Archive for the ‘READING’ Category
May 30, 2008 – 12:28 am
As I wait for the next episode of Macross Frontier and the next chapter of Windows of the Soul, I settled to reading Lestaki’s previous fic Astraea Lake. It’s a Strawberry Panic fic of massive proportions featuring our favourite evil lesbian duo would-be rapists, Kaname and Momomi.
Now, although I watched this series, and believe I did watch it to the end because I still bear the scars from frantically trying to claw my eyes out during that unintentionally traumatic Amane/Hikari hawt secks scene in the barn, I honestly don’t remember much except that Miyuki was awesome and deserved better, and Chikaru was awesome and probably some IQ 500 alien disguised as an innocent cute girl.
Oh, I also vaguely remember these two evil lesbian schoolgirls plotting to.. um.. plotting something, in between vaguely disturbing scenes of making out and bathing together - vaguely disturbing because the two most irredeemably despicable characters in the show were shown to have the most functional and normal relationship of the lot. That’s Strawberry Panic for you, I guess.
Now, Astraea Lake is just over 410,000 words of getting inside the head of Kaname and Momomi, our favourite evil lesbian duo of the conniving, plotting, dirty no-holds-barred variety. And while it is as dense and slow-moving as treacle, it is actually a highly addictive, fascinating read. One of the few fics in which OCs positioned nigh-perfectly - interesting enough that you would never skip any scenes in which they appear, but not so center-stage that you lose sight of the main plot. The story tells of Kaname and Momomi’s beginnings as friends in their second year and develops both their characters and relationships, plus shedding light on Amane (whom the author seems dislike as much as I do). It was a surprising delight, because in the TV series Kaname and Momomi just kinda struck me as rather creepy, and at the end of this fic I was sorry to part ways with their marvelously atypical lives.
So, if you have time to kill before the next episode of whatever it is you are watching, go and read this fic.
Posted in ANIME, Fanfiction, Strawberry Panic | 2 Comments »
May 7, 2008 – 1:48 pm
When I updated WordPress, I also installed the stats plugin. After a couple weeks it’s interesting to see that my most-read posts are about Mai-Hime, specifically Shizuru and Natsuki. I guess it’s not surprising, since Mai-Hime was in and of itself a highly popular show, and Shizuru and Natsuki garner much attention from the fanbase. That said, I am glad that others find this as fascinating a couple as I did.
When I finished Mai-Hime I was most unhappy with the happy-go-lucky, no-consequences ending portrayed. It was just too pat, because a whole lot of shit happened between Shizuru and Natsuki that doesn’t just go away because you killed each other out of love then came back to defeat the bad guy.
But I left it at that, because well after all is said and done it’s just a Sunrise TV series.
Then the other day, I came across a fanfic. This was a ShizNat fanfic, but it dared to go where no other fanfic writer had gone, and that was to write the aftermath of the Carnival for Shizuru and Natsuki. Shizuru’s guilt and fear and tenuous sanity. Natsuki’s courage and trauma and confusion. And how these two could ever, ever hope to bridge the gap in trust and friendship left by Shizuru’s horrendous betrayal and hideous crime of murder.
This fic is called Windows of the Soul and it is on FanFiction.Net. Read it, please. It is an amazingly good story. It’s still incomplete, but the author updates quickly in and volume, such that in 4 months we have over 310,000 words describing in detail, from Natsuki and Shizuru’s POV, what it could have been like to hold on to your most important person.
After Mai-Hime ended, I wanted, more than anything else, a realistic portrayal of Shizuru and Natsuki. So I am amazed and extremely happy to discover that sometimes we do get what we wish for ;)
Posted in ANIME, Fanfiction, Mai-HiME | No Comments »
January 14, 2005 – 2:17 pm
Roger Zelazny is probably my favourite author. A mix of fantasy and science fiction, his style and breadth of imagination has produced works which range from the Hugo Award-winning “Lord of Light” to the swashbuckling “Amber” series to really obscure stuff even I can’t figure out. When I heard that he had passed away (in 1995), it felt as if a hammer had fallen on my chest; the world would never see more of the wondrous images conjured up in his mind.
I came to know Roger Zelazny through the Amber novels, completely by accident. I must have been around 12, and wandering into a bookshop in Bangkok I saw these books with cool covers - the Sphere editions of the first five Amber novels. I bought them on a whim, read them, loved them, and thus began my affair with one of science fiction’s most imaginative authors.
What I like most about Roger Zelazny is his writing style - simple yet sophisticated, with vivid imagery brought to life in poetic nuance. At the same time, his themes which frequently portrayed characters who were greater than human, perhaps with the powers of gods or magic, resonate with my own interests as well.
Understand that his works, while skirting the realm of popular fiction at times, are far from pulpy. The Amber novels are easily accessible, but even then you are confronted by a whole new universe that challenges your ability to grasp (what was then) unprecedented ideas on the nature of reality. “Lord of Light”, my favourite full length novel, recreates a world and a people so alien, yet still human, that it takes several readings just to understand the setting. If you do put in the effort, though, the reward is a superbly crafted tale of the triumph of one man to rediscover himself.
Of his short stories, I like the compilations “The Last Defender of Camelot” and “Frost and Fire” the most, and within those “The Last Defender of Camelot” and “For a Breath I Tarry” are the stories I love. Perhaps what makes Roger Zelazny’s writing so appealing to me is his knack for portraying, in elegant, straightforward terms, the battle of good against (sometimes not-so-straightforward) evil, and the triumph of people more than human against the whole weight of worlds, or time - the ultimate story of those who overcome incredible odds to find human happiness.
I think, in the end, many of us long to be more than human and to experience far more than any person ever could, but what we really wish for is to touch and feel love, fulfilment and companion - those things that come only from being as human as we can be.
Goodbye Roger, I will always miss you dearly.
Posted in READING, Science Fiction | No Comments »
January 12, 2005 – 3:12 pm
I love reading. Before anime, there was something called a book, and in books, there were words which created new worlds and characters and stories. My favourite genre is science fiction, although as a child I read just about anything that I could get my hands on or showed up in our house, from Enid Blyton to the science of carbon-dating. Unfortunately, I never read the classics! So that’s a huge hole in my education. Nowadays, I like magazines, such as the Economist or Far Eastern Economic Review. Yeah, call me boring. I also read a ton of fanfiction, and I’m always searching for a new good sci-fi author.
I like a good writing style, imaginative worlds, sometimes good ol’ military SF, and I have a special penchant for superhuman kick-ass characters who aren’t cheapo knockoffs. These do not necessarily have to mix; in fact, it’s better if they stay separate.
When I read fanfiction, I tend to read based on couplings of my favourite characters. However, there are certain stories which bowl me over in their sheer magnitude and ambition. These I consider the unsung treasures of fiction, not an ounce less worthy than the bestsellers in the bookstore.
I think the Internet is the best thing that ever happened for a reader. There is suddenly a huge world of material available, where previously it required one to leap buildings and outrun trains to publish anything; now it’s freely posted and freely read. All you have to do is find it, and in a way that is part of the pleasure too, to find those hidden gems amidst all the crap. For someone with eclectic tastes like me, the Internet is heaven sent.
The most amazing thing is that whenever I think I’ve run out of stuff to read, that I’ve gone through it all and there’s no more, something new jumps out. Sure, it’s sad when your favourite authors stop writing and even worse when they do so in the middle of a story you’ve been following for years. But there are always going to be new ones, working on new material. I can’t believe how good some of this stuff is. And you know that it just gets better.
Posted in READING | No Comments »
