was so so so big and I loved that. Don’t get me wrong, her going against her dad because she knew she needed to save her brother was there, but the total disillusionment about her strongly held belief wasn’t.

Charles Wallace was also kind of short changed, he wasn’t really given a full arc like the book, where he was a bit arrogant (I mean he’s a psychic genius 5 year old boy of course he is) and that was what caused his being overtaken by It along with his psychic powers, not eating a sandwich and that means he passed a test somehow and then chanted math and that means he’s possessed (again these things kind of happened in the book but in the movie it was just a big question mark). His arc was front and center like Meg’s but it was still there- he also wanted so badly to see his dad who he doesn’t even remember but he has to realize he is the kid in this situation, his abilities do not mean he can or has to do all of this on his own without listening to warnings or being careful. It’s a good metaphor for the way people don’t think they can be pulled in by badness because they’re strong or good enough to fight it but we’re all susceptible.

I think Mrs. Whatsit was more likable as an old lady I’m just saying- and I know they didn’t want to waste Oprah but it’s weird that in this version Mrs. Which is so good at talking when in the movie Whatsit specifically says she was chosen because they needed her for verbalization skills. 

Making Camesots basically the It in physical form is weaker to me than it being a planet overtaken by It- I know with all our dystopian stories and real life dystopia it seems weak to have it be a world where you’re completely controlled and that’s what evil looks like, but I think that would ring true in today’s world and being in a planet with real people who are really being hurt and are a sign of what could really happen to you is more unsettling than ‘i made some illusions to tempt you even though i’m really bad at traps’

I mean, the whole point is that it makes life suck for people by the way it influences them right? What’s more appropriate for that- showing a world where people live in fear and live under It’s power and work for It and do as it says and don’t rebel or speak out or help each other- or a world where It just makes everything up?

They also skipped Aunt Beast who I loved and didn’t quite get into Meg’s anger and disappointment at her father making her almost give in to It which was hugge

Things I liked:

They did manage to make the climax scene a strong scene for Meg, which I’m really proud of them for, because her shouting “I love you” to defeat the villain wasn’t exactly a powerhouse move, at least visually speaking it wouldn’t have been if they hadn’t moved the scene from a room to a giant writhing cave being’s body. Her having that moment be when she realized how to use her faults worked a lot better than in the book imo when it was just her resisting It’s will the one time, this felt like a way stronger thing because it was her finally accepting that her faults mean that not only can she use them to her advantage, they also don’t make her unlovable or unworthy or useless and tying those realizations together made a much stronger scene

The It itself was also more impressive, I mean a brain thing is unsettling but modern audiences would just be like ‘it’s just a brain?’ I mean we literally have Saturday morning cartoons about talking brains. I don’t think as much metaphor was lost on that change too, so good on them.

I liked them finding ways to work Meg’s smarts in casually, like her calculating stuff and knowing about science in action scenes and appropriately showing Calvin being impressed.

Meg’s character was pretty good even though it was shortened from the books and I like how they made her stubborn and frustrated without coming off as unlikeably whiny, and Charles Wallace is cut down but still decent and it goes without saying they are VERY well acted, I’m especially impressed with CW given his age and his being called on for the villain role in the end

Calvin was just spot on, nuff said

The visuals were obviously a whole lot of fun and SOOO colorful, even if you don’t know what’s going on you still get a visual treat and a lot of cool factor, especially when it’s matched with the soundtrack

It was great seeing how much love their mom made in their home since that was such a huge deal, along with her never giving up on their dad, and I love that CW being adopted never once lessened how much the dad missed his baby boy or how important he was to his sister

The dad’s stuff was cut short but you definitely got the desperation and fear when he had to tesser them away without CW

Everyone just loving each other wand wanting the best for each other it was so pure

Mrs. Who saying ‘Tomorrow there’ll be more of us- Miranda, American’ got me okay I’m a sucker

Overall I think it had a lot of problems with storytelling and stuff I definitely miss from the book but it still had a strong moment for Meg that was really effective and it was candy for your eyes

