My latest story is appearing at www.dailysciencefiction.com on November 20th; go read it!

The permalink to this flash fiction story will be active on November 20th.

http://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/time-travel/julion-j-soto/making-time-for-the-kids

ROOM by Emma Donaghue

ROOM by Emma Donoghue

Publisher:  Picador

Year:  2010

Today I’m five.  I was four last night going to sleep in Wardrobe, but when I wake up in Bed in the dark I’m changed to five, abracadabra.  Before that I was three, then two, then one, then zero.  “Was I minus numbers?”

That’s how the novel ROOM by Emma Donoghue begins.  A child sleeps in a Wardrobe (capital “W”), then somehow wakes up in Bed (capital “B”) and in the magical way of noticing that small children have, this child feels the wondrous transformation that turning five can bring in a manner that most children that age don’t experience it—as a catalogue of steps; not an explosion of joy with the anticipation of presents, cake and a party.  But though these are clearly the ruminations of a small child, there’s such a big difference in the thoughts this particular child has about the world.  This fact is evident even in these first few sentences of Donoghue’s novel.  The capital letters at the beginning of words signify unwarranted status to inanimate and commonplace things.  The numerical musings of a little child who can go to sleep in a wardrobe, and then wake up in a bed as though that is a common occurrence, hint at a smart kid, who at the age of five knows what ‘minus’ numbers are, and can apply that concept to his own existence.  With just those four sentences at the start of Room, you immediately sense that an extraordinary thing is taking place in this child’s life and within a  page, you know what’s going on with this boy, and in my case, I felt ill, and nearly put the book down soon after I realized what this book was about.

Some years ago there was a case about an Austrian father who’d forced his daughter to live in a room deep in his basement where he raped her for decades, fathering seven children with her, and then raising some of those children as adoptees.  I was horrified at this news story, and angered.  The idea of such criminality is repulsive in a way that words can’t express; deep within myself as I listened to the news and read about the story, I felt myself cringing, becoming physically sick—the strong emotional memories of what was only a news story (albeit a deeply affecting one) to me a few years ago were brought back nearly full force when I started to read ROOM.  The novel’s central idea is a grotesque one but what made me continue to read this book was, at first, the idea of a triumphant ending, reading further I was captured by the author’s masterly use of language, then Donoghue’s close attention to details, and her composition of a world where every consideration was made to show how people could actually live trapped in such a situation.  Donoghue’s unnamed mother in ROOM has a son named Jake, and to maintain both his and her sanity, and to make things as normal as she remembers things to have been outside of ROOM, she creates a world of known things for her son, devoting herself to her five year old as his mother, playmate, friend, older sister, advisor, teacher, coach but not as his savior.  That’s Jake’s job for her.  In the midst of living each day in a small shack (“Room”), surviving tedium, and the listing of what Jake and his mother have to do every day to keep from disintegrating as people, I found not a misplaced thought, nor an untrue sentiment.  This must be what it’s like for some people who have lived through such horror.  And it may be exactly like what some poor souls are going through right now, in shacks and dungeons around the world…I literally shudder at such a thought.  I shudder at the “truth telling” (in the way that actors refer to a superior acting performance as “truth”) in this novel.

You would think that you can’t get much drama into such a small space or in reading about brushed teeth, daily lessons, gym, the strategies for keeping food fresh, and what to do about ‘Old Nick’ (the kidnapper) when he comes to give Jake and his Mother “Sunday treat” (the day the kidnapper may or not bring Jake and his Mother the sometimes special things they request).  I read each of ROOM’s pages avidly, rooting for Mother and Son, hoping, and marveling at how wrapped up I got in this novel, and how at the end I couldn’t stop thinking about the book for weeks, recommending it to book friends, and wishing I knew more of what happened afterwards.  I really want to know.  I really do.

My review:  go read this book

Splice movie review

As a geek on the order of one who likes openings to movies with pseudo-sciency things, gadgets and beakers with viscous fluids that keep dismembered body parts alive and ready for mayhem, “Splice” sucked me in immediately.

Adrien Brody, Oscar winning actor in the Holocaust movie “The Piano”, stars as scientist Clive Nicoli, who along with his partner and lover, Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley), work with an international corporation to splice together the genes of disparate creatures in the hopes of creating genetic products (proteins, medicines) that will benefit the livestock industry, and make tons of money. Whew! You know that things will go wrong somewhere.

