New Worlds of Science Fiction

How did God surprise you this year? Can you look back and see the journey of one year? or does it seem like only yesterday you were putting the Christmas tree away from last year’s celebrations?

Augsburger Wunderzeichenbuch, Folio 52, 16th century Book of Miracles.

I pray that you take a moment or two, to reflect on those new discoveries you have made over the past year.

Please enjoy these surprising images of light from the 16th century as we remember how God has surprised and blessed our lives this year.

This year, for the first time, I discovered the genre of Science Fiction and while I can’t say that it will always be my favorite, I have discovered that it can, like all true art, change the way I see the world. Yes 2104, was the year Science Fiction became a great work of art for me. In light of this, here are a few surprising recommendations…coming from me that is:)

1. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/fahrenheit-451/id459394388?mt=11

Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 is a masterwork of twentieth-century literature set in a bleak, dystopian future.

Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.

When Mildred attempts suicide …. Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.

This story, provides an opportunity to understand the need we all have to fit in with our society and how this need can become poisonous to our creativity and individuality. I loved how Ray Bradbury has the intellectuals saving our culture by memorizing different books not the least of which are books of the Bible.

2. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_of_the_Planet_of_the_Apes

Ten years after the worldwide pandemic of the deadly ALZ-113 virus, human civilization is completely destroyed following martial law, civil unrest and the economic collapse of every country in the world, resulting of over 90% of humans to extinction and the domination of genetically intelligent apes.

In the ruins of San Francisco, Caesar leads and governs a new generation of apes in a community located in the Muir Woods…

This film made a real impression on me. Like all good story telling, it provided a safe place to ask the age old questions of “why can’t we all just get along?” and to realize the politics of today are not very different indeed from those portrayed in this world run by Apes.

Augsburger Wunderzeichenbuch, Folio 52, 16th century Book of Miracles

 

3. X-Men: Days of Future Past: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men:_Days_of_Future_Past

In the future, robots known as Sentinels are exterminating mutants and their human allies. A band of mutants evades the Sentinels …. Pryde sends Wolverine’s consciousness 50 years back in time to 1973 to prevent ….

I really enjoyed the retro aspect of this film and it fit well with the entire “journey”  feeling for my year. Interesting to reflect on the distance we all have come and healthy to realize that everyone around us is going through changes at the same time. This was an action movie with a good story and I highly recommend.

Augsburger Wunderzechenbuch, Folio 28, 16th century, Book of Miracles

4. The Road by Cormac McCarthy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road

An unnamed father and his young son journey across a grim post-apocalyptic landscape, some years after an unspecified apocalypse has destroyed civilization and most life on Earth….

I struggled to finish this book over the summer because it was such a dark story, but I was really glad I persevered. The conclusion was worth the trip because I was reminded that in life we often prolong our suffering by hanging on to the things that are the most unhealthy.

These are just a few of the discoveries I have made in 2014 and I can’t wait to see what 2015 has in store for me.

Happy New Year Everyone!

I pray you will continue to Connect with God thru the Arts in new a surprising ways!