July 2024 - Gary David Gillen

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

Introduction

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem is a science fiction story that explores the themes of communication, sense of self, and reality. It is a stand-alone novel. Kris Kelvin is a psychologist who must discover what is happening with the researchers on the Solaris space station. The Solaris Station is orbiting a planet with a world-sized entity they name Ocean who the scientists are unsuccessfully trying to communicate with. Will Kris understand what is happening with the Solaris entity before it is too late, and all the researchers are dead?

Summary

In Solaris by Stanislaw Lem, the corporation that finances the Solaris space station sends psychologist Kris Kelvin to figure out what is going on with the researchers on the Solaris space station that orbits the planet of Solaris. There are three men left inhabiting the space station. One of the researchers that Kelvin knew named Gibarion sent him a message to come to the station. He first meets Snow when he arrives and later, he meets Sartorius. Kelvin learns the fate of Gibarion. He learns something from all three about the issue with Solaris.

The researchers tried to contact an entity on the planet of Solaris. The entity is an immense world ocean. The entity tried to contact the researchers with beings created from the memories of the researchers’ which they call visitors. Things get more complicated for Kelvin when his visitor arrives. She is unexpected and perplexing to him.

Recommendation

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem is a thought-provoking novel. I read the 1970 translation from the French by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox with a book cover promoting the 2002 movie adaption. It’s an English translation of the French Translation of the original Polish. I watched the 1972 movie adaptation. The cinematography was fabulous. The actors spoke Russian, but the subtitles worked with an excellent ending. I watched the 2002 movie adaptation starring George Clooney and directed by Stephen Soderbergh. It was interesting, but didn’t make its production cost back at the box office.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Solaris by Stanislaw Lem.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51077757-solaris

The title story of Stories of Your Life’s theme is like Solaris; contact with an unknowable alien entity.

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

My review of Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang is an eight-story SF short story collection. It was made into the movie Arrival. The title story explores the similar theme of first alien contact.

Thinner by Stephen King

Introduction

Thinner by Stephen King is a supernatural thriller fantasy novel that was originally published under the author’s pseudonym, Richard Bachman. Attorney Billy Halleck has been heavy for most of his adult life. A series of events leads to him killing an old gypsy woman with his car. Billy has powerful friends and receives a light sentence. The woman’s father puts a gypsy curse on him by saying one word, thinner. Billy loses weight no matter what he does, and it will not stop. Can Billy reverse the curse, or will he wither and die?

Summary

Billy Halleck is a defense attorney with a wife, Heidi, and a daughter, Linda. He’s overweight and enjoys life. He’s driving and Heidi distracts him which leads to him hitting and killing an old gypsy woman.

Billy avoids punishment by the law because police officer Duncan Hopley and judge Cary Rossington favors him. That infuriates the woman’s father, Taduz Lemke, so he curses each one of them with a special curse. The word he says to Billy is thinner.

Billy begins to lose weight no matter how much he eats. He tracks the gypsy band across New England to get Lemke to reverse the curse. Billy enlists his client, mobster Richie Ginelli, to help him.

Billy and Lemke meet. Some curses can’t be broken, so they find another solution.

Recommendation

Thinner by Stephen King was an enjoyable read, but what made the novel great for me was the last sentence. The last sentence changed the meaning of the novel for me and was perfect for the story. I find the history of this novel interesting. They published the novel under the name Richard Bachman like four previously published novels were. On page 117 in my copy, Billy’s doctor says the way Billy tells it sounds like he is in a Stephen King book. The funny thing is that he was. King used the alias to publish more than one book in the years he had more. Someone discovered the deception, so King stopped using the alias. He also fictionalized his feelings about writing as another person and getting caught in the novel, The Dark Half.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Thinner by Stephen King.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/147336843-thinner-by-stephen-king

Under the Dome by Stephen King begins with a dome covering Chester’s Mill. Who made the Dome, and will the people trapped inside it escape before they all die?

Under the Dome by Stephen King

Drawing of the Three by Stephen King, book #2 of The Dark Tower series, features Roland, Eddie Dean, and Odetta Holmes. Roland gets one step closer to reaching the Dark Tower.

Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

The Gunslinger by Stephen King, book #1 of The Dark Tower series, seemed to set up for a climax that never happened. What is there is a trippy and metaphysical non-ending.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

Writing Progress Report July 2024

This is my Writing Progress Report July 2024.

I visited the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo with my son on Father’s Day, June 16, 2024.

Writing Progress from June 2024.

I wrote three blog posts for my website, garydavidgillen.com. One post was my writing progress report for June 2024, linked below.

Writing Progress Report June 2024

In June 2024, there was no submission to the Advanced Fiction Writing Workshop on a Zoom call. We are taking a break until August 2024.

Writing Progress from June 2024 Continued

I made five posts on my Goodreads account in June 2024.

In the past, I submitted the stories; Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, and Grognard to magazines.

The seven Flash Fiction Stories I submitted in 2020 and 2021 were Space-Dog Confession, Sleeping Sickness, Caliburnus, Popular Mechanics Re-brewed, Wormhole Generator, Runs with Scissors, and Principled Rogue.

Magazine submissions for 2021 were 4 unique stories submitted 4 times, with 0 accepted, 0 pending, and 4 rejections. No submissions for 2022. None for 2023.

Events from June 2024.

I did not attend any events in June 2024.

Writing Goals for July 2024.

In July 2024, I plan to write five blog posts for garydavidgillen.com including my Writing Progress Report for July 2024.

I plan to work on a story for the Advanced Fiction Writing Workshop on a Zoom call in August 2024.

Eventually, I plan to work on third draft edits for Assassin in New Marl City using comments from the Novel Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio. I plan to split Chapter 1 into two chapters and add a scene to the new Chapter 1.

Submit the stories Space-Dog Confession, Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, LARP Film Noir, Sleeping Sickness, Popular Mechanics Re-brewed, and Caliburnus. to other short fiction magazines.

Polish and submit the stories White Bracer, Mage Squad, I Shall Not Return, Prisoner of Tarnal, and Kay-Eye for submission to short fiction magazines.

In July 2024, I plan to make five posts on my Goodreads account.

Planned Events for July 2024.

The next event I plan to attend is the Confluence Conference near Pittsburgh, PA, from July 26, 2024, to July 28, 2024. They will hold the conference at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel in Coraopolis, PA. I attended the Confluence in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2023

The link to the Confluence website.

https://confluence-sff.org