Author of sci-fi/fantasy, horror and adventure/thriller fiction

THE SLEEP EXPERIMENT by Jeremy Bates

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THE SLEEP EXPERIMENT by Jeremy Bates provides a sensationalistic retelling of the notorious urban legend about the Sleep Experiment in the Soviet Union, in which political prisoners were offered their freedom if they stayed awake for fourteen days, only to revert to murder, mutilation, and madness. The book is fun if a bit (intentionally) over the top.

In Bates’s story, Dr. Roy Wallis, a wealthy playboy psychology professor at UC Berkeley, sets out to recreate the experiment on two test subjects, aided by two assistants. The experiment becomes a nightmare nobody could have imagined–beyond Wallis himself, who has an ulterior research goal he wants to prove.

What I liked: The characterizations are strong across the board, from Wallis to his two assistants to the Australian backpackers who signed up to take part in the experiment. Bates does a great job balancing fascinating exposition about the still poorly understood phenomenon of sleep with thriller/horror elements and titillating sexual chemistry between some of the players. When things go wrong, the horror element achieves a satisfying if conventional gross out. Overall, the novel promises a sensational and titillating story about a sleep experiment, and you get it.

What didn’t quite work for me: Wallis’s characterization pivots as the plot requires, resulting in a forced quality as the tension builds, with plenty of scenes about problems that could have been easily avoided (which also included his congested love life). For me, the climax reaches for a good gross out and offers a decent twist reveal, but I wish it had been a little more startling. Overall, Bates made good choices to advance the story and bring it home, but as I’m so familiar with the original urban legend, I think I was expecting something more surprising.

Overall, this book was a lot of fun. THE SLEEP EXPERIMENT is surprisingly smart, a simple mad scientist story told in a titillating package.

LEVIATHAN WAKES by James S.A. Corey

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I love the TV series THE EXPANSE but hadn’t read the books by James SA Corey (the pen name for writing team Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), which are pretty hefty space opera tomes. I finally gave the first a try and wow! It’s one of those rare cases where I absolutely loved the adaptation but ended up loving the book far more. The book LEVIATHAN WAKES, adapted as the show’s first season, is similar but different enough to offer an entirely new experience.

If you’re not familiar with the books or the show, the series is set in a future where humanity has colonized the solar system, resulting in three distinct cultures and power blocs: Earth, Mars, and the Outer Planets Alliance. Jim Holden, XO of an ice miner on a run from Saturn’s rings to the asteroid belt, responds with a small shuttle crew to an SOS signal from a derelict spacecraft. This sets in motion Holden and his crew’s pursuit of a conspiracy involving alien life. The key to everything, meanwhile, may be a girl that a detective on Ceres is tracking as a missing person.

The writing here is almost perfect, like reading George R.R. Martin without any sag in the pacing. The world building is particularly impressive, delivering a lived-in sci-fi universe that places familiar human nature out into the cosmos. This universe, however, blends perfectly with the storytelling, presenting problems without getting in the way or slowing the story down with info dumps.

Then there’s the characterizations and dialogue, which are fantastic. Every character is distinctive and likeable, which is essential for an ensemble space opera, and their dialogue is as pitch perfect as anything you’d find in GAME OF THRONES.

Okay, this isn’t so much a review as a love letter, but I’m just giving credit where it’s due. Now on to the second book.

COSMOS (2019)

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In COSMOS (2019), three astronomers are amazed when the newest member of their team catches radio signals of a potentially alien origin. This film of first contact was surprisingly fun if severely clunky due to its limitations.

A first feature made without any budget, COSMOS pulls off its intention with a simple, bare bones setup, a lot of heart, and some heavy borrowing from Stephen Spielberg’s directorial style. The film begins with two scientists and an engineer driving to a remote location in the woods, where they can view the heavens. Each has a different project he’s working on either personally or as a job. There’s some friction between the three, as two of them had a previous falling out, and the third is a newcomer to the group.

