Sherlock Holmes and Science Fiction

It seems almost natural today for Sherlock Holmes to be linked to science fiction. Holmes is such a real character, yet somehow he is real in any sort of iteration. There are many, many adaptations of books that I have merely to glance at, and my reaction is instantly: “No. Oh…no. That is no so-and-so.” I am hard to please with my adaptations.

Yet, as I said, Holmes seems to be an exception. (Watson? Not so much….) I have seen probably a dozen or more actors or various “incarnations” of the character, from Basil Rathbone to Benedict Cumberbatch, The Great Mouse Detective to Sherlock Gnomes. Of course, some portrayals are better than others. Most interpretations of the character emphasize certain Holmesian characteristics unevenly; for instance, in the movies with Robert Downey, Jr., they highlight Holmes’ pugilistic talents (I remember hearing people complain, “Sherlock Holmes doesn’t fight!”).

The fact remains that Holmes isn’t not most of these interpretations. He’s a combination of all of them.

Read This, Not That: “With the Night Mail” vs. “The Clipper of the Clouds”

Although Rudyard Kipling’s With the Night Mail: A Story of 3000 A.D. would be a great resource for anyone researching the Steampunk genre, I wouldn’t recommend reading it for any other purpose.

Why?

Because there isn’t really much of a story. There are a few vague characters, the narrator is nameless and devoid of personality, the plot is nearly nonexistent, and the point is completely lost.

This book is entirely forgettable. I should know: I actually read this twice because I’d forgotten I’d read it the first time, and the only reason I realized I’d read it before was because I had highlighted a Oh So Very Steampunk Passage of the text in my e-reader copy.

The bare bones of the story is that the Nameless Narrator is a news correspondent who is shadowing the daily (that is, nightly) workings of an airship. Yes, according to Kipling, dirigible-type aircraft are the mode of transportation of the future. Global travel is so easy that the intertwining of nations has necessitated a universal language so the airships can communicate with one another. The airships run on electricity and some sort of semiprecious gem power. Airplanes, called “’planes” exist as well, but are considered outmoded and unfashionable.

Long Reviews of Short Stories: Charles Yu's "Third Class Superhero"

With names like "401(k)" and "32.05864991%" and “Two-Player Infinitely Iterated Simultaneous Semi-cooperative Game with Spite and Reputation Autobiographical Raw Material Unsuitable for the Mining of Fiction,” it is a fair guess in just perusing the table of contents of this short story collection that is both quirky and probably written by a former science major or something. And both inferences are accurate.

Though I’m not much of a short story fan, I was drawn to this colorful paperback’s cover and science-fiction-y title. I was not disappointed with the content. Short stories have a tendency for being minimalist, a bit ambiguous, and existential. Again, I was not disappointed. Some stories, like “Realism” are so bleak as to almost feel like a cliché of Bleakness. What Yu does differently with his writing than most other contemporary storytellers is incorporating technobabble almost seamlessly into his world-building.    

Tunneling to the Center of the Earth: Some Short Story Reviews

I don’t often review short stories, and that’s mostly because I don’t often read short stories.  Especially during this time of year where I live, the days are short and dreary and windy, making for great atmosphere to read a long novel by Elizabeth Gaskell or one of the Bronte sisters. But just as sometimes one hankers for a feast, and other times is just a pit peckish for a small snack, sometimes it’s just the right time for short stories. I’ve had my fill of Araby, Mrs. Dalloway, and The Awakening from my college years—though oddly enough I didn’t get any Kafka or Dostoyevsky assignments, which is a conundrum and a shame in my opinion. But when it comes to picking out contemporary fiction—short stories and novellas in particular—I look for less depressing fare, mostly quirky, magic-realism or almost science-fictional genres.

