You may post your third progress report for the SF Slide Show Update Project here. Refer to the blue handout you received in class for guidelines (also available as a PDF on the class web page). You make also choose to email the assignment to me, or print it out and hand it in in class.
6 comments:
Sorry if my grammar is bad but i just fainted after the avs won in OT and i am having some trouble typing. I chose to read the book Digital Fortress by Dan Brown. This is a great example of a modern sci fi/ thriller story. In this book it starts out with the two main characters David Becker and Susan Fletcher. Susan is a worker in the NSA in the crypto department which is the head of decoding messages. Meanwhile David Becker is off to Spain for a secret assignment to get a ring from Ensi Tankado who created an "unbreakable code" which he was going to sell to terrorists for millions of dollars. This is a major security issue because any terrorist could send a message without anybody being able to open the message because it has the unbreakable password attached to it. But later in the story they find out that is was all a virus that Tankado planed the NSA to open it to try and break it which infected their main data base and then opened up their entire classified information to the public. With only seconds left they break the system and save the US.
Some quotes that i thought was very interesting was when a co worker named Hale was acting very suspicious and she had the idea that he was working with Tankado "Hale was silent again, engrossed. She wished he would leave." This is one of the first parts where Hale starts becoming a suspect even though he is not involved. Another quote which made me think a lot. "How much time. Jabba demanded from the podium. There was no response." I think that this was illogical for the Jabba to be wasting time and just seemed like a filler in the book for more suspense which there was enough of anyway. Finally the last quote really shows that Tankado was almost trying to help them by giving them signals from a video tape before he was murdered. "Tankado held his fingers outward, forcing the ring in front of the people." I think that Tankado knew that with all the geniuses at the NSA they would be able to figure out his sign and save the US.
Zach C --
Good overview of the book. From your summary and quotes, it's hard to see how this book qualifies as SF. Are there extrapolations beyond the computer technology, (which sound pretty present-day)?
I did my biography on Stephen King a horror/sci-fi writer.
He was born in Portland,Maine, September 1947 to Donald Edwin and Ruth P. King; although his father his family when he was very young his mother still pulled through taking care or him and his adopted brother.
When King was about12 he witnessed his best friend get struck and killed by a train; some people think this is what triggered his dark side (literature).
In 1966 King went to the university of maine and studied english, while there he wrote his first short story: "The Glass Floor".
In 1971 he married a scholar at U-Maine named Tabitha Spruce who helped him write and publish his first book called Carrie.
His mother died soon after the book was released but was to have said that she was proud of his progress as a writer.
Stephen King has gone on to write at least 40 novels and has made many movies too.
King now lives in Maine with his wife Tabitha; Children and grandchildren near by. His most recent work includes a sign-off with Marvel for a mini-series and a major movie.
Works Cited: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_king#Biography
I read this biography and changed the wording.
Brown, Simon. "Why My Wife Left Me and Other Stories by Diomedes." Eidolon.Net. Oct. 1991. 17 Apr. 2008.
Mr. Sale Blogger will not let me attach the website URL to my bibliography.
The story I read is "Why my Wife left me and Other Stories by Diomedes" by Simon Brown.
It is a story set in the future where when soldiers go off to other planets to fight, their spouses are chryogenically frozen until the soldiers return. A problem with Chryogenic freezing is Post Dilation Trauma. Which is where th e frozee has trouble connecting back to the world.
"When we landed at Argos our family was waiting. They were clapping and crying and taking turns hugging us, and I cried and hugged back, but she tried to stand apart. They would not let her. Instead they gathered her in and surrounded her, calling her name. She started to cry then, but more from fear, I think."
This is really important because this takes place right after Diomedes's wife is unfrozen. She feels detached from the world. This is a huge part in events that happen later.
"'I think you do not have a soul. You died, but your body is here. I pray it is God who took your soul.'"
At this point the seperation between Diomedes and his wife is starting to surface. Because she was frozen and he was active for ten years she feels like she doesnt even know Diomedes. His soul has not been taken away, but because of Diomedes living on and experiencing things for 10 years that his wife has not experienced, the connection of their souls is torn and demolished.
"'I'm looking for someone.'
Someone frozen? Who?
'I can't remember her name. But I'll know her when I find her.'
You're certain you'll find her?
'Oh, yes. There's no question about that. I'll know her when I find her.'"
This is after Diomedes' wife has left him. He is working at the warehouse where the frozen people are. What took out of this is that he is waiting for his wife. He is under the illusion that it will happen all over again. Throughout the whole story Diomedes never mentions his wife's name. And so it is interesting that the girl he is waiting for he cannot remember the name of.
Mr. Sale I apologize for the lateness of my project. I will bring the story in on Friday for you to read because it is an excellent mind provoking story that I want you to read.
Pearce --
Plenty of infor about King. You never realyy explain which of his writings are actually science fictional.
Phil E --
Sounds like a good story. You wrote some thoughtful responses to the quotes.
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