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.

Religion in my Writing

I love writing about all different subjects, especially taboo ones. I love writing activities that, if done in reality, would result in lengthy jail sentences. I write things that fringe groups would devour in heartbeats, that aren't acceptable on many  writing websites.

Out of all the taboos that I write, I realize one that I actually tend to stay far away from.

Religion.

Now, this isn't a post about my personal belief system, or how I don't blaspheme against one divine being while leaving all others fair game. No, this is about the one thing I tend to avoid all together.

I remember when I read 120 Days of Sodom, the pure shock of the blasphemous things uttered by the characters. I had never read blasphemy like that before (except those few blasphemous dudes the Bible mentions), and I was actually a bit uncomfortable. It was as if I felt a higher being reading over my shoulder and I would say inside my brain "You know I don't agree with this" to err on the side of caution.

Religion has only come up really and truly in one of my stories, Defying Destiny. It has a quasi-Christian-ish feel to some parts, and the basic Hell I describe is very Dante inspired. For all I know, the Lucifer in my story could have redecorated to look like the book.

I have another story, that has characters from the Middle East, and I'm toying with the idea of having some of the female characters veiled; not because of religion, but because they're Owned, and their Owner does not want any eyes but his own on them. I'd hate for someone to read that and think I'm making a (no pun intended) veiled nod to Muslim people, because I'm not. If my characters were Muslim, I'd say that outright

Most of my work is freaky and weird, but there is at least one button I don't want to push for people. I'm a firm believer in believe whatever you'd like. Who am I to judge your belief system, or lack of one? Maybe one day I will write something deeper on religion, but I don't see that day happening any time soon.