Reading Horror and Sci-Fi

       Cyberpunk has always been a genre of interest to me ever since I was little. As I may have mentioned before I love the science part of sci-fi and for some reason the world of cyberpunk in general makes perfect sense to me. The idea of us being so obsessed or reliant in technology that we literally make it part of our body. When you think about it, we are currently not far off from a cyberpunk future as we all slowly grow addicted to social media and almost every bit of information about ourselves are stored in a database. Also let’s not forget that some people do have electronic parts to keep their body running. We may not live in the world of Ghost in the Shell but we sure are close. Which brings me to explain my reactions to reading a few short stories for this week which are “Fragments of a Hologram Rose” by William Gibson, “Rock On” by Pat Cardigan, “Johnny Mnemonic” by William Gibson and “Tales of Houdini” by Rudy Rucker.   Let’s start off with “Frag...

  For this week I decided to read Dune by Frank Herbert since I had a growing interest to understand what was so amazing about it. When I first heard the title a long time  ago,  I thought that it was just a story about being trapped in a dessert planet for some odd reason. I instantly related it to a type of sci-fi survival book where we would see our protagonist grow as they survive the harsh climates of a dessert planet. Little did I know that what was waiting for me was a sci-fi fantasy version of Game of Thrones. Never had I expected this to be a story that talks about a battle between two families as they fight for power and wealth. This book truly was not at all what I expected since I had come into it thinking that I was going to put my Trekkie brain to use. Which this may explain why I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would.    As I said previously, I expected a great scientific adventure where a lot of what was going to be explored did not exist...

  The Martian is a book that has given me everything I love about sci-fi and put it all in one book for me to binge read in one night. The way that this book breaks down scientific theory and puts it so simple for the reader to understand is what makes everything so entertaining. Our protagonist Mark Watney is like a crash course teacher that his last life mission is to make us understand the material while we listen to his ramble as compensation. The book truly makes you feel like you are actually watching a video or listening to a podcast of this character rather than just reading a normal sci-fi book.   I believe the main reason I enjoy this book is due that it reminds me so much of Star Trek. As a Trekkie I enjoy when each episode of any Star Trek series started and ended with a captain’s log and mention the stardate. It helped set the scene and tone for each episode but also was just a small sneak peek on what is to come. These logs were not only important ways to set...

       The Graveyard Book is not your usual young adult book which features edgy characters and talks about some sort of teenage rebellion. The story actually feels like a more complicated children’s book. What I mean by this is how the Graveyard Book feels like a series of short stories that teaches you different perspectives and idea just like a children’s book. I feel like Gaiman really wanted us to get back into the mindset of a child and see the world through that lens. By doing so the reader is able to see how the different experiences that happen in each chapter shape our young protagonist and how certain things we mortals care about mean nothing in the end of the day. Reading this book felt like I was a child again as I was being raised by the Graveyard with Bod. Bod I believe is one of the reasons this book was such a delight to read as well as a learning lesson. Most of the times in books I feel like the protagonist is just there to be used by the reade...