[mediaeval-muse]

Book Review... Samantha Shannon, “The Bone Season”

Rating: 3/5 stars

Summary: The year is 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. Her job: to scout for information by breaking into people’s minds. For Paige is a dreamwalker, a clairvoyant and, in the world of Scion, she commits treason simply by breathing. It is raining the day her life changes for ever. Attacked, drugged and kidnapped, Paige is transported to Oxford – a city kept secret for two hundred years, controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. Paige is assigned to Warden, a Rephaite with mysterious motives. He is her master. Her trainer. Her natural enemy. But if Paige wants to regain her freedom she must allow herself to be nurtured in this prison where she is meant to die.

Reviewer Comments: Maybe closer to 2.5 stars, but I'm rounding up because I did enjoy reading it at times, and I do see some interesting worldbuilding. I went into this book without having heard about the hype - I just picked it up randomly at a book shop since it seemed kind of up my alley. It wasn’t unenjoyable by any means, but I do have my issues with it. The way the story was organized reminded me of a lot of other popular YA fantasy these days, so I guess if you’re a fan of YA fantasy, you’ll like this book (even though it’s not strictly fantasy).

Things I Liked

Supernatural Aspects: I’m always up for creepy ghosts and supernatural abilities. Something about them has such potential for creative storytelling, and I liked that Shannon created a world in which types of clairvoyance are categorized instead of lumped together into one nebulous ability. It was kind of fun to have a system of categorization, as it allowed certain characters to have different strengths and therefore, different ways of interacting with each other and the world.

Characters: I really liked the range of characters this book gave us. Paige was fun to follow and showed a lot of complexity, between being faithful to her gang, realizing they were technically exploiting her but not being able to ignore them as family, etc. I also liked the supporting human characters, from Jax to Nick to Liss. They also seemed to be complex and have some interesting motives.

Memories: Shannon gives readers Paige’s background through a series of flashbacks, and though it feels random at first, I ultimately liked the rationale for the flashbacks rather than dumping everything on the reader at once - the rationale is part of the plot, so I won’t spoil it here.

Things I Didn’t Like

Exposition: Shannon expected readers to absorb way too much in way too little time at the beginning of this novel. The book is part sci fi dystopia, part fantasy/supernatural adventure, and the dystopia part is kind of glossed over at the start. Eventually, I was able to pick it up and roll with the worldbuilding just fine, but I almost put the book down after the first 50 pages because I was very frustrated with how things were moving along. The book is already very long (almost 500 pages), so I’m not sure adding more time would have solved the problem - maybe changing the organization would have helped.

Characterization: As much as I loved the range of characters, I also felt that a number of them were underdeveloped. The Rephaim, in particular, felt like very one-dimensional villains - I didn’t feel like I understood their motives, good or bad (including Warden’s). I also wish the novel gave us more scenes where the relationships between characters were explored so the supporting cast didn’t feel like props for Paige’s story. Paige takes center stage in some good ways, but she’s also propped up as the special girl: the girl who has unique abilities, who is taken in by someone who never takes in humans, etc. She also gets hurt. A LOT. I wished she was a bit more ordinary.

Romance: YA romances have been frustrating me for a while now, and this book is no exception. I elaborate on why in my blog post here.

Aspects of Worldbuilding: A lot of the worldbuilding in this novel was absolutely fine, but there are things that rubbed me the wrong way. While I loved the idea of Oxford being a hidden city, I disliked that much of this novel was about human slavery. Slavery is one of those topics that has to be handled appropriately, in my opinion - the book has to really think about race relations and power dynamics, and I found this book to be lacking. I also feel like ghosts and spirits took a backseat even though their presence is a fundamental part of clairvoyance - they are never fully characters, just spiritual tools that people use. It felt like a missed opportunity. I also felt like there was a lot that could be condensed - while much of the book was richly imagined, it also felt like the author tried to throw in too much. A more streamlined approach may have helped with the overall structure of the book.

Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in:

clairvoyance, spirit realms, supernatural powers

dystopias, hidden cities

Similar Reads

#book reviews

[bpoole500]

Long Live the Legion

Legion of Super-Heroes has had a devoted fan base that dates back to the team’s creation in the late ‘50s.

Originally conceived as a one-off for a Superboy story, the Legion grew and expanded over the years, becoming one of DC’s consistently popular features. Encompassing dozens of characters and decades of stories, it still managed to attract new fans as years went by.

The series has seen its ups and downs, with multiple re-boots culminating in a crowd-pleasing un-reboot just before The New 52 hit that restored something akin to the original pre-Crisis concept. But mismanagement during The New 52 led to a cancellation after two years. Since then, fans have waited patiently for a new incarnation. While the characters have popped up here and there, no new ongoing series has been forthcoming.

The advent of Rebirth promised the return of a classic Legion series. More than a year in, fans are still waiting, with DC assuring them that something is in the works. In the meantime, they’ve had to make due with a few appearances from Saturn Girl, stranded in the present day, cooling her heels in Arkham Asylum. Recently, DC announced that another fan favorite, Phantom Girl, would be appearing in a series that riffs on Marvel’s Fantastic Four, also set in the present day.

While waiting for DC to provide some concrete information on the team’s future (the franchise’s 60th anniversary is in 2018), here are a few things creators should keep in mind when tackling a Legion of Super-Heroes book.

Focus on the Favorites

While this might seem obvious, it’s amazing how frequently Legion creators disregard characters that fans love, writing them out, killing them off or just stranding them in the background. To some extent, it might be understandable that a writer or artist who’s spent a lot of time with the series might grow bored with the old standbys. Legion has produced lots of colorful characters in its almost six decades and naturally lends itself to introducing newcomers. It’s tempting to want to explore less developed heroes.

But the fact is that when Legion strays too far from its most loved characters, fan interest tends to stray with it. The ‘00s revival of the team succeeded because the founding trio of Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy was front and center. Creators are prone to writing out or minimizing that trio in favor of newer team members and it never works. Any successful iteration of the team needs Garth, Imra and Rokk at its heart.

But more than the founding trio, Legion has many core characters that fans love. One of the biggest problems of the New 52 era was disregarding established favorites for newcomers. Another disastrous misstep was stranding several fan favorites (Wildfire, Dawnstar, Timberwolf, Tellus, Gates) in an ill-conceived spin-off set in the present day. While the focus on some of the team’s biggest names wasn’t a bad idea, divorcing those characters from the rest of the team weakened the franchise.

Back in the parent book, longstanding fan favorites like Colossal Boy, Blok, Black/White Witch and Sensor Girl were written out, while the likes of Star Boy, Element Lad and Sun Boy were either pushed aside or used as supporting characters to the newbies. And don’t take that as a knock on the new characters. All of them had potential and some were well used, but fans buying a Legion of Super-Heroes book expect to see their favorite characters on a monthly basis. They don’t expect “A Bunch of Newish Young Adult Heroes with Some Legionnaires Around As Tokens.”

Reunite the team and keep the veterans in the mix. Don’t jettison the newcomers, but better calibrate their roles in the book. Fans can take a large cast and the required ups and downs of prominence for various cast members. But they won’t be happy with so many favorites nowhere in sight.

The Bright Future

One of the aspects of Legion of Super-Heroes that always engaged fans was its concept of a positive future civilization. That’s not to say that stories didn’t take dark turns over the years. Some of the most memorable sagas (“Earth War,” “The Great Darkness,” “The Villain War”) went to some especially dark places and rattled the Legion universe. Being functional doesn’t preclude some big challenges.

But in recent years, there’s been too much of an inclination to push Legion into the “dystopian future” mold that, quite frankly, there’s already too much of in futuristic fantasy stories. That set-up is too easy at this point, and feels too derivative of any number of other franchises in the greater fantasy/adventure fiction sphere. Tackling a universe with a basically positive cast is a bigger challenge, to be sure, but it’s also part of what has always set Legion apart.

