Timewaster's Guide Archive

I'm trying to flesh out my SF side of my rewritten syllabus for this class that's ending next week. I know, I know, most of you have better things to do than help me with my homework. But if any of you have suggestions on books about mutants and/or gene-manipulation, please let me know.

The only one I've found so far is a collection of short stories edited by Asimov called Young Mutants. It seems that we have a lot more TV shows/movies/comic books about them (the obvious example being X-Men, of course).

Also, does anyone know when Starship Troopers was originally published, and if it was originally written for children? I found a copy of it in the children's section of the library, but I didn't think it was really children's or YA. Maybe it is considered YA now--if it was written before 1970 or so, there was no YA genre for it to fit into. Anyway, the computer catalog entry for the copy I have says this is "highly abridged" but I can't find anywhere in the book that says that.

Aha--just found it on the copyright page: "A much abridged version of this book was published in Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine under the title 'Starship Soldier.'"

The copyright on my version says 1959.

I'm Stacy Whitman. I graduated from BYU in Marriage, Family, and Human Development, and then went on to work as an editor for a trade magazine, then at Houghton Mifflin while working on my master's in children's literature at Simmons College in Boston. Just graduated last May, and now I edit children's and young adult fantasy.

You can probably guess that I'm mostly into the books and movies section. I'm also involved in the writing group. I used to not play any of the games at all, but lately I've learned to play Magic, D&D minis, SW minis, and D&D. Currently, I'm involved in an Eberron campaign, and I kick butt. Who knew it could be so fun? I mainly come here, though, to keep in touch with my TLE friends from undergrad days and the new friends I've made here.

This is an interesting article. Of course, there's fanfic everywhere, but they're taking it pretty seriously in this case.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/16/1050172640571.html

Not nearly so fancy. It's just a regular compact car, but not the base model. The Ions (Saturn's new car) are really popular now, but it's not that either. But at least the car I'm looking at is a souped-up version. Power everything, cruise, great stereo system (CD and tape), remote for the locks and trunk, etc. And it has low miles, relatively.

But I've seen the SUV, just on the showroom floor, and it seems nice. I don't really go for SUVs, though. They're glorified station wagons. I mean, if you're going to get a truck, use it as a truck, man. You're talking to a girl who learned to drive on a stickshift 1978 Chevy Custom Deluxe dually, with straight pipes for a muffler, and those huge wing mirrors on the side for seeing when you hauled the horse trailer. Now THAT was a truck. SUVs in Boston are a little nonsensical. It's almost like driving a Ford F150 around Great Britain--possible, but rather clunky.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I'm fine and so was the evil lady who pulled out in front of me. I'm now In Negotiations for a Saturn SL2. Anyone hear anything about them? It seems like a good car from the research I've done (it's a 2000).

Moo?

****SPOILERS****

So, now that I've read it, I'm ready to discuss. Everyone in my class said they absolutely loved it. They were thrilled to pieces, scared to death. I read it at 2 in the morning, all the lights off except the reading lamp, and barely felt a chill up my spine. It was unoriginal, in my opinion, and though the writing was tight, the subject matter wasn't anything I hadn't seen before in a fairly good fantasy/horror book. The writing itself also felt rather trite, especially at the beginning, as Gaiman was talking down to his audience (oh, it's a children's book, I'd better be cute!).

I also felt it was pretty didactic in Coraline's reflections about which world was better, how the other mother was so obviously evil, how the outworldly great food and toys were just so wrong, and playing with rats?!? Um, kind of weird. And then there's how she needed to save her parents--as soon as she picked up the snow globe I knew her parents were in it. Maybe to a 10 year old it wouldn't be as obvious, but the whole thing, excepting maybe being stuck in the wall behind the mirror, which did get to me a bit, seemed too linear and obvious.

The ending, however, when the hand followed her, I must admit was good. I liked her calculation in going out to the well, though it probably freaked me out more because of the imagery I've already got in my head from The Ring.

The descriptions were well-written, and maybe it's just that I've been reading SO many books that it blended in, but if it's so outstanding as everyone says it is, you would think I would have noticed. My classmates are not particular fans of fantasy and don't read nearly as much as I do--many of you read a whole lot more than I do. What did you think of it?

If you were taking a fantasy/SF class (keeping in mind that the books involved have to be directed at the under-18 crowd, since it's also children's lit), what would you want on the syllabus? I'm asking because for my final project/paper for my fantasy class, I can rewrite the syllabus, and I'm looking for suggestions. There's a lot I can think of, but I don't know if I'm covering all my bases. I have to turn in my prospectus for it on Monday. Not that I'm trying to have you guys do my homework ... :-) but I knew I'd get some good suggestions from you.

So, any really well-written fantasy or science fiction books out there, either for kids or for young adults, that you think would incite great discussion? Any articles you've read that are must-reads?