{essay} ♛ emperor mollusk versus the sinister brain

>>>>RANDOM MUSINGS
i must confess, i honestly don't remember when i first became interested in fantasy. i mean, fairy tales and folklore had always interested me, but fantasy novels were something that i don't remember picking up and reading. regarding science fiction however, i remember well. the book was stadium beyond the stars [or least i think that's the title of the book]. in the book, humanity had colonized other planets in other solar systems, leaving earth as a wasted planet. though humans had lived in space for so long, they had yet to make first contact. the main character travels to the equivalent of the olympic games as a participant and gets pulled into a mystery/conspiracy. in the end, he sort of makes first contact. it was a great story and for some reason, though the main plot of the story and other odds and other little things have escaped my memory, i do have a warm spot in my heart for it.

nevertheless, i never thought that the genre of science fiction and fantasy would become one of my favorites. i submerged myself head first into the fantasy genre around the time when the lord of the rings movies came out. no, i didn't get sucked into reading the series that way [in fact, i have yet to read the novels]. instead, i started reading the works of david eddings [and his wife leigh eddings]. before long, a couple of trips a week to the library would find me in the fantasy section reading almost anything that caught my sight.

one thing i found extremely annoying was the fact that the science fiction books were interspersed among the fantasy books. what's worse, the section was titled SF [a popular abbreviation for speculative fiction]. personally i called it science fantasy, but i was still peeved that the two sections were joined together along with a variety of other books. i mean if they go to such great lengths to separate the comic books from the rest of the fiction books, why couldn't they separate the fantasy and science fiction into separate sections?

but over time, i learned to ignore this peeve of mine and get on with my life.

now 5 years or so later as i try my own hand in writing, i've come to realize that science fiction and fantasy do in some cases overlap. take for instance anne mccaffrey. her stories feature a world in which humans travel to and inhabit. as time goes on, they settle into a sort of medieval lifestyle that is commonly prevalent in high fantasy/epic fantasy.

so... perhaps there are some elements of fantasy in the science fiction novel emperor mollusk versus the sinister brain.

{book review} ♛ emperor mollusk versus the sinister brain

{note about the cover : the majority of the books online have the tagline "he came, he squirmed, he conquered";
however, the book i read had the tagline "with great power comes great hilarity"}

Title: Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain
Series: none
Author: A. Lee Martinez
Publisher: Orbit Books
ISBN: 978-0-316-09352-1
Genre: Science Fiction / Parody
Format: hardcover
Pages: 304
from march 2012
Rating: *****

>>>> THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE READING
this is a story that is science fiction. however, if you assume that it will feature fiction doused with science, be warned. the story takes place in an alternate version of our solar system; in fact, there is very little of the story rooted in science as we know it. be prepared to find the planets of the solar system inhabited by other creatures and the world we know as "earth" referred to as "terra". even earth's history is changed; in this story, not only have aliens attempted to conquer earth, but so have the mole people. so have an open mind and hilarity will ensue.

>>>> THIS BOOK CONTAINS
space wars, a clone, a mollusk who is also a former Emperor, alternate solar system, Venusians (creatures from Venus), Saturnites (creatures from Saturn), exo suits, flying saucers, assassins, an ultrapede named Snarg, Atlantis, mind-altering drugs, a jelligantic, suing, the Bermuda Triangle, Dinosaur Island, radioactive dinosaurs and pterosaurs, a volcano, reptilian primates, a "man" raised by wild animals, a talking computer, gigantic mutant insects, space-time, an evil brain, robots, an inside man, Paris, the Eiffel Tower, a secret assassin society, poisons, a gas bomb, mass extinction, a new species of evolved life, a secret nation, a not-so-evil plant monster, alchemy, a fountain of eternal life, scorpions, contented slaves, a butler, parades, celebration fatigue, a radioactive brain, a secret city of peace and tranquility, a council of evil brains, a doomsday device, seeing into the future, radioactivity, and a happy ending

{book review} ⚜ the willoughbys

Title: The Willoughbys
Series: none
Author: Lois Lowry Illustrator: Lois Lowry
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
ISBN-13: 978-0-618-97974-5
Genre: Fiction / Parody
Format: hardcover
Pages: 176
from 2008
Rating: *****

>>>> THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE READING
this book does contain parents who are trying to get rid of their children and children who are trying to get rid of their parents. some of their wishing might seem a bit evil... okay, it is evil... also realize that though the book is very humorous, the humor is a bit on the dark side, especially in the beginning.

>>>> THIS BOOK CONTAINS
four children, two uncaring parents, a very bossy older brother, a small feminist {who doesn't know she is a feminist}, a pair of twins, only one sweater, people with the same name, plots based on books, children who want to be orphans, an actual orphan, a nanny, a lonely millionaire {who turns out to be a billionaire}, an over-extended and life-threatening vacation, a very dirty mansion, a lost wife and son, a bachelor postmaster, a partially made-up language, a house on sale, a wedding, very strange and lucky {or maybe unlucky depending on your view} tourists, a step-father, overly tidy tendencies {possibly a bad case of ocd}, a walking tour, house-less children, a candy maker, the making of candy, the many secret and things people don't realize about souffles and their making, a candy-making lab, cats, a large, tall pile of unopened letters, a candy named after a baby, a very bad word {riddance}, a long-lost child, and a glossary.