That’s not to say that Mordru or Universo can’t try to take over the universe, mucking things up quite a bit. Fans expect the Khunds or the Dominators to attack or Legionnaires to wind up marooned on distant, uncivilized planets from time to time. You can do “universe shaking” without pushing the well-trod “dystopia” path. It might be more effort for creators, but it pays off.

Think Big

One of the best features of the Legion concept has always been how versatile it is. It easily encompasses story scopes from major cosmic crises to intimate character sketches. While some of the quieter moments are sentimental favorites for many fans (Wildfire/Dawnstar ‘shippers will still rhapsodize about “A Shared Destiny” more than three decades later), the fact is that Legion is a stage for the kinds of stories that just can’t be done in other books (or at least, not as effectively).

Part of it is the large cast, of both team members and colorful supporting players, and a big stock of memorable villains. Creators can devise combinations that can support just about any kind of plot.

But with a widescreen, epic ethos built into the concept, it gives creators a chance to explore big themes, big ideas and big action. Some of the best stories developed gradually, percolating along as background sub-plots until they ripened into compelling star attractions. Late ‘80s gems like “Who Is Sensor Girl?” or “The Universo Project” were great examples of using the Legion canvas to tell dynamic, complex tales that made effective use of the cast and the franchise’s long history. Shepherding ideas through months of gradual build and then letting them explode into galaxy-spanning drama is almost the book’s mission statement. Creators should come aboard this book for the long haul and have plans of how to make the most of the plethora of assets available. Any creator who expresses a thought along the lines of “I didn’t know what else to do” should probably not be on this book.

Skip the Mayhem

One of the grimmer DC Universe elements that Rebirth seems calculated to address is the whole “darkness for the sake of darkness” trope. And honestly, that’s a relief to many fans. No one takes issue with a dark turn that’s well set-up, executed in a way that engages fans, and has a profound impact that’s thoroughly explored and dramatized on the page.

What fans saw in the most recent iteration of Legion was a lot of senseless death and violence for not very good reasons. Things like the destruction of Saturn Girl’s home planet or the rise of a new Fatal Five could be compelling plot moments, but the dramatic “why” of the developments never seemed to come together.

In short order, fans saw the deaths of characters like Earth Man, Sun Boy and Star Boy, often in grotesque or pointless ways, and the maiming of other favorites, like Mon-El, as well as other kinds of gratuitous abuse visited on any number of characters. To a large extent, a lot of that was undone when the Legion reappeared in Justice League United a couple years back and most fans were only too happy to look the other way with those retcons.

That’s not to say that there can never be a death in the book. Looking back, past character deaths have had significant impact. Think about the legendary sacrifice of Ferro Lad, or Karate Kid’s dramatic swan song. Both were impactful and pushed the series in a number of different ways. Killing off a character just because “that’s what you do” is cheap and tired. People read the book to see their favorites in action, not to see them snuffed out pointlessly.

Be Weird

From the earliest days, creators took advantage of the Legion premise to let their imaginations run riot. A wide array of colorful aliens and worlds have threaded into the narrative over the years. In time, the team’s members began reflecting some non-humanoid diversity (Tellus, Gates). With a universe-spanning concept, incorporating as much oddness as possible has always been a benefit.

But it’s not just the outré looking characters that fans have loved. Wacky concepts like Bouncing Boy, Matter-Eater Lad and the Legion of Substitute Heroes became fan favorites. They were sometimes goofy and often provided a lighter contrast to the more angst-ridden members of the team. Creators need to stretch and have some fun with the series, too. When the creators are enjoying what they’re doing, it shows on the page and the fans can join in, too.