A first real success happens when the scientists create a male and female creature who mate, and together synthesize a protein that shows monetary promise. The International Corporation, who initially provided autonomy to the brilliant but somewhat flighty pair of scientists, decides to redirect their research to solely synthesizing the beneficial protein discovered from the new species, halting the direction of Clive and Elsa’s research. Feeling misused, and cut off from further discovery, the pair, initially led by Elsa, splice DNA into a human ovum, against the wishes of their patron; and the genetic result is something unexpected (that is, if you haven’t seen or read any genetic science fiction in your life).

The words “popcorn” and “movie” come to mind when I think about how I would recommend this movie. Very Very, VERY far from perfect; with some unrealistic plot twists that leave you thinking “huh?”, “Splice” is a Z-grade movie. But then it’s not striving to illuminate philosophical questions about life, and the current human ability to manipulate the genome. At its best, this movie is trying to keep you eating popcorn while you wait for the climaxes you know are about to come. And these climaxes are well done, sometimes riveting. And the spliced creature of the title is extremely well rendered, well acted and creepily appealing.

The familiar scifi tropes of the possibility of interspecies mating, the dangers inherent in humanity playing God and the potential for the destruction of all human life that could be perpetrated by science and its poor decision making in the name of discovery, are all here. There’s subtext and nuance in the hinted at abusive past of Elsa, which makes her needy and then extremely cruel at quick turns in the movie giving you pause, and in my case, made me wonder about Elsa’s past, her mother, and just how abusive her past could have been.

I also wondered about Clive’s co-dependency, and the ease with which he was manipulated by his lover against his better instincts and then ultimately how easily he later crossed ethical lines he may not have crossed without Elsa as his partner, and I could see how he’d pay for his weakness and lack of character sometime later.( Or could have this lack of character simply been consuming love?)

All in all “Splice” is not a movie to spend 12 bucks on in the theater, but as a rental, or late night viewing on a premium cable channel, it’s well worth a look, popcorn at the ready, brain checked at the door.

My review:  if it comes on when you're channel surfing, watch it

Dead Ever After

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood book # 13) by Charlaine Harris

The last book in the series, for sure!  (But somehow I doubt that.)

Have I really read all 13 of these books?  How'd that happen?

There's no reason to write a full review of this book.  I you're picking up #13, there's nothing I need to reshash or detail...

I came to Sookie through the HBO series True Blood, which is based on these Southern Gothic Vampire novels.  The show was initially intriguing and I'm one of those people who's obsessive about reading source material so I can have a deeper understanding of what  a show's all about.  Add to that fact that my wife is exactly the same as me when it comes to this, and I got the first 7 books in the series soon after the series started and blew threw them quickly my wife and I discussing the miniutiae of Sookie Stackhouse's supernatural world, and her adventures with great pleasure. 

True Blood took sharp turns away from the source material long ago, and I can alternately enjoy, love and truly loathe the direction of this show from year to year all on its own merits without compromising my devoted interest in what happens to Sookie in Harris' books.  The books also vary in quality and their level of entertainment, but that's how it goes with really good gossip; which is how the books read. So, I kept reading these books knowing something juicy would come up eventually.  Charlaine Harris really knows how to lay out hints and teasers throughout her stories to keep you turning pages waiting for Sookie's next choice in supernatural lovers, or finding out who's setting out to kill her, and what new supernatural creature will make an appearance to wreak havoc.  Good stuff.

The last book in the series disappointed, I had my own ideas about what I wanted for Sookie at the end, but honestly, this is Charlaine Harris' "last" ride, and true to form, her characters remained true to themselves and it all worked out for the best.  And more than that I could hope for, but I wasn't too upset, and glad to have been along with Sookie on the ride for the last 5 years.

My review:  Well worth it, if you're a fan.

House of Blue Leaves by Mark Danielewski

Post coming...be warned...reading this book may give you some creepy nightmares...seriously...be back soon...

By The Seat of My Pants - Maggie Nuttall's one woman show

BY THE SEAT OF MY PANTS :  True Stories of Wit & Grit

A One Woman Show by Maggie Nuttall

You hold up a mirror to most people’s faces and most of the time they don’t like what they see.  There’s the instant self-delusion that what’s there isn’t really there, and that everything is alright with the world, despite all the evidence to the contrary.  Most of us are like this: piss on my leg and tell me it’s rain because it makes me feel better about you pissing on me.

Not so with Maggie Nuttall.  When you hold up the allegorical mirror up to her face, you get the reflection of the truth of her self, tinged with humor, a measure of bravado, and a certainty that the things she sees are exactly as she sees them; she’ll tell you you’re getting pissed on, and who’s doing it.

