I found my book

I was asked during the beginning of school what is my favorite SF book. I replied at the time, "I don't know I haven't read enough of the cannon yet."

I can now safely answer, among all the wonderful SF I have read, many of which I respect and admire, Hyperion by Dan Simmons strikes at the chords of my literate soul.

It is a a novel that brings all my SF reading skills and literary understanding into one massive, festive hall. I sit on the edge of my bench, consuming red meat off the bone as a Dan Simmons plays the bard and weaves me a verbal epic.

In fact, I'll start my talk on Hyperion's own bard, Martin Silenus. He is one of the greatest characters I have ever read. His humor, attention to detail and witticism continued to make me laugh.

http://www.sfsite.com/grx/dsim/hyplg.gif

Here is the opening quote to his Cantos tale.

"In the beginning was the Word. Then came the fucking word processor. Then came the thought processor. Then came the death of literature. And so it goes."

It summarizes all I love about Hyperion, the first sentence speaks to the essence of literature. The second is a joke. The though processor is the science fiction speaking, then a prediction about humanity. Sum up the final sentence with a reference to Slaughter House 5. All magnificent.

There is humor in sending your son on a slow space trip to get the interest on his existence to accumulate enough to pay off family debts. Not to mention his slave years speaking only 9 profane words and still calling himself a poet. His gaudiness and ample swearing is a characteristic rarely seen in non-cyberpunk SF.

I won't go into each tale but I do love the idea of basically writing each story in one style of SF. As I said before, Hyperion really is a cantos, to all of SF and even literature in general. The Shakespeare, the mention of Gibson, the fact that ecologist John Muir sparked a zealous Tree-worshipping religion all are wonderful components that add to the setting and themes. (I also remember a stray Dune reference, "Once years ago in school, I saw a time-lapse holo showing the decomposition of a kangaroo mouse." (77). Totally a Muad'dib ref)

My favorite part is that the ending half of the book doesn't dwindle. Now I know that having the pilgrims enter the valley finally while singing "We're off to see the wizard" is not a technical ending, what I mean is that Simmons focuses all the stories to the very fabric of the SF setting he created.

I've seen many authors fail to get their world to resonate with the final revelations. Examples being that Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner, and Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson lost the magic of their setting and ended the book on revelations that didn't matter (i.e. pheromones in an African culture and humanity's language was actually a virus). Instead, Hyperion gets to the core of humanity, progress or stagnation.

I summarize this with the Consul's quote

"Suffice it to say that I believe the Ousters have done what Web humanity has not in the past millennia: evolve. While we live in our derivative cultures, pale reflections of Old Earth life, the Ousters have explored new dimensions of aesthetics and ethics and biosciences and art and all the things that must change and grow to reflect the human soul.

Barbarians, we call them, while all the while we timidly cling to our Web like Visigoths crouching inthe ruins of Rome's faded glory and proclaim ourselves civilized." page 468.

Civilization and evolution, that is what humanity is all about. That and the infinite mysteries of the universe, symbolized by the labyrinths that dot nine (if i remember correctly) world of Web Space. Oh yeah, and death. That may be the kingpin in this entire existence of ours. And we all know that the Shrike, the only real demon, will keep that problem a perpetual mystery.

Below are two interesting articles I've copied for my interest as well as your own.

Interview with Dan Simmons

Poems of Martin Silenus

Alien compared to Aliens

Image via WikipediaThe xenomorphs of LV426 are an iconic, terrifying bunch. I finally watched Alien and Aliens this week and I'm inspired to write after being asked which movie I like better. To begin, James Cameron has a way of taking an idea and making it a grandiose endeavor in the movie industry. "Favorite" seems irrelavant to discuss on the internet but I am willing to consider and compare the steps these movies took to be a science fiction action/horror movie.

We'll start with the singular Alien, setting; some gritty cargo spaceship and and for one part an uninhabited planet. The mystery factor a huge thrill ride when Cane discovers the field of hibernating eggs. The most important aspect is that the alien must escape from its host in a grisly manner. As much as its terrifying now, put yourself into the time period and realize that such a gruesome "birth" was a massive surprise to the first audience members.
The rest of the film follows Ripley and the crew as they try to survive against the invader. Plain and simple; human reactions to an unnatural enemy. The lack of light and space is absolutely detrimental to a human's natural abilities and scenes in the airducts ooze of claustrophobia. The only weapon available is Prometheus' gift. In addition, the discovery that "Ash is a robot" and the corporation considers the crew expendable completely destroy any sense of trust for the universe. In the end, Ripley escapes the ship with only Jonesy, a sylvan companion who will stand stand by the protag when the rest of space turns a cold shoulder.

James Cameron's sequel does not depend as much on the sci-fi setting but rather on the human interactions. Already, being 50+ years older can wreck havoc on your perspective of the galaxy. Using the allegory that the xenomorphs represent the feral, inhuman aspect of rape, the beginning scenes represent Ripley's inability to forget the terrifying monsters of her past. In addition, with the company ignoring her initial reports, she has no where to turn and lives a isolated life in an apartment complex. Agreeing to go on the expedition is only after trusting that she can get her old career back and hold hope of an attempted normal future.
Enter the marines. Classic science fiction reminiscent of Heinlein's troopers. On the planet, after a couple of interesting technology cinematics and the first alien encounter it becomes clear that training alone will not save you. It returns to ingenuity, Ripley's best resource. This time around, she is not as alone because of the discovery of Newt and the mother-daughter bond created. As the survival aspect of being locked up in the colony increases, the interactions between the humans becomes more important. Ripley needs to trust Bishop for the escape route (I would also say he represents a religious cleric who can help Ripley deal with all the rape, on a side note). Burke realized as a greedy corporate puppet and his supposed betrayal. And that one marine, the name evades me, who keeps having a break down about the inhumanity of their enemy and the hopelessness of the situation. Of course there is Ripley's lone venture into the hive center in the end but its the middle of the movie that comes alive with character development.Image via Wikipedia

As a conclusion, both movies follow the SF interaction between humans and nonhumans. Alien follows a more precise sci-fi "if-then" statement, "if an alien was in the ship what would the humans do?" with a great deal of unknown and darkness thrown into the mix. Aliens on the other hand, seems to have better character interaction, and slowly gives Ripley strength to save Newt and destroy the cause of her suffering and dreams alluded to in the beginning. Because of these redemptive qualities, Aliens is a more humanist approach of science fiction while Alien is content with discoveries and scares.

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