#comics #comic books #DC Comics #Legion of Super-Heroes

[30-days-of-exciting-stuff-blog]

Day 10 - Black Mirror [Series]

Do you ever feel fabulously grateful for something crappy that happened to you, because it eventually led to something good? This is one of my favourite things in the world. I had one of these moments a few weeks ago. A co-worker had been motivating us all week to spend a crazy Friday night out. For totally work-unrelated reasons, I had been feeling pretty depressed lately and most of my evenings were spent alone in my apartment (mostly re-watching bad Youtube videos, probably in order to make sure that I still didn’t like them), so I looked forward to this night out. Getting anywhere close to drunk was off the table because I had made some damn good resolutions, but I was kind of hoping that we’d meet wonderfully weird people, and find a place where the decoration would make me laugh even more than the huge portrait of Angela Merkel that took up all the space of the ladies’ restroom door in a Germany-themed bar I once went to. Enjoying the city lights and probably dancing - to some terrible 2000’s music that would remind me of the awkward teenage parties I usually wasn’t invited to anyway – sounded like a nice sequel to this.

In case you wonder: The weird Angela Merkel bar is actually called the Black Forest Society, and it’s located in Lyon, France. They have nice, original, good-resolutions-incompatible cocktails made with Black Forest Gin and fancy liquors and cocoa, sometimes served in kitschy recipients. A bit expensive, but still a nice experience. Oh, and they have bretzels as well.

Unfortunately, they had all lost their motivation sparkle by the time Friday came. Some of them wanted to get up early tomorrow, some had other plans, some were tired. I ended up being the only one who actually wanted to go. I had booked my train tickets to my parents’ for the next morning, so it became clear that this would be another lonely night in my flat. I soon found myself texting my co-worker, whining about how bored I was and asking her if she could think of something nice for me to read or watch.  She suggested me to try Black Mirror if I wanted food for thought about modern society. Black Mirror is a series of one-hour standalone episodes. That, my friends, is already a pretty great point for people like me who try to watch a zillion series at once - and inevitably end up forgetting what the hell the hot smart gay intern’s name is because 1) all these character names adding up can be rather confusing 2) they find time for an episode of the show every two months or so. Standalone episodes have that great habit of rightly assuming that, just like Jon Snow, the viewer knows nothing. Each one has its own cast, setting, and reality, which basically makes them short movies. What they all have in common in Black Mirror is the theme of new technologies and their unexpected consequences.

By the way: Connor Walsh. The hot smart gay intern from How to get away with murder is Connor Walsh. He’s one of the main characters for the Seven’s sake, how could you even forget?

As you may have noticed, the theme is pretty broad, which allows for a number of variations. Some episodes are built around a specific fictional technology – what would happen, for instance, if everyone had a chimp implant that recorded everything they did, saw or heard, and allowed them to replay the entire memory, either in front of their eyes or on a screen? The Entire History of You is centered around that possibility. In an alternative reality where this technology allows personal data storage to go even further than it currently does – and anyone who once cringed in front of an n-th attempt from Facebook to revive awkward 8-year-old memories to celebrate a virtual friendship birthday will probably argue that this has already gone way too far – memories are never faded, let alone erased. Every recording is potentially an evidence to the jealous protagonist, who suspects his wife to have cheated on him with her ex and gets more and more paranoid as he keeps replaying potentially incriminating memories. The chilling Be right back, on the other hand, introduces us to realistic androids simulating the deceased using their previous communication data. Martha, a grieving young woman whose husband died in a car crash, reluctantly begins to communicate with an artificial intelligence accurately imitating her late partner – humour, interests, reactions, everything is calculated to sound like him. The digital ghost is convincing and Martha soon finds herself in love with him, until she gets frustrated with his inability to express emotions accurately, and his lack of the traits that were not expressed by her deceased husband in his digital life. The resulting story is truly haunting – no pun intended -, and is both a heart-wrenching exploration of grief and a starting point to an authentic riot of questions in the viewer’s mind, the most interesting probably being “What spares the human from a thinking machine anticipating its reaction to every situation, and able to be loved by the ones who knew the person behind?”.

The Entire History of You - Nah, you told me your relationship had lasted one week, not one month, LOOK, I HAVE PROOF. *Memory replays*

Hi digital ghost, I guess.

