Sci-Fi Month | Introduction

Sci-Fi Month is hosted by Rinn @ Rinn Reads, and this year I'm participating!

Sci-Fi Month is upon us! I can't believe it's been an entire year since the last Sci-Fi Month, and today I'm going to be answering Rinn's introductory questions.

The Questions

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I'm Jess, I'm 24 and I'm from the UK. I'm an avid reader and writer, and an English graduate. For the past year I've been working as a Marketing Assistant at Seren Books. Sadly this month is my last month at Seren as my contract is coming to an end, so I'm currently looking for another job! If only someone would pay me to blog...

2. How long have you been a fan of science fiction?

If someone had asked me this a few years ago I would have said I wasn't really a fan, but the truth is I've been a fan of sci-fi my whole life without realising it. Sci-fi is so broad, and encompasses so much, that I've always been around it; I've loved the Terminator franchise since I was very young and I wrote my dissertation on dystopian heroines, so my love for sci-fi has always been there even if it isn't my favourite genre.

3. Why do you like sci-fi and what is your favourite thing about it?

That's a difficult question to answer. Like I said there are so many different sub-genres of sci-fi and I like them all for different reasons. I guess I love its possibilities; there's hopeful sci-fi with hover-boards and bleak sci-fi with apocalyptic landscapes. I love how we can tell how a society is feeling by how it writes its sci-fi - the '80s gave us Back to the Future, and nowadays we have The Hunger Games. Something's gone wrong there!

Plus, as a big history and historical fiction fan, sci-fi offers time travel, which I am all for. Although sadly I'm not a Doctor Who fan.

4. Favourite books/games/films/TV shows in the genre?

Books: Feed by Mira Grant; Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins; 1984 by George Orwell; The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer; Blood Red Road by Moira Young; Delirium by Lauren Oliver; Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples.

Films: Terminator 2: Judgment Day; Total Recall (1990); Warm Bodies; Treasure Planet; Jurassic Park; The Amazing Spider-Man; Paul; Alien; The Island.

TV shows: Orphan Black; Firefly.

5. What are your plans for Sci-Fi Month?

Just to read a bit of sci-fi, really! Hopefully I'll get some reviews up during the month, but I'm not planning anything particularly huge because I need to find a new job so real life is going to kick me in the arse, I think.

What are your plans for Sci-Fi Month?

My Favourite Female Science Fiction Authors | Sci-Fi Month 2014

I didn't really start getting into sci-fi until earlier this year. For a long time I felt as though I wasn't allowed to like it because I was a woman, and I was almost afraid of venturing into it for fear of being criticised because of my gender, especially as I'm useless when it comes to pretty much all sci-fi terminology and tropes.

As a feminist I'm rather ashamed that I let myself be scared away from the genre, especially considering there are so many amazing female authors and female protagonists in science fiction. I still consider myself a newbie to science fiction, but I've already discovered some fantastic female authors (some of whom I already liked, I just wasn't really aware I was reading science fiction at the time!) and today I'm going to share three of my favourites with you!

Mary Shelley

I couldn't possibly make a list about my favourite female science fiction authors without mentioning Mary Shelley, the woman whose work is believed to be responsible for modern day science fiction! Shelley is most famous for Frankenstein, one of my all time favourite classics, but it's not the only thing she wrote; she also wrote The Last Man, a piece of post apocalyptic fiction about the last man on earth, Mathilda, a novella which was never published during her lifetime because it explores incest, Valperga, a piece of historical fiction, and a series of supernatural short stories. Frankenstein, her masterpiece, is believed to be one of the very first science fiction novels.

Tanya Huff

I started reading Tanya Huff's work long before I started my adventure into science fiction. Huff is well known for her science fiction and fantasy works, and is especially known for the way in which she explores and upturns gender stereotypes. She is the author of several series, including the Blood Books and the Quarters novels, and is also the author of the Confederation series; a science fiction series with a female lead that is on my TBR!

