Sentence and paragraph length affect how we read and perceive the content.
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A.T. Gomes Posts
Themes, deeper meanings, and literary and cultural references enrich readers’ experiences, but they can get lost in translation if the reader didn’t grow up with those traditions. Or, they can turn into a fun treasure hunt that keeps on giving. Themes are the underlying inspiration behind a writer’s work. They are the big concepts one might be exploring, the thing at the back of a writer’s mind as they create characters and develop a story. Sometimes, even for the writer,…
Leave a CommentI attended a fantastic panel during Chicon8 about Belief and Religion in science fiction and fantasy. I appreciated the distinction between belief and religion. In my opinion, religion, faith, and spirituality, which is different from spiritualism, are all part of a theme that can greatly enrich science fiction and fantasy works. This theme encompasses our need as humans to feel like we’re not only part of this universe we’ve been born into, but that, in the big scheme of things,…
Leave a CommentMonday, September 5th 2022 I attended the virtual option of Chicon8. My mom arrives in three weeks for a three month stay. I didn’t want to risk getting sick prior to her arrival. One would think staying at home and only going out for basic necessities, like groceries, would suffice. Nah. I’ve got Covid. It started over the weekend. I was way too tired and had to take long breaks after each panel I managed to watch. But as the…
Leave a CommentI’m a fan of Mystery Fiction. I enjoy reading classics of the genre as well as contemporary works. I’m particularly thrilled when I find a science fiction novel with a murder mystery plot. Here are some books I believe fit this description: The Demolished Man – Alfred Bester, 1952 The caves of Steel – Isaac Asimov, 1954 The Naked Sun – Isaac Asimov, 1957 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep – Philip K. Dick, 1968 The Robots of Dawn –…
Leave a CommentComing up on July/19th Wake of War is a near future, military sci-if that places the reader smack in the middle of the action. The political struggles that led to the conflict depicted in the book aren’t front and center, the personal struggles of those fighting on both sides are. The setting feels dystopian. The military jargon is pervasive and precise, adding to the realistic feel of the book. The third person POV is well developed for all three narrators.…
Leave a CommentInfluences of different mystery fiction periods and sub-genres on The Caves of Steel and the other two works in Asimov’s science and mystery fiction mash-up trilogy. If you haven’t read The Caves of Steel yet, beware. Even though I tried to avoid it, this article may contain spoilers. An edition of The Caves of Steel was published by Bantam Spectra Books in 1991. In its introduction, called The Story Behind The Robot Novels, Isaac Asimov talks about the conversation that…
Leave a CommentJosé Saramago writes with intent. Nothing is laid on the page that doesn’t have a purpose and a meaning, being it social or political. He’s a critic of the way we live, interact, communicate, love, work, make decisions, and die. He doesn’t come across as judgmental though; his distinctive narrative voice has the gift of self-deprecating, ironic humor. He is part of the “we” and he wears his humanity bare on the pages of his books. It wouldn’t be otherwise…
2 CommentsAstounding Science Fiction’s editor, John W. Campbell, once said that mystery and science fiction were incompatible genres. He stated that science fiction writers could invent convenient facts and technologies in an imaginary future to circumvent the deductive process. Hal Clement’s Needle (1950), Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man (1952), and Isaac Asimov’s The Caves of Steel (1953), among other early works, demonstrate that science and mystery fiction mash-ups are not only possible, they’re amazing. Bester’s futuristic police procedural won the very…
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It’s been a life long passion since I read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy. In Brazil, so far from where it was written by the brilliant Douglas Adams, that novel reached a fifteen year old girl with its expansive outer-world invention and witty writing. Above all, it showed me possibilities I didn’t know existed. I grew up under Brazilian military control where criticizing the government meant a one way ticket to jail, torture, and an unmarked grave. Douglas’s political…
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