My favourite episodes, however, are those set in dehumanized, acerbic, cynical dystopias, built and revealed slowly over the course of the episode. In the thought-provoking Fifteen million merits, citizens only go out of their confined sleeping boxes to cycle endlessly on exercise bikes to power their screen-covered surroundings and generate Merits, a currency that allows them to skip the untimely, inopportune, sometimes obscene advertisements that keep interrupting their activities to sell them nothing but virtual items such as accessories for their avatars. Sleep. Cycle. Skip ad – if you can afford it. Interact briefly with one or two avatars. Repeat. The protagonist progressively becomes aware of the vacuity of this existence and craves realness since he got a glimpse of it in the singing voice of one of his co-cyclers, but even the only perceived escapes usually turn out to be smoking mirrors. Another great episode, Nosedive, is set in a colourful, alternative reality where people rate one another using their phones. Ratings determine their employability, access to services and overall value in society – some neighbourhoods are exclusively reserved to people with high ratings, and a low rating will make you lose your job. This leads people to obsess over their ratings and calculate every single social interaction, hoping to get the favours of high-rated people in order to raise their score and finally be able to get the discount they need to rent a house. Satires about social media society probably aren’t uncommon, but this one has that cynical feel created by the sharp contrast between the pink-and-pastel visuals and the hypocritical, chained social interactions that take place under a social media eye constantly ready to pull people under if they dare speak their minds or complain about anything. Nosedive gets even scarier when you think back about it and realise that the terrifying society described over the episode already exists, although in a less visible way. Social media does play a huge role in our personal and professional lives – who never thought of posting something on the social media just to impress someone? Who never heard a story of someone who got in trouble at work, or didn’t get hired, because of social media material? Who never got stuck into a conversation about what a common acquaintance posted on social media the day before? Who never paid at least a little attention to the number of likes they got on their Facebook post? And about the whole rating thing – I’m pretty sure you’re already familiar with “We’ll go to that restaurant, it’s really well-rated on Tripadvisor” or “If you liked it, please don’t forget to rate us”. And actually, apps that rate people are already a thing.

Fifteen million merits and Nosedive - Different atmospheres, different alternate realities, same feeling of suffocating fakeness.

This is where Black Mirror generally gets brilliant: Although the alternate realities depicted in the show are usually noticeably different from ours, the viewer always ends up seeing a reflection of their own society. The scenarios X-ray aspects of our modern world and disguise them in a satirical, clever, accurate way that makes you think back about Black Mirror episodes long after you watched them. The questions raised by the series go way beyond the usual “You should all turn off your phones, get real again and go for a walk in the forest with your neighbour, social media turned you into narcissist brainless zombies” rhetoric. The variety of scenarios, from political satire to intimate drama, make sure you keep being surprised and never get bored. However, you will probably get uneasy pretty often – and I’m not saying that because the first episode revolves around the Prime Minister being ordered to have sex with a pig in order to save a princess from being killed. A cuddly blanket, a nice cup of tea, your favourite biscuits and a pair of arms/loving cat/soft toy (depending on what you have in store) are probably advised during, or after, a Black Mirror episode. Not providing yourself with that equipment and watching it right before going to bed will be at your own risk – I promise you don’t want your nightmares to turn into technologically advanced dystopias. Old school monsters are easier to run from.

And also: This is the tenth post of this Tumblr, which definitely deserves to be celebrated with the song that kind of inspired it. As hinted in the Crypt of the Necrodancer post, it’s the famous standard “My favorite things” (except I usually write it, like everything on that Tumblr, with the British spelling – I’m neither British nor American, and I’m trying hard to avoid cliché-ridden justifications such as “because it makes my blog posts smell like my beloved Twinings tea”). Just like that enthusiastic blog of mine, it’s an enumeration of amazing things. Let’s face it, “whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens” probably sound much better than “sad novels, weird computer games, robot exhibits and sci-fi-ish series”, but I promise I love kittens and soft mittens as well. I just don’t have enough material to write about them. Anyway, I thought you may enjoy this cover by Pomplamoose as much as I do.

#black mirror #the entire history of you #nosedive #15 million merits #fifteen million merits #be right back #pomplamoose #my favourite things #my favorite things #dystopia #series #technology #cover #social media #data storage #connor walsh #how to get away with murder

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Warning: Some spoilers ahead.