Mira Grant

Any of you who have been following my blog regularly this year will know that I've fallen in love with Grant's Newflesh trilogy. It's quickly become one of my all time favourite series with one of my all time favourite heroines, and now I'm a little bit in love with Mira Grant. As well as writing the Newsflesh trilogy, a series about blogging, conspiracies and zombies, she is also the author of the Parasitology trilogy and, under her real name of Seanan McGuire, she is the author of the October Daye series.

Which authors do you love?

Stories & Songs #4 | Sci-Fi Month 2014

Sci-Fi Month continues, and today I thought I'd post a sci-fi only edition of Stories & Songs. As always, you can find all the songs mentioned here in this playlist!

Nineteen Eighty-Four

by George Orwell

"Mad World"

Gary Jules

All around me are familiar faces

Worn out places, worn out faces

Bright and early for their daily races

Going nowhere, going nowhere

Their tears are filling up their glasses

No expression, no expression

Hide my head, I wanna drown my sorrow

No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kinda funny

I find it kinda sad

The dreams in which I'm dying

Are the best I've ever had

I find it hard to tell you

I find it hard to take

When people run in circles

It's a very, very mad world, mad world

Obsidian

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

"E.T."

Katy Perry

You're so hypnotizing

Could you be the devil?

Could you be an angel?

Your touch magnetizing

Feels like I am floating

Leaves my body glowing

They say: be afraid,

You're not like the others

Futuristic lover

Different DNA

They don't understand you

You're from a whole 'nother world

A different dimension

You open my eyes

And I'm ready to go

Lead me into the light

Kiss me, ki-ki-kiss me,

Infect me with your love and

Fill me with your poison

Take me, ta-ta-take me,

Wanna be a victim

Ready for abduction

Boy, you're an alien

Your touch so foreign

It's supernatural

Extraterrestrial

Cinder

by Marissa Meyer

"Make Me a Robot"

Tessa Violet

I don't want to be a human anymore,

I'm done

I don't want to make mistakes anymore,

He's won

I'm too old to change.

Take my heart and I'll restart; please just let me fall apart

You may say it's strange,

But I quit, guess that's it; for a human I'm unfit, so

Make me a robot.

Make me a robot.

Make, make me cold.

Make me a robot.

Make me a robot.

Take, take my soul.

The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins

"If I Die Young"

The Band Perry

If I die young, bury me in satin

Lay me down on a bed of roses

Sink me in a river at dawn

Send me away with the words of a love song

Uh oh, uh oh

Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother

She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colours, oh,

And life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no,

Ain't even grey, but she buries her baby

The sharp knife of a short life, oh well

I've had just enough time

The Host

by Stephenie Meyer

"Children of the Universe"

Molly Smitten-Downes

Something's stirring in the silence

And it reeks of passive violence

Hold on tight this opportunity we'll take,

Put an end to all this suffering

Before it gets too late

Hope's on the horizon

I'm not giving in

We're children of the universe, don't you know?

Dancing on the edge of time and it's ours to own

Just children of the universe

We're shining like diamonds

With love in our hearts,

They said it's the end but I've a feeling

It might just be the start

As I am awakened with fire in my bones

Standing beside you I've a feeling

That I'll never walk alone

My Sci-Fi Wish List | Sci-Fi Month 2014

Sci-Fi Month continues, and today I thought I'd share with you some of the sci-fi novels I'd really like to get my hands on!

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner: Isn't that cover just stunning? Space usually freaks me out - even more so the idea of being lost/stuck in space - but I've heard nothing but praise for this book since its release and I want to stop letting space freak me out.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie: The whole premise of this book just sounds fascinating. The more I get into sci-fi the more I discover books I'd really like to check out, and this is one of them.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout: I've heard a lot of people describing this book as Twilight with aliens, and while I'm no longer a fan of Twilight (though I won't deny I did like it during my teens) I've heard a lot of praise for this series, too. And, in all honesty, it just sounds like a bit of shameless alien fun to be had.

Valour's Choice by Tanya Huff: I love Tanya Huff. She's the author of the Blood Books, a vampire series that I love, and I adore the way she challenges gender stereotypes in her books. After writing a vampire series with a fantastic female lead I'd love to see read her female-led sci-fi!