Maggie’s one woman show By the Seat of My Pants runs through a series of short stories that build a calibrated tension from tale to tale where at the beginning you find yourself laughing at her description of being choked by a maniac on the subway; and then have an “awwww” moment as she reflects kindly on the gold-toothed, ghetto fabulous phalanx of urban youth who came to her rescue, and then carries on through the misty moment where Maggie finds acceptance and courage (all this in only one, minutes long story).  Expect sharp turns and stark contrasts at this show because reality is a series of contradictions that run to the harsh, and there’s no soft-soaping that here.  Though there’s a measured building up of tension in By the Seat of My Pants, the moment where the sharp storytelling turn comes, like an unexpected truck that’s going the wrong way through the tunnel as you move ahead confidently in your small sedan, Maggie brings you crashing into cringe worthy territory with a deft change of shocking, distressing words.  Are you ready?  Probably not…

Maggie is a tall, lithe woman who screeches, yells, and throws language at you as a counterpunch to her past.  At turns looking completely crazed in just the way the maniac who tried to kill her must have looked (a reflected expression of the attack) then suddenly perfectly calm and peaceful, she relates her stories to the audience with aplomb.  Not a self-centered person, Maggie tells the interconnected stories of her friend, sharing her friend’s own horrendous experiences, linking her own experiences to those of too many in the world.  Along the way you see clearly how complicit so many people can be when they cannot deal with harsh truth.  At a certain point you wonder if you yourself aren’t a part of the apathy in the world, and hope for the fact that you’ve never been complicit in anything so horrific.

 Through the flailing motions and verbal barrage of this performance you will find yourself at the center of silence, as your own thoughts just stop, and you experience Maggie’s psychic pain reaching out to touch you…and then she makes you laugh…and that’s when you really get to know this storyteller. 

By the Seat of My Pants is well worth the time, check the performer’s Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/maggie.nuttall) for any new showings, and when you go, expect the humor, conviction and the truth from Ms. Nutall, but leave the mirror at home because your own reflection will be cast by Maggie, as soon as she takes to the stage.  Don’t be afraid to look.

My review:  Go see this performance

Other reviews:  http://www.examiner.com/acting-and-performance-arts-in-new-york/by-the-seat-of-my-pants-true-stories-of-wit-and-grit

Justin Cronin's THE PASSAGE

THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin

Publisher:  Ballantine

Year:  2010

This is a barnburner of a book.  And the beginning of a trilogy I can’t wait to finish.  Did I just give away my enthusiasm for THE PASSAGE?  I guess I did.  Cronin comes off at times as a literary writer, which is what he is (see previous literary book:  THE SUMMER GUEST, Dial Press, 2003, see Googlebooks for more), and infused throughout this vampire book are characters that suffer deep thoughts, dwell on personal intrigues, and ready themselves for battle against vampire hordes ready to make them extinct; which is where the literary gives way to high drama, and impressive action; and sometimes horrifyingly plausible end of the world scenarios (if all the vampire tales around the world are true, that is) .

Throughout THE PASSAGE we follow the survivors of the vampire apocalypse, first an FBI agent and his extraordinary charge, a girl with a deep destiny.  The agent, Wolgast, acts as a surrogate father, his past (and possibly some other unknown, unseen thing) spurring him to protect a girl he was ordered to kidnap by the government for a secret experiment meant to give the U.S. Military dominance, but which dooms the world to a bleak future.  Through Wolgast and the girl (“Amy”), and their shared bond we get to see the beginning of the end of the world as we know it.  Billions will die within years of an epidemic that no one is ready for, or can fight against.  And in the passage of just 100 years, the world has been pushed back into hut dwelling, pre-technological pockets of humanity who have learned to make, or fight, and in one instance, compromise their way into a life of desperation and living sometimes through a sheer force of will.  The scenes of devastation, horror, and the attempt to rebuild a stable society on small plots of land, are heart rending to read.  In a book about vampires, as expected, there’s a lot of death, and many of the dead include characters you started to care about.  But what else can you expect from war?  No one is safe; and though there’s a clear enemy, occasionally, I found myself feeling sorry for them.  Cronin is a deft writer at creating nuance, and making you consider things you may not have normally considered in such a tale and my sympathy for the vampires surprised me.

Cronin does a superb job of weaving vampire lore into his book, including the familiar vampire tropes of aversions to sun and garlic (even Dracula gets a mention); but more intriguing to me were the relationships that developed between survivors.  People hook up, plan futures, fall in love, make do, and have hope.  The day to day living, the need for food, the memories of people old enough to remember the past, or old enough to remember tales told to them about the past world ring true.  And at the end of this finely told tale, I literally gasped, and said, “No!” out loud when I realized that the last band of people in the book to reach as happy an existence as can be had at the end of the world still has me reeling and eager to read the next book…which comes out sometime next year, 2012.  Damn Cronin.

My review:  go read this book.