All night, they sit in a car manning their equipment, which honestly for us nerds out here is fun to watch, and then Mike, the new guy, catches a seemingly impossible radio signal. On a lark, he radios back, and then, again impossibly, gets a response in a short time. Suddenly, the three men realize they might actually be looking at a first contact possibility. With numerous ups and downs, they work out their issues and work together to capture this history-making communication.

There’s a lot to like here: the likeable characters (particularly Mike and the actor playing him, who does a lot of the heavy lifting), the nerdy astronomy equipment, the realistic process of trying to figure out what they’re listening to and what it means. The film has some first-film issues, though. The first contact is fun but not as exciting as in, say, the film CONTACT, which admittedly set a pretty high bar for this sort of thing; the men are so slow to realize what they’re dealing with that while very realistic, it drains some of the catharsis out of it. Another issue is the resolution of the interpersonal conflicts, which is delivered with dialog that is overly emotionally precise, a lot of exposition, and heavy-handed music and camera shots borrowed from Spielberg. The last issue is the climax is built on a long string of ridiculous things going wrong.

These things kept me from loving it, but I liked it a ton for what it is, which is a simple, realistic take on how first contact might be achieved.

RAISED BY WOLVES

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In the sci-fi series RAISED BY WOLVES (HBO), two androids are sent to a wild planet to start a new civilization after religious wars turn Earth into a dying planet. I loved this one, though it could have been shorter, and it ends on a PROMETHEUS-style note that left me a little wanting.

The series focuses on two androids who are raising a small colony of human children. Their creators’ goal is to restart human civilization without religion, as it was religious war–between atheists and followers of Mithraism–that destroyed Earth. Mother is a necromancer, a war machine the Mithraists built from their ancient texts but don’t fully understand, reprogrammed by an atheist scientist to be a caregiver. Father is a service robot. Together, they work to raise the children, though they have conflicting parenting styles and are learning that humans are difficult, most of all difficult to control. When a Mithraist ark spaceship appears in orbit, they face the potential challenge that the old divisions will follow them to this new world.

At first, I wasn’t sure about it, as the androids are initially stiff and the costume and tech designs fairly generic. Then it grew on me, and it grew on me some more until I was utterly plugged in. Ridley Scott directed the first two episodes, setting the tone for the look, feel, and pacing, and it works. The acting is terrific, particularly the androids and some of the Mithraists, particularly Travis Fimmel (best known before this for his role in THE VIKINGS). The necromancer is utterly badass when in war mode, making for some of the most exciting scenes in the show. I enjoyed the religious conflict element and the various conflicts related to parenting. Overall, I greatly enjoyed how immersive and engaging it was based on multiple strengths.

I had some issues with it, though. The pacing drags at times, as the primary conflict plays itself out and then regenerates to try again. The main characters appear unkillable. There’s so much human drama going on it makes you think the human race will die on this planet in about two years. There’s a “god” like element, something messing with everybody’s head, that goes unexplained. The biggest sour note for me, however, was the ending, where little is resolved, way too much is dumped into the second season, and there seems to be a giant nod to Scott’s PROMETHEUS franchise–which I decidedly did not enjoy at all and eventually gave up on.

So yeah, I had some issues with the show, particularly the unsatisfying PROMETHEUS-style ending, but overall, I have to say I loved it for its overall quality, heavy immersion, and engaging characters.

THE RULES OF THE ROAD by C.B. Jones

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THE RULES OF THE ROAD by C.B. Jones invents an engaging urban legend and then brings it to life in a horror read that gives Creepypasta a run for its money. I liked this one quite a bit.

In this novel, a young man driving late at night is confronted by a mysterious broadcast popping up on his radio. It’s Buck Hensley, the folksy host of “The Rules of the Road,” delivering his latest segment from some nether place. He says if the man passes a lone shoe on the side of the road, he must pull over and put a sock in it, or else face dire consequences. This experience sets the man on a path of amateur journalism investigating the mysterious broadcast, in which he documents a wide range of other people’s experiences, an obsession that imposes mounting costs in his personal life. At last, he sets out to find the source of the broadcast himself.

