Finished Fear, a while ago, finally updating Blog, because I'm cool like that.

I finished fear a little while back, and wow. It was a great book, left me with more questions than I started with. It was great, the way that the plot seemed to calm down, so you thought that the book was over. But then, on the last 3 pages, it goes horribly wrong and throws everything else you've discovered out the window.

[SPOILERS] Near the end of the book, Lowry (MC) is told by a demon in the form of a 12 year old blonde girl that he's the only living person on the planet and that everybody else is a body possessed by a demon. And, everybody that he's ever loved is now a demon in a human body, including his wife, Mary, and is best friend, Tommy.  They have the ability to steal bits of his soul, so Lowry eventually avoids them until he no longer sees them. Also, whenever he turns his back on people, or "living" things, they fall down like limp marionettes, then when he looks back on them they start back up, as if the world is buffering for him. It seems that things somehow turned out fine, then in the last page he walks up to the neighborhood police officer, that he knows well, and said: "Follow me" he led him into his basement. Lowry then pointed at 2 bodies and said "I killed them last Saturday."; thats the last line of the book.

All in all, Fear was a suprisingly good book. However, right after the last page, my entire mood of "God that book was great!" was shattered by an "about the author page". This was a 1990 remake of the original 1951 version. It said L Ron Hubbard traveled the world and experienced 22 different cultures and races and he shared his adventures through science fiction. I couldn't stop laughing. He's a few quotes from Ol' Hubbard himself to justify his world-renowned Wisdom:

"I do love you, even if I used to be an opium addict."

"The Problem with China is that there are too many chinese here, they reek of the baths they didn't take."

Ok, this remake was obviously funded by the Church of Scientology; Smooth Move, Hubbard.

Symbolism, in my fear? It's more likely than you think.

I believe fear is a giant metaphor for modern religious interpretation. The book is about a man who wrote an article saying that Demons, Gods, and religion are nothing but laws that enforce themselves. He then undergoes a strange series of events, etc etc, cement closing over him, alice in wonderland. However, he's extremely Christian and goes to church more than twice a week; which conflicts his main argument, which conflicts with his result.

I believe that another main point of this book is trust, he begins going insane, and when he was younger, his best friend proposed to who is currently the main characters wife; and he stays over and takes care of Lowry (MC) and the whole time Lowry thinks she's cheating on him.

I'm on page 140 right now, almost done with the book, which is rather short; I was on 80 at my last read. I plan on finishing it soon, probably tomorrow when I have time to burn before I take the bus to college of Marin for my Japanese class.

I'm still working on a Thesis, as you could guess, I got a big report on my hands.

Fear is AWESOME!

So, on the 4 hour plane ride from Chicago to Oakland I opened up fear and began reading it. I covered half of it within the 4 hour span, with the except of an occasional snack or nap or two. And I have to say, it is one of the few books that I've read that I don't have to force myself to keep reading. It feels like a combination of Alice in Wonderland, Dr. Suess (one whole chapter rhymes, for some reason), and the Grudge.
(synopsis)
It's essentially about a guy, who got fired from his teaching job at a university for writing an article saying bad things about religion, goes over to a friends house, gets slightly drunks, starts walking home, then wakes up 4 hours later in the exact same spot with his hat missing. He didn't drink enough to pass out, and his clothing is torn and he's covered in small scratches and his muscles are sore as if he's been running for hours. He goes home, goes to bed, thinks his wife's trying to kill him, goes outside for a walk, and heres the fun part, the cement closes over him and he finds himself in a hallway talking to a suit of armor. He walks down the stairs at the end of the hall, and, I can't really comprehend what happens next, all that matters is the line thats repeated thousands of times "A hat is a bat, a bat is a cat, a cat is a rat, and that is that. Do you want your hat? When you find your hat, you'll find your 4 hours, and when you find your 4 hours, you'll die. Do you want your hat? You shouldn't want your hat. It's worth only 10 dollars, your life must be worth more, right? James Lowry?"

All I can say is this book is rather epic, I see a thesis in the near future.

Update on TYAAAAHHH!!

