Lit. of Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction

The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy underlines a lot of present day issues, especially to do with politics, but hides them with comedic effect or the futuristic world. In the beginning of the story Dent wakes up to bulldozers outside his house ready to tear it down. Dent lies down in front of the bulldozers to ward them off. Dent’s situation is one that some have found themselves in. That one, out of the blue, it’s decided that the government wants to build a bypass and that must vacate immediately. Or that Dents actions of lying in front of the bulldozer is a similar action that protesters have used before. The beginning also shows how both the construction worker and Prosser turn the situation to their benefit. Prosser’s arguments always lead to how the tearing down of Dent’s house will be good for everyone, but who is really benefiting from this situation, the construction workers and Prosser. Prosser is more worried about his own situation than Dents. The phrase

Within the universe of Anubis gates it almost seems like anything is possible. You have gates that allow you to travel through time. You have ancient magicians who are trying to bring back their ancient gods. Anubis gates even has a werewolf that has the ability to body swap. The possibilities are endless within this reality, but not all of these possibilities are good. The main character Brendan Doyle, story begins when millionaire J. Cochran Darrow hires him to give and attend a lecture in the 19 th century. Darrow discovered the set of holes created by worshipers of Anubis in the space-time and learned how to use them. It is on this trip where Doyle is kidnapped and separated from his group, ultimately getting stuck in that era. It is during his escape that he meets a beggar Jacky who is actually a woman in disguise, Jacqueline Tichy. Who traveled to the 19 th century to get revenge for her fiancé, who was murdered for his body. A body-swapping werewolf, Dog

While little big contains magic and fairies the story isn’t really about them, but about the humans and the their lives. The novel portrays fairies unlike the way Disney does, with childish wonder, but as another race that evolved alongside the humans in another realm allowing humans to only catch a glimpse. Even the characters hardly mention fairies unless they are apart of the Drinkwater family. The use of magic is ordinary within the Drinkwater house, regularly consulting an incomplete set of tarot cards to find out mundane matters, such as, the weather. The author uses the genre fantasy elements within his story, mentioning the supernatural elements, but the main plot isn’t about the supernatural elements of this world but of the characters within the world. When smoky is traveling to the Edgewood house the main focus is about smoky and his life and not the surroundings. Smoky vaguely describes where he is and refrains from naming any of the towns he’s in.

During an interstellar war between Alliance and Invader, the Invader side developed what Alliance thought was a code, but was actually a language called Babel-17. When Babel-17 is revealed to be a language not a code the debate that language falls under art and not science is explored. While a code can be deciphered a language has to be understood. Voices and context become important. While trying to understand the structure of Babel-17 Rydra Wong explains how the language scares her leading to the idea that words can be dangerous. The novel primarily focuses on the mysterious language Babel-17. Babel-17 is a language that doesn’t have the words you, I or mine. The novel explores the concept of how languages affect the way people think and act. And how language can be as deadly as any weapon depending on the wielder. This concept is explored more when it is reviled that by learning to speak and think in Babel-17 the interpreter’s mind gets a reset and loses all p