Alienated by Melissa Landers: Like Obsidian, this book just sounds fun. There's something about stories that treat relations between earth and other planets as somewhat ordinary that I really like; I've no doubt that there are other planets out there with other civilisations - the universe is huge, how can there not be? - and I like to think if there was we'd organise school exchanges, too.

So those are just some of the sci-fi novels I'd like to read soon! Which sci-fi titles do you most want to read?

Jess Suggests | Sci-Fi Retellings! | Sci-Fi Month 2014

I have a science fiction retelling (the first one on this list!) to thank for my first extremely positive experience with science fiction. As I've already mentioned this month science fiction was a genre I felt so intimidated by until I read Cinder, which really made me see the genre in a different light. 

So, in honour of the book that helped me overcome my fear of sci-fi, today I'm recommending four books which are all retellings, and all science fiction!

Cinder

by Marissa Meyer

Retelling of: Cinderella

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Warm Bodies

by Isaac Marion

Retelling of: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

'R' is a zombie. He has no name, no memories and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.

Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl. Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows - warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape. For reasons he can't understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins.

This has never happened before. It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him. But their grim, rotting world won't be changed without a fight...

For Darkness Shows the Stars

by Diana Peterfreund

Retelling of: Persuasion by Jane Austen

It's been several generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity and giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family's estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress, and Elliot's estate is foundering, forcing her to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth--an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go.

But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret--one that could change their society . . . or bring it to its knees. And again, she's faced with a choice: cling to what she's been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she's ever loved, even if she's lost him forever.

Of Beast and Beauty

by Stacey Jay

Retelling of: Beauty and the Beast

In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.

Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.

As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.

Have you read any of these retellings? Are there any other retellings you'd recommend?

My Favourite Sci-Fi Heroines | Sci-Fi Month 2014

Sci-Fi Month continues! Today I'm going to be talking about my personal Top 5 Science Fiction Heroines. I love me some female protagonists, in fact if I pick up a book while I'm out shopping and I don't find the slightest sniff of a female character in the blurb I will not buy that book. I've got nothing against male protagonists, but I'm 23 and I'm tired of sausage fests.

Linh Cinder from The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer: I love The Lunar Chronicles. Since reading Cinder I've become a lot more confident in reading sci-fi, and Cinder has become one of my favourite heroines. After spending so many years convincing myself that I wouldn't be welcome in the science fiction fanbase, it always seemed so male-orientated when I was younger, it's been a real joy to stumble across a series like The Lunar Chronicles, which has not one, but four heroines. There's a heroine for everyone in this series, which I love, but Cinder is most definitely my personal favourite.

Cosima Niehaus from Orphan Black: Another story with a heroine for everyone. I started watching Orphan Black earlier this year and I love it! Tatiana Maslany is the most amazing actress and I love all of the clones, but there's just something about Cosima which always makes her the first clone I think of when I think about the show. She's adorable; I love her passion for science and I really wish my hair looked like hers.

Georgia Mason from the Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant: For those of you who have been following my blog for a while this should come as no surprise. I adore the Newsflesh trilogy, and after reading Feed earlier this year Georgia quickly became one of my favourite heroines of all time. Who knew anyone could love a journalist so much!

Sarah Connor from the Terminator series: I grew up watching the Terminator films with my Dad, and no matter how many times I watch it I never get tired of Terminator 2. What I love about Sarah is that she's actually incredibly flawed, and yet she's still an incredibly competent, resilient, tough lady. For an action heroine of the early 90s she's awesome; she isn't put into a box as a hardcore, emotionless bitch, but she's also far from typically feminine. I have a lot of time for Sarah Connor, and I was very disappointed when she didn't make an appearance in Terminator 3!

