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I had seen in the synapsis of the class that Dean Koontz was in it, well we didnt get to him sadly, so I am doing my presentation on Dean Koontz, the fantasy side of his books. He has a couple that reflect humanity back as itself, and one of them is called "Innocence". I will be going over a bit of it so I don't want to ruin it here. Just know that in this book he tries to start humanity over again, with two outcasts of the world.


UPDATE: I loved all the reader presentations! There were some I would have loved to touch base on also, like the dragons, and the exorcist and demonology! Over all there was some good presentations and very informative too, filled in the gaps nicely.

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Poe wants you to believe that this "disease" he has is a factual thing, he even goes as far as to describe what it is like to be in the state of comatose, how you can hear things and see things, but everything you see and hear are twisted and not of what you would normally see and hear. How you can't move which makes others believe you are dead, promoting the premature burial. The disease is actually called Cotard's delusion, its a metal disorder where the person has delusions believing they are no longer exist or are dead, first instance was in the 1700's.








This is like the old ghost tale around the campfire story. It is told that wishes come true and that the guy who "owned" it had bad things happen to him and the others don't care about the bad, they only care about the wishes, human greed. This is a supernatural story in the sense that it makes you believe that the wishes actually work, that the 200 lbs that was wished for was what caused the son's death, and then they wished him back, but you never find out if it was actually him at the door, though through a sixth sense the father believes the "thing" on the other side of the door is not his son. The end makes it seem like both the parents disappear. Very nicely put ghost story!


update: after talking about the common practice of being buried alive, I do believe I will be making it part of my will that whoever performs my autopsy makes sure I am dead before proceeding on, that is craziness! monkeys paw in theater form sucked, I really found it boring, I found more excitement by reading the story, at least it left things for the imagination.

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After reading this, twice, I feel as if this would be his wife, who also was his cousin, who also suffered a horrible death. Poe always has a way of making a simple thing like an illness seem demented and twisted, and how he felt about it the same way. The whole thing about the teeth though got me, maybe he had a fixation about her teeth from young and maybe his only way of remembering her was the teeth, that he had to have.





In every city of every state every room has a tale to tell. Some more grotesque then others, but still the same, like the story, people who take up residence in a room always leave a part of themselves there, whether it be a hair tie or a handkerchief, a part of them will always remain. The lovers in this story couldn't even be seperated by death because of a small piece that one left behind, her fragrance, one that he recognized and went to find. The possession of his mind by her at the end was such a twist! Just goes to show that ghosts are influential and can make the living do what they want.






This is one that I imagined was a story they would tell on late night radio back in the 50's, kind of like the Bradbury one of aliens taking over the planet. I do believe this story had a supernatural aspect in it. After preparing his wife's body and falling asleep, he awoke hours later to find himself trying to listen for something he didn't know what, after a brief encounter with the unknown, he takes out his gun and fires it and finds a panther trying to take his wife's body, after firing the round the panther dropped her by the window where it made its escape and in his wife's mouth was found the fur of the panther, like she was fighting the panther herself. Or maybe she was keeping the panther from attacking her husband who was asleep when it came through the window and was vulnerable prey. Things that make you go hmmmmmm........




Update: After looking at all the aspects of these stories, the madness element, the lost love element and the supernatural element, I would have to say Poe's short most definitely screams madness, as always, and O. Henry's is more definitely supernatural, and Bierce is definitely lost love. Each story had hints of all aspects, but I believe these stand out the most in each of the stories.

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The Fall of the House of Usher on page 44 explains the "haunted house" effect so well. "Its principal feature seemed to be that of an excessive antiquity. The discoloration of ages  had been great. Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled web-work from the eaves. Yet all this was apart from any extraordinary dilapidation. No portion of the masonry had fallen; and there appeared to be a wild inconsistency between its still perfect adaptation of parts, and the crumbling condition of the individual stones. In this there was much that reminded me of the specious totality of old wood-work which has rotted for long years in some neglected vault, with no disturbance from the breath of the external air. Beyond this indication of extensive decay, however, the fabric gave little token of instability. Perhaps the eye of the scrutinizing observer might have discovered a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn." So much detail in such a little paragraph, to me this is one of the best descriptions of a haunted house you can find. I mean there is more in the story but this leads you into the story and to how "haunted" the house looks. Love it!








