Po(sey) Sessions

I was first exposed to "The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster through a book called Scraps of the Untainted Sky . The title of the book, in fact, comes from the closing line of the short story, which the author considers to be "one of the first instance of dystopian narrative." I purchased this book several years ago in order to gain insight into my interest in dystopic literature. This interest has been newly rekindled and broadened into science fiction in general. If you call yourself a fan of science fiction and you haven't read this story, do so now or you are a fraud. If you think you don't like science fiction, I suggest you read this story and make sure. ( Audio and full text are available online for free.) This short story, if you can classify it as such at 12,000 words, has 3 chapters and was published in 1909. The date of publication is overwhelming when one takes into consideration how many technological advances the author was able to p...

♫ You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last. But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast.♫ After reading my last short story entry on The Lottery , my friend and fellow plurker, NoLu , comment that for her it was deeply connected to Joyce Carol Oates's Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? I decided to pick that as my next reading in her honor. You can visit her on her blog to find out more about her, what she's reading, and her family. "All art is autobiographical." ~JCO Joyce Carol Oates was often inspired by real life events. Her realism acts as a sieve through which her social criticism is combined with interpretations of myth and literary conventions. Through her literature Oates explores different facets of everyday life in America. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? was originally published in 1967. "Her name was Connie. She was fifteen and she had a quick, nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance i...