Inara Serra from Firefly: Ah, the show that was cancelled before its time. Like Orphan Black, this is another show with a cast of characters who are difficult to compare because all of them are likable and dislikable for completely separate reasons. I love the women in Firefly; Kaylee is adorable, Zoe's fantastic and River's a sweetie (albeit an annoying one). Any one of them could have made my list, but what I love about Inara is the way she challenges the stereotypes we have surrounding sexuality and getting paid for one's 'services'. Plus she always wears the prettiest dresses.

Are there any heroines of sci-fi that you love?

Jess Suggests | Time Travel | Sci-Fi Month 2014

This month I'm taking part in Sci-Fi November, hosted by Rinn Reads and Oh, the Books! Find out more about it here!

I love historical fiction, and it's a genre I'm much more familiar with than science fiction. You wouldn't think these two genres would be able to mix; historical fiction is set in the past and science fiction is usually set in the future, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to find books out there that can be classified as both historical fiction and science fiction.

How? Simple. Time travel!

So if, like me, you're a reader who's familiar with historical fiction and is just starting to dip your toes into science fiction, below are a small selection of books featuring time travel that might just be the perfect stepping stone from historical to science fiction!

Outlander

by Diana Gabaldon

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach--an "outlander"--in a Scotland torn by war and raiding Highland clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into intrigues and dangers that may threaten her life...and shatter her heart. For here she meets James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, and becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

Kindred

by Octavia E. Butler

Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana's life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.

Time Riders

by Alex Scarrow

Liam O’Connor should have died at sea in 1912.
Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010.
Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2026.

Yet moments before death, someone mysteriously appeared and said, ‘Take my hand ...’

But Liam, Maddy and Sal aren’t rescued. They are recruited by an agency that no one knows exists, with only one purpose—to fix broken history. Because time travel is here, and there are those who would go back in time and change the past. That’s why the TimeRiders exist: to protect us. To stop time travel from destroying the world...

Ruby Red

by Kerstin Gier

Gwyneth Shepherd's sophisticated, beautiful cousin Charlotte has been prepared her entire life for traveling through time. But unexpectedly, it is Gwyneth, who in the middle of class takes a sudden spin to a different era!

Gwyneth must now unearth the mystery of why her mother would lie about her birth date to ward off suspicion about her ability, brush up on her history, and work with Gideon--the time traveler from a similarly gifted family that passes the gene through its male line, and whose presence becomes, in time, less insufferable and more essential. Together, Gwyneth and Gideon journey through time to discover who, in the 18th century and in contemporary London, they can trust.

The House on the Strand

by Daphne du Maurier

Dick Young is lent a house in Cornwall by his friend Professor Magnus Lane. During his stay he agrees to serve as a guinea pig for a new drug that Magnus has discovered in his scientific research.

When Dick samples Magnus's potion, he finds himself doing the impossible: traveling through time while staying in place, thrown all the way back into Medieval Cornwall. The concoction wears off after several hours, but its effects are intoxicating and Dick cannot resist his newfound powers. As his journeys increase, Dick begins to resent the days he must spend in the modern world, longing ever more fervently to get back into his world of centuries before, and the home of the beautiful Lady Isolda...

To Infinity and Beyond! | Sci-Fi Month 2014

This month I'm going to be participating in Sci-Fi November, hosted by Rinn Reads and Oh, the Books! Check out @SciFiMonth on Twitter, or the official hashtag #RRSciFiMonth if you'd like to keep updated!

You can still join in - check out the information hub!

All of the participants are encouraged to introduce themselves, so here goes!

Tell us a little bit about yourself!

I'm Jess, a 23 year old from the UK. I recently graduated with an MA in Creative Writing, and in January I'll be starting my very first graduate job as a Game Writer! In the future I'm hoping to pursue a PhD in Creative Writing so that I can tutor and lecture other writing students, but first I need to find the money for a PhD...

I suppose the most important thing to know about me for Sci-Fi Month is that I am a science fiction newbie! Unfortunately for years I was very intimidated by the genre; I managed to convince myself that if I didn't know every bit of trivia about a show or a book or a film before I told someone I liked it then I'd be quizzed on all those details and branded 'not a real fan'. I wish I could say there are no people like that, but sadly there are people like that in every fandom going. It's only really this year that I began to embrace science fiction and wanted to explore it more, so I figured signing up to join in Sci-Fi Month could only lead on to something great!