There are three leading men at helm of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a show that centers more frequently on the horrific experiences women endure in a theocratic dictatorship known as Gilead.

Each male character probably consider himself a “good” man: The commander (Joseph Fiennes) would argue that any his so-called faults ― and there are many ― pale in comparison to his devotion to a greater future, which he is engineering for all of humanity. Nick (Max Minghella) would claim powerlessness, for he is, after all, just a driver, incapable of truly saving the woman he’s falling in love with. He might be a spy for the men who’ve made this hellish existence reality, but he chooses not to inform on Offred (Elisabeth Moss), or June as she was once known.

And then there’s Luke.

Luke, played by British actor O.T. Fagbenle, has escaped the dystopia that’s ensnared his wife June and turned her into a sexual slave for fearful misogynists. He reluctantly crossed the U.S. border into Canada, nearly dying in the process, eventually finding his way to a settlement known as Little America. By Episode 7 of the series, he’s lost his partner, his daughter, and ― unable to be the savior he’d probably imagined he could be; escape was his only means of reuniting with his family ― he’s stuck in limbo. In Canada, he’s begging officials to update him on the status of June, to help him locate her and their daughter, rescue them, bring them to safety. 

In Margaret Atwood’s book, the source material for Hulu’s series, Luke is but a figment of Offred’s memories. The Luke of the TV adaptation, however, has been given a heftier storyline, a little bit more agency in this stomach-churning universe that’s made life an existential nightmare for nearly everyone involved. Still, showrunner Bruce Miller and the series’ writers held back ― they didn’t turn Luke into a hero. In fact, even in Offred’s memories, he’s the imperfect feminist ally. He, like so many others, turned a blind eye to the creeping acts of sexism and violence around them. He wasn’t painted as a key member of the resistance; instead, when the world was falling apart, he attempted to quell June’s fears with the standard motto of masculinity: “I’ll take care of you.” These murmurs of imperfection are hardly indictments. “Good” men can be patronizing, the series makes clear. “Good” men can be fail to be heroes. 

Ahead of Episode 7, which was released on Wednesday, HuffPost spoke to Fagbenle about his character’s evolution. Check out our conversation about male feminists, Little America and populism below.

What was it about the character of Luke that drew you to the show?

To be honest, my first draw to it was the source material and the script that’s so profound, so important, so beautiful. And then to work with Elisabeth Moss, Bruce Miller, Reed Morano. I was like, I’m a fool not to be a part of this journey. But Luke is the one guy you meet outside of Gilead, and represents the counterbalance to the men who’ve bought into that system. I was really intrigued by that.

We experience Luke in two ways throughout the series ― first, through Offred’s memories, which seem dream-ified, maybe a little bit idealized; second, through the scenes that show Luke’s perspective on what happened during and after he and June are separated. As an actor, did you approach these scenes differently?

I think I had to approach each moment as if I was there and responding to everything, because there’s no real way of me playing someone else’s dreams, that you don’t know about. I just have to play my truth in that moment and hope that reads. For me it was more of a continuum.

Having read Margaret Atwood’s book, were you happy about the ways Bruce Miller adapted Luke’s character for the show? Were you excited about anything in particular?

You know, I’m an actual fan of the book. I can’t recommend enough to your readers to actually go and read the book. Don’t worry about spoilers, just go and read the book, because it’s amazing. It’s nourishment for the soul. So as a fan of the book, I’m very protective of it as well. What’s amazing about what Bruce and his extraordinary imagination has done is it’s taken the book and I think in ways fulfilled it visually. In terms of Luke, he’s taken scant lines, little whispers of Luke from the book, and helped create something ― along with Lynn [Renee Maxcy, who wrote Episode 7] ― and expand on Luke and the world in such a satisfying way. That’s one of the things I enjoyed so much about reading the script, because I have so many questions about this world and I’m so excited about this world. I’ve still got more questions I want answered and luckily we live in an age where there is a medium that can help fulfill my infatuation with the novel.

