The Jewels of Aptor Review

I had been told for a few months to check out the work of Samuel Delany, but I hadn't gotten around to it; I had read an interview with him, and I had seen a documentary clip, but I still had not actually read any of his fiction. Now, I can officially say that I've read his work, and that I am a fan.

I bought The Jewels of Aptor for my Kindle, because it was the only book of his that was in my measly price range. It looked interesting, I loved the cover, and I dove right in. From the beginning of the book, my attention was held. I loved the names of the characters, and the journey they were to go on.

I'm not really one to read science fiction, but this definitely has me more interested in the  genre. The basic plot of the story is that our three, later four, protagonists (for the story is really about all of them) on a mission to retrieve the last of a trio of very powerful jewels from an evil island in a dystopian future. I'm not going to pretend that I'm good at figuring out meaning in stories, but one could argue that the entire story is an allegory for the gray area that is good and evil, religion and power. Even I, who can't find the theme of a story, found themes in this one, well worked themes that made even my hardened brows raise.

Unlike most of the books I read, there was no real reason to have to look words up. I think someone with an advanced middle school education could read this without issues. The words that I didn't know were words that the author had created for the story. There were some scientific things that I didn't understand, but the protagonists didn't understand either, so I didn't feel bad. The thing I find craziest about the book is that it is Samuel Delany's first published story.

He wrote this amazing book when he was twenty. 20. I definitely need to up my game.

This is a book that I would recommend to someone who might not usually pick up a science fiction story. It's not something that spends billions of words on the science, it's only used when it serves the plot. One of the things I really enjoyed about the book, is that it didn't leave a bunch of open questions at the end, it wove in all of the plot lines, but ended in a way that makes me wonder what happened when the pages stopped, because the world was that interesting.

At $2.99, this book is an absolute steal, and I definitely think more people should read it.

Venus In Furs

I had read de Sade's 120 Days of Sodom, and I loved it. It gave me a true sense of why the word sadism had its roots in his name.

I'd heard of Venus in Furs, and I knew that Sader-Masoch's name gave way to the word masochism. I came into the book with preconceived notions of what it was supposed to be, what it was supposed to do. I've just now left the book with higher hopes and spirits than I thought I would.

 If you've come to this book looking for hardcore pornography, you should just go to Kink.com's Divine Bitches.

I have to start off: the book, novella actually, moves at what I thought was a slow pace. Being the crass individual that I am, I thought Severin was a whiny bitch, and Wanda and flip-floppity fluffer Dominant. There is lots of crying from the former, and lots of wishy-washy love/hate from the latter.

There are many references to historical people at times, and even though I'm reading it for my own edification, I have to say I'd like to read it again and take notes. One of the biggest misconceptions about the book, is masochism. I'm not sure how to better phrase it... what modern day people see as a masochist, might only be seen as a facet of true masochism based on this book. Most of the masochism isn't physical, but emotional, which I found fascinating.

Depending on who you are, there could be some downsides to this book. If you're picking up a paperback version, I'd suggest being familiar with archaic words, or have the internet close by for quick googles of different things. I still haven't seen an effective image for the styles of furs that he finds so fascinating. Also, the way I've seen some of these movie posters and all that such... it looks a lot different from what was written.

I don't think that Wanda was a cougar, if I'm not mistaken, she was twenty-four at the start of the story, and even back then, that wasn't super old. And well, I don't want to give anything else away, so I'll try to steer clear of any further information.

There's just one curious thing I've noticed since just finishing the story... it hasn't technically loosened the bonds of my fingers. That's very curious indeed. I'll just continue to read some more fantastic literature and see where I'm led to next time.

Making God a Character

Sometimes when writing, you have to take a seemingly limitless concept, and give it a form and tangible essence.

That's what I've had to do in one of my stories, to God.

It was really challenging for me, seeing how I would put an omnipotent being, a formless spirit, and make it physically exist. The one good thing about that particular story, is that it really has next to nothing to do with religion, and none of the characters are human, so I can just slide over that entire idea without any sort of mentioning of a particular belief system.

However, there is a scene, where the protagonist comes face to face with the Creator.

Because of the plot, and the very solid personification that I gave Lucifer, I had to do one that was the opposite, and yet, seemed more powerful. To be quite honest, the God in my story may be my favorite character to write.

If you ever have a chance to have a character have a talk with a being that is all knowing, the Alpha and Omega, do it. To know that one of the parties in the conversation already knows every word that is spoken, every idea flowing through the other's head, is fun. For the character, it's incredibly intimidating, although the form God decided to show Itself in was not one that was intimidating.

At this point in my life, the only book I've read where God is a character, with words, is the Bible. I've actually decided to download Paradise Lost on to my Kindle so that I have another source of ideas for God, although God in my story is already one that I know rather intimately.

I wish I was one of those writers that could go into great detail about the reasons why I chose what I did. I honestly don't know the reason why I chose what I did, or rather, I can't explain them in fancy literature talk. But I do know that I'm very much in love with my current form of God, and how It's working for my character.

Maybe after I read Milton, I'll have another opinion on the subject. But as for right now, all I can do is suggest to people to put God in their stories, if It fits, because it will be a very rewarding experience.