Starting out with this read, I wondered if its appeal rested on a gimmick that would run out of gas, but if anything, the stories rise in quality over the book, and the final story brings it all together nicely. The folksy Buck Hensley similarly threatens to offer a saccharine villain only to become even more substantial and compelling. As for the experiences of various people encountering the broadcast over the years, they’re each as good or creepier than the best you’ll find on Creepypasta.

So yeah, I really liked this one. Actually loved it, the more I think about it. C.B. Jones takes a familiar form–the urban legend–and turns it into a compelling, creepy, and page-turning story that feels real and ties everything together for a satisfying and thoughtful finish.

THOUGHTS ON THEME, SYMBOLISM, AND FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: Part 3

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In this post, we’re gonna talk about figurative language and how writers can use it to tell better stories.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

When people say, “it’s a figure of speech,” they’re referring to one of the many types of figurative language shown here. What they all have in common is their use can be very stimulating to a reader’s brain if cliché is avoided. When readers praise “good writing,” a lot of times, they’re talking about this stuff.

Figurative language really is stimulating to readers. In a study conducted by the University of Ontario, participants read a story, some of which included metaphors and some that didn’t, and then evaluated photographs of eyes to identify true emotional state. Those who read the stories that included metaphors were significantly better at identifying the emotional state.

In a second experiment, participants listened to stories being read and then rated the speaker. Speakers who used metaphors were judged to be friendlier and more intimate. This makes figurative language powerful stuff for a writer.

Let’s look at a few of the more popular forms.

Metaphor

A metaphor describes something as being like something else even though they’re not literally equivalent. Usually, the comparison is between something abstract or unfamiliar with something familiar, such as, “All the world’s a stage” or “life is a burning candle.” The result can express symbolism or be generally stimulating.

The metaphor can be explicit, making it a metaphor, or implied, as in the example, “It was another day playing my part with the same old script.”

Simile

Another type of metaphor is a simile, in which one thing is compared to a different thing with a similar characteristic to make a point or enhance a description. “Life is like a box of chocolates.” Similes are easily recognizable as they use the word “as” or “like” to make the comparison.

On a final note, the comparison is usually similar in a simile. If the comparison is between two things that are very different, it’s called a conceit. An example is “fit as a fiddle,” though conceits don’t always use “as” or “like.”

Using Metaphor and Simile

The first bit of advice is obvious, which is to avoid mixing metaphors and similes in proximity in the text. And to avoid mixing incongruous metaphors, and mixing similes together. You can write, “This truck is a rock, it forges ahead no matter what,” and the reader will understand the meaning of the sum, but it just doesn’t sound right because the individual ideas don’t mesh in a congruent way. In dialogue, of course, you can do anything if it serves the character, but in narrative, not so much. Personally, I subscribe to the theory that the best writing goes unnoticed so that the reader becomes more immersed in the story. If you’re going to call attention to your writing, however, you always want the reader to go, “Nice,” rather than, “Oh, that’s right, I’m reading a book.” For me, that’s my primary guide.

Otherwise, avoid cliches unless you’re going for an intentional effect. Be provocative but clear, functional, relatable to the point of view, and supportive of the tone or theme. When possible, try to arouse the reader’s senses such as taste, touch, and so on.

One clever way to use metaphor or simile in a science fiction or fantasy novel is to make up new ones for a specific world or culture. While it may be tempting to say, “solid as a gloobnorb” for color, it would probably work better if the reader was informed previously what a gloobnorb is.

Here’s a bunch of examples. As you can see, simile can go a long way to add color, stimulate the reader, and aid immersion.

Analogy

An analogy uses a metaphor, simile, or conceit to make a larger point. It’s not a figure or speech but instead a type of argument. When Forest Gump says, “Life is like a box of chocolates,” that’s a simile. When he adds, “You never know what you’re gonna get,” he’s making an analogy. By explaining how life is like a box of chocolates, we learn something about both.

Other Figures of Speech

And that’s it! Thanks for checking out this little series on theme, symbolism, and figurative language. I hope you find out it useful.