D is for Dystopia

the challenge

D is for Dystopia

Dystopian literature holds a special place in my heart. Dystopia is almost synonymous with Utopia since it is impossible to have a utopia without corruption sneaking into the seat of power and turning everything ugly. (See Stephenie Meyer's THE HOST: benevolent alien race still manages to create all kinds of dissonance or the Avatars from WB's CHARMED: supernatural rulers who create utopia by disappearing anybody who causes conflict.)

I think that's the message I get time after time in these books. There is no utopia on Earth. That doesn't mean we should stop being kind. Kindness to strangers is the only thing we can control, can achieve.

Personal charity for the win!

But we can't count on some institution to make everything rosy. Any institution with that much power ends up taking power from somewhere. And where do they get that power? From the people. From taking away individual choice.

I think it's part of the great hubris of mankind that we continue to believe we can construct utopia. That's why these stories come out in so many different stripes and colors. Every author remakes the world with his or her own moral preferences, and utopia turns dystopia with his or her own mortal fears.

Here is a list (not comprehensive) of some dystopias you should definitely check out if you haven't already:

Ender's Game

Memento Nora

Stung

The Hunger Games

The Maze Runner

Possession

The Host

(see my sidebar for links: Dystopias to Devour)

Blog Chain: Why I Love Speculative Fiction (in pictures)

Topic from Michelle McLean: 

What elements in your favorite genre make it your favorite? For instance, if your favorite genre is romance, what elements do you like in a romance story? A tortured hero? A spunky heroine? Steamy love scenes? Sweet romance? If your fave genre is sci-fi, what elements do you love the most (the characters, the science, the possibilities?), etc?

My favorite genre is kind of an umbrella genre: 

It's speculative fiction. 

This spans widely between sci-fi, dystopia, fantasy, paranormal, and just a touch of magical realism. What do I love about it?

List time!

• hello, it's magic! Or science stretched to the limits of imagination. Either way, it's a heck of a lot cooler than what generally goes down at the 7-11... or Circle K.

Something is afoot at the Circle K.

• symbolism. Contemporary and literary novels can also have symbolism, and it's done really well by those genres all the time, but nobody does symbols like speculative fiction does. There's just so much freedom to run wild with them (A Wrinkle in Time). Sometimes it's downright allegorical (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien). Love it!

Wrath of the Ents (Lord of the Rings)

Inner courage and beauty (Chronicles of Narnia)

The Old Ones, wisdom (A Wrinkle in Time)

• larger-than-life conflicts really force me to suspend my disbelief and let me get completely lost in the story.

• unfamiliar settings, often exotic and/or terrifying. The setting also often provides the main source, or an additional source, of conflict (see above).

Peeta Mellark in the Hunger Games arena

Diagram of the ship Godspeed in Across the Universe
(it looks spacious, but you can't ever leave!)

• character diversity - speculative fiction gives us an opportunity to delve into sensitive subjects like racism and other forms of prejudice in a safe place where the reader doesn't feel judged by the author. Many of my favorite books deal with these kinds of war-scale conflicts between groups who hate each other just for one shared trait, like a certain magical power (Beautiful Creatures) or descent (Star Trek, Twilight and Harry Potter), or maybe the district they were born into (Hunger Games).

Statue in the Ministry of Magic (Harry Potter)

Star Trek - know your alien races

• gadgetry! Yes, I'm confessing. I'm something of a gadget geek. Whether it's science fiction, futuristic dystopian, or even steampunk and fantasy, there are often gadgets of some kind or another involved. A holly wood wand with a phoenix feather core (Harry Potter), a pill that erases only traumatic memories that have just been shared (Memento Nora), automatons that may or may not be trying to kill you (Soulless), a well-designed spaceship that doubles as the claustrophobic setting (Across the Universe).

Couldn't resist adding my favorite doctor with his sonic screwdriver

Plush pill (this one won't make you forget)

Holly wood wand with phoenix feather core

These automatons look murderous

These are the main reasons I love speculative fiction, which is why I love working for Month9Books! It's all speculative fiction all the time, and in my favorite categories: MG and YA.

What's your favorite genre, and why?

Next stop by

 Christine Fonseca's blog to see yesterday's blog chain post, 

and check out Demitria Lunetta's tomorrow.

Also don't miss the BLOG TOURS going on right now for Sidekick: The Misadventures of the New Scarlet Knight and Pity Isn't an Option (both tours linked at the top of my sidebar as well). There are giveaways involved!

VERONICA MARS MOVIE!!!! #VeronicaMarsMovie

Update: We did it! $2 million dollars raised in ten hours, $2.4 mil by midnight. Veronica Mars is funded! So now we just get to have fun watching the numbers slowly tick up day by day for 29 more days. Any bets on how big the final number will be? $60 mil? Anyone? Anyone?

Why is there a hash tag in my title? Well, because something incredible is happening and it's twitter-related, as most incredible happenings are.