"Darkwing" by Kenneth Oppel

It’s the end of an era: the saurians who had been the dominant predator on Earth are dying out due to a mysterious sickness and through the machinations of all the other beasts, who have made a pact to exterminate this common threat by destroying any saurian eggs they find. About twenty years before Darkwing begins, however, a small group of chiropters who reject the pact and go to live on a secluded island as conscientious objectors. 

As our story begins, the young chiropter Dusk is about to make his first leap into the air. He’s a weak newborn, strangely built, and instinctively he wants to flap his sails like wings. As he grows up with his father Icaron, the leader of the island colony, his impulsive sister Sylph, and the rest of his family, Dusk is subjected to a great deal of pressure to conform or risk being shunned by his community. But Dusk is not like the others. Whereas in the story, the chiropters are a sort of pre-bat species (I immediately imagined them looking like sugar-gliders, though later in the book there are illustrations which contradict my mental image), Dusk is a true bat, with the ability to “see” in the dark and, much to the fear and confusion of the rest of his people, to fly. 

Reviewing Kenneth Oppel's "Silverwing" Trilogy

Long ago there was a war between the birds and the beasts. The bats, who shared attributes of both, abstained from taking a side, making them equally contemptible by both. In the present day, in an alternate reality not so far removed from our own, a young bat named Shade breaks the taboo that has kept the peace for years: he gets a glimpse of the sun. By breaking this law Shade brings down retribution from the birds onto his entire colony, and finds himself alone and without a home.

"The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells: A Review

A long time ago when I was just entering adolescence and had spare time to waste on doing nonsensical things, I was trying to construct a pyramid out of marbles. Marbles being round and therefore not exactly conducive to stacking like bricks, this was a laborious and time-intensive goal. Enter listening to audiobooks while I did these sorts of things. In fact, I’m not at all sure, so long after the fact, that these sorts of nonsensical enterprises weren’t created in order to be doing something while listening to audiobooks. Like the chicken and the egg, I’m not sure which came first.* 

It’s a strange thing how sometimes two sensory memories, the sight of marbles, for instance, can be connected to others, such as the sound of The Time Machine being played on cassette. But when I started composing this review, that’s exactly what happened.  Remembering my first experience with H.G. Wells made me think of what I was doing while listening to that audiobook for the first time over ten years ago.

Reviewing H.G. Wells' "The Island of Dr. Moreau"

One of the great things about science fiction is that it allows us to view our world in allegorical form. The best science fiction literature accomplishes this without heavy handed preaching or cheesy melodrama. For an example, allow me to humbly present: H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau.

The plot opens with the narrator, Edward Prendick, getting marooned in a lifeboat and eventually coming ashore a nearly deserted island. I say nearly deserted without fear of spoiling the plot, since the name of the story gives away the fact that a Dr. Moreau lives on that island, along with a few other men, his right-hand being an oaf named Montgomery. At first Prendick is treated like an honored guest. Dr. Moreau has been on his island some time, and therefore is curious about the outside world. Prendick, however, is curious more about the strange noises and mysterious behavior of his hosts. But ignorance is bliss, and he soon wishes he hadn’t been rescued at all.  

When the Sidekick Tells the Story: Two Vernean Narrators for the Price of One

As I was making a mental list of narrators who are actually the sidekicks, I thought of the sidekicks of heroes in series of stories surrounding them. To round out this series of entries, however, I’m going to depart from that pattern to talk about two narrators of two distinct novels by one author, Jules Verne. 

"I claim this planet in the name of Mars. Isn't that lovely?" : H.G. Well's "War of the Worlds"

War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells…sweded.

 Scene: The Turn of the Century, English Countryside.

ENGLISH PEOPLE WITH STIFF UPPER LIPS: tut tut it looks like rain.

MARTIANS: lol nope. *crash land*

FIRST PERSON NARRATOR: Oh look an alien Pringles can.  And since we have just been looking at Mars that must be where it came from.

ENGLISH PEOPLE: tut tut it looks like rain.

FIRST PERSON NARRATOR: we must help the aliens that obviously are inside this cylinder!