RAN'S BLOG FOR LITERATURE OF HORROR, FANTASY, AND SCI-FI

    This week, we are focusing on the fantasy story. The epic tale of Harry Potter is certainly the well-known example of this type of story for most young people today. I watched the movie when I was little, and read the books recently. For this post, I want to talk some difference between the movies and books   Personally speaking, the Harry Potter books are much better than the movies. There are some concepts and details that I think are pretty constructive and meaningful, but the final released movies cut them out. For example, the plot that Hermione built the SPEW (Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare) in order to protect the legal rights of elves. I believe this is not sensible for the director to cut it out. I assume that JK Rowling intended to convey that there is a group of people's basic rights in the society needs to be protected, and the elf is the symbol of that group of people. What Hermione did is an appeal to people to concern this issue. Also, one of

        I read the Black Maria this week. It was written by Diana Wynne Jones and published on 1991. The story is mostly about a collection of weird things when Mig, her brother Chris and her Mom was visiting aunt Maria.   Although I haven't finished the book yet, I would say I like it. The language is kind of simple and straightforward compared to other horror fantasy literature, being an English learner, it is acceptable for me and I can understand the plot very quickly. It seems like the main readers are supposed to be children. The writer reminds me J.K Rowling. They both wrote children literature about fantasy,. In fact, J. K Rowling got inspiration from Diana.    I like the story, it pulled me back in my childhood when I was reading the little girl Mig's adventure.

    We were focusing on new weird this week. I chose to read the Three Moments of an Explosion which was written by China Mieville. Three Moments of an Explosion is one of a collection of twenty-eight short stories in the book.   This short story was published in 2015, which is pretty new. I kind of can see what is the mainstream of horror recently. The Three Moments of an Explosion spent most of part on depicting the scene and characters' inner world, instead of narration. Let's compare this to Frankenstein. In Frankenstein, the writer concentrated on present background and story. However, in Three Moments of an Explosion, there is no specific story, it just focuses on depicting the scene include some details.    Personally speaking, I don't like this style, it made the story boring somehow. What I expect a horror story should have is its narration. I believe narration is an important means of expression of the literary works of narration.

    This week, we are focusing on Asian horror. I read  A Wild Sheep Chase written by Haruki Murakami. The book is part mystery and part magical realism with a postmodern twist. I did some research when I was reading it, and learned about that this book is one of the trilogies of Rat, who is the narrator of the story. I would say this is not a horror story, but the adventure of Rat and the metaphor in this book impressed me.   The story is based on the narrator whose name is Rat. He is contacted by a Boss' secretary, he told Rat that a strange sheep with a star-shaped birthmark, pictured in the advertisement, was in some way the secret source of the Boss' power and that he has two months to find that sheep or his career and life will be ruined. Rat and his girlfriend, who has charming ears, traveled to the north of Japan to find that sheep. He finally encountered figures from his own past, unusual characters, and those who have encountered the sheep before.   The story