This:

Veronica Mars Movie being crowdfunded by fans through Kickstarter

Does it get any better than THIS?

A favorite tv show. Check.

With an unsatisfying season finale. Check.

Canceled before they could rectify it. Check.

Teased as a new FBI crime show. Check.

Dropped as a new FBI crime show before funding. Check.

Teased as a movie. Check.

Determined unfundable to the lament of millions of fans. Check.

But today? Today!! Today, this is happening. 

A Message from Kristen:dearest marshmallows...
I am currently the happiest blonde in a hamster ball the world has ever seen. We have been waiting so long to make this movie dream a movie reality, and it’s because of YOUR commitment, YOUR persistence, that we finally have a chance. We just have one more step to go.
You have banded together like the sassy little honey badgers you are and made this possibility happen. i promise if we hit our goal, we will make the sleuthiest, snarkiest, it’s-all-fun-and-games-‘til-one-of-you-gets-my-foot-up-your-ass movie we possibly can.
I promise to give it my all. i promise to work my hardest to give everyone a little bit more Veronica, and i will be oh so honored to do so.  

So what do we have to do to make this a certainty?

Donate a few bucks to the cause at Kickstarter.

It garnered a MILLION DOLLARS in donations in the first FOUR HOURS, earning it a spot as record-breaker in the First to a Mil Hall of Fame! But there's still about $700,000 to go before they reach the goal amount so the owners, Warner Brothers, will kick in for promotion, etc. 

Let's show them there IS a big enough fan base to justify a movie!

As excited as I am about Kristen Bell taking up her role as the intrepid, vengeful Veronica Mars once more (WHICH IS VERY EXCITED), I am also completely intrigued by the precedent this is setting for the relationship between viewers/fans and TV/movies. 

If fandom rather than ratings decides what airs, then the most beloved shows will stop getting canceled in the middle of storylines! 

Kyle XY, anyone? 

What show would you fork out money to keep on the air (or raise from the dead?)

A note to the creators if they happen to read this: PLEASE BRING BACK DUNCAN KANE!!

Blog Chain: Book to Film Goodness

There are so many book-to-movie adaptations out there. Which are your favorites? Which are your least favorites? Why? Do you make sure you've read a book before you go see the movie adaptation, or do you prefer to read it after, or not at all? - topic provided by Michelle McLean

Generally speaking, I like to read a book before I watch the movie because otherwise I feel like I'm missing the inside jokes. BUT... in the case of Harry Potter, I enjoyed the first movie because I hadn't read the books yet. Later Harry Potter installments left me frustrated because entire subplots were left out and I knew! 

But the best thing about films made after a book is the comfort of seeing and hearing your favorite characters go through their dilemmas and come out on top. You get to experience the catharsis anew. I've watched every version of Pride and Prejudice I could get my hands on. I watch the Colin Firth version pretty much every time I find myself feeling overwhelmed with my life. It's like spaghetti-o's on DVD: comfort food for the soul. 

Now for the book-to-film adaptations that get me FREAKING EXCITED!!!

Stephenie Meyer's one and only adult novel -  it's awesomesauce.

Watch the trailer @ imdb

When Melanie, one of the few remaining "wild" humans, is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too-vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind. 

Wanderer probes Melanie's thoughts, hoping to discover the whereabouts of the remaining human resistance. Instead, Melanie fills Wanderer's mind with visions of the man Melanie loves - Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she has been tasked with exposing. When outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love.

Orson Scott Card's epic Hugo and Nebula Award winner (in the same year: a record)

Fan-made poster, no official movie poster yet. Due out:  11-1-2013

70 years after a horrific alien war, an unusually gifted child is sent to an advanced military school in space to prepare for a future invasion.

Here's more Ender's Game filming news: http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/06/enders-game-filming-news-roundup

and one that has been optioned and appointed a director that I'm just really, really hoping gets turned into a movie:

Kiersten White's first trilogy, huge crossover appeal from young teens to adults

Evie's always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she's falling for a shape-shifter, and she's the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours.
But Evie's about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures. 

So much for normal.

Read all the latest on movie news for Paranormalcy at the unofficial fan site! Apparently, the first draft of the screenplay is done, so... WOOT!

I'm leaving off some big ones other people are thrilled about: Twilight, which is the first in the latest flood of book-to-film adaptations; Mortal Instruments, which is already cast; The Hunger Games, which is working on number 2 already; Divergent, which I'm saving to read when the movie is just about to come out (because it's more exciting that way); Delirium, which I also haven't read but really want to.

So if you are a book-to-film lover, there's a lot to be excited about these days. 

What do you think of this trend? Is Hollywood being lame by not coming up with "new" ideas? Or do you love seeing your favorite book characters brought to life on the screen?

Check out other members of the Blog Chain and their thoughts on books-to-films. Christine Fonseca gushes about The Lord of the Rings, and Lisa Amowitz will give us a glimpse of her favorites tomorrow.