Kathleen Sweet

May 3^rd, 2006

Annotated Bibliography

Science fiction and fantasy

Monsters: Taking Another Look

There are those who are concerned about the impact of fantasy and the lack of depth in characters or themes. Fantasy however, had its beginnings as myth and legend. These myths described genuine fears of people who were trying to understand and explain the world around them while simply trying to survive. Even though we have learned much about our world and has largely moved out of the time where survival is a daily concern, few new fears have replaced the old ones. A beast, instead of being a true animal that we must fight to survive, may represent our current fears about bullies, death, destruction, or war. A dragon, though larger than life, can somehow seem less daunting and more easily overcome than our own hardships because, as G. K. Chesterton once wrote, �Fairy tales are more than true -not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.�

There may be some fantasy books that lack depth, but many take an insightful unusual viewpoint of the world. Dragonflight and Wicked both contain worlds with very complex and layered social and political rules that deeply affect the lives of the characters. The emotional reality of character need not be overlooked. Even retellings of fairytales can explore what it means to be evil, what means to be human, and what it means to sometimes be both.

McCaffrey, Anne Dragonflight. Del Rey, May 12, 1986.

Every 200 turns the planet of Pern experiences a 50 year period in which it is ravaged by a devastating force known as the Thread, a deadly spore which falls from the sky and destroys everything it touches. Protecting the planet are bands of dragonriders who, with the help of their dragons are able to burn the Thread from the sky. The Thread hasn�t fallen in some time, far longer than 200 turns, and people have become complacent. They think the threat is finally over and are beginning to believe the Thread is nothing more than a myth. One dragonrider and Weyrleader believes that the Thread is coming and will fall worse than ever but the dragons are dwindling in numbers. In order to protect his world, he will need the help of a strong but undisciplined woman named Lessa who, along with her dragon, is the key to saving Pern.

�The man who fights too long against dragons becomes a dragon himself.�

Friedrich Nietzsche

Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

(Information taken from Amazon.com)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is still one of the best tales ever written about the divided self. Mr. Utterson is a lawyer who has a client and friend named Dr. Jekyll. Through a string of events involving a murder, a trampled child, and Utterson's encounter with an 'evil' man named Hyde, Mr. Utterson becomes involved very much in his client and friend, Dr. Jekyll's, life.

Napoli, Donna Jo. Beast

Told strictly from the beast�s perspective, this retelling of the classic fairytale reveals a depth of character and compassion not typically seen. A cursed Prince Orasmyn has been transformed into a lion and can only be restored by the love of a woman. Hunted by men and shunned by lions, the young prince struggles to maintain his humanity and refuses to become a beast even while learning how to survive as one. The Prince travels to France and with his paws, plants the roses he has always loved and prepares the castle for the woman he hopes will one day love him.

�The road to hell is paved with good intentions� � 16^th century proverb

Napoli, Donna Jo. The Magic Circle

This retelling of the traditional tale of Hansel and Gretel is told from the witch�s point of view. The witch, Ugly One, is depicted as a tragic and lonely figure who works as a midwife in an effort to Support her daughter Asia. Though she is a pious woman who does everything in her power to avoid evil, she is pushed to the outskirts of civilization because of superstition and societal norms. After a string of unfortunate events, bad advice, and one big mistake, Ugly One is swept up in an evil that she continues to resist. In an exile that�s partially self-imposed, she manages to withstand her darker urges until a pair of children wander into her woods.

Maguire, Gregory. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked With of the West. Regan Books,

November 6, 1996. (Information taken from Amazon.com)

It�s not easy being green for Elphaba, better known as the Wicked Witch of the West. Elphaba is an outspoken, thoughtful, yet insecure young witch attending school in a time of political and social unrest. She fights for the rights and freedom of the oppressed Animals, a group of sentient animals with the ability to speak. Reflecting on the nature of good and evil, this Wicked Witch is initially the moral compass of the book who struggles against the crushing regime of the demented Wizard of Oz. The book tells you how the events we know of OZ began, and how a person can be pushed into becoming wicked.

Vigui�, Debbie. Scarlet Moon. Simon Pulse, April 6, 2004

Ruth is the daughter of a blacksmith and the granddaughter of a woman who is believed to be a witch. Her grandmother was banished to the forest for the evil she practiced but Ruth visits her often, bringing supplies. Since her brother left to fight in the Crusades, Ruth has been working in her father�s smithy; it is here that she meets William. William is a strange young noble with a hot temper and a family secret. Their lives are linked, and have been from the beginning.

Gaiman, Neil; Pratchett, Terry. Good Omens. Ace, May 1, 1996

(Information taken from Amazon.com)

The Apocalypse is coming. Soon. Luckily, Heaven and Hell have left the business with the Anti-Christ in the hands of Crowley and Aziraphale, demon and angel respectively. Like top agents everywhere, they've long had more in common with each other than the sides they represent or the conflict they are nominally engaged in, and pretty much decided they really like humanity a lot more than their either of their bosses. Now they have misplaced the Anti-Christ. The only person who knows how it will all end is Agnes Nutter, a witch whose prophecies all come true, if one can only manage to decipher them.

E M Forster. The Machine Stops: And Other Stories. Andre Deutsch, July 1997

In the short story The Machine Stops, E.M. Forster creates a society where individuality is something that must be stomped out, and conformity and group acceptance as an ideal. Vashti is a woman that lives in a machine where all here needs are taken care of. She and the other citizens within the machine live in isolation, even from each other. Their reliance on the machine is total. When systems begin to fail, Vashti believes that things will be fixed just as they always have been. This blind faith and isolationist mindset prove fatal when the walls (both physical and social) begin to fall.

Eye of the Beholder Twilight Zone. Serling, Rod, Douglas, Heyes. 11 November, 1960

A young woman named Janet Tyler is undergoing corrective surgery in order to repair a birth defect. This is her eleventh state-sponsored surgery and her last chance to have any kind of normal life. The operation is a failure. She remains so disfigured that she can not be allowed to interact with �normal� members of society and is sent away to live with others of her kind. Through her attempts to escape, Janet gives us a view of just what kind of world she lives in. As she is being taken away she begins to wonder what beauty really is.

�Until lions have their historians, the tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter�

�African proverb

Quammen, David. Monster of God: The Man-Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the

Mind; W.W. Norton and Company, 2003

Nature essayist David Quammen talks about the balance of nature and focuses on the very real subject of humans as prey when surrounded by other alpha predators. The essays in this book cover a range of topics from political history, geography, biology and ecology, to psychology, and art. Quammen traverses the globe, giving a cultural and historical context to many of the myths and legends that arose specifically because of the presence of the large predators that inhabited that region.