I'm still not entirely comfortable with the genre; space kind of freaks me out so whenever it comes to books set in space I have to build myself up to them (I know. Pathetic, right?) but what I'd never really realised is that I've been a fan of science fiction for years! I loved the Terminator films and Futurama while I was growing up (and still love them now!) and I'm interested in many sub-genres such as time travel and dystopia.

So Sci-Fi Month for me is about broadening my horizons and reading (and watching) outside my comfort zone!

Have you been to any sci-fi related events over the past year?

Yes! In July I went to MCM Manchester Comic Con, where I saw a lot of great cosplayers, bought some brilliant jewellery, and watched a Game of Thrones panel, and this weekend I'm off to Cardiff Film and Comic Con where I'm hoping to meet Jason Momoa!

What do you have planned for Sci-Fi Month?

I'm going to be posting a few recommendations, sharing some of my favourite characters and authors from science fiction, and I'll be posting the science fiction installment of my Classics & Contemporaries series! I may even post the odd review, but I haven't quite decided yet.

I'm really excited about this month, so 

Let Sci-Fi November begin!

What's Up Wednesday | 29/10/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk as a way for writers and readers to stay in touch!

What I'm Reading

Since last week I've finished Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (loved it!) and read The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove, and Medieval Underpants and Other Blunders by Susanne Alleyn.

At the moment I'm reading Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield, which I'm really enjoying; it's like a subtle ghost story hidden in a gothic novel, and Setterfield has the most beautiful writing style. It's a great read for this time of year! And in the spirit of Halloween I'm going to try and finish Bellman & Black and Blackout by Mira Grant, and I'm going to attempt to read Half Bad by Sally Green too, all before November arrives.

Let's see how well that goes...

What I'm Writing

I should be plotting and planning for NaNoWriMo, but as is usually the case whenever I try to plan anything, a SNI has been tickling my brain and I've jotted down the odd sentence. It's only a short story, but it's been that long since I've sat and written a short story that I want to try and get a draft of it written this week.

What Works For Me

Being left alone. I know that probably sounds so grumpy and antisocial, but I've finished university (for now - with any luck I'll be able to do a PhD either next year or the year after) and I'm back to living with my parents because it's a very lucky person who can leave uni and afford to leave home, too. I love my parents; they're lovely and supportive and just genuinely some of the funniest people you will ever have the pleasure of meeting, but we live in a bungalow where it's very hard to find quiet, alone space unless I'm in the house when both of my parents are at work. I don't have a desk in my room - again, we live in a bungalow, so while my room is beautiful there's no way I could fit a desk in there - and I couldn't sit and write for hours with my laptop on my knee.

As great as my parents are, it's very distracting when I'm sat at the dining table and they want to talk to me or ask me what I'm doing. It's not that I don't like talking to them and don't appreciate their interest, it's just that I think they're still learning that even though it doesn't look like it, I am actually working when I'm sitting at my laptop and typing furiously. Even if I am still in my pyjamas.

So alone time. Alone time works for me.

What Else Is New

My degree certificate arrived in the post! My parents think I should frame it, but I'm not so sure; I can't help feeling I'd seem like a bit of a twat if I framed my certificate. (Apologies to anyone who has framed their degree!)

No, that's not a typo. That's really how you spell my name!

Yesterday I joined a new writing group and it was a lot of fun! The group meets on the last Tuesday of every month and everyone I met yesterday was lovely. I'm looking forward to meeting some more writers - I was wondering where they'd all been hiding!

Oh, I'm also going to be taking part in Sci-Fi November, hosted by Rinn Reads and Oh, The Books! I'm still something of a newbie when it comes to science fiction, which is why I decided to take part. I've already scheduled the majority of my posts for throughout November, which is a big weight off my shoulders considering I'm attempting NaNo this year!

Other than that it's been a pretty quiet week. What's new with you?