I'm currently watching Battlefield Earth, and posting this from my laptop. And I gotta say, despite the horrid acting, scene transitions, and the fact that you constantly feel lost, the background plot of this movie is solid. It has beautiful quotes that are taken from the book such as when the Alien ruler takes the Rebel Human to whats left of the Denver Library and says "All of the armies that you man-animals were capable of mustering were destroyed within 9 minutes. Within these halls is all the information your race has ever acquired, read as much of it as you like, because none of it will assist you."

I must admit, I'm surprised, and I'm starting to get the notion that Hubbard is a good Sci-fi author, but he sold himself out, literally and metaphorically. I still need some biographies before I can develop a decent thesis.

I have books!

I'm in Boston this week, and so far I've been to countless bookstores looking for works by L Ron Hubbard; these include a 2 story Borders and a 3 Story Barnes and Noble. Both of which left me empty handed, however, on my way back from a fish and chips restaruant on the coast about 30 miles out of Boston, I stopped at a used book store. There I found a few of his works that I bought, although they aren't Battlefield Earth, they will do. I bought a Copy of Fear, which is acclaimed as one of the best Sci-fi Horror books ever written by a person, and I got my hands on a copy of "The Invaders Plan" the first book in the Dekology (10 books) of "Mission Earth". Although it's only the first book in a series of 10, it's around 500 pages long; I only have it because the guy gave it to me for free; I'll probably never end up reading it. However, I will definately read fear. From the quotes on the back of fear, which are from Stephan King, Ray Bradbury, and Isaac Asimov, they say that the book is epic. I read about 20 pages in and liked it because the way that he writes is a lot like how I do.

Also, I found a rare gem at the store. I found a DVD Special Edition of "Battlefield Earth, the Movie" and bought it for 3 bucks. When I took it to the register, the guy said "Umm.. uh, you know this is the worst movie ever made within the history of man, right?" and we both laughed.



I won't end up using this in my report, I just want to watch it for the kicks. But, I will read fear and Hopefully skim Invader's plan. I'll report back in when I have more books, I'm still looking for a copy of dianetics.

P.S. TYAAAAHHH!!

Proposal

I have Chosen L. Ron Hubbard for many reasons. My favorite is that he was a highly controversial person, I like representing as many sides to an argument as I can. Considering he was the author of Dianetics and founder of the Church of Scientology, which is also a highly controversial thing; as Scientology has been marked by many as a scam.

But, Hubbard also wrote 1,084 works in his lifetime, some of which have been translated into 71 different languages. However, most of those were little short stories in pulp-fiction magazines. His most famous works include Battlefield Earth, Mission Earth, and Fear. So, I will have plenty of information to base my book on. Another fun aspect of this paper is reading his biographies. I will have to read at least one “Official Biography” and one “Unofficial Biography”, as he was so controversial to the extent that the Church of Scientology officialized versions of his biographies to portray him better.

I feel that L. Ron Hubbard is important because he is the cause of random religious conflicts throughout the united states recently. As a Philosophically-Taoist Agnostic, I find religion and the conflicts it causes and the problems that it fixes to be a very interesting subject.

With a man like L. Ron Hubbard as my author for this paper, may I ask; is there anyway I cannot make a 10 page thesis-based argument? He's made over one thousand works, most over a page in length. I should be able to do this project, I mean, according to Scientology; I know too much and should of been dead a long time ago. I wish I was kidding.

I plan on reading 2 books, Battlefield Earth and Dianetics, and a few Biographies. Let's put it this way, it's his most influential book, so it kind of needs to be read. Also, by a few Biographies, I mean that these things are so opinionated that I'm going to need to read maybe 3-4 to get a general consensus of what the man was really like. First, I plan on reading Battlefield Earth to get a feel for his capability as a science fiction writer. Then I'll shift over to Reading Dianetics: The Modern Science on Mental Health while reading a biography or two to get a feel for him as a philosopher. From there, I will develop my thesis and begin working on my paper.

Mr. Wells, I hope you will let me cradle this time-bomb of an author to the doorsteps of my academic career. Because, as you commented about my personal statement, I maintain an open mind to people that others would instantly judge as crazy. I really want to read Dianetics so that I can learn the secrets of government mind-control, sounds pretty sweet.