Episode 7 is such an intense episode for your character. How did you conceive of the emotions Luke’s going through at the time of his and June’s separation, when he’s forced to cross the border into safety himself, leaving his family behind?

I think the two main tools actors have are the imagination of what other people have gone through, to connect with and through research, and there’s one’s own experience. I think what was challenging about Episode 7 was trying to draw on everything I could to try and navigate my way through each scene. Fundamentally, that’s when you’ve got a great script and a great director and a great crew and actors opposite you.

Did Bruce Miller or any of the directors/producers prep you and the rest of the Episode 7 cast on what this “Little America” represented to the story? In terms of what morale would be like there, what quality of life looked like, what the goal of the establishment was?

There were discussions about that. Luckily, Floria [Sigismondi], our wonderful visionary director, her and I would sit in this cute vegan diner in Toronto and hash over our ideas about what Little America was and how long Luke had been there and what he’d been doing ― why he was there ― and kind of emotionally fulfilling what that place is. Ultimately, I think for Luke and others like him, it turns out to be a very well-funded and resourceful place for refugees. And unfortunately, a lot of the refugees in our world don’t get such a haven.

A lot of Americans today are drawing pretty frightening parallels between the show and what’s happening in politics today ― as a Brit, do you see parallels between the show and real life beyond America?

There are so many things to take from the show. I think there’s questions of populism and charismatic leaders, and what happens when we abandon logic and empiricism about fundamental principles about creating a society, and instead, attach ourselves to fear and xenophobia and non-rational principles. And we can see consequences of that in lots of societies around the world. We can see the consequences of that inside families. I think there’s lots to be see in terms of the dynamics between the powerful and the powerless ― how structures can maintain those and normalize those, to the extent that we actually think those imbalances and inequalities in our society are inherent in them, when actually they’re not. They’re created by powerful people to maintain their power. It’s important for all of us to recognize and fight against those forces.

Another one of the interesting aspects of “The Handmaid’s Tale” show I wanted to talk to you about is how the show is able to explore this idea of “good” men as “bad” feminists. There are a few scenes that stick in my mind: For example, when June and her college friend Moira are panicking after they’ve been fired from their jobs and lost access to their bank accounts, Luke says to June, something along the lines of “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.” He doesn’t mean in it a malicious way at all, but it is, in a way that Moira points out, dismissive of what’s really happening. Later on, when Luke asks June if she and Moira ever fooled around in college, it’s posed as an innocent question, but certainly a problematic one ― and you can tell that’s the case by June’s incredulous and amused response. Ultimately, the show allows Luke to be this imperfect character. So I’m wondering, when you were preparing for the role, was this something you thought about? About how a lot of “good” men would potentially fail to become heroes when a regime like Gilead first took control?

Right. We all fail and we all have weaknesses. I think that’s what helps us relate to characters we see on TV or read in books, is that we recognize our frailties within them and maybe don’t feel so alone. We get learn from their mistakes. Talking about that scene, when he says “Don’t worry, I’ll look after you,” I really love that scene as well, because it’s tough sometimes for men to know how to talk about feminism. It’s also sometimes hard for people to talk about the prejudices against minorities ― any number of things that you’re not necessarily experiencing yourself. But that doesn’t mean the conversation can’t take place. I find that very interesting, because we see how difficult it is [in the show] and also how incumbent it is on men ― and all of us, really ― to become more aware of the historical and present social context of what you say. The context of Luke saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you,” is insensitive and betrays a lack of understanding about what real women around him are going through. It’s so exciting to be able to explore those things and share them with people who I’m sure can relate.

Hulu has renewed “The Handmaid’s Tale” for a second season. What are you most eager to see as the series moves beyond Atwood’s book?

There are so many questions raised in the book. I want to know ― and this is personally, I don’t know if this will be in the second series ― I want to know about the colonies. I want to know more about the outside world. I want to know more about Canada and the world outside of Gilead. And, of course, just give me more Elisabeth Moss, please. Because I could watch her for weeks, months.

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