Traditional ghost story with a twist, usually its a family that gets a home thats haunted and the family moves out because they do NOT want the ghost to be there. This couple actually is looking for a house WITH a ghost! Wicked sweet! This is a psychological ghost story, its made to give you things to think about, where as the ones now are not.


update: was not in class for discussion for this blog set, was in Texas.

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To me there are numerous emotions in this poem, it starts out somber, with just a tapping and it works up to curiosity of who could be knocking, then it goes to into marvelling at the creature that came in through the window and who sits there, to accusations, saying the bird is the devil, such an array of emotions and so wonderfully put. Only Poe can do that.







Annabel Lee is a true love story, from start to finish, from life to death. It goes to show that no matter what others may say, the love of ones heart is what will direct and keep them. There was no going astray from Annabel Lee, she was in his heart forever. Such smooth lines and graceful words, just like that of a beautiful lady whom he had fell in love with.




UPDATE:

Got to meet the author of "The Culling" and pick his brain, I think it was way cool to meet an author, as this was my first, felt like a little kid getting that special christmas gift! After the question answer session, there was a better understanding on how he came up with the idea for the book and the characters of the book. I am a picky reader and not much grabs my attention, but his book did, and I can't wait to get the second and third book!

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"Ever After" was a great redo of Cinderella, with a slight twist on it. The Brothers Grimm, have a wonderful way of making a childs fairy tale one to remember. They were the inspiration for the book "Cloaked", which was very well written!! Cinderella is a fairy tale written about a childs fear of losing a parent and having to live without them, and the challenges that they will have to face alone in the world. As in "Hansel and Gretel" where their parents abandon them in the forest, it is a childs worst nightmare to have no parent to turn to for guidance.






"Lord of the Rings" series is off the chain! Had to get that off my chest....The three functions of a fairy tale...recovery- the shire is a small town full of giving people, well Hobbits, but it shows what we once knew back in the renaissance era, everyone knew they had to have each others help, there was no gang wars, there was no senseless killings, just harmony and cooperation from one another...escapism- the film gives everyone a brief view of what one persons fantasy world is, knights, dragons, mammoths, elves, dwarves and the like, its nice to have a fantasy world that you can go to, it helps keep the imagination alive, and the possiblity of dreams, so that you are not constantly facing the fears of the real world....consolation- elements of the film that made me feel joy, to see all the races getting along, to know that once upon a time out there people did get along no matter what the color of their skin or the race of their origin, and to wipe out the evil in the world, to bring world peace so to say, makes one think it may be possible....

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Wow! This story had me all types of upside down and sideways. There is no "love story" here, to me its just some guys twisted thinking that he/she decided to put on paper. None of what he/she put in that story made any type of sense. How can you be a boy but not a boy but a girl....and how can you be a man but not a man?! Then this whole business of the marriage thing....girl/boy/it shoots out of a tube and lands in your arms and all of a sudden you are in heaven and need to marry this being, and this being says"Wednesday" and you go about your day like nothing ever happened...WHAT! That is some craziness there, I know I have heard and I know all to well about love at first sight but thats taking it a little extreme, even with love at first sight you still wait a few days of getting to really know one another before you offer marriage. Craziness is what this story is.

1. Parthenogenesis is a type of asexual reproduction in which the offspring develops from unfertilized eggs. It is particularly common amongst arthropods and rotifers, can also be found in some species of fish, amphibians, birds, and reptiles, but not in mammals, which means in our species a male is needed in order to reproduce. Unless these women are not mammals, which the author really doesn't state, then yes they would need the men that show up to keep their kind alive. But according to them, they had found a way to reproduce without men, so in their society